I'm sorry I haven't gotten anything posted in a few days. Things have been a little bit crazy here and our internet connection has been a bit screwy. Today I will post the recipes that I had intended to post over the last few days. They are all healthy, low calorie, diabetes friendly and most importantly, D-licious. Here they are.
Venison Stew
This stew is very easy to prepare but it does take several hours in a crock pot or large pot on the stove at a simmer to really get the meat tender. It would work just as well using beef but I happened to have venison on hand and it's much leaner. You will want to brown your meat in a skillet on the stove before you add it to your crock pot. It will have much more flavor this way. Turn your crock pot to high before you start your meat on the stove.
2 lb. venison or beef stew meat
3 Tbs. canola oil
1c. beef stock
1 c. dry red wine or beer
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic
2 large onions
5 carrots
2 ribs of celery
2 large sweet potatoes
salt and pepper
cornstarch ( if necessary to thicken)
Place canola oil into a large skillet over medium high heat. As the oil heats dry your meat with a paper towel then salt and pepper your meat and add it to your skillet when the oil is hot. You may need to do this in more than one batch depending on the size of your skillet. You don't want to overcrowd your skillet or the meat will steam instead of browning. You want to brown your meat quickly on all sides then transfer it to your crock pot. Once your meat is in the crock pot add your wine or beer, stock, garlic and bay leaves. Cook the meat on high for one hour then turn the crock pot down to low. Let it simmer for about two more hours. When the meat starts to feel tender turn the heat back to high and chop your onions, carrots and celery. You want them fairly chunky. Add them to the meat and cook on high for about another hour, until the vegetables begin to get tender. Once the vegetables begin to feel tender cut up your sweet potatoes into bite size pieces and add them to the rest of the stew. Once the sweet potatoes are tender, about a half hour, your stew is ready. If you feel that it is a little to watery then in a small bowl mix a rounded tablespoon of cornstarch with a little bit of cold water and stir until the cornstarch dissolves Add the mixture to the stew and bring the stew to a simmer. This will thicken your stew. Serve the stew in deep bowls with some crusty whole grain bread.
Enjoy!
Rice Pudding
This is a fairly typical rice pudding recipe except that I swapped a couple of regular ingredients for lower calorie/carb ones. Almond milk has less than half of the calories in skim milk and has only 2 or 3 grams of carbs (depending on brand) per cup. While it's cooking you can add different flavors if you prefer. I used vanilla but it would work well with almond or coconut flavors too. Whatever appeals to you.
1/3c. medium or short grain rice (brown rice works as well as white rice it just takes longer to cook.)
2 c. unsweetened almond milk
1/4c. sugar substitute. I like Splenda or other sucralose sweetener
a few drops of vanilla
Bring your almond milk to a boil in a saucepan then add your rice and reduce heat to a simmer. Add your sweetener and simmer, stirring frequently until the rice has absorbed most of the milk and the rice is very tender and the mixture is thickening and creamy. If most of the milk has absorbed and the rice isn't quite soft then add a little more milk and continue to simmer. This process will take about a half an hour for white rice and about an hour and a half for brown rice. Once the pudding has reached your desired consistency remove it from the heat and pour it into a bowl. Add your vanilla and stir to combine. Let the pudding cool for about a half an hour on the counter then move it to the refrigerator to cool completely.
Pico de Gallo
This recipe is a fresh salsa that is very easy to make and is great served with baked corn chips, veggies or atop a chicken breast or baked potato.
2 large tomatoes
1 onion
1/2 green bell pepper
2 large cloves garlic
1 or 2 serrano peppers, depending on how spicy you want it
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbl. chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
Finely chop the tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, serrano pepper and garlic and place in a large bowl. Add lime juice, chopped cilantro and salt and pepper. Stir mixture together and place in refrigerator for a few hours to chill and for flavors to combine.
Guacamole
This recipe combines a couple of mashed up avocados and some of the Pico de Gallo from the recipe above.
2 avocados
1/2 c. Pico de Gallo
Halve two avocados. Remove pits. Remove all of the avocado flesh from the avocado skin using a spoon. Mash the avocado flesh (a potato masher works great) then add the Pico de Gallo and mix to combine. Serve as a dip or sandwich spread. It's fantastic.
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