utter heaven in a bowl....

Tonight's dinner is a beef stew based on the South Beach Diet: Super Quick book's "beef burgundy." It's not very quick, but it's in their "make ahead" section, that is actually my favorite part of that book.
The differences between their recipe and mine: They call for 5 tablespoons of oil. That sounds like way, way too much. I don't want to deep fry my beef..SO... Instead, I use about 1 T of oil, and add a little bacon while the beef browns. The rendered bacon fat adds a little saturated fat to the recipe, but is still far less total fat than 5 TABLESPOONS of oil, and it adds flavor and aroma as well. I do not add the 1/4 cup of tomato paste and 2 cups of water that are called for by SB, but use an 8 oz can of tomato sauce and a cup of reduced sodium beef broth instead. This probably adds a tiny amount of sugar that's not in the SB version, but I didn't want to add all that water! I season with herbes de provence, and the basil that was in the can of tomatoes I had on the shelf, instead of fresh sprigs of rosemary. I'm not fond enough of pine needles to add the amount of rosemary their recipe called for. I use 2 large garlic cloves, compared to their 5. Mostly because the garlic I have on hand right now is really strong, and I didn't want this to be garlic stew.
This stew is STEW-pendous! Absolutely, utterly delicious, warming, comforting, and even better than when I made Julia Child's Boef Bourguignon. NO KIDDING....this stuff....rocks. Try it and let me know what you think!

2 lb top round roast, cubed and trimmed of fat
1 or two strips of bacon, cut up
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 C fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 C red wine
1 C beef broth
1 sm. can tomato sauce
1 28 oz can CENTO chef cut tomatoes with basil leaves
salt, pepper, and herbes de provence to taste
olive oil

Heat the oil in your large dutch oven or stew pot. Brown the beef in portions, with the bacon. Drain and set aside. In the same pot, cook the onion and carrots in the oil, making sure to scrape up the brown bits. Add the garlic, and the mushrooms. Season with herbes de provence, salt and pepper. Cook just until the mushrooms start to sweat, then add red wine. Bring to a boil and stir for a couple of minutes. And add tomato sauce, broth, and canned tomatoes. Return the browned beef to the pot, stir everything together, bring up to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer til the carrots are tender and the meat is done.