As you may have gathered, I am a big fan of stews. As soon as that weather turns chilly, I am busting out my big pot and away we go. I like stews because they are warm and crazy easy. That whole celery, garlic, roots, and meat mix is always the base and you can add just about anything for a twist. Lately, I am trying to get back into lentils. We used to be lentil crazy around here years ago and then fizzled out.
Red Lentil Stew with Ground Beef & Cabbage (Cook time bout 3.5 hours)
- 1.5 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup canned stewed tomatoes
- 4 stalks celery sliced
- 4 medium carrotssliced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 tablespoon salt or to taste
- 1 cup dry red lentils
- 3 cups chopped cabbage
- 6 cups water
Place sliced carrots, sliced celery, thawed ground beef, garlic, basil, and oregano in to large soup pot. Turn heat to medium and saute until meat is cooked through and vegetables are beginning to soften, about 20 minutes. Add tomatoes, water, and salt. Cover and turn heat to low. Let lightly simmer on low for two hours. Remove lid and add cabbage. Leave uncovered for one hour. Add lentils. You can turn up the heat to a low simmer to cook the lentils in about 15 minutes, or just keep it on low and they will be ready in about an hour.
This stew kind of looks like an orange chili, but tastes more like a hearty marinara. For a different flavor, you can swap out the ground beef for a savory ground sausage.
Since we used lentils and no potatoes, it is SLOW carb friendly.
