Go through your cookbooks and choose recipes that use vegetables that are in season. Fall crops include all of the heartier vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips and potatoes. Stews are great fall and winter recipes because they use these fall crops and cheaper cuts of meat, like slow cooker stewing beef recipes. Make some nights meatless. Beans and rice or vegetarian chili are just two examples of classic meatless meals, but search your receipt books for more.
If you have little room in your yard or can't wait for a big tree to grow consider shady rapidly growing shrubs like hibiscus braising steak or American cranberry bushes.
A slow cooker stewing steak cooker can make a low fat meal simply delicious. You begin by spraying low fat spray into the ceramic insert and you are just about ready to make a low fat meal. Adding fresh vegetables and lean cuts of meat cooking for hours can make flavor rich and satisfying, even if it is a low fat meal. The flavor comes from the liquid you add, and you can use tomatoes, broths and wines as your base when you are preparing a low fat meal.
For the wine enthusiast no gift could match a table top wine chiller. This gadget is convenient and useful without being as bulky as the full case wine cooler. Add in a bottle of wine, a set of wine glasses, a reusable stopper or two and maybe even the book The Billionaire's Vinegar : The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace and you're not going to see your happy sipper for a while.
Whether you are braising beef, chicken, or something else, it is important to use a tight-fitting lid on the pan so the liquid will not escape. Braised steak makes a wonderful dish and steak braised stewing meat definition a red wine gravy is heavenly served over a generous mound of hot, buttery mashed potatoes.