A.1. Pot Roast

Today turned out to be a perfect Sunday for a pot roast dinner since tropical storm Debby has been dropping buckets of rain on our area all day. It was so nice to dump everything in my slow cooker and let it do all the work while I laid around in my pjs all day and napped.

My husband recently saw a pot roast recipe on the side of an A.1. sauce bottle, so I thought I'd try it out, but I put my own spin on the recipe. And I must say, it came out pretty darn good, and I've tried out several different pot roasts over the years. In fact, I don't think I have ever made the same one twice. This one might very well be my favorite so far.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup A.1. Sauce
3/4 cup low-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 onion, sliced
1 beef chuck roast, 2 and 1/2 pounds
salt and pepper
1 lb pound baby carrots
1 lb baby red potatoes

In a bowl, whisk together the A.1. sauce, beef broth, seasonings and flour. Set aside.

Place the slice onions on the bottom of your slow cooker. Season the chuck roast on all sides with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Place the roast on top of the onions. Add the potatoes and carrots around and on top of the roast. Pour the sauce all over the top.

Place the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8-9 hours or high for 6-7 hours. Serve with some fresh baked rolls or bread and a side salad.

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Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja

I have decided to make my life easier by making one Crock Pot recipe a week. I love this Cuban dish and I love it even more when I can just throw everything in my Crock Pot and forget about it. I love the olives that are added to this dish at the end. I have never had this in ropa vieja (translation = old clothes), but I like the brinyness it adds. Serve over white or yellow rice. Another Food Network Magazine recipe.

Ingredients
• 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced (with seeds)
• Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 pounds skirt steak or flank steak (I prefer skirt)
• 2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green), sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped pimiento-stuffed green olives, plus 1 tablespoon brine from the jar
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Directions
Combine the tomatoes, ketchup, vinegar, garlic, cumin, jalapeno and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. Add the steak, bell peppers and onion and toss to coat. Cover and cook on low, undisturbed, 8 hours.

Uncover and skim off any excess fat. (I accidentally forgot to do this step. Or did I? I didn't really notice a lot of fat hanging out on the surface anyway.) Coarsely shred the meat with 2 forks, then stir in the olives and olive brine. Serve over rice.

Per serving: Calories 464; Fat 16 g (Saturated 6 g); Cholesterol 83 mg; Sodium 837 mg; Carbohydrate 39 g; Fiber 4 g; Protein 38 g

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Slow Cooker Brisket Sandwiches

I have had this recipe in my arsenal for awhile, but I've been waiting for brisket to go on sale at my grocer. Well, it finally did, so I busted this dish out yesterday. This might be my new favorite slow cooker dish, even ahead of the pulled pork that I make. This recipe is courtesy of Food Network Magazine with a slight change in the directions from me. The serving size is surprisingly low in calories. Check out the nutritional details below.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 5-to-6-pound first-cut or flat-cut brisket, cut into 3 pieces (5-6 pounds is huge and if you are feeding more than two people, by all means get a big one like that. But since it is just me and my husband, I bought the smallest one I could find, about 3.5 pounds and I cut it into two pieces.)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1 12-ounce bottle stout beer (I like Guiness Stout)
4 stalks celery, cut into large pieces
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup dijon mustard
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
2 brioche or other rolls, split open and toasted
Coleslaw, for serving (I just bought a creamy store-bought brand, like Marie's)

Directions
Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the brisket with salt and pepper, then brown on all sides, about 10 minutes, adding the garlic in the last 2 minutes.

Transfer the meat and garlic to a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. Pour the beer into the skillet and simmer 30 seconds, scraping up the browned bits from the pan; add the beer mixture to the slow cooker.

Nestle the celery around the meat. Stir together the brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, mustard, soy sauce, bay leaves and paprika. Pour over the meat, then cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours.

Transfer the meat to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes, then thinly slice.

Serve on brioche halves with coleslaw; drizzle with the cooking liquid.

Per serving: Calories 474; Fat 16 g (Saturated 7 g); Cholesterol 128 mg; Sodium 265 mg; Carbohydrate 18 g; Fiber 0 g; Protein 61 g

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Cuban Flank Steak

This slow cooker recipe is a real winner. Possibly my new fave and definitely will be added to the rotation. It's from one of my Betty Crocker emails (with a couple of my own changes).

Ingredients:
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 beef flank steak (2 lb), cut into 8 pieces
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lime
1 can Progresso® beef broth (low sodium)
2 cups uncooked regular long-grain white rice
1 can (15 oz) Progresso® black beans, drained, rinsed

Spray 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In cooker, place onion and peppers. Top with beef. Sprinkle with chili powder, oregano, garlic and salt. Drizzle with lime juice. Add broth.

Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 10 hours.

About 20 minutes before serving, cook rice as directed on package.

Remove beef from cooker; place on cutting board. Shred beef with 2 forks; return to cooker and mix well. Stir in black beans. Cover; cook about 20 minutes longer or until thoroughly heated. Serve beef and sauce over rice.

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Hungarian Goulash in the Crock Pot

I have posted a goulash recipe before, but this one is a little different. It uses cubed steak instead of ground beef. I have made this one before and it is very good. Best of all the Crock Pot does all of the work. It dawned on me last night that this would be a very fitting Halloween dinner. You know with ghosts and ghouls... goulash. This recipe is from my Fix It and Forget It Cookbook.

Ingredients:
2 lbs round steak, cubed
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 and 1/2 tsp paprika
1 (10 and 3/4 ounce) can tomato soup
1/2 soup can water
1 cup sour cream
1 lb egg noodles

Mix meat, onion powder, garlic powder and flour together in slow cooker until meat is well coated.

Add remaining ingredients, except sour cream. Stir well.

Cover. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 4-5 hours.

Add sour cream 30 minutes before serving. Boil the egg noodles according to the package directions. Serve the goulash over the hot noodles.

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Italian Chicken (in the Crock Pot)

My mom, sister and I have frequently been using our Crock Pots lately. The two of them had both told me about this Italian Chicken dish using one of the McCormick slow cooker packets. So, I finally decided to make it. *Note, I found this particular packet at Sweetbay. I was having trouble locating them at Publix.

Ingredients: (This is all on the packet, but I have some cooking modifications to share)
1 McCormick Italian Chicken packet
2.5 lbs chicken (Definitely use skinless, boneless chicken breast. When you use bone-in chicken it all just breaks down and you're left with a bunch of bones hanging out in your sauce.)
1 (12 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 (14 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (one of the very few times you'll actually use a whole can of tomato paste)

Add the chicken to the Crock Pot, then the mushrooms. Mix the seasonings, tomatoes and paste together, pour on top. Cook on low for 6 hours. *Note the package says 8 hours on low, but that is really too long.

Remove the chicken and mushrooms to a platter. Stir the sauce well. You can serve over pasta or creamy polenta as I did.

Creamy Polenta
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
1 cup polenta or cornmeal
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

In a saucepan bring the broth and milk to a simmer over medium-high heat, season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low while whisking the cornmeal in slowly and continue for about 5 minutes until it starts to thicken. Add a drizzle of olive oil and stir in the cheese until melted.

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Italian Beef Sandwiches

This recipe is courtesy of my mom and her co-worker Carol. Italian beef sandwiches are a staple of Chicago. I'm not sure how authentic these are, but my dad, a Chicago native, says they're pretty on par with what you find there. Husband loved this one - another great Crock Pot recipe for the arsenal.

Ingredients:
3 to 5 lb sirloin roast or rump roast (I used the latter)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
salt and fresh ground pepper
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 (10-ounce) jar mild pepperoncini peppers (preferably ones presliced)
water

Trim the roast of any excess fat. Rub the roast with the garlic powder, Italian seasoning and generous amounts of salt and pepper. Cut the roast into three large chunks. Place in Crock Pot or slow cooker. Add the entire contents of the jar of peppers, the bouillon cubes and cover (or nearly cover) the roast with water.

Cook on low for 8 hours or until the beef shreds easily. Serve on toasted buns with a slice of provolone cheese. I like to pour some of the juice over the meat and even dip the top bun into the juice.

These sandwiches do have a bit of kick. If you don't like spicy, don't use the entire jar of peppers or drain some of the juice from the jar before adding to the Crock Pot.

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Pot Roast

I told you earlier this week I wanted to start using my Crock Pot more often, so yesterday I picked up at the store one of those McCormick seasoning packets for slow cookers. My mom and my sister use them often and really like them. I decided to pick up the one for pot roast because I have never made a pot roast, plus chuck roasts were on sale at the grocery store. This is a perfect Sunday night dinner.

Ingredients:
1 (2-3 lb.) chuck roast, well-trimmed
5 cups of assorted cut vegetables (baby carrots, celery, onion, potatoes)
McCormick Seasoning packet
1 cup water
salt and pepper

Place the vegetables in a 5-quart Crock Pot or slow cooker. I cut mine into pretty big chunks and I just threw in the baby carrots whole, no need to cut those up. I also used Yukon Gold potatoes because those are my favorite.

Season the roast well with salt and pepper. Place on top of the vegetables. Mix the seasoning packet with the water, pour on top of the roast and veggies.

Cook on high for 4 hours or low on 8 hours. (I always use the low setting.) Remove the roast to a platter and let rest for 10 minutes, slice. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon. Stir the remaining gravy well before pouring over the meat and vegetables.

Serve with a little salad and rolls.

Update: My husband loved this dinner. Husband to me: "You never have to worry about a divorce." Me to husband: "That doesn't mean I won't ever divorce you." lol I do love that man.

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Tangy Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Break out the Crock Pot it's time for some slow cooked pulled pork. Granted it may not have the same flavor as if it spent all day in the smoker, but hey, I live in a condo with no access to a smoker. Plus, I think that would be against HOA rules. But even so, this pulled pork is delicious and always a winner with my husband. And what's better than coming from work and not having to cook? This recipe is courtesy of the semi-homemade queen, Sandra Lee.

Ingredients:
1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced
3 lb. pork butt, a.k.a. Boston butt, rinsed and patted dry
salt and pepper
1 cup barbeque sauce
1/2 cup yellow mustard
3 Tbsps tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 lime, juiced (I didn't have a lime, so I just added 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar and a couple of splashes of worcestershire sauce)
hamburger buns

Place onions in the bottom of a 5-quart slow cooker. Season the pork butt with salt and pepper. Place in slow cooker on top of the onions, fat side up. (You could probably trim off some of the fat if you'd like.)

In a medium bowl, stir together the barbeque sauce, mustard, tomato paste, chicken broth and lime juice (or vingar and w. sauce). Pour over pork. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 6 to 8 hours.

Remove pork and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Pull the pork. Scoop out some of the onions and pour some of the leftover sauce on top of the meat. Serve on toasted hamburger buns.

Feel free to top with coleslaw. We like to top our sandwiches with a little extra barbeque sauce and sliced banana peppers. I served with baked beans that I just heated real quick on the stove and Steamfresh corn that you microwave for 5 minutes. This couldn't have been an easier dinner to make.

This makes great leftovers and if there's only two of you, you're sure to be eating it for at least a couple more meals.

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