Caribbean Beef Stew

This takes a while to make, but is a huge batch of soup and delicious. It's super-spicy, and tangy and hearty, but not too heavy. Fabulous during Summertime, awesome leftovers, house smells great while you're cooking. I got this from the East Side Cafe soup cookbook, and have lightened it up a bit. I haven't run it through the WW points calculator yet, so I don't know points, but it's fairly low cal and is all core (except the flour and sugar, but not enough to matter).

• 1 TB canola oil
• 2 lb lean stew meat
• 3 TB flour
• Pinch salt, pepper
• 4c onions, diced
• 1 slice fresh ginger, or 1 TB minced ginger
• 2 TB minced garlic
• 2 c mixed bell peppers (green, yellow, red, about 3 peppers)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 c lime juice
• 1/4 c water or dark rum
• .5 TB sugar
• 10 c beef stock
• 28 oz can whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 c green olives, sliced
• 1/4 c fresh cilantro, minced
• Pinch of ground cloves

Put the stew meat in a ziploc bag, add flour, salt and pepper. Shake. Meanwhile, heat a large soup pot with oil in the bottom. Once oil is hot, add meat and brown over medium-high heat. Once meat is browned, add onions, peppers, garlic, ginger, cayenne and bay leaf. Reduce heat, cook two minutes. Add lime juice, water/rum, cook one minute. Add sugar, beef stock, tomatoes, green olives, and cilantro.

Cook, partially covered for 2 hours over medium heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove ginger slice and bay leaves before serving.

Yield: 8 Servings