I’m not a chef. Like, at all. Even though I went to hospitality school for four years and worked in the restaurant industry, I just didn’t get pumped about cooking. But then baby H came along, I was home a lot more often, Christian and I focused more on clean eating, and we started meal planning.
Oh, and we bought a new house with the BIGGEST kitchen island ever. Seriously, my kitchen makes my heart happy.
So, here is my first ever recipe post – something that I thought I would NEVER do. Ironically, my hubby cooked this tonight so I could go shopping and have some me time, so he gets the credit. But who’s counting, right?
This is recipe is from the 21 Day Fix Extreme Eating Plan. It just felt so appropriate for a Sunday night dinner on a cold day.
Beef and Butternut Squash Stew
(Yields approximately 6 servings)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 lbs raw lean beef stew meat, boneless (cut into 2-inch cubes)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup low-sodium organic beef broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp sea salt or Himalayan salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 cups cubed butternut squash
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (we did 1/2 cilantro and 1/2 parsley)
Directions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Add beef; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until beef is brown.
- Add onion and bell peppers; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
- Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.
- Add tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce Heat to medium-low; cook, covered for 40 minutes.
- Add squash; cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 12 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and beef is fork-tender **
- Remove bay leaf; serve topped with parsley.
**we found this wasn’t enough time to fully cook the squash, so would recommend either pre-steaming your squash, OR adding it in at least 15 minutes earlier than recommended above.
happy healthy huggetts 