Step-by-step directions for those who are new to cooking from 'scratch'...please bear with me.
Choose your veggies. Traditionally, people use carrots, potatoes, and onions. When you are low-carbing, you can substitute radishes or turnips for the potatoes. I still use carrots (when I have them) and just measure my portion carefully. Onions are high in carbs, but I still use them--I just cut them in large pieces so that I can avoid them if I'm already too high in carbs for the day. You can also include mushrooms. I've used squash, too, but it can get mushy--so add it in the last hour of cooking.
Wash the veggies in grapefruit-seed extract. (If you need to order, follow this link http://www.allhealthtrends.com/grapefruit-seed-extract-4oz.html. It takes about 10 drops/gallon of water--so a 4oz bottle lasts a LONG time!)
Cut the veggies into similar size pieces--uniform pieces of veggie cook evenly. If the pieces of veggie are too dissimilar, the small pieces will be overdone.
Place butter in the bottom of the slow-cooker pan. Layer the veggies--with the denser veggies on bottom, the lighter ones on top. These radishes came from the farmers market (already cleaned) and many were quite large, so I weighed them to get a more accurate carb count (though radishes are so low in carbs that it was not totally necessary). I sliced the largest radishes in half--so that they were about the same size as the smaller ones. This is 1.8 lbs of radishes.
I used red onions this time--one whole onion (8.3 oz), cut into quarters and then sliced.
After the veggies are layered in the slow-cooker, sear the meat. Make sure that your skillet is very hot--if not, the meat doesn't sear properly. I've sprinkled a bit of fajita seasoning over this. It smells lovely while searing.
Place the seared meat on top of the veggies and put the lid on the slow-cooker. Check the time needed to cook the meat and remember to check it periodically. At this point, you can add a bit of liquid--no more than one cup. You can use broth, wine, water--or a mixture of all three. Today, I'm using chipolte broth and a bit of wine.
Once the roast is done, divide the roast into 6 portions and scoop out the vegetables. Sprinkle a few shakes of xantham gum into the meat juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Add a few shakes, if needed, to get the juice to gravy texture. Portion out and enjoy!
Volley's Notes:
- You can prep the veggies a day or two before you cook. Just make sure you have room in your fridge to overnight it.
- Searing the meat before placing it in the slow-cooker isn't necessary, but it helps seal in the flavor.
- Check your slow-cooker recipe book (or online) to find out the cook time for your chunk of pot-roast--the time will differ depending on weight.
- You can use French onion soup mix instead of the chipotle broth & wine.
1.8 lbs of fresh radishes
8.3 oz of red onion
1.3 lbs fresh mushrooms
2 lbs beef pot roast
1 cube chipotle broth
1/2 cup wine
1/2 stick of butter
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
