Recipes

I love traditional beef stew on a cold night, but sometimes I want something a little spicy as well. This recipe, inspired by a Food Network recipe, takes a traditional beef stew and spices it up with chipotle peppers and ancho chili powder. It can be made in a Dutch oven or crock pot. I served mine over half a sweet potato – I love sweet and spicy – but it is also great on its own.

Weight Watcher Mexican Beef Stew
Points: 6 weight watchers pointsplus
Servings: 8
Serving Size: about 1 cup
Nutritional Info: 194 calories, 5.9 g fat, 7.5 g carbohydrates, 1.6 g fiber, 26.2 g protein

Ingredients
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp ground ancho chile pepper
2 beef brisket, trimmed of fat
1 tbsp butter and cooking spray if needed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 tbsp minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, or more to taste
1 tbsp adobo sauce from chipotle peppers, or more to taste
Optional: Baked sweet potatoes for serving. Add 2 pointsplus for 1/2 a baked sweet potato

Instructions
1. In a small bowl, combine ancho chili powder, flour, cocoa, salt, and pepper. Then coat the beef brisket in the flour and set the remaining flour to the side.

2. Warm the butter in a large Dutch oven and brown the brisket on both sides, for about 2-3 each. Then remove from the pot and set to the side.

3. Add the peppers and onion to the Dutch oven. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until the onion becomes fragrant. Add the tomatoes, beef broth chipotle pepper, chipotle sauce, and flour mixture. Stir together.

4. Bring to a simmer and add the brisket back to the Dutch oven. Cover and cook for 3 hours or until the beef becomes fork tender.

5. Using two forks, shred the brisket. Taste and season with additional salt or chipotle sauce as needed. Serve. I had mine over half a baked sweet potato, which was a great combination of spicy and sweet. Add 2 pointsplus for 1/2 sweet potato.

*This could easily be made in the crock pot. Simply brown the meat in a pan and then add everything to the crock pot and cook for 6 hours or until the beef is fork tender and you can shred it easily.