Beef Tagine

Cooking Light published a good, tasty recipe for a make at-home version of this Moroccan favorite. It just needed a few tweaks to make it really great.  For those you WW people out there, this recipe is 7 PP value. Serving it with cous cous adds an additional 5-6 PP value, depending on the serving size and brand.

Modified Ingredients (I've marked changes where I made them)

2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-pound beef shoulder roast or petite tender roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes (beef shoulder can be hard to find, you can substitute trimmed up chuck roast instead)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 shallots, quartered
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth (original recipe calls for 1/2 cup chicken broth)
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
3 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 pound)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add beef; toss well to coat. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef and shallots; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Lower heat and allow the mixture to simmer over low heat from approximately 2 hours.* Finally, add squash; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until squash is tender. Sprinkle with cilantro.  Serve over cous cous.

*The original recipe calls for cooking the beef for 30 minutes. But beef shoulder, chuck roast, etc. are inexpensive cuts of beef with a lot of connective tissue. By changing up the cooking method and braising the beef in liquid (thus the pumped up amount of stock) you can ensure the connective tissue gets broken down, saving you from tough, chewy beef.