Pepper Beef Roast

This is one of those recipes that is very good the first day but after it sits in the fridge it is twice as good the next. For this I suggest doubling the recipe if at all possible. When Donna came by today to get her “cheeto hug” from Caleb she tried this and said she would be making it too.

For this recipe you will need Sugar Twin brand of brown sugar. This is a sugar substitute that it is very good in recipes.   We can only find it at Foodland in our state so you may have to order it online or see if your store can check into getting it for you.

Pepper Beef Roast

1 boneless beef roast 3-4 pounds

1/2 cup ketchup

3 Tablespoons Sugar Twin Brown Sugar Substitute

1 Tablespoon ground mustard

1 Tablespoon lime juice

2 teaspoons celery salt

2 teaspoons pepper

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke

1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

Cut roast in half and place in a 6 quart slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat is tender. Use forks and shred beef.

I made this in my programmable crockpot since I work and have to be out of the house for more than 8-9 hours each day. With the programmable crockpot it switches to keep warm once the time has run out for cooking. I found that by it going to warm for such a long amount of time after cooking that it became a bit hard on the outside while the inside was wonderful. After sitting overnight in the fridge the leftovers seemed to have softened the meat and I did not find any hard spots. I will be making this again but will probably wait to do this on the weekend so that I don’t need to use the keep warm feature.

Apple Dijon Pork Roast

I want to be totally honest and say that I loved this recipe but Mike hated it. I think it was the apple flavoring that did him in. As I have mentioned before he is a meat and potatoes and pinto bean kind of guy and seldom strays from that course. I did enjoy this and will probably make it again for myself when he has leftovers to finish off.

The original recipe was in the Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics Cookbook. I had to change the apple juice to apple flavored drink. What I did was purchase the single drink size packets from Walmart of their imitation of Crystal Light. I bought the apple flavor and instead of mixing it with 16 ounces of water I mixed it with 8 to make it more concentrated.  This eliminated a lot of the carbs without changing the flavor of the recipe.

The recipe calls for using cornstarch to make a gravy with the pan drippings. After figuring out how very little of the gravy you would actually use I came to this having about 1 carb per serving.  Just look at how good this looks.

Apple-Dijon Pork Roast

1 boneless whole pork loin roast (2-3 pounds)

1 14.5 ounce can of chicken broth

1 cup of apple flavor drink (see above instructions on this)

1.2 cup Dijon mustard

6 tablespoons cornstarch

6 Tablespoons cold water

Cut roast in half; place in a 5-quart slow cooker. Combine the broth, apple juice and mustard; pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 4- 4.5 hours.

Remove roast and keep warm. For gravy, strain cooking juices and skim fat. Pour juices into a saucepan. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with pork.  Lightly drizzle on top.

Sofrito Chicken

I got the original recipe from The Everyday Low-Carb Slow Cooker Cookbook. I love this book but do have to change a few ingredients to please my husband. He is a stubborn man when it comes to food.

This was a very good and easy recipe. The recipe calls for 3 celery stalks cut into thin slices. We both found this to be way too much celery. I think next time I will just add celery flakes to the recipe and omit the celery all together. It also calls for chicken thighs. We do not care for chicken thighs so we used boneless chicken tenders. So the recipe below will be what I do.

Sofrito is a blend of tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, olives and seasonings.

Sofrito Chicken

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2/3 cup Sofrito (purchased at Kroger’s in the ethnic aisle next to the Mexican food items)

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon celery flakes

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 pounds of frozen boneless chicken tenders

Grease the slow cooker crock with spray Pam. Place frozen chicken tenders in the bottom of the crock. In a bow mix all of the remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Simple Mexican Wraps

I saw this on the Ravelry Message Board and it was wonderful. You can see the original recipe here.

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/crockpot-love/283460/376-400#387

Just look at this picture. Doesn’t it look good? I am wanting it now. So many recipes and so little time to enjoy them all. lol Mike really enjoyed this meat but he didn’t make them into wraps. He ate the meat as it was and of course had his usual sides of mashed potatoes and pinto beans. That man is so stubborn. It is a good thing that he isn’t a Diabetic like I am. I can’t imagine him giving up his potatoes.

Simple Mexican Wraps

2-3 pound Pot Roast

2 cups beef broth

2 packets of taco seasoning

1/2 onion

2 cloves of garlic

I put the slices of onion in the bottom of the crock and placed the pot roast on top of that.  I poured the beef broth on top and then sprinkled the taco seasoning and garlic on top of the roast so that it was completely covered. I cooked on low for 8 hours and with forks shredded the meat to make the wraps.

I used low carb tortillas and added salsa, cheddar cheese, tomatoes and black olives. You could add sour cream if you prefer. These were very yummy.

Chicken Stroganoff Without The Noodles

This is another recipe that I found on Ravelry. We enjoyed it but I think next time I will use Cream of Chicken Soup instead of the Cream of Mushroom Soup. It came out with a nice sauce over it. Mike ate 3 chicken breasts so I guess he really enjoyed it.

You can find the original recipe here. http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/crockpot-love/283460/476-500#499

Chicken Stroganoff Without The Noodles

1 pound frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 Chicken Breasts)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use Cream of Chicken)
16 oz. carton sour cream
1 envelope dry onion soup mix

Put frozen chicken in bottom of crockpot. Mix soup, sour cream, onion soup mix and pour over chicken,. Cook on low for 7 hours. Makes 6 servings.

Carnitas

I know that I have mentioned that I love www.ravelry.com and yes I am going to talk about that site again. They have many message boards that discuss more than just knitting. I joined a crockpot message board there and got many new ideas for eating low carb. Not all of the recipes are low carb. I have to pick and choose. I found this recipe there and both Mike and I love this. You can find the original recipe here.

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/crockpot-love/283460/1301-1325#1308

I ate the pork wrapped in a low carb tortilla with salsa and cheddar cheese. Mike ate his with mashed potatoes and white beans. Either way this recipe is one that I am sure I will make often.

Carnitas

1 3 lb.(ish) pork shoulder roast (fresh – not smoked)
2 bay leaves
1 C.  chicken broth

Dry Rub:
1 t. salt
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1/4 t. cayenne
1 t. cumin (ground)
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/4 t. cinnamon

I usually double or triple the dry rub because I like my food to have a lot of flavor but the above is the base recipe and it gives a good indication of the ratios of each spice. I also usually grind in a whole bunch of fresh black pepper, but I never measure that.

Combine the spices and salt together in a small bowl. Remove all wrapping and netting from the pork shoulder roast and rub all of the dry rub into every nook and cranny of the meat. I suggest doing this on a portable cutting board so you can dump any of the dry rub that falls off into the CP along with the meat. Place dry rubbed meat in CP with bay leaves and chicken broth (don’t pour the broth over the meat, though! You want to put the broth in first.) Cover and cook on low 6-9 hours. The beauty of this recipe is that the longer the cooking time (within reason), the better the end product.

Chicken With Gravy

This recipe came about entirely by accident. While searching a message board for crockpot recipes I found several that I wanted to try. I read the ingredients to my husband and he chose the chicken recipe. The problem is the next morning I thought that I could remember the recipe without looking it up and I put the ingredients for the roast recipe on top of the chicken.

I had cooked it about two hours when I realized the mistake but it smelled so wonderful at that point that I didn’t stop it. Mike and I were really pleasantly surprised at how good this was.  We will definitely be making this at least twice a month.

I had never placed my chicken into the crockpot frozen before but many of the posters on the message board were discussing how the chicken would come out as it had been baked and not mushy or over cooked if it were frozen when placed in the crockpot. This was so true. I will always place my chicken breasts in the crockpot from now on.

Chicken With Gravy

4 boneless chicken breasts, frozen

1 can of Cream of Chicken soup (I used Campbell’s)

1 soup can full of a very dry Sherry

1 envelope of Lipton Dry Onion Soup Mix

Place frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 7 hours.

Grilled Spice Fish

This is my first fish recipe and hopefully won’t be my last. My husband is wonderful but highly allergic to anything that swims. Therefore, I never get to make fish for meals where he is going to eat.

Saturday I did make this recipe for myself for lunch. It was absolutely wonderful. I did feel badly for the delivery men who were bringing my new microwave because the house did reek of fish. But it was worth it anyway.

I hope to make this for myself again sometime soon.

I got this recipe from the Taste of Home Backyard Grilling cookbook but I of course made some changes. I did not grill it. I was feeling a bit lazy so I just fried it in a pan using a little bit of olive oil and a non-stick pan. It was absolutely wonderful. I used to enjoy eating fish with rice but that is not low carb so I had a few sliced strawberries with mine.  It was a very nice lunch.

Grilled Spice Fish

4 red snapper or orange roughy (I used cod- already had it in my freezer)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons paprika (I used Spanish Paprika)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (Next time I will use a bit less)

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon each of dried oregano, basil and thyme

Brush fish with oil. In a small bowl, combine the seasonings; sprinkle over fish and press into both sides. Fry in a non-stick pan using a little bit of olive oil. This only takes 3-4 minutes on each side to cook.

Bacon Wrapped Beef Patties with French’s Onions

I have found something that my husband can not get enough of. They are very similar to the Ranchero Onion Burgers on this site but with bacon and they have a very smoky flavor to them.

The original recipe came from the Taste of Home Backyard Grilling Cookbook but I made a couple of changes to them. Instead of regular onions I added French’s Onions (the kind people put on green bean casserole).

I highly suggest using non-stick Reynolds Aluminum Foil when cooking these as they did tend to stick very badly. It also helps to keep the flames down while the bacon grease drips onto the hot coals of the grill.

Remember to keep them low carb by not eating them on a bun. You will get used to not eating hamburgers on a bun. I don’t miss the bun at all anymore. This way you get the full flavor of the meat and vegetables.

Bacon Wrapped Beef Patties with French’s Onions

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2/3 cup French’s Onions

1/4 cup ketchup

2 eggs, slightly beaten

3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 pounds ground beef

10 bacon strips

In a bowl, combine all but the bacon and form into patties. Wrap each burger with a slice of bacon. Secure with toothpicks.

Grill patties until done. Serve with extra French’s Onions on top.

Orange Beef

My husband and I loved this. I used a cheaper steak that I had in my freezer but definitely plan to try it again using rib-eyes. The flavor was even better than I had expected and the house smelled so good when it was cooking.

I used a bit more oil to fry the steak in than it calls for and then just drained it out of the pan before making the sauce. I scrapped the pan to get the drippings loose for the sauce.

My sister had parted with one of her precious fresh grown tomatoes and it was the perfect accompaniment to this steak.  Looks delicious doesn’t it?

Orange Beef

1 pound beef top sirloin or tenderloin steaks

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon McCormick’s Valencia Orange Peel

2 Tablespoons Crystal Lights Early Sunrise Orange Flavored Drink (mixed as directed)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 Tablespoon dry sherry

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Cut beef in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise into thin slices. Toss with garlic and grated orange peel in medium bowl.

Stir orange flavored drink, soy sauce and sherry  into cornstarch in small bowl until smooth: set aside.

Heat large skillet (I used non-stick pan) over medium-high heat; add oil. Stir-fry beef in batches 2-3 minutes or until barely pink in center. Remove oil from pan. Scrap pan to loosen drippings. Stir cornstarch mixture; add to wok. Cook and stir until sauce boils and thickens.  Serve over beef.