Low Calorie Recipe for Diet Wise Beef Stew
by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
Yummy, yummy in the tummy - and the great thing about our Beef Stew recipe is that it won't pack a plethora of calories into the tummy.
The photo below was taken while the beef stew was still piping hot - but please note that I am a nature photographer - not a food photographer so my photo may not do this delicious low calorie recipe justice.
Although the beef stew can be put together in about 10 minutes, allow an additional thirty minutes for it to 'stew' on top of the stove top. The entire pot contains about 700 calories and will feed about 6-8 people generously. While the stew is cooking, I generally mix up some cornbread muffins and spoon them into a tiny tassie pan which doubles the recipe and keeps calories down at the table. Instead of 6 large corn muffins - I have 12 little muffins that are fun to eat.
I keep it simple by using the muffin mix sold in packs at the local market. Martha White makes a delicious sweet yellow corn muffin mix that contains only 80 calories per muffin when baked in the tassie pan. And the tassie pan allows me to cook the tiny muffins in the toaster oven while the stew is finishing up.
Ingredients for Sky's Low Calorie Beef Stew
- - 2 small extra lean beef cutlets OR about 3/4 cup of chopped lean beef
- - 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
- - 1/2 cup of chopped onions & celery (celery is optional and I use a frozen mix)
- - 1/2 bag of carrots, tops removed, then sliced into large chunks
- - 4 large potatoes, peeled & cut into large chunks
- - 4-6 beef bullion cubes
- - 3 to 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch (or flour)
- - just a dash of dried basil (optional)
In a deep pot, add olive oil and heat until warm. Add beef and chopped onion/celery mix. Cook until almost done taking care to scrape any beef drippings off the sides of the pot. Add about 3 cups of water and the chunky carrots. Allow to cook until the carrots are 1/2 way done then add the basil, the chopped potatoes and 4 beef bullion cubes (add more bullion if you like prefer a beefy stew). Beef granules may also be used.
Add water so that it covers the potatoes about 1 inch.
As a note, the reason that I cook the carrots 1/2 way through before adding the potatoes is that it takes the carrots much longer to cook than the potatoes. If you enjoy your potatoes extra done, they can be added to the stew with the carrots. But if you enjoy a firm and tender potato, add them after the carrots cook to the half-way point.
In a small deep bowl, measure out 3-4 Tablespoons of the cornstarch, depending upon how thick that you like your beef stew. Next, add a bit of water then stir. If you have never worked with cornstarch, it will break loose after a few stirs and dissolve completely. I prefer cornstarch to flour as it doesn't clump and is much less likely to stick to the bottom of the pot.
When potatoes are tender, pour in the cornstarch and stir until a thick gravy forms. You're done!
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