Category: Blog

Who doesn’t love a slow cooker?  You have simple ingredients to prep and the slow cooker does all the rest.  Nothing beats smelling your dinner when you come home at the end of a long day knowing it’s DONE!  With this particular recipe there is a small amount of prep you have but I promise it’s definitely worth it!

Roasts are great to use for multiple meals throughout the week in dishes that are sure to delight even the pickiest of eaters!

There are a lot of different ingredients you can add for a flavor but I like to keep in clean and simple.  I like to braise the roast in a stainless steel pan on the stove then add my fresh seasonings and let the cooker do the work!

Braising the roast sears in the juices of the meat as well as adds a bit of flavor through the browning process of the meat. You want to add salt and pepper to the both sides of the roast and then flip the roast around in your pan searing in the juices.  If you are able to brown both of the ends that will only add additional flavor and juices to be retained within roast. 

Once you are done at the stove and this should take about 5-6 minutes of braising, place the roast in the slow cooker and then go back to the stove and add about ½ cup to a cup of water to your pan with the meat trimmings left from the braising process. 

Turn on your stove and warm up these trimmings and gently scrape the sides and bottom of your stainless steel pan.  Then carefully dump this mixture over the roast within the slow cooker!  Why you might ask?  This is the browned meat that was left from your roast and will add a POP of flavor.  Once the roast is done on high for about 4.5 hours on low about 8 hours your dinner is ready you can serve it with a rice pilaf, quinoa, or pasta and a vegetable of your choice!

Ingredients:

• Choose your favorite kind of meat (make sure it can fit into your slow cooker)
• 1 small chopping onion
• 3-4 garlic cloves chopped
• 1  8 oz. fresh mushrooms (or canned)
• ¼ c. Herbs (fresh if you have them) Rosemary, Basil, salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Place roast in pan with a little bit of (olive) oil in pan
2. Season one side of the roast as the other side is braising. Flip to the other side and do the same
3. Place in slow cooker
4. Add water to stainless steel pan and turn on stove and gently scrape sides and bottom getting all the trimmings and then carefully pour over roast in slow cooker.
5. Slice up mushrooms and put them over the roast
6. Chop up your herbs and put over roast

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of Organic lean beef
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 to 1 small onion
• 1  28oz. can of organic diced tomatoes
• Edamame noodles or regular noodles (the amount will vary)
• 1 bag of Brussels sprouts
• 1 Teaspoon dried basil, oregano and parsley (if you have fresh herbs that will work too)

Directions:

1. Dice onions. Add some olive oil to the bottom of the pan and put diced onions on heated pan.  Then add your chopped garlic on top of the onions (this is done so the garlic doesn’t over cook and burn). By adding olive oil you are adding a little bit of (healthy) fat this helps to prevent the meat from sticking and burning in the pan.
2. Once onions are translucent add your ground beef  and make sure it is thoroughly cooked
3. Add can of diced tomatoes and add the basil, oregano, and parsley
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. In a pot add your water to the pot to cook your noodles.

Optional:
For this meal I paired the spaghetti with caramelized Brussels Sprouts.

1. Rinse and chop ends of the Brussels Sprouts
2. In the same pan or a separate pan add some olive oil to the bottom
   Add Brussels Sprouts to the pan and make sure they are evenly distributed on the bottom of the pan to cook evenly.
3. I like when the Brussels Sprouts begin to caramelize which really brings out the delicate sweetness. Make sure to cook them until they are browned not burnt so stirring every 10 minutes can help avoid any catastrophe!

Enjoy!!