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One of my reasons for picking this recipe was to show you that "spa food" (which this is, technically) can be really, really good and satisfying. Spa food is characterized by being low in fat and calories and in having huge flavor.

If you actually went to Canyon Ranch or some other spa, this is the type of food you would get. Preparing it at home is a lot less expensive! And what's more, you might not expect spa food to be easy to cook. But much of it is!

Another reason was to give you a good, basic, beef stew recipe! It's the ultimate comfort food.

It's also your first introduction to a recipe that has a lot of ingredients. I hope to teach you not to be afraid of a long ingredient list. It doesn't necessarily mean "difficult" or "lots of time" involved. Think yum! - lots of flavor!

When new cooks are looking at recipes, the first thing they want to know is: is it easy? Well, what does "easy" mean? Does it have to do with how much time it takes? Likely. Does it have to do with a complicated or unfamiliar technique? Also likely. We rate a recipe as easy if there is nothing technically difficult. And we don't view chopping as technically difficult. So a recipe can be easy but still have many steps and take a while to prepare. That's why you can search our site for "easy" as well as "quick to prepare".

With this recipe, you basically do some chopping and then throw everything into a pot, put it in the oven, and walk away for three hours. It's less than 30 minutes of active time for you. It's a great dish to make on the weekend to enjoy during the week. And it freezes well.

We give you two timings for each recipe: "active" time and "total" time. "Active" time is really hands-on time. It the amount of time you will be chopping, stirring, sautéing, etc. "Total" time is the time from start to finish. If there's a big difference in active time and total time, you can plan on having some time to yourself or to do other things before your meal is ready.

So you'll learn lots of chopping techniques with this recipe, and you'll be introduced to zesting an orange, a technique that carries over to lemons and limes. This job is a lot easier if you have a zester - click on the link over on the left side of the page to see what that is. Treat yourself with a trip to a nice kitchen store and have fun wandering the aisles. Go to our Pantry section (click on the link at the top of this page) and see what we recommend for "essential" tools and "good to have" tools and make yourself a list. You don't have to buy everything at once, but you can have fun gradually acquiring new tools and checking them off your list.

At-Home Safe Food Handling *

* with permission from Kansas State University Research & Extension