Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Mouth-Watering Crock Pot Beef & Barley Stew

I'm going to tell you right from the get-go.  This was an INCREDIBLE dinner!!!  It was so melt-in-your-mouth good I can't even wait to have some leftovers.  I don't make beef very often.  First, I never seem to cook it right and it ends up being tough.  Second, it's very expensive.  Since I cooked it in the crock pot, though, it was pretty fool-proof.  As for the cost, yes, a beef roast is pretty pricey.  But if you wait for your grocery store to have a sale on them you can get really good deals.  This roast cost $19.53 (yikes!!!) BUT it was a "buy one get one free" sale.  So, for two 3+ lb boneless beef roasts it cost me $9.77 and THAT is a GREAT deal.  Keep your eye on the weekly grocery store sale papers!

I originally found this recipe on dLife, but I made changes to it, as usual.  Here's what you need:

3 lb boneless sirloin tip roast
32 oz low sodium, low fat beef broth
14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes (not drained)
1 lb sliced carrots
2 medium onions, cut into wedges
1 C pearled barley
1 bay leaf
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
A little salt, maybe 1/2 tsp

As for the barley, I found mine in the bulk bins at Sprouts (farmer's market) and it was very inexpensive.  Here's what it looks like raw. 


I cut my roast into 3 pieces.  Then I just added everything to the crock pot, and I put the bay leaf on top so it would be easy to find and take out before serving...remember, you can't eat bay leaves.  The directions for the original recipe said to cook on low heat for 9 or 10 hours or on high heat for 4 1/2-5 1/2 hours.  I put mine on the low heat setting and it was fall apart tender in just 7 hours.  I guess maybe different crock pots cook differently.
This is what it looks like when you first put it in the pot.

When it was done cooking I took out the 3 pieces of beef, put it on a cutting board and shredded it up.  Then I put it back in the crock pot and stirred it all up.  I tell you, I couldn't even cut the meat; it was too soft.  It literally just feel apart under my fork.  Scrumptious!!!  I served it with a slice of sour dough bread, but you can omit that to save calories and carbs.

My whole family just completely loved this.  Sami, my vegetarian, missed out though.  I have some left overs, and I can't wait to dig it into it.  And, if you remember, I got 2 roasts for the price of 1, so I still have another roast in the freezer that I can make this again with.  This is going to be soooo good on a cold winter day.  So thick, hearty and filling.  It's stick-to-your-ribs good.  And I'm not exaggerating. 

This pot will serve about 12 with 1 C servings.  286 calories, 8g fat, 2.8g saturated fat, 66mg cholesterol, 314.6mg sodium, 297.5mg potassium, 22.5g carbs, 4.5g fiber, 30g protein. (7 Points Plus) This is really great on calories, carbs and protein.

This dish will be a crowd-pleaser, for sure.  Again, watch the sales in your grocer's meat department, and when you find a good deal on a boneless beef roast, pick one (or two) up.

Hearty Eating!
Lisa
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1 comment:

  1. Oh Lisa, this looks way to good to resist! I am always looking for hearty stick to the ribs recipes, especially crockpot recipes. Sounds like the perfect one for deerhunting men :) Thank you, I will be stalking the newspaper ads for beef on sale. Cant wait. YUMMY! thank you.

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