Recently I’ve been kicking around the idea of getting a slow cooker. I’ve seen several delicious looking slow cooker meals I want to try. At work the other day I figured out an even better and cheaper idea than getting a slow cooker. I got a dutch oven for Christmas and so far hadn’t got around to using it. By setting the oven to either 100~200 degrees I’ve just made a slow cooker. Probably better than the new ones being made anyway. Let me show you the simple and amazing meal I made in just a few minutes.
Paleo Stew
While shopping yesterday I saw a Chuck roast on sale and decided it would make an excellent pot roast to try out my dutch oven slow cooker. The ingredients I used were as follows:
- Chuck Roast
- Parsnips
- 1 Sweet Potato
- 1 White Potato
- 1 Onnion
- A few stalks of Celery
- Two TBSP of Garlic
- Two Cups Of Water
- 1 Bullion Cube
To season it I used Salt, Pepper, Basil and thyme.You could also eliminate the white potato for a lower carb version. For this stew/roast I diced everything in fairly large chunks, about two inch chunks. I preheated the oven to 200° and left it in there for about four hours. At the end the meat was falling apart at the touch of a fork. My entire apartment smelled great as well.
Slow Cooking Success
I plan on doing a lot more with my dutch oven now that I’ve broke it in. Roasts usually tend to be a much cheaper cut of meat taste great when slow cooked. I love how easy it is to dice up some veggies and meat, toss them in the dutch oven and forget about it for hours. I plan on doing many more meals this way and documenting their success. I’m thinking pulled pork barbecue is up next. Since I’m in an apartment I can’t have a smoker this might be the next best option.
Do you use a slow cooker? Are you a Dutch Over Fan? Have any good recipes? Let me know in the comments!
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I use a slow cooker a lot and even got a new one as a wedding gift that has a timer so you can set it to start at a certain time (while you’re at work). It sounds like the dutch oven worked quite well for you, but I imagine a slow cooker would use far less energy than heating your entire oven (even at only 150 degrees or whatever) for 4 hours. In the summer you might not want your oven pumping heating into your home for 4 hours either. Plus, slow cookers cook evenly and thoroughly, while some ovens can be hard to regulate temperature throughout over a prolonged cooking period. Just some thoughts. You can get a basic slow cooker for pretty cheap these days and even a really nice one with some bells & whistles is under $100. Whatever works for you though! Looks like a tasty meal.
Thank you for this great recipe. I am not the cook in my house but in an emergency we have to know each other’s jobs, no? I also love the fact that this could work with game or whatever is on sale. It is not food storage. I LOVE freeze dried and MRE food storage but I find they are weight gainers, even low calorie entrees can because of the phytochemicals. (think soy= estrogen)
I absolutely love to prepare our grain-free (paleo, primal) meals in a slow cooker. I don’t really follow recipes. I just throw in chopped onions, minced garlic, tomato sauce, the roast or meat, and Italian herbs. Sometimes I leave out the tomato sauce and just put stock in. When there are just a few hours left on the cook time, I throw in some veggies such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.
– Place chicken, rocket, carrot and capsicum in a mixing bowl and combine well.
Cooking foods reduces the nutritional value of food and kills foods enzymes.
If you are blood type A, is your main problem your more viscous (thick) blood that by nature are more prone to degenerative changes such as heart disease, adult onset diabetes, and metabolic
syndrome.
You mentioned a smoker, but rejected it because you live in an apartment- been there. Here’s a way to get some smoke on your slow cooked food without getting in trouble. Use a big stainless pot with a lid and a cookie-cooling rack or metal colander to keep the food off the floor of the pot. Sprinkle some good black tea leaves in the bottom of the pot and set it on the cook top (the oven might work, too, but I haven’t tried it) and heat it just enough so the tea smokes a little. It gives a pretty intense flavor with minimal escaped smoke.