My Absolute Favorite Beef Crock Pot Recipe (Beef with Brown Sugar Worcestershire Sauce and Corn-Free Polenta)

I love using the crock pot, especially in the summer. It uses so much less energy than the oven and doesn't heat up the whole kitchen. One of my all-time favorite recipes is Beef with Brown Sugar Worcestershire Sauce. I love the combination of flavors in the sauce. If you want it spicy, increase the chipotle powder a little, or use cayenne pepper instead. It really doesn't take much to make it incredibly spicy though. After my disappointing phone call to Lee and Perrins, I'm now making this recipe with my Homemade Worcestershire Sauce.

I started with Emeril's Beef Short Ribs with Cheddar Polenta and modified the recipe to make it in the crock pot, adjusted the seasonings and added broccoli. We've made this recipe will beef short ribs, stew meat, and roasts. Short ribs are our least favorite. It's harder to get the meat off the bone and it tends to make the sauce pretty greasy. My favorite is stew meat since it's already cut into cubes. Any type of beef roast is great too. This meal makes excellent leftovers too. 

Since Tommy is allergic to corn and dairy, I've made my own recipe for a Corn-Free Polenta. Ground hulled millet acts very similar to coarse cornmeal. I use the milling blade on my Baby Bullet. The final texture is a little chewier/coarser than a traditional polenta, but it sure makes a great substitute for traditional polenta. The polenta can easily be vegan if you use a vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. 

I made this recipe two weeks ago, but the night we were going to eat it we wound up buying a last minute climbing rope in Salt Lake City and ate out instead. I brought the beef on our camping trip. I reheated the beef and sauce mixture on our camping stove and then made the polenta fresh at the campsite with millet I ground at home. OMG, it was definitely the best meal I've ever had camping. It made a ton, but there were no leftovers. I forgot to take any pictures, but it was so good I decided to make it again this week. 

Flash forward to this week, and once again our dinner was postponed. I had the beef going for several hours in the crock pot and then we heard from a friend that he was in town and invited us to join him out to dinner. So once again, the cooked beef went into the fridge for the next day. So I'm 0 for 2 recently on eating this the day I cooked it. Good thing it's even better the next day. 

Beef in Brown Sugar Worcestershire Sauce

2-3 lb beef roast or stew meat
2 medium onions, sliced
2 cups water
6 Tbsp brown sugar
6 Tbsp Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp coconut aminos or gluten free soy sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp smoke paprika
3 medium heads of broccoli, cut into florets

1. Optional: Line crock pot with crock pot liner.
2. Add the beef to the bottom of the crock pot. Top with the onions. 
3. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients except for the broccoli. Stir until combined. Pour the sauce over the beef and onions.
4. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
5. Add the broccoli to the crock pot, cover and cook on low for another hour. Serve over mashed potatoes or Corn-Free Polenta.

Corn-Free Polenta

1 1/2 cups hulled millet
2 cans chicken broth
1 can full fat coconut milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Pour the hulled millet into a medium saucepan. Run your fingers through the millet to look for any rocks. In batches, grind the millet into a powder using the milling blade of a Baby Bullet, a coffee grinder, or a powerful blender.
2. Add the ground millet, broth and coconut milk to the saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking frequently until the polenta is thickened and the millet no longer tastes raw.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

We're Home! Creamy Broccoli Soup

Tommy's tonsils and adenoids are gone! His surgery went very well, and after a night in the hospital for observation since he's not even two years old yet, we're finally back home. The first day he was feeling pretty good. He even roamed the halls a bit and played in the peds playroom. But last night and today he's been a lot more miserable. He has a pretty sad little cry and cough and he just seems to be a lot more uncomfortable. Poor little guy. But we're all happy to be home. Now he's had dinner and a bath and he's pretty happy for the moment!

Tommy hasn't been all that interested in drinking today, but he's eating food like a champ. Lots of jello, oatmeal and applesauce. He hasn't had much fat or salt, so for dinner I made Creamy Broccoli Soup and Corn-Free Cornbread. By far this is Tommy's favorite way to eat broccoli.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

1 Tbsp canola oil
1 large onion, diced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp minced garlic
3 chicken broth
2 cups water
2 heads broccoli, chopped
1 can full fat coconut milk

1. Heat the oil in a dutch oven sized pot over medium low heat. Add the onion through garlic. Saute until the onions are translucent.
2. Add the broccoli and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the broccoli is soft (about 15 min).
3. Add the coconut milk and puree the soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender.
4. Heat the soup over medium low until warm.

The Infamous Fruit Ketchup (Coconut Chicken Nugget Dinner)

I saw on one of my favorite websites, Brittany Angell’s Real Sustenance (www.realsustenance.com), that she had a recipe for baked chicken nuggets that used coconut as the breading. I thought that sounded delicious. And since chicken nuggets are just begging for a dipping sauce, I thought it’d be the perfect time to try making my own ketchup.

I LOVE the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It has so many interesting recipes. They have a couple different recipes for ketchup, and one of them was a fruit ketchup. It seemed to be a pretty straight forward recipe and I would only need to modify it a little. He had previously had all of the ingredients I used except honey. And he had only had ground mustard twice. (We were trialing mustard with a German potato salad, but Tommy doesn't really care for white potatoes so he wouldn't really eat it.)

I spent one whole afternoon making the ketchup. I had to peel and dice all the fruits, cook the mixture, run it through a food mill and then reduce the juices. Then I canned the ketchup. 

The whole process took about four hours. I felt so proud that I had made my own ketchup for Tommy that wasn’t filled with any mystery spices or “natural flavors.” And it was delicious.

When I was finally done canning the ketchup and thoroughly exhausted because I had gotten up early that day, I was really ready to take a break. But right then, as if on cue, Tommy woke up from his nap. By the time Ben got home from work I was getting pretty crabby.  But I was still feeling like a domestic goddess for making and canning my own ketchup.

For dinner I made the coconut popcorn chicken from Brittany Angell’s Real Sustenance, Roasted Mixed Potatoes, and Garlic Roasted Broccoli. I cooked all three dishes in the same oven and everything was ready AT THE SAME TIME. I was pretty proud of that. I felt like I had totally rocked making dinner.

Tommy loved the ketchup. He was dipping his chicken nuggets like a pro. About ten minutes into dinner I noticed a little hive on Tommy’s cheek. Sometimes he gets a random hive here and there and we usually attribute those to our dog. As he kept eating, a few more hives appeared. It then became pretty clear that Tommy was allergic to something in the ketchup. So it looks like either honey or mustard will be added to the allergy list.

It was so defeating. I had spent all afternoon making that stupid ketchup. I really thought I was making one that would be safe for Tommy. And after all that work, he can’t eat it after all.

On the plus side dinner was DELICIOUS! The ketchup had a nice sweet and spicy flavor. I imagine the taste will only continue to improve the longer it sits on the shelf. The chicken nuggets were nice and crispy, and the broccoli and potatoes really rounded out the meal. Best of all the whole dinner only took me like an hour. Not including making the ketchup…

I’m not abandoning the plan to make a Tommy safe ketchup. But next time I think I’ll just use cane sugar and leave out the mustard.

Coconut Chicken Nugget Dinner

Game Plan:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F

2. Peel and chop the potatoes.

3. Combine the potatoes, oil, salt, pepper and rosemary in a roasting pan.

4. Put the potatoes in the oven and start a timer for 40 min.

5. Wash and cut the broccoli.

6. Toss the broccoli with the oil and garlic on a baking sheet

7. Place broccoli in oven when timer reads 30 min.

8. Combine coconut flakes, salt and pepper in a gallon sized bag.

9. Cut chicken into nugget sized pieces.

10. Add chicken to the bag and shake to evenly coat the chicken pieces.

11. Place chicken nuggets in oven when timer reads 20 min.

Mixed Roasted Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes

3 small russet potatoes

2 Tbsp canola oil

½ tsp dried rosemary

½ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Peel and chop all the potatoes into approximately one inch cubes. Combine all the ingredients in a 9” x 13” baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice during the cooking.

Garlic Roasted Broccoli

2 large or 3 small heads of broccoli

2 Tbsp canola oil

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Wash the broccoli and peel the stalks. Chop the broccoli into florets and slice the stalks. Toss all the ingredients together on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through the baking. 

Coconut Popcorn Chicken (recipe by Brittany Angell)

http://realsustenance.com/popcorn-chicken-grainnutegg-free/

I used 1.25 lb chicken tenders cut into approximately inch long pieces and only 1 cup of coconut flakes. And I tossed the chicken, coconut and salt and pepper in a gallon sized bag instead of a bowl. This made it easier and less messy to coat all the chicken pieces. Since I used chicken tenders instead of chicken thighs and baked them at a higher temperature, they only needed 20 min.

Infamous Fruit Ketchup

Makes about five 8 oz jars

4 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes, drained and rinsed

4 cups chopped pitted peeled peaches

2 cups chopped cored peeled apples

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 cup honey

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine tomatoes, peaches, and apples. Over medium low heat, using a spatula or large spoon, mash the fruit until the juices flow. Add onion and garlic. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, cover, and boil gently until fruit is heated through and onions are transparent. About 15 minutes.

2. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Working in batches, run the mixture through a food mill or sieve placed over the saucepan to extract all the juice. Measure out five cups and discard the solids.

3. Add the honey, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens, about 45 minutes. It will be thinner than commercial ketchup.

4. Meanwhile, prepare canner, lids and jars.

5. Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until finger-tight.

6. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Add 10 minutes additional time if boiling around 4500 ft altitude. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool for 12-24 hours and store.