Beef Stew with Bacon & Vegetables

I’ve known for a few days that it was going to be cold today. And by cold, I don’t mean “Waaahhh, a coat ruins this outfit,” I mean “I am legitimately concerned for my extremities.”

As much as I complain about the cold, I can’t help but love the excuse to spend a day next to the stove. Yesterday, when the weather wasn’t so frostbitey, I planned in advance and bought the ingredients I needed to make a lovely slow-cooked beef stew.

This recipe makes a lot—and by “a lot,” I mean “Hey, East Coast, I’ve got enough for all of you!” Nah, just kidding—but this recipe definitely yields enough for 8-10 cold, hungry people! And it has plenty of healthy vegetables, which I think makes up for the fact that bacon fat is the key to the best flavor.


Beef Stew with Bacon & Vegetables

4-5 slices of thick-cut streaky bacon, sliced into ½” pieces
1.5 lbs. chuck steak, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large onion, diced
3 leafy stalks celery, diced, leaves set aside
3-4 carrots, diced
3 juicy tomatoes, diced
2-3 c. dry red wine
1 32-oz. box organic low-sodium beef broth*
1-2 turnips, diced
3-4 red potatoes, diced
1 large bunch kale, ribs removed, leaves torn into pieces
1 t. dried thyme (or half the amount fresh)
1 t. crumbled dried sage leaves (or 3 fresh leaves, minced)
½ t. ground ginger
½ t. garlic powder
1 lb. green beans, sliced into 1-inch lengths
Smoked sea salt, to taste
Cracked black pepper, to taste


Before you even start chopping, make sure you have a huge pot (I used my 6.75 quart Le Creuset risotto pot). Otherwise, you’re screwed.

Just before adding the liquid

Once your pot is ready, add the bacon over medium heat and cook it until the fat is melted away and the meaty bits are cooked but not burnt. Then, add the beef chunks and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes until the beef chunks are mostly browned. Then, add the onion, carrots, and celery stalk (make sure to keep the leaves separate and set them aside—they will be added later). Cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened a bit.

Next, add the tomatoes (I added a few yellow cherry tomatoes, as you can see in the photo) and 1 cup of the wine. Turn the heat to high, and cook until the wine has reduced and most of the liquid has evaporated.

Now, add one more cup of wine and the beef broth, the turnips, potatoes, and kale, and the thyme, sage, ginger, and garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the kale is completely wilted, add the green beans. If it seems dry, add the remaining wine (if you don’t need to add it, you should probably drink it). Cook for about 5 minutes until the green beans are cooked, then add the smoked sea salt and the cracked pepper. Give it a few good stirs until it is well-blended, then serve piping hot. This dish will stick to your bones!


* If you use pre-made beef broth, make sure to use low-sodium, and preferably organic. Of course, if you have your own beef broth, even better!

Not the prettiest, but it's wicked good!

Chicken Soup for the Sinuses

Two days in a row without cooking?  Not cool, I know.  I'm not feeling so hot tonight.  Nothing sounds good, and I could have gone to bed at 7:30 and slept through the night.  But, I need to eat something; if I go to bed hungry, I'll wake up in the middle of the night even hungrier and won't fall asleep until I eat. 

Because I feel like I may be fighting off a cold or a sinus infection, I'll share some of my go-to foods that I eat when I'm sick:  Pastini in chicken broth, Bolthouse Farms Carrot Juice, Traditional Medicinals Lemon Echinacea Throat Coat Tea, Ceres Apricot Juice, and boiled white rice with butter and chile flakes. Each of these foods and drinks is either nutrient-dense or calorie-dense - after all, being dehydrated and malnourished will delay the recovery process.

Pastini in Chicken Broth
1 clove garlic
1 cup chicken broth
1T. pastini
splash lemon juice

Smash the garlic clove with the flat edge of a knife.  Peel the papery skin off the garlic and add the smashed clove to the chicken broth in a small saucepan.  Bring the chicken broth to a boil.  When broth is boiling, add pastini and cook until it is slightly overdone.  Pour into a bowl, add a splash of lemon juice, and eat while it's steaming hot. 

Variation - if you're really sick, add a handful of cubed silken tofu to the chicken broth - it contains a lot of nutrition, including protein, and the texture won't irritate a sore throat.