Better Nutrition January 2020

HEALTHY DISH *
Few foods offer hearty comfort as well
as a hot, tasty, well-made beef stew.
Here’s a way to make it healthy as
well: Choose lean, grass-fed beef. Most
restaurant beef stew is made with
fatty, low-quality factory-farmed beef,
complete with a nice (unwanted) helping
of antibiotics, steroids, and hormones.
Not so with grass-fed. You’ll get
everything you need from beef—iron,
B 12
, and the highest-quality protein—
without any of the “ingredients” you
40 • JANUARY 2020
recipe makeovers full of modern flavor
Warming Stew for
Colder Weather
This protein-packed dish is the perfect
healthy winter comfort food
BY JONNY BOWDEN, PHD, CNS, AND JEANNETTE BESSINGER, CHHC
don’t want. And speaking of iron, we
need it—badly. (Especially growing
kids!) There are actually two kinds
of iron in our diet—heme iron and
non-heme iron. The heme kind is far
more absorbable but is only found in
animal products.
This stew is as easy as pie to prepare—you
assemble the ingredients in
a flash in the morning and return home
to a rich, warm, fragrant dish that is sure
to satisfy on any chilly winter night!
Notes from the Clean Food Coach
For faster preparation, use the manual pressure cooker setting on your
Instant Pot.
❶ Add 1 Tbs. olive oil to the instant pot, and set to sauté. Add beef, Italian
seasoning, cracked pepper, and salt, and brown meat lightly, turning frequently,
for 3–4 minutes. Transfer beef to a bowl to rest.
❷ Add onion, celery, and carrots to Instant Pot and sauté until onions begin
to soften. Stir in garlic, potatoes, and mushrooms, and gently turn everything
over a few times.
❸ Turn off the sauté function; drain and discard juices from the reserved
beef; and add meat to the Instant Pot. Add broth, tomato sauce, red wine,
and Worcestershire sauce, and stir gently to combine. Lock lid and set to
manual, high pressure for 35 minutes.
❹ In small bowl, combine cornstarch and water, and whisk with a fork until
dissolved. Set aside. Remove peas from freezer and set aside. When cook time
has completed, let the Instant Pot rest 10 minutes, then release pressure valve.
❺ Carefully remove lid, stir cornstarch slurry again and add to stew, stirring
gently about 30 seconds to thicken. Stir in peas, taste, and adjust seasoning,
if necessary.
make it!
Hearty Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Serves 8
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4 medium celery stalks, chopped
4 medium carrots, peeled and
chopped
1 lb. young red or purple potatoes,
unpeeled and chopped
6 oz. mixed wild mushrooms of
choice, sliced
1½ lbs. pounds stew beef (sirloin best)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
¾ tsp. salt, or to taste
1½ cups beef bone broth
1 14-oz. can tomato sauce
½ cup burgundy wine
2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs. cornstarch (or kudzu)
2 Tbs. water
1 cup frozen peas
1. In large slow cooker (at least
3.5 quarts), scatter onions, celery,
carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms.
Top with beef cubes, and sprinkle
garlic, Italian seasoning, cracked
pepper, and salt evenly over meat.
2. In medium bowl, combine bone
broth, tomato sauce, wine, and
Worcestershire sauce, and mix
gently to combine. Pour evenly
over meat and vegetables.
3. Cook on high about 4 hours, or on
low about 6 hours, until vegetables
are tender and meat is cooked
through, but not overdone.
4. In small bowl, combine cornstarch
and water, and whisk with fork until
dissolved. Remove slow cooker lid,
and stir in cornstarch slurry to thicken
stew slightly. Stir in peas. Taste, and
adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Per serving: 280 cal; 22g prot; 9g total fat
(3g sat fat); 25g carb; 60mg chol; 710mg
sod; 5g fiber; 7g sugar
Photo: Sławomir Fajer/adobestock.com