Category Archives: Food

Beef Daube (because everything sounds better in French)

If the words “beef stew” make you think of an unhealthy concoction in a can, you’re missing the boat! The French have long known that the cure for the winter blahs involves a bubbling pot of beef, slow cooking with vegetables, red wine, and stock. Pair this version of their traditional “Boeuf Daube” with a loaf of crusty bread and a bright green salad (one made with spinach, sliced oranges, and toasted walnuts in a citrus vinaigrette sounds about right) and you have the perfect dinner to warm you from the inside out. God bless the French.

Beef Daube
adapted from Cooking Light 2004 

serves 6

Ingredients 
1 Tbsp. olive oil
 3-4  garlic cloves, crushed
1  (2 lb.) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
 1  tsp. kosher  salt
 1/2  tsp.  freshly ground black pepper
 1  c.  red wine
 2  c. chopped carrot
 1 1/2  c.  chopped sweet onion
 1  c.  beef stock or beef broth
 1  Tbsp.  tomato paste 
1 tsp.   chopped fresh rosemary
 1  tsp.  chopped fresh thyme
 1  (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
 1  bay leaf 

3 c.   hot cooked whole wheat  noodles
Directions 
1. Preheat oven to 300°.
2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over low heat. Add garlic; cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon; set aside. 
3. Increase heat to medium-high and add beef to pan. Cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add garlic, beef, salt, pepper, carrot, and next 7 ingredients (through bay leaf); bring to a boil.
4. Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles.


Note: You can also make this in a slow cooker/crockpot. Simply complete steps 1-3 and transfer mixture to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for about 5 hours.
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Snow day = Soup day!

It’s a snowy day here…the kind that makes you want to cozy up inside, light a fire, and make something warm and nourishing for dinner using ingredients you have on hand. Soup fits the bill perfectly if you keep a reasonably well-stocked pantry. I always try to keep cans of beans and chicken broth on hand and chicken breasts in the freezer. You could always substitute a different kind of cheese or eliminate an herb or garnish if you don’t have it handy. But if you’re up for following a recipe,  here’s one of my favorites for you to try on your next snow day. I’m off to don my hat and mittens, retrieve my kindergartener from the bus and prepare for an afternoon of snow-themed fun!


White Chicken Chili 
adapted from Cooking Light 2004
 
serves 8

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 c. finely chopped onion
  • 2  garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1/2  tsp. dried oregano
  • 1  tsp. ground coriander
  • 2  (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chiles, undrained
  • 1  c.  water
  • 2  (15.5 oz.) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (I like Bush’s)
  • 1  (14 oz.) can chicken broth or chicken stock
  • 1/2  tsp. Tabasco sauce 
  • 1  c. (about 4 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • 1/2  c.  chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/2  c.  chopped green onions

Preparation

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; sauté 6 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cumin, dried oregano, and coriander; sauté 1 minute. Stir in chiles; reduce heat to low, and cook 10 minutes, partially covered. Add the chicken, water, cannellini beans, and broth; bring to a simmer. 

Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in hot sauce. Ladle 1 cup of chili into each of 8 bowls; sprinkle each serving with 2 tablespoons cheese, 1 tablespoon cilantro, and 1 tablespoon green onions.

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KISS-able Meals to Cook at Home

Everywhere I’ve been this week, people have been abuzz with talk of resolutions. I wrote earlier about how important it is to take it one step (or one bite!) at a time when it comes to tackling those long lists of commitments designed to build the “new you”. Taking on too much at once is a recipe for failure. So, we’ll tackle just one change at a time.
Even then, if we over-complicate the plan to change that one behavior, we’re doomed to fall short.  And when we fall short, we often just abandon the whole idea and go back to our old ways. So, to help you stay on track, I offer you one very important piece of advice.  
KISS – keep it simple, sweetheart.

Let’s look at an example. Imagine you’ve resolved to cook at home more often. Many MANY of my clients begin coaching programs with this goal in mind, and it’s one I wholeheartedly support. But here’s the thing. Cooking at home does not have to mean Gourmet Tuesday! In fact, I often tell people who are just beginning to cook at home that if it requires a recipe it’s probably too complicated for a weeknight! Seriously! K-I-S-S.

Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you’re on Day 2 of your New Year’s Resolution and to find inspiration, you’re flipping through the January issue of your favorite cooking magazine.  You see a meal that looks terrific. You decide to make it tonight, to begin your first week of “more cooking at home.” With side dishes, it involves three recipes, 24 ingredients (18 of which you don’t already have on hand), and several hours of prep time. Are you going to do this every night? Are you going to do this even ONCE?


So, how do we KISS this dinner? Like this:


Grilled salmon           (topped with chopped fresh herbs)
Baked sweet potato  (topped with a dollop of  Greek Yogurt)
Steamed broccoli      (drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil)


Now that’s a healthy meal you can prepare in about 15 minutes – and by doing the little things in parenthesis, which don’t even require a recipe, you can take the whole meal from good to great. You can cook this way routinely and save those delicious but complicated recipes for those days when you have more time to devote to playing in the kitchen.


Try it. Test me. See if you can cook at home more often without even getting out a cookbook. Discover for yourself that simple is better. And when you do? You might just want to kiss me.

 

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