Azorean Beef Stew

Last week I wanted to make something in the crockpot and had some stewing beef and was searching for a recipe. I knew the perfect place to go and I found something that I thought looked and sounded delicious. I was right, and so was the Crockpot lady Stephanie, this dish is yummy!
Stephanie adapted a recipe from fellow foodie Sean at Hedonia to come up with this recipe for Azorean Spiced Beef Stew in the crockpot. I will definitely be trying the original recipe on the stovetop!!
The whole family enjoyed this, and so we'll definitely be making it again. The cinnamon was not overpowering at all. I did omit the "heat" from the original recipes because as usual we can't handle the heat! If you like spicier foods, you might want to add the cayenne ;) We're sissies!!
I made a few changes, tweaked it to our family's tastebuds... so the nutritional values arecalculated using my version.


Ingredients
(makes 4 servings)

100 ml cornstarch
2 tsp olive oil
1 lb chuck beef, trimmed and cubed
2 cups beef broth
5 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
3 green onions, chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 red potatoes (approx 300 gr), washed, unpeeled, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp allspice
1 bay leaf
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cinnamon stick

DIrections
- In a bowl toss beef with cornstarch to coat cubes.
- Heat oil in a killet and brown beef until brown on all sides
- Add all ingredients to the crockpot mix and cover.
- Cook on low for 7 hours, then on high for 30 minutes. (* times may vary depending of crockpot)
- Discard bay leaf and cinnamon stick and serve.

Nutritional Data
1 serving
7 WW points
330.9 cal
10.2 g fat
73.7 mg cholesterol
33.3 g carbs
2.8 g fiber
1.5 g sugars
26.1 g protein

Chicken Cannelloni

I will warn you now, this recipe is time consuming, but delicious. It is easy to split into 2 parts over 2 days so that you don't spend too much time in the kitchen... if you have kids hanging around you, you'll for sure want to split it over 2 days (that is what I did).
I made the chicken filling on one night, refigerated it and stuffed and cooked the shells the following evening. They turned out delicious, and were eaten by all 3 of my harsh critics... another vitory for Mama Tomata!!

In case you are wondering, Cannelloni and Manicotti are the same thing. Therefore, if you have manicotti shells, you can use them ;) In Europe it is called Cannelloni and in the States they call it Manicotti.


This recipe makes 18 rolls, 3 per person. If you do not want to make 6 servings... you can easily freeze the stuffing for later use. Or if you wish to stuff a different kind of pasta, the nutritional values for stuffing only are also provided below.

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced red pepper
1/3 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrot
2 garlic cloves
1 lb chicken breast, boiled and shredded
1 cup fat free chicken broth
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 tsp Greek seasoning *
salt and pepper to taste
2 egg whites
1 cup Ricotta cheese **
1 jar of Tomato & basil pasta sauce (500g)
1 jar of passata (tomoto puree) (400 g / 14 oz)
1 cup water
1 cup part-skim mozzarella, grated
1/4 cup fresh parmesan, shredded
18 small cannelloni rolls, not cooked! (I used the Barilla brand and their cooking time)

Here's to give you an idea of the size of the canneloni I used (each roll is 10 g)

Directions
- Preheat oven to 180 C
- Heat oil in a large deep pan. Add vegetables and garlic. Cook on medium heat until vegetables are soft.
- Add shredded chicken, Greek seasoning, rosemary, salt, pepper and broth. Simmer on low until most of the liquid has absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool. ****
- Once mixture is cool, stir in ricotta cheese and egg whites. (If making recipe over 2 days. Add ricotta then stop. Add the egg whites the following day and continue recipe as written)

- Stuff cannelloni shells.

- In a medium mixing bowl, mix passata, tomato sauce and water.
- In a 9x13" casserole, pour 1 cup of tomato mix. Spread over the bottom of casserole.
- Place stuffed canneloni on top of sauce and top with the rest of the sauce. (It will look like alot, but the pasta will absorb most of it during cooking).
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes
- Remove foil and top with parmesan and mozzarella cheese and return to oven for 10 minutes until pasta is soft and cheese has melted
- Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.



* I used shredded chicken breast, but if you want to have a quicker and easier version, I think it would be just as good with ground chicken or ground turkey. Just add the ground meat after the vegetables until cooked then add broth and follow the rest of the directions.

** I planned on using Italian seasoining but didn't have any, so I used Greek. Greek seasoning tasted delicious in the filling, but go ahead a use Italian if you don't have Greek ;)

*** This was my first time using ricotta cheese, and I must admit I am not a fan. Next time I make this I will substitute light cream cheese for the ricotta for a creamier filling.

Nutritional Data
1 serving (3 rolls)
7 WW points
306.3 cal
12.6 g fat
18.1 g carbs
0.9 g fiber
8.4 g sugars
30.6 g protein
66.3 mg cholesterol

1 roll in sauce no cheese
2 WW points
86.2 cal
3.2 g fat
0.3 g fiber

Filling only (6 portions)
4 WW points
1 portion
181 cal
6.5 g fat
0.9 g fiber
5.9 g carb
23.6 g protein