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Goulash Soup with Red Peppers and Cabbage

Slightly adapted from kalynskitchen.com

Makes 6 servings

Per serving

½ Lean protein serving

3 condiments

½ fat serving

2 vegetable servings

Ingredients:

1 cup sliced green spring onions

1 tsp. finely minced garlic

1 T olive oil

1 T sweet Hungarian Paprika (I recommend Penzeys)

1 T hot Hungarian Paprika (I recommend Penzeys)

1/2 tsp. crushed caraway seed (optional)

4 cups homemade or canned beef stock

3 cups roasted tomatoes or 2 cans(14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes

2 cups finely diced cabbage

1 ¼ lb. lean ground beef (ground chuck is best)

1 jar (12 oz.) roasted red peppers, diced into 1 inch pieces

Instructions:

Heat large heavy frying pan, add oil, and saute onions about 5 minutes, until barely starting to color. Add garlic and saute 2 minutes more, then add paprika and caraway if using and saute 1 minute more.

Put onion/spice mixture into large soup pot. Deglaze pan with 1 cup of beef stock, then add that and rest of beef stock to soup pot. Add roasted tomatoes, cabbage and 2 cups water to soup pot and start to simmer.

Brown ground beef in frying pan until quite brown, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. When browned add to soup pot. Let simmer on very low heat one hour. (Taste for seasoning and add more paprika if desired. I personally think you can never have too much paprika in a soup like this.)
After one hour, add diced red peppers and simmer one hour more.  Serve hot.

Southwest Pot Roast

slightly adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Makes 6 servings

Per serving

1 Lean protein

3 condiments

3 lb. boneless chuck roast, trimmed of visible fat

1 can reduced sodium beef broth

½ cup plus three tablespoons of your favorite salsa (I used Pace Picante Sauce – mild – you can  choose salsa with less than 2 grams sugar per serving)

2 teaspoons steak rub (I like Pride of Szeged Steak Rub)

10 sprays non-stick pan spray

Put beef broth in a small saucepan, removing any fat that has collected on top in the can. Boil until the broth is reduced to 1/2 cup.

While beef broth is reducing, trim all visible fat from chuck roast. You may need to cut the roast into several pieces to remove big pockets of fat. Rub pot roast on all side with steak rub (or your favorite seasonings for steak.) Heat pan spray in heavy frying pan (pans that aren’t nonstick will give the best browning.) Brown roast well on all sides. Don’t rush this step because browning provides flavor, and I think it’s especially important in crockpot cooking.

When roast is browned on all sides, put pieces of meat in crockpot, arranging them in a single layer. Pour reduced beef broth into frying pan and use a metal turner to scrape off any carmelized bits from the browned meat. Add ½ of the salsa and stir into broth, then pour salsa/beef broth mixture over pot roast.

Cook on high for one hour, then turn to low and cook 3-4 more hours, or until meat is very tender when pierced with a fork. (You could also cook for a longer time on low setting. If you don’t have a slow cooker, cook in a heavy dutch oven on stovetop at lowest setting for 2-3 hours.) Remove meat from crockpot and pour sauce into small saucepan. (If there is a lot of fat on top of the sauce, spoon it off or use a fat separator to remove the fat. You may not need to do this if you did a good job trimming.) Put meat back into crockpot to keep warm, then add remaining ½ of the salsa to the sauce and simmer.

Pork Paprika

Makes 6 servings

Per serving

½ Lean protein serving

2 vegetables

3 condiments

1 ¼ pounds pork loin

1 T + 2 teaspoons sweet paprika (use Hungarian or Spanish paprika in a tin for best flavor)

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper for seasoning pork

10 sprays non-stick pan spray

8-12 oz. crimini or white mushrooms, washed and cut into thick slices

1 cup green spring onion, finely chopped

1 T finely minced garlic

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried caraway seeds, ground or crushed (optional, but good)

1 can petite dice tomatoes plus juice (14.5 oz. can)

1/2 cup chicken stock (I used my homemade chicken stock)

2/3 cup plain low fat greek yogurt
Trim all visible fat from pork chops or pork loin roast, then cut meat into cubes about 1 inch square. Put pork in a bowl and toss with 1 T sweet paprika, salt, and fresh ground black pepper.

Heat heavy frying pan w non-stick cooking spray.  Brown pork over medium-high heat, turning several times so all sides are nicely browned, about 5-6 minutes. Remove pork to another dish and add a few more sprays to the pan, add sliced mushrooms and cook until nicely browned and all liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes more. Remove mushrooms to same dish with the pork.

Add a chopped onion and cook until just starting to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Then add minced garlic, other 1 T paprika, dried thyme, and ground or crushed caraway seeds (if using) and cook about 1-2 minutes. Add petite diced tomatoes with juice and chicken stock, bring to a simmer, and cook about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is slightly thickened and flavors are well-blended.

After 10 minutes add the browned pork cubes and mushrooms back into the pan, cover and simmer about 10 minutes more, or until pork is hot and cooked through. Turn off heat, stir in greek yogurt and serve hot.