easy dinner

Slow Cooker Beef Pot Roast

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Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

This recipe is pretty flexible and if you have a large slow cooker you can make TWO roasts! Just double all the ingredients and give one to someone who would enjoy a nice prepared meal! New parents, an elderly parent, someone who has suffered a loss really will enjoy this comforting roast. Also, two chuck roasts will feed a family of 7-8.
The browning of the chuck roast in the sauté pan is optional, if you are busy or sometimes like me I make it before work in the morning and I don’t have time to brown the meat so I just put it in there. It’s still super delicious either way. My family enjoys mashed potatoes and gravy to go with our roast.
Tools
  • A Slow Cooker like a Crock-Pot or Instant Pot
  • Large sauté pan (optional)
  • Large fork or tongs
  • Cutting board
  • Large knife

Ingredients

Fresh Roast

Fresh Roast

  • 3- 4-pound chuck roast
  • One onion sliced
  • 3 – 4 cloves of garlic smashed
  • 3-4 carrots cut into chunks
  • Sprig of rosemary
  • One 2-ounce package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
  • 3 cups of low sodium beef broth
  • 1/2 cup of beer or red wine (optional)
  • Olive oil (optional)
  • Pepper to taste
Recipe
  • If you have time— brown the Chuck roast on either side on high heat for about five minutes on each side.
  • Meanwhile, chop onions into small pieces
  • Cut carrots into thirds
  • Place the onions, garlic, and carrots on the bottom and sides of the crockpot
  • Place the seared or un-seared pot roast on top of the vegetables
  • Sprinkle the roast and vegetables with the onion soup mix
  • Add rosemary and a teaspoon or so of black pepper
  • Pour broth (and a beer or wine if you are using) around and on top of roast until liquid comes up to one inch below the roast
  • Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8-9. A fork should twist easily in the beef when it’s tender
Delish Tips
  • Don’t keep lifting the lid of the slow cooker you add cooking time every time you lift the lid
  • I prefer to use a chuck roast than an English roast the English Roast has way less fat and tends to be tough in my opinion.
  • Do not completely submerge your roast with the liquid – you’re not boiling the meat, you are braising
  • If you are browning the meat; after you put it in the slow cooker pour the broth in the hot pan and scrape the bottom of the sauté pan-all those brown bits are flavor! Then pour it on top of the meat.

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

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Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

This is not your grandma’s tomato sauce recipe. And Bonus -There is no need for boiling, peeling, or seeding the tomatoes for this sauce!

I make this slow cooker tomato sauce every year because we love homegrown tomatoes and I always plant too many tomato plants.

This recipe makes about four (4) quarts of sauce. I freeze it and give it to my friends and family and then we have a taste of summer even in the middle of our Michigan winter. We use this as a pasta sauce, add some Parmesan cheese after you warm it, or add a little cream and eat it as a soup with grilled cheese. So delish!

 

Tomatos

Cut Fresh Tomatoes

Tools

•       Slow cooker / Crock Pot
•       Cutting board
•       Large knife
•       12” sauté pan
•       High powered Blender
•       Butchers twine (optional)
•       Ladle
•       Kitchen towel
•       Saucepan
•       Quart sized zip-top freezer bags
•       Cookie sheet (optional)

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce-Ingredients

◦       One large onion chopped ( about 2 cups)
◦       One large carrot or two small carrots cut into chunks
◦       Tablespoon of minced garlic

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

MMM Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

◦        a cup or so of fresh herbs like basil thyme and oregano I make a BOUQUET GARNI*
◦       2 teaspoons of salt
◦       1 teaspoon of pepper
◦       2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
◦       half teaspoon of garlic powder
◦       half a teaspoon turmeric
◦       1/4 cup of water or wine
◦       12 cups of chopped tomatoes-about 12 tomatoes

 

RECIPE Directions

1.      Sauté the chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. On medium-high heat. You want a hard sear on them to get some brown color. It will take about 10 minutes.
2.      just add all the other ingredients into your slow cooker. Remove any bad spots on your tomatoes and remove the stem/core of your tomato and roughly chop them.
3.      Set your slow cooker to buy for four hours or low for 6 to 8 until all the vegetables are broken down and soft.
4.      Fill your blender halfway full of your tomato mixture. Cover the top of your blender with a kitchen towel and your hand.  When you put hot liquid into a blender it expands and may take the top

Onions

Onions Cooking

off DO NOT OVERFILL YOUR BLENDER WITH HOT LIQUID.  If you are worried then let your mixture cool overnight and blend it the next day.
5.      Blend sauce until smooth. Pour your sauce into your saucepot and stir to combine. Refrigerate for up to one week**

**DELISHTIPS

  • I like to freeze the sauce in zip-top freezer bags. I fill them full and push the air out and freeze them flat on cookie sheets. That way they stack easily in my freezer and I have tomato sauce all winter long.

 

  • A BOUQUET GARNI is simply a bunch of herbs tied with butcher twine so that you can just lift the herbs out easily when they are done. You do not have to use this for the recipe you can just pick out the herbs after the sauce is done.
slow cooker tomato sauce

Freeze up the slow cooker tomato sauce

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

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What to with all the fresh zucchini in your garden or at the farmers market? This easy kid-friendly meal will chase away the what’s for dinner summer blues.., and is a healthy use for your abundance of squash.

Here’s what you’ll need for these delish Stuffed Zucchini Boats

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Tools

9×13 Baking Pan

Melon Baller- or small spoon to scoop out zucchini

Delish Tip: I like to chop up some of the insides and add it to the ground turkey

 

 

Filling Ingredients

  • One pound of ground turkey (85% lean, or lean beef or shredded cooked chicken)
  • One cup of diced onion
  • One tablespoon of garlic
  • One teaspoon smoked paprika
  • One teaspoon of cumin seed
  • One teaspoon of salt and pepper
  • One teaspoon of chili powder
  • 8 oz of shredded cheese like Colby jack
  • 6-7 small zucchini cut in half
  • Chopped Green onions and fresh cilantro for garnishZucchini for boats

 

Directions

Turkey

Brown the turkey in a tablespoon of oil. Drain if oily. If it’s just juice/broth don’t bother.

Add spices and onion, cook for a few more minutes, and then set aside

ENCHILADA SAUCE

  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons flour1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder – or fresh
  • 1 teaspoon dried herbs- like oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
  • Pinch of cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth – low sodium
  • 1 teaspoon of vinegar – any kind

Heat the oil, sauté, or “bloom” the flour and spices. Cook for about a minute.

Stir it in the tomato paste and then pour in the broth and whisk it all together

Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until mixture thickens

Adjust seasoning if you think you need to 😊

STUFF THE BOATS
Place a scoop full of sauce on the bottom of the pan and spread around.

Line up your zucchinis -Delish Tip: I sometimes find it easier to alternate them stem to tail to fit easier.

Stuff the boats with meat mixture.

Spoon a bit of sauce over each boat and top with cheese

Bake

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minute

Take off the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes until bubbly and cheese is a little brown.

Stick a knife through zucchini and make sure it pierces easily

Garnish with green onions and cilantro

Enjoy!