Recipe Rehab Comfort Food Beef Stew Recipes #RecipeRehab #Sponsored #mc #Beef

We have been making comfort foods all fall and winter. This truly has been the longest, coldest winter since living here in Southern Illinois. We've been cooking our favorite comfort foods and are always on the look out for new recipes to cook, too! How about you? Have you been cooking your favorite comfort foods this winter? What are some of your family favorites? I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for the Certified Angus Beef® brand. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Have you ever watched the show Recipe Rehab on CBS? If so what do you think about the show? We love how the two chefs take family favorite meals, most of which are high-calorie and not so healthy, and transform them into lower calorie, healthier versions. Once they alter the recipe, the family then makes the two recipes and decide which is their favorite. 

This post is all about trying two of the Recipe Rehab's Certified Angus Beef® brand Beef Stew makeover recipes on my family. We voted for our favorite recipe and the winning recipe will be announced on Saturday February 15th during the award-winning Recipe Rehab show on CBS. 

Our family didn't try the original makeover recipe but I do know that a beef stew can rack up the calories, especially fat calories and easily top 1000 calories per serving. 

The two Recipe Rehab recipes where very healthy recipes and ranged from 364-552 calories per serving. That is perfect for a complete comfort food healthy meal. Do you try and cook healthy recipes for your family? Have you ever given a makeover on one of your not so healthy family favorites? There are a lot of ways to overhaul recipes to cut out extra fat and calories. We love what they did with both of the Certified Angus Beef® - Beef Stew recipes.

The two recipes we tried were Beef Stew with Barley and Hearty Beef Stew. Both recipes were enjoyed by my family for different reasons. A few didn't like the mushrooms but they know to pick them out as well as the one person who doesn't like carrots. We loved all of the veggies in the recipes. Everyone LOVED how tender and tasty the beef was to eat in both recipes. 

We loved how tasty, hearty, and healthy the recipes were. Out of the two, my family loved the Beef Stew with Barley the most. We hope you give them a try and see which is your favorite. Check out the links above for more beef recipes!

Here is our family favorite Beef Stew with Barley recipe:

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds Certified Angus Beef ^® sirloin tip, cut into 1 1/2-in. chunks
• 1 pound crimini or button mushrooms, cleaned
• 2 cups fresh spinach, rough chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon or large pinch of kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 1/2 cups (or half a bottle) pinot noir
• 3 cups low sodium beef stock
• 1 large bay leaf
• 1/2 cup quick cooking barley
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Add mushrooms, spinach, garlic, tomato paste, thyme and oregano to food processor. Pulse lightly until vegetables are roughly diced and mixture comes together.
3. Pat cubed meat with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture; this helps beef brown when seared. Season beef with salt. In large Dutch oven or pot on medium-high heat, add one tbsp. olive oil. Working in batches so as not to crowd the pot, brown beef a few minutes on each side. With slotted spoon, remove browned beef and reserve.
4. Add remaining olive oil to Dutch oven, and then the diced onion, carrots and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and add mushroom mixture, mixing well with wooden spoon. Place meat back in pan; then add the wine and stock (liquid should cover meat and vegetables). Add bay leaf, cover pot and place in lower part of the oven. Cook for 40 minutes.
5. While beef is stewing, add barley and 2 cups water to a medium pot. Bring barley and water to a boil; lower heat and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Strain any excess liquid.
6. After 40 minutes, remove pot from oven and stir cooked barley into stew. Return pot to oven so stew can continue to cook 10 more minutes, or if time permits, up to an hour. The longer stew cooks, the more tender the beef will become.
7. Serve stew in a shallow bowl and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 552

Fat: 25 g

Saturated Fat: 10 g

Cholesterol: 142 mg

Carbohydrate: 25 g

Dietary Fiber: 5 g

Protein: 46 g

Sodium: 367 mg

Iron: 5% of Daily Value

Hearty Beef Stew

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds Certified Angus Beef ^® sirloin tip, trimmed of excess fat, cut in 3/4 – 1-in. cubes, and patted dry on paper towels
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 5 cups no-salt-added beef broth
• Canola oil spray
• 1 pound yellow onions, diced in 3/4-in. pieces
• 1 pound baby carrots
• 6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and quartered
• 1 cup dry white wine (sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio)
• 6 celery stalks, cut into 3/4-in. pieces
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 ounces tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, minced (or 1 tsp. dried)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 pound cauliflower, cut into florets
• 8 ounces fat free sour cream
• 8 pinch fleur de sel

Instructions

1. In 2-quart mixing bowl, whisk flour and beef broth together until any lumps are gone.
2. Spray pot or Dutch oven (6-quart) with oil and place on medium-high heat. When pot is heated, brown beef in three batches, adding more spray for each batch. Do not overcrowd pot; its bottom should be visible.
3. Spray nonstick sauté pan with oil and heat on medium high. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown and soft. Remove from pan and reserve; repeat with carrots, cooking until browned.
4. Once beef is browned, add mushrooms to Dutch oven and cook for 1 minute. Add wine; cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
5. Return browned beef to Dutch oven; add caramelized onions and carrots, as well as celery, garlic, tomato paste, thyme leaves, bay leaves and ground pepper. Stir in flour and beef stock mixture.
6. Bring pot to a simmer, then reduce to low heat and cook for 45 minutes, or up to 2 hours if time permits. (The longer the stew simmers, the more tender the beef will become.) While stew is simmering, occasionally check it and skim any excess fat from the top.
7. Bring 4 quarts water to a simmer in large pot. Place cauliflower florets in simmering water and cook 8 minutes or until tender. Drain and keep cauliflower warm.
8. Remove stew from heat and stir in lemon juice. Divide cauliflower equally among 8 bowls, then ladle stew over cauliflower. Garnish each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with small pinch of fleur de sel.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 364

Fat: 9 g

Saturated Fat: 3 g

Cholesterol: 89 mg

Carbohydrate: 29 g

Dietary Fiber: 6 g

Protein: 37 g

Sodium: 549 mg

Iron: 4% of Daily Value

Do you have a family favorite stew recipe? Is it healthy? Can you give it a makeover if it isn't? What do you think you could cut out or what would you replace? Check out the ingredients in these two recipes and maybe you can get some ideas on what to cut out or add. 

We found that using Certified Angus Beef ^® made a huge taste difference in both the recipes. The meat was tender, flavorful and didn't dry out being baked or cooked on the stove top. Some ingredients can't be replaced or shouldn't be replace in a recipe. If you have any questions on what you should cut out let me know in the comments and I'll try and help!