Beef stew/chicken stew

So last night I made some beef stew. Sounded good and I haven't had any red meat in awhile. Of course Eli is allergic to beef so I had to make him his own stew with chicken, but I will say how I adapted his.

So I start by browning stew meat seasoned with Thyme.  If you're doing chicken you can grill it up at this point with whatever seasoning sounds good.  We had left over chicken breast for Eli's.

So after the  meat is cooked I throw in my onions and celery because I like the flavor it gives the meat and I like them super soft when I eat them.  If it were up to Lyle he would leave them towards the end because he likes them crunchy-but he wasn't cooking!

Then for ours I added butter to get ready to make a gravy- about a tablespoon because I don't drain the meat.  For those with allergies to wheat, the easiest way I make gravy for Eli is a corn startch gravy, usually with chicken broth then add it at the end.  If your not allergic to wheat but do have soy and milk allergies this spread is what we use for Eli.  Gluten, soy, milk free and we can finally get it in town now!

So next you add some flour, enough to soak up all the juices in the pan and a little extra, and let that cook in for a few minutes.  Then add some water or chicken/beef stock depending on your tastes, not quite covering everything and make sure you get everything stirred up well and all the goodies scraped off the bottom of the pan.

I bring that to a boil for about a minute the add all of my other veggies- carrots, potatoes in this case.  I save mushrooms until the potatoes are completely done so they don't get overcooked.  After you add the veggies add just enough water to cover them.  Boil until potatoes and carrots tender, add mushrooms and simmer until desired thickness.  We like a thick, chunky soup.  
For Eli's this time I boiled carrots and potatoes in chicken stock, added left over chicken, and added a little cornstartch to try to thicken it up hoping it would be an easier gravy than another dirty pan- it didn't work.  So boil everything you want and make a separate gravy, then simmer in gravy for a few minutes to get flavors in.  Here's the finished products.

Eli's chicken and veggies (gravy didn't really work)

Our beef stew

This would be my cheat meal for the day, because of the starchy veggies.  It was very yummy and worth it. 
The diet is still going strong and at last check in on Monday I had lost 15 lb!  It's totally working for me!