There are many popular diets available to choose from when we want to jumpstart our healthy habits and get back on track. Among the most popular for improving our health while also easy to follow is the DASH Diet. According to dashdiet.org: The healthy DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet plan was developed to lower blood pressure without medication. Original research showed that DASH could lower blood pressure. Since then, numerous studies have shown that the DASH diet reduces the risk of many diseases, including some kinds of cancer, stroke, heart disease, heart failure, kidney stones, and diabetes. It has been proven to be an effective way to lose weight and become healthier at the same time. It is full of fabulous, delicious, real foods. All of these benefits led to the #1 diet ranking by US News & World Report each year from 2011 - 2018.
There are many elements of the DASH Diet that lend itself to being similar to the Mediterranean Diet. You can’t beat using fresh, unprocessed foods combined with spices to provide a taste and healthy meal. This Moroccan Lamb Tagine originally came from The Diabetic Living Magazine.
Last year my husband and I had the opportunity to go to Morocco. While there we went to a cooking class in Marrakesh to learn how to prepare various tagines. The place where we took the class was a special nonprofit and school where disadvantaged women are taught the skills they need to find a job and become financially independent. It is called Amal Restaurant and Training Center for Women (amalnonprofit.org). It was some of these very women who taught our class. It was a hands on class where we learned how to prepare the tagine and cook it in a traditional tagine pot. As our food cooked we sat on beautiful Moroccan rugs, enjoyed a traditional tea ceremony and learned more about the training center while our tagine cooked. It was a wonderful experience and our tagine was pretty good too!
This Moroccan Lamb Tagine is easy to assemble and cook in a slow cooker. It incorporates the spices and their complexity of flavors that embody the food from this part of the world. This is the wonder of eating healthy. It truly is possible to eat interesting, flavorful foods that promote our health and support our desire to live life as our healthiest selves.
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ pounds boneless lamb shoulder or lamb stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1½ cups coarsely chopped, peeled sweet potato
- 1 medium plum tomato, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- ¼ cup pitted dates, quartered
- ¼ cup green olives, halved
- 2 tablespoons finely shredded lemon peel
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can reduced- sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups hot, cooked pearled couscous
- ¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine ginger, cumin, salt, turmeric and cinnamon. Add lamb to bowl; toss to coat in spices.
- In a 4-quart slow cooker, place lamb, sweet potato, tomato, carrots, onion, dates, olives, tapioca, lemon peel, lemon juice, honey and garlic. Pour broth over all.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.
- Serve over couscous and top with almonds.
Nutritional Information:
Serves 8. Serving size: 1½ cups; ½ cup couscous and 1 cup lamb tagine. Calories: 425. Total Fat 16.9g; Saturated Fat 3.6g; Sodium 455mg; Total Carbohydrate 38.7g; Dietary Fiber 5.3g; Total Sugars 10g; Protein 30g.
Note: this recipe was featured in an episode of Livliga’s Facebook Live: Healthy Recipes Served Up On Livliga. To enjoy this episode and others go to our LivligaHome YouTube channel and explore!
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