As we were preparing for the biggest snow storm of 2010 here on the east coast (although I must chuckle as a Norwegian at what they call ‘a lot of snow’ here), I felt it appropriate to prepare a stew like dish last night to warm us up. My husband is the most fabulous cook of them all, and sometimes I can convince him to cook some healthy foods of which he did!  We decided to make a delicious, spicy beef stew – using eye of round (a very lean red meat) and root vegetables. Turnips, carrots, potatoes and rutabaga, all great vegetables this time of year. We marinated the meat with red wine and mustard overnight and also used red wine in the stew along with beef broth and a herb sachet of thyme, rosemary and bay leaves.  Some aleppo pepper and red pepper flakes added some heat and as a side dish we made mashed potatoes. YES, you can have some and still be good, just make sure that it’s a measured, limited amount (I eat about 1/2 cup) and mine does not include any butter, but nonfat milk with a couple of tbsp of non fat half and half and some parmesan cheese, which is very low in fat but super flavorful. You wouldn’t believe how tasty the final product was! And will be even better today should we decide to dip into the pot again. Here it is on the stove, getting ready before going into the oven for about 3 hours:

While we are on the topic of delicious dinners, one of my favorite fall / winter dishes is one of Jillian Michael’s recipes from her online diet plan; grilled pork chops with an autumn glaze of orange juice, apple juice, honey and cranberry relish with roasted cauliflower and a baked sweet potato. Yum! We spiced our pork chops up with sumak, one of my favorite spices. Definition of sumak from the Food Lover’s Dictionary:

The brick- to dark purple-red berries of a decorative bush that grows wild throughout the Middle East and in parts of Italy. Sumac, which is sold ground or in its dried-berry form, has a pleasantly fruity, astringent taste that complements everything from fish to meat to vegetables. Sumac can be found in Middle Eastern markets.

Here are our sumak spiced pork chops getting ready in the pan:

And here’s our finished dish which I finished in no time!