Every week, I try anywhere from five to ten new recipes to satisfy my clients' tastes and menus. And at the end of the week, there's always an all-star dish that shined brighter than the rest. (Note to self- I'm going to have to go back to weeks past and make sure I post those winners, too! After all, they were #1!)
This week's Best Dish recipe is so simple; I made it all in the slow cooker, aka the 5 quart Crock Pot! In my opinion, a slow cooker is one of the greatest tools any kitchen can have! Here's a sweet little background story on ours :) we received our Crock Pot from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Kimmy, as a wedding gift. As middle and high school girls, Kimmy & I grew up watching her incredible mom make one delicious dinner after another in her slow cooker. So when Kimmy chose our wedding gift, I just love that she remembered this timeless kitchen tool for Daniel and me!
Now, I've used my slow cooker for many different types of meals- chili, paella!, whole chicken, stews and pot roasts. But I must say, my favorite dish to come out of the slow cooker thus far, is this sweet and delicious cranberry-barbecue recipe! Daniel and I recommend you try it asap!
Slow Cooker Cranberry-Barbecue Pulled Beef
Serves 6
Ingredients:
3-4 pound boneless chuck roast, trimmed
3-4 cups organic beef broth
1 cup Bull's Eye bbq sauce
1 can organic whole-berry cranberry sauce
Preparation:
Trim the fat off the chuck roast as well as you can. Since you are going to be shredding the beef anyway, I cut the roast into sections, so I can remove fatty sections in the meat, easily. If you don't trim away the fat before it goes in the cooker, you will end up picking it out of the finished product, which is not as easy, nor fun, when you're ready to just sit down and enjoy!
Put the roast into the slow cooker and pour in beef broth, almost covering all of the meat. Turn on slow cooker to LOW and cook for 6-8 hours.
Using tongs, remove roast from cooker and shred with two forks. Drain juices from slow cooker. (Some people like to reserve the juice to thin the meat and sauce later on, but I've never needed to do that, so I just discard it right away.)
Return the meat to slow cooker and stir in barbecue sauce and cranberry sauce. Cook for another 30 minutes to an hour on LOW to allow flavors to soak into the meat. And you're done!
Serve on top of a whole wheat sandwich bun or without! We eat it without the bread and love it that way. Goes great with a good tossed salad, coleslaw, sauteed green veggies, or a vegetable dish, like squash ribbons with red onion and parmesan!
Bon Appetite!
Lou