Crock Pot Beef with Broccoli and a Vegetarian Version

I sure have been using my crock pot a lot lately.  It's a pain in the butt to clean the huge, heavy ceramic pot that goes in it.  So worth the effort though.  Keeps the kitchen much cooler, the house smells wonderful all day long, its almost effortless, and the meat is always perfect.

I'd like to share this recipe with you that I found on dLife.  My husband thought it had a hint of an Asian taste to it, and he would be right because it has a little ginger in it.  It's not overwhelming...just a hint and a nice change up for a standard crock pot roast.

Here's what you need:

1 1/2 - 3 lb beef roast, lean, cut into a couple pieces
3/4 lb carrots, peeled and in pieces
2 medium onions, cut into wedges
1 Tbsp fresh ginger root, finely grated or minced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/2 C water
2 Tbsp soy sauce (low sodium is better)
1 packet dry beef gravy mix (I actually used mushroom gravy)
4 C fresh broccoli florets

1.  Place carrots, onions, meat ginger and garlic in a large slow cooker.
2.  In a small bowl combine water, soy sauce and beef gravy mix.  Pour over meat.
3.  Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or on high heat for 4 to 5 hours (mine took about 6 hours to get really tender, so just check it.)
4.  Then put the cooker on high, put in broccoli.  Cover and cook for 15 more minutes until broccoli is crisp-tender.

It was really delicious.  The meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender, the vegetables were perfectly cooked.  My roast today was not very lean, and the crock pot completely filled with fat/juice when it was done cooking.  So I'm thinking that if it was a very lean piece of meat the gravy sauce would be thicker.

I'm a little unsure of the nutritional stats because I think it all depends on your specific cut of meat.  For a 4 oz serving of meat with carrots and broccoli, it will be approximately 300 calories, 700mg potassium, 600mg sodium, 20g carbs and 35g protein.

Also, whenever I made anything like a beef roast before my vegetarian daughter was completely out of luck because I did not have any suitable vegetarian products that I could convert the recipe to.  Until now.  I found a new product that I am totally excited about.  It's been around for a while, but it is really hard to find.  I found just a couple different items at Safeway.  You can go to Gardein's website and look at there store finder, although I will warn you, it was not accurate for me.  They listed several stores that did not carry it.  You'll just have to look around.  I found these "beefless tips":

It was enough to make 2 single serving meals, and it was under $4.  Such a bargain.  Sami is so excited now that she can have pot roast again.  Here's what hers looked like:

I steamed the vegetables, mixed them in with gravy, heated up the "meat" and then stirred it all together.  So easy, and she was in Heaven.

Hope you enjoy your Beef with Broccoli stew!
Lisa
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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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My Recipe for Scrumptious Quesadillas

One of the new staples in my house is my wonderful chicken cooked in the crock pot that I use to make quesadillas with.  I just came up with it one day, and did it ever turn out awesome!  And, it's low carb, relatively good on calories for a dinner and super good on the protein, too.

The nutritional information for 1 quesadilla using the ingredients listed is:  515 calories; 35g carbs; a whopping 36.5g protein; 10.3g saturated fat; and 4g fiber.  (Serving: 1 quesadilla)

You can lower the overall calories and carbs by choosing reduced fat cheese, reduced fat sour cream, and  healthier tortillas such as Smart & Delicious brand.

Ingredients:

About 3 average sized chicken breasts, frozen
1 medium onion, diced
1 small can diced green chiles
2 8oz pkgs shredded cheese, like colby jack or cheddar
1 pkg fajita size flour tortillas (I used Wal-Mart's Great Value brand at 80 calories each)
1 pkg taco seasoning (Please see this post for clean, easily home made taco seasoning)
Sour Cream
Salsa
Non-stick pan spray

1.  Place frozen chicken, diced onion and can of green chiles in a crock pot.

2.  Set the timer for 5 or 6 hours on low, or about 4 hours on high.
3.  After the chicken has cooked through, use two forks (or a fork and knife) to pull the chicken into shreds.  It will be very tender and it is very easy to do.  Do not drain the liquid from the crock pot, btw.
4.  Add in 1 packet of taco seasoning and stir it all up.

5.  Hopefully you have a griddle, otherwise you can use a large skillet over med-high heat.  Spray the surface lightly with pan spray.
6.  Using your digital kitchen scale I suggested you buy, measure out 3 oz of chicken.   (I measured out 2.5 oz in this photo because I had extra people to feed and didn't have a lot of chicken to begin with.)

7.  Put tortillas on griddle and spread chicken to cover tortilla.  Use a measuring cup to measure out 1/2 cup cheese and spread on top of chicken.

8.  Put another tortilla on top and spray the tops lightly with cooking spray.  Let cook for a few minutes.
9.  After about 3 minutes lift up a quesadilla to check if the bottom is lightly browned and crispy.  When the bottom is done, carefully flip over each quesadilla with a spatula and cook the other side.
10.  Place on a plate and cut into quarters (a pizza cutter makes it super easy).  Serve with salsa and sour cream.  For more yumminess, also serve with guacamole and you can maybe put sliced olives inside the tortilla as well.  Just make sure you figure up the added calories and carbs for whatever toppings you choose. (note:  included in the nutritional information is 2 Tbsp each sour cream and salsa.)

btw, this makes the house smell awesome as it cooks in the crock pot.  I hope you enjoy my recipe for quesadillas.  The amount of carbs fits in perfectly with the diabetic guidelines.

If you'd like to drop me a line, I'm at happyfairylove@live.com.

Enjoy!
Lisa