Grub Hub is my best friend, but this kind of friend can’t visit all the time or we’ll go broke. And not only that - eating restaurant food all the time is not that great for your health, unless you always get salad, but who orders salad for delivery? That being said, I still celebrate each time we order from Grub Hub, because on those nights I don’t have to cook.

Cooking is not a pleasure for me, but rather a necessity. This is why I always look for easy recipes that don’t require 50 ingredients and 5 hours of active preparation time. Short ribs recipe is one of those – simple, yet tasty and affordable. The price of short ribs has been climbing up quite steeply for the last couple of years, but I get Instacart to buy them for me at our international farmers market for a very good price and deliver them and a ton of other things for free with my membership. Instacart definitely helps me save not only time, but money too.

 Long story short, I made these amazing short ribs on a cozy evening and everybody at home loved me for it. Here is how to get some loving too:

Ingredients:

• 1-2 pounds of beef short ribs
• ½ of organic sweet onion
• 4 whole cloves
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 5 stalks of organic celery
• 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce or paste
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1 ½ cups of water or beef stock
• 4-5 Bay leaves
• 5 medium red and purple carrots
• 5 white mushrooms
• Potatoes (optional)

I like this meal mainly because preparation is not long at all. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while you’re getting meat ready and browned.

Take a frying pan or a Dutch oven and make sure it’s oven safe. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place all your short ribs there.

Season them with salt and pepper or your favorite beef seasoning.

Brown them on all sides for a few minutes. While the meat is cooking, take ½ of onion, stick 4 whole cloves into it, and place it in the pot together with the ribs.

When the meat is almost brow, add chopped celery and tomato paste or sauce.

Let it simmer for a minute or so and then pour wine and water or beef stock. I didn’t have any beef stock, so I used water and it still came out perfect. If you use beef stock, your broth might be thicker at the end, but it can also add more calories. Since I have been on Nutrisystem a year ago, I am very mindful of calories I consume, so water was just fine for me.

Once all the ingredients are in and combined, place a few Bay leaves on top and close the lid. Place the dish in the oven and set timer for 1.5 hours. You can bake them longer, especially of you have bigger ribs. Mine were small, so 1.5 hours was enough.

When it’s about 30 minutes left, prepare sautéed carrots and mushrooms.

Peel and cut medium size carrots in about 3 parts. Half washed mushrooms and place both veggies on a sauté pan with butter.

Cook for about 7 minutes stirring frequently. Season to taste.

I also made potatoes for my family, but skipped them myself, again, because of Nutrisystem influence. You can simply boil them, make mashed potatoes, bake them in the oven, or fry.

When the meat is done, place carrots and mushrooms on the plate and top them with ribs and sauce from the same pot where they came from. You can garnish the plate with frozen dill or fresh parsley.

Enjoy!