Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Here's a recipe from the cookbook that is proving to be this family's healthy-eating lifesaver: Cooking Light's "Slow Cooker" cookbook. The book advertises itself as "57 essential recipes to eat smart, be fit, live well" -- and all of the recipes I've tried so far (about half of them) have been fantastic.

My daily routine allows me to go to the gym after the kids are off for the day, and then come home and make dinner before lunch time. Having dinner made long before what my mother-in-law calls the "arsenic hour" (when my kids are home and freaking out, but my husband is not yet home for dinner) ensures that I have something ready to go that is consistent with my eating plan.

And so this cookbook has become my absolute favorite.

Now on to the recipe:

1 lb top round steak (1 inch thick), trimmed
1 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 (8 oz) pkg presliced mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 c less-sodium beef broth
1 (8 oz) container reduced-fat sour cream
2 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles (about 1.5 cups uncooked pasta)
Chopped fresh dill (optional)

1. Cut steak diagonally across grain into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Place steak and next 8 ingredients in a 3-qt electric slow cooker; stir well.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Place flour in a small bowl, and gradually add broth, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add broth mixture to cooker, and stir well. Reduce heat to LOW, and cook 7 to 8 hours or until steak is tender. Turn cooker off, remove lid. Let stroganoff stand 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream (make sure it's cold and you've let the stroganoff cool, or the sour cream will curdle). Serve over noodles and sprinkle with chopped dill, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings (1 cup stroganoff and 1/2 cup noodles)
Calories 444 (32% from fat); Fat 15.9g (sat 7.4g, mono 3.4g, poly 0.9g); Protein 35.7g; Carb 38.8g; Fiber 2.6g; Chol 123mg; Iron 4.7mg; Sodium 737mg; Calc 123mg