Dijon Corned Beef in the Slow Cooker

Hey Steph, did you really cook that corned beef in the slow cooker? How come it's not wet and slimy? Isn't corned beef supposed to be wet and slimy?

Until a few years ago, I shied away from St. Patrick's Day. I hated getting a plate full of wet meat topped with  lifeless cabbage. (is that too harsh? I'm sorry if I've offended the soggy cabbage and wet meat lovers of the world...including my husband...)

Corned beef is quite a delicious piece of meat. It's brined, and packed with flavor all on it's own. In this recipe, the meat cooks in it's own juice--no additional liquid is required--creating a beautifully roasted (not slimy!) meat with a sweet, mustard glaze.

The Ingredients.

serves 6

3 pounds corned beef, trimmed of fat

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard

10 whole cloves (or you can use 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)

The Directions

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Unwrap the corned beef, and remove the seasoning packet (use it in another recipe, such as roasted cabbage and potatoes) and trim as much of the fat from the meat as you can. In a small bowl,  make a paste of the honey, brown sugar, mustard, and cloves. Rub this mixture on all sides of the meat. Place the meat into your crockpot, and cover. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or until meat pulls apart easily with a fork. Let sit for 15-20 minutes before slicing.

I prefer to cook my vegetables separately, but if you'd like everything in one pot, feel free to add quartered red potatoes, carrot chunks, and cabbage wedges around the meat. Again, no need to add additional liquid.

The Verdict

This sweet and salty glazed meat will shine on your St. Patrick's Day table. It's a winner, sure to please the picky leprechauns in your household. I like this meat so much, I'm going to  pick up a few extra corned beef packages to freeze so we can have it much more often.

other recipes you might like:

the first corned beef I made all by myself

cabbage rolls

the cabbage soup from the cabbage soup diet 

 roasted garlic spoonbread

roasted winter root vegetables 
Irish Potatoes

Since St. Patrick's Day is on Saturday this year, does that mean that the leprechauns need to visit our house? The teachers at school usually destruct the classroom and overturn furniture, toilet paper the play yard, and sprinkle gold glitter all over the grass. I'm up for the TPing, but I have a severe allergy to glitter...

also, I wanted to share that my friend Jen started her own 365 Day Challenge: A Year of Cocktails! Cheer her on and submit your favorite cocktails to test out--she's got a lot of work ahead of her!

Slow Cooker TV Dinners

One of the finer comforts in life is having a well-stocked freezer. Before our family became gluten free, I regularly bought packaged frozen lasagna, pizza, and hot pockets (mmm, hot pockets) to pop in the oven on a busy weekday night when I forgot to plug in the slow cooker.

This really isn't a possibility now: not only is packaged gluten free food terrible expensive, I'm just not comfortable feeding the family manufactured food on a regular basis.

So I've combined two of my favorite loves into one completely awesome package: Slow Cooker TV Dinners. 

I've always been a meal-planner, but I like that I can plan two or more weeks of meals and get them all in plastic zipper bags in the freezer, so I'm not chopping onions or potatoes each and every day. I figure if I'm already chopping an onion, I might as well chop up 10 and get it over with!

(or you can go the environmentally-friendly route and use Tupperware!)

One of the easiest ways to stock your freezer is to cook large batches of food, and freeze half of it. Clearly label and date the food, and then serve it again a few weeks later.

My family will ALWAYS eat the following things--- no matter how often I serve it:

taco soup,  easy lasagna,  chile verde,  beef bourguignon,  chicken makhani,  balsamic chicken

Instead of saving the leftovers for the next day, I freeze them to pull out later in the month. The food is already cooked-- so I thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then microwave or heat on the stovetop. I don't find the slow cooker all that useful to reheat leftovers.

Another way to successfully stock your freezer is to assemble freezer bags with raw meat, vegetables, sauce, and spices. I like to buy my meat in bulk, and then I simply put the ingredients needed for a specific recipe into a freezer bag and clearly label the outside with a magic marker. I then pull the frozen bag out the night before to thaw in the refrigerator. In the morning, I dump the food into my slow cooker and cook according to the recipe's directions (I'd suggest writing that on the bag, too).

It's recommended to thaw the food overnight, and not just put a block of ice into your slow cooker in the morning. In general, it's fine to cook with frozen meat, vegetables, etc., but the other ingredients should be room temperature, and the stoneware should always be room-temp before being plugged in. You can read more about this on Crock-Pot's official website. 

Read through the ingredients and directions on each recipe-- if it makes more sense to add chicken broth, etc. in the morning, do so, and if I've got directions to add something right before serving, follow those guidelines--- don't just dump everything into the bag if it doesn't seem appropriate. :-0

if you'd like, you can sign up at ZipList to create a personalized shopping list. All of these recipes are in their database (I've included a little button that says "save recipe" under each recipe). It's free, and I've found it immensely helpful.

10 Chicken candidates for Slow Cooker TV Dinners:

brown sugar chicken,  honey garlic chicken,  margarita chicken,  chicken adobo,  cream cheese chicken,  applesauce chicken,  lazy chicken,  green pepper chicken,  apricot chicken,  Vietnamese chicken

10 Beef candidates for Slow Cooker TV Dinners:

super simple cranberry roast,  3-packet pot roast,  sweet mustard roast,  ropa vieja,  Italian beef,  pomegranate beef,  Azorean beef stew,  simple Thai beef,  Korean ribs,   easy fajitas

10 Pork candidates for Slow Cooker TV Dinners:

 teriyaki and apricot pork chops,  peanutbutter pork,  rootbeer pulled pork,  cranberry pork roast,  pulled pork with sauerkraut,  peking pork chops,  hirino psito,  carnitas,  pineapple pork,  apple cinnamon pork roast

my kids will also eat the following fish dishes (ooh, Dr. Seuss!) twice a month:

parmesan tilapia,  honey orange tilapia,  pesto fillet of sole

 I hope this helps a bit with your meal planning! 

P.S.: some of the photos in these recipes are HORRENDOUS-- they were taken before I (somewhat) knew what I was doing with food photography. If you make a recipe of mine and take a better picture, send it my way and I'll give you full credit.

other stuff you might find useful:

meal planning for dummies (or for normal people, whatever)

The Daily 7 For a Highly Successful Household

Help! My Slow Cooker Cooks Too Hot!

Italian Beef Sandwiches, and other Super Bowl- Type Food

I must admit that I don't watch very much football. I grew up in a 49er household, and that's pretty much the only football I'll watch, and even then I kind of daze in and out unless it's a rather exciting game. I did watch last week's game, and followed along until the bitter end.

when we lost.

That said, I'm a sucker for parties, and for hearty comfort food. We aren't hosting a super bowl party this year because 1) it snuck up on me, and 2) I'm not even sure exactly who is playing. Those East Coast teams all look/sound the same to me.

(~~ ducking~~)

BUT! You should TOTALLY have a party. And make these sandwiches. Because they rock.

The Ingredients.

serves 8-10 for sandwiches, 6 if spooned over rice

 

3 to 4 pound beef rump roast

1 onion, sliced in rings

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons dried basil

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon anise

1 (14.5-ounce) can whole tomatoes (undrained)

1 (12-ounce) bottle beer (Redbridge, by Anheuser Busch is gluten free)

8 hoagie rolls (I use gluten free bread)

8 slices of mozzarella cheese

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Put the meat into your cooker (frozen is okay). Top with sliced onion, and all the dried herbs and spices. It will seem like there are way too many herbs—try not to worry. Add the entire can of tomatoes and bottle of beer. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until meat shreds easily with two large forks. Shred the meat completely, and stir well.

Serve on toasted rolls with melted mozzarella cheese.

The french bread shown here is gluten free--it's from the Against The Grain Gourmet, and comes frozen. I can only find it at one of our fancyish family-owned grocery stores, but there are distribution phone numbers on their website.

All I did was thaw the bread, slice it down the middle, then bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Once the bread felt toasty, and the cheese was melty, I took it out.

The Verdict.

Having a party? This is a fantastic pot-luck meal, or game day feast. The resulting meat is fall-apart tender and nicely seasoned. The cayenne provides a bit of a kick, but not enough to bother sensitive palates. If you’d like more heat, sliced pickled jalapeño peppers works great as an additional sandwich topping. I sent the leftover meat home with my friend Sharyl, and she reported back that her three kids LOVED their sandwiches the next day.

other rocking sandwiches and football-type fare:

peperoncini sandwiches
bbq beef and bean

pulled pork

french dip

portobella mushroom

loose meat

buffalo chicken dip

buffalo wing soup

party little smokies (two recipes here)