Smokey and Giraffe's Low-Carb Kitchen: Giraffe's Creamy Low-Carb Mushroom Beef Stroganoff

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Giraffe's Creamy Low-Carb Mushroom Beef Stroganoff

Ever since being little kids, we've enjoyed Mom's creamy casserole dishes that embody full flavored heartiness. One foodie flashback that always makes our mouths water is beef stroganoff.

One of our fond memories is arriving home from school, only to be greeted by the aroma of the stroganoff's creamy beef and wine sauce, at the front door.

A full hearted Beef Stroganoff recipe seemed to have always called for flour, Cream of Mushroom Soup, and other carb-full ingredients.

However, we're making our creation with fresh ingredients and low-carb alternatives.

Although in the past, our stroganoff was typically served over rice, we've found a delicious substitution - our smashed cauliflower, which seems to complement our dish very well.

Our preparation time was only 5 minutes, while our cooking time was another 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Our stroganoff ingredients include:

5 Tbsp. Carbquik (Since we can't locate Carbquik in our local stores, we buy ours at Amazon.com)
2-3 Pounds of Stew Meat
1 Chopped Onion
1 Package of Fresh Sliced Mushrooms
1 1/4th Cup Beef Broth
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp. Minced Garlic
3/4th Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Stick Margarine
1/4th Cup Olive Oil
1/4th Cup Cooking Sherry
1/4th tsp. Ground Pepper
Parsley (used as a garnish)

We'll begin by heating our oil in our pot on medium heat, for a few minutes, or until our oil slightly smokes. This will indicate that our oil is ready for frying.

We'll next, add 2 Tbsp. of our Carbquik and our Stew Meat to our mixing bowl.

We'll then, slightly coat our meat with our Carbquik, and will place aside.

Coating our meat with our "flour" will assist us in making our roux, later on in the recipe.

We'll now, peel our onion, will chop, using our 1-Second Slicer, and will place aside.

We've mentioned our 1-Second Slicer in previous recipes. This chopper is the best tool to have in the kitchen. We use it to chop most of our vegetables in a matter of seconds and is definitely a must have.

I'm sure our 1-Second Slicer may be found in local stores. However, we purchased ours at Amazon.com.

We'll now, add our meat, onions, and, garlic to our heated oil.

Next, we'll stir, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until our meat has slightly browned.

Next, we'll again stir, cover, and will cook for another 30 minutes, or until our stew meat has fully browned and our onions have become translucent.

We'll continue to occasionally stir our mixture, to avoid our stew meat from sticking to our pan and burning.

After our mixture has cooked for 30 minutes, our meat should be easy to cut with a fork.

If the tenderness of our meat is not to our liking, we'll continue cooking our mixture in intervals of 10 minutes, or until each chunk is satisfactorily tender.

We'll then, transfer our meat to another bowl, using our slotted spoon, leaving our grease behind.

This will allow us to subsequently, make our roux, or thickening sauce.

Well, next, add our margarine to our pot and will continue to melt on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Once our margarine has melted, we'll add our remaining 3 Tbsp. of Carbquik and will whisk, until our mixture has fully thickened.

We'll next, add our beef broth, Cooking Sherry, and will whisk until our mixture has been fully blended.

We'll continue cooking our mixture for another 5 minutes, until our sauce has somewhat thickened.

We'll then, add our Worcestershire Sauce, mushrooms, and will again stir.

Next, we'll return our meat mixture to our pot, will stir, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes, or until our mushrooms have slightly softened.

We'll then, add our sour cream and will stir until all has fully blended.

Finally, we'll add our Ground Pepper, will stir, and cook for another 10 minutes, to ensure our mixture has thickened and our flavors have been thoroughly combined.