Good Idea #18: A Secret Ingredient

Before today I had never, ever heard of adding cinnamon to beef stew.  But I heard it this morning on a morning show cooking segment and I thought I might as well give it a try for dinner tonight.  Well.  Let me tell you.  If you didn't know about this little secret already you simply must try it.  Also, this dish happens to be super healthy.  Bonus.

I didn't have all the ingredients that were used in the TV segment so I had to improvise a little.  We're on a budget around here so we use what we have.  Click below to keep reading and see what I did.

I cut up one medium sized steak into bite sized pieces and browned them in a small pan with light olive oil.  In our wonderful jumbo pan (one of the best kitchen purchases we've ever made) I sauteed chopped onions in a little bit of butter until they started to brown.  I added chopped potatoes (skins on), carrots, a little celery, and a whole ton of mushrooms.  Then I added the browned beef and let that all brown up for a little bit.

I spiced this all up with some thyme (my favorite, especially on red meat), a little garlic powder (in lieu of fresh garlic), a bunch of pepper and of course a healthy dash of cinnamon.  I didn't add any salt at all.  I failed mention this fact to my salt-loving husband and he didn't go running for the salt shaker when he tasted it so I know this must have been an okay decision. 

Once I felt like this had all gotten a chance to mingle I added some juices.  I poured in a can of chicken broth (sodium-free) because it was all I had, I of course would have used beef broth if I had had it.  I chopped up a tomato that I happened to have lying around and threw it in.  I would have put in more or even a whole can of diced tomatoes if I had one.  And finally something else I hadn't added to a beef stew before, pasta sauce.  I didn't have any tomato paste or other kind of tomato sauce so I added about a quarter of a can of a pretty plain cheap sauce and it turned out thick and juicy and wonderful.  The combination of tomato and cinnamon gave off a surprisingly mouth-watering aroma.

You could definitely alter this recipe to make a true soup out of it but I opted to let it all cook down nice and thick.  There wasn't a lot of liquid to begin with so I just left it covered on medium heat for about another half hour.  Meanwhile I cooked up a little pot of brown rice without salt or butter.  I might have used whole grain couscous if I had it, but the brown rice ended up being really delicious.  Once all this was done I just spooned out the beef and veggies along with some sauce onto the rice in bowls.  The rice soaked the liquid right up, so you can feel free to go a little overboard with it. 

We devoured a whole lot of this tonight and there is still just enough left over for lunch tomorrow.  I can't wait to try variations on this stew, especially using butternut squash or sweet potatoes.  Yum!