Braised Beef with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
The Good Carb Cookbook Copyright 2001
1 pound extra-lean stew beef
½ cup water
1/3 cup dry red wine
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons instant beef bouillon granules
¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 cups halved fresh mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1. Rinse the meat with cool water and pat it dry with paper towels. Set aside. Place the water, wine, brown sugar, rosemary, bouillon granules, and black pepper in a small bowl, stir to mix well, and set aside.
2. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and preheat over medium-high heat. Add the meat and cook, stirring frequently, for several minutes or until the meat is nicely browned. Remove the skillet from the heat, add the mushrooms, onions and sun-dried tomatoes, and stir it mix well. Add the wine mixture and stir to mix well.
3. Cover the skillet with aluminum foil and bake at 325 degrees for 1 ½ hours or until the meat is very tender. My meat was perfectly tender after 1 1/4 hours.
4. Serve hot over brown rice, noodles or whole-wheat couscous, if desired. Sprinkle some of the parsley over each serving.
Yield: 4 servings Per serving: 213 calories, 12 g carbs, 64 mg chol, 4.2 g fat, 2 g fiber, 28 g protein, 391 mg sodium, 32 mg calcium
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The Good Carb Cookbook is a picture-less, rather plain informational cookbook but the recipes look surprisingly good. This first recipe surely was a winner. The only negative was that there was hardly any liquid when this was done cooking. I cooked it the day before and I just added more water when I reheated it and that worked out fine. If you were eating it right away, the lack of liquid would probably not be a real problem.
I had a problem outside of the recipe - my noodles tasted stale. This is the third time I've had a stale pasta product recently. The whole-wheat couscous, some Dreamfields macaroni and now these whole wheat egg noodles. None of the products were expired or even close to it. And because I didn't know the noodles were stale-tasting until after I cooked them, I combined what was left in the bag with another partial bag of the same noodles. Now I'll have to toss them all. I'd take them back but I don't think I kept the bag from the stale noodles. Grrrrrr.
A Blast From The Past: Old-Time Beef Stew from February 2006. Another one of my favorites but much heavier than this recipe.
Question of the Day: Do you return 'bad' grocery products?
7 comments:
That sounds delicious, Paula (except for the stale noodles part LOL).
I don't return stuff to the grocery store. I really should but on the occasions that I have bought something 'off' I either couldn't be bothered driving 20 minutes back to the shops then another 20 minutes home again or I was just too much of a chicken - a case of "but what if they don't believe me?" I'm getting better at standing up for myself but sometimes it's too hard.
Gosh... stale pasta. I didn't know that existed! But then again, with whole grain products it makes sense.
I've never returned a "bad" product to the grocery store. It's too much of a hassle, and I usually forget, lose the receipt, or both. But it doesn't prevent me from getting irritated and griping about it! LOL!!
I usually don't return things to the grocery store unless it is REALLY bad or I got the wrong thing! I've found that whole wheat pasta tends to taste a little stale faster than regular pasta. However, I will continue using it...I don't really use it that often anyway. Not a huge pasta fan.
I certainly do. Not necessarily rush right back, but on my next shopping trip. I gather grocery receipts for a charity so usually have it if I need it (they only get handed in four times per year). I have brought back mealy apples, gristly meat, cod that had worms in it. Bagged salad mix that had cabbage shreds so bitter you couldn't eat it. I pay premium dollar for my groceries and rarely is there a problem returning something that had a bona fide problem.
"I didn't care for it" and "too mealy to eat" are different, in my book.
I don't do it on a regular basis, but one night my husband stopped on his way home from work and bought a bag of shredded cheese that I had forgotten to get. The expiration was several months away. As soon as he brought it in, I opened it and dumped the whole thing into my mixing bowl (that already had the rest of the ingredients in it). The cheese was moldy and now was touching everything. I was furious! I told DH to go back and get a refund plus a new bag of cheese since it ruined my entire dinner and none of the food was edible. He said he would return it, but they wouldn't replace it at no charge. So, I took it up there myself and walked out with a refund and new bag of cheese at no cost! I think the look on my face was enough for the customer service lady not to argue with me! It ruined my dinner and I was seriously pissed!
My husband threw and entire 12 pack of beer out the car window after he opened one up and it was stale. I guess it would have been more like 10 or 11 going out the window. No, he wasn't driving, it was before I met him, and it was before all the open container laws were passed.
I definitely return bad products. The stores are always very understanding, and you don't even need your receipt.
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