Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Give Me Some Meat!


It was 3am this morning and BOING! My eyes popped wide open with only one thing on my mind. Meat, meat and more meat. Frisky ladies get your minds out of the gutter! I'm talking about red meat, and the redder the better. Brace yourselves vegetarians, I'm going to go out on a limb here for a minute. You might quiver, but please hear me out.

During my course at Integrative Nutrition and in the journey I've embarked on to figure out my own body (it's needs, it's likes and it's utter disappointments), I have learned quite a few things. One of which is that eating in harmony with the seasons is as essential to my health as getting the vitamin D that is severly lacking in the winter. In the past years, by the time February arrived, I found myself feeling sluggish, depressed and diagnosed anemic. Sound familiar? This baffeled me for some time. I mean, I ate really well (so I said to myself). Lot's of salads, lean protein, minimal animal products, tons of veggies, took vitamins, dotted my i's, crossed my t's. You get the point! But how could I have felt so poor? And HOW on earth could I have been anemic when I ate greens every day? Well, what I've come to learn is that this is a fantastic diet when it's warm out and when my body needs to detoxify, cool itself off and lighten up! But fast forward to the present =====> it is winter...and here I am,...freezing cold in Chicago and getting woken up from dreams of grass fed beef.

We are all different. We have different bodies, blood types and physical stature. (Not to mention hair color, sense of humor and preference of Leno vs. Letterman). So why would we expect for one diet to work for us all? When you shopped for a wedding dress/tuxedo, did you buy it off the rack and walk away with the perfect fit? OR did you decide which one you liked and pass it on to the professionals to make it fit you like a glove? More on this

So what did I make after being jolted out of a deep sleep with meat on my mind? Well, stout braised beef stew, of course.

Serves 4-6

1 pound of stew beef, cut into 1/2 inch chunks.
1 small yellow onion, diced
4 small/medium carrots, roughly chopped
1/2 daikion radish, roughly chopped (optional - Daikon radish is great for breaking down fats)
3 celery stalks, thinly chopped
1 large potato of your choice, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup of wheat flour (gluten free, omit the flour or substitute with GF flour)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 cups of beef broth
1 cup of good stout beer (gluten free omit stout, no biggie)
olive oil

1. Season the wheat flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Toss beef around in flour to coat, shaking off excess.
2.Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot. Add carrots, celery and onions. Saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until vegetables soften.
2. Remove vegetables from the pot and set aside. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the pot, add the beef and saute over medium heat, turn beef to brown on all sides. About 5 minutes.
3. Add vegetables back into the pot. Add the beer, stock, potatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, partially cover and reduce to a simmer.
4. Simmer for approximately an hour, or until beef is tender and broth has thickened.