If you are on a tight budget, you can make some really great crock pot meals because you can use the cheaper cuts of meat and they will turn out wonderfully delicious. What’s really important to get tender results in your choice of meat is to use plenty of moisture throughout the cooking.
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Otherwise, the meat most likely will turn out bone tough. What’s enough moisture? Well, I suppose there are lots of varying opinions about that and you will find what’s best for you. When in doubt, it’s best to err on the conservative side by putting in more liquid than not enough. Until you decide that you prefer to do it differently, cover the meat completely with liquid.
For those “In-a-Hurry” crock pot meals, you’ll have to plan ahead. There’s just no way around it. You can do great things if you have a few supplies on hand.
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Here’s a great, very simple recipe for when you’ve got a big, busy day planned:
Brown a 3 pound beef pot roast on all sides in a skillet in 2-3 tablespoons of oil (olive oil is best – it gives a great flavor and is much better for you than some of the lesser expensive oils).
Place the roast in the crock pot and turn on high for about 1 hour then turn it down to low and add the following ingredients:
Peel and cut 4 medium sized potatoes & 3 large carrots.
Cut 1 medium sized onion into wedges and 4 stalks of celery into I inch (or larger) slices.
Cover with 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of water (mixed) or you can mix 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into 1 ½ cups of water and pour that over the meat and vegetables.
A couple cloves of garlic, mashed is great.
Salt and pepper to your taste buds
If you have canned or dried mushrooms you can toss in some of those. The great thing about this recipe is that you can vary it in so many ways and you can hardly go wrong.
I suppose now that I’ve said that, someone will prove me wrong. I sincerely hope not.
Tossing in a package of dried onion soup makes this a heavenly crock pot meal. I love crock pot meals because you put it all together, turn it on low and go about your day.
If you don’t like cream of mushroom soup, you can substitute cream of celery soup or a large can (or 2 small ones) of canned tomatoes,
Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Don’t worry about over-cooking crock pot meals – that’s difficult to do unless you do either of 2 things: you don’t use enough liquid which causes the food to dry out and secondly, you forget to turn the heat down to low.
I don’t peel the vegetables because I like to keep the food value that’s in the peels but most people peel them because they look better that way or because they just don’t like to eat peelings.
Remember, the cheaper cuts of meat work just as great in a crock pot. And with the money you save, you can splurge on some wonderful herbs, spices or a nice bottle of wine to accompany your delicious crock pot meals.
Speaking of herbs, keep watching for the mystery herb – grow it yourself – easy to grow – comes back year after year – rare – very few people know about it – has the flavor of celery – use it as a substitute for celery – use it in anything you would with celery – I’m not selling it but I’ll soon tell you where YOU can get it to grow yourself – I don’t get a commission if you buy it – it’s just my favorite flavoring because it is so good and is so versatile. It will be a wonderful, flavorful enhancement for your crock pot meals.
Bookmark this spot and come again. I’m going to reveal my favorite, rare herb that you can easily grow yourself very soon .
