By slowly stewing grass-fed short ribs, you can tenderize the beef while infusing it with big flavors. It’s simple too! Just throw the ingredients into your slow cooker, and at the end of the day you’ve got a hearty meal and a kitchen smelling of irresistible Korean cuisine.
Salt and pepper ribs generously, place on a lined baking sheet bone side up, and oven broil for 4-6 minutes on each side. Place short ribs in the slow cooker. Chop the pear, green onions, ginger and garlic, then purée together with soy sauce and honey. Pour this mixture over the ribs, making sure to set aside a cup for later. Top the pot with beef stock, cover the lid, and cook low and slow for 8-10 hrs.
Serving Suggestion: When you’re ready to eat, place the ribs on a serving platter and top with remaining cup of sauce and cilantro to taste. Will feed 4-6 people
Make sure you have a blender and a slow cooker.
This was our first year gardening at our current house and found that root vegetables were what did best here. I was trying to think of what to do with them and this is what I came up with. I love roasting root vegetables because instead of watering down the flavor, roasting intensifies the flavors and brings about more complex flavors. This could also be done in the crock pot if you need to be out of the house all day.
You can use whatever root vegetables you have on hand or like. You can also use larger veggies and just cut them to the right size.
Wash all veggies and peel those that need to be. I peeled the beets and turnips
Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Begin by butterflying the chicken. To butterfly a chicken you simply cut down one side of the backbone and then down the other side of the back bone. Don’t cut right down the middle of the backbone but on either side of it. Remove it completely and save for stock. Now open up the chicken so you can see the inside. To get the chicken to lay flat you need to do something about the keel bone (breast bone), You will see this right in the middle of the two breasts. You can remove the keel bone by cutting through the membrane on top of the keel bone so that the membrane will separate and then push the breasts apart and the keel bone will “pop” out. Run your finger along both sides of the bone and then pull it out. Trim any unwanted fat from the chicken and slide a finger between the skin and meat so you can season between them. Place your meat in a 9 by 13 pan skin side up and season the meat of the chicken under the skin. I used salt, pepper, thyme, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. But use what you like. Then flip the chicken over and season the inside of the chicken.
Drizzle veggies with about 2 T olive oil and salt, toss to coat. Place veggies around chicken and roast for 45 min. Turn chicken over and sprinkle some seasoning on skin. Turn the heat down to 350 (or skin will burn) and roast for another 45 min. Pull out when when chicken is done (potatoes should be soft and veggies should have a slight crunch to them still.) Let chicken rest 5 min and then cut to desired portions. There you have it a low fuss great tasting supper.
Lots of eggplant? Too many summer squash? Here is a quick and easy dish with a classic French twist. Slow cooked veggies with tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers makes a great side to any roasted meat or alone with a slice of crusty bread. Also, a great dish when you are on the go.
Place diced eggplant and zucchini in an colander and salt it. Let veggies drain for an hour. In a cast iron pan, saute bell pepper and onion. Place in a slow cooker. In same pan, saute egg plant and zucchini until golden brown. Place cooked veggies in slow cooker. Add crushed tomatoes, basil, thyme, and rosemary. Season with salt an pepper to taste. Cook for 6 hours. Serve with roast beef, lamb, or alone with a crusty loaf of bread.
These will be the most tender and flavorful ribs that you have ever tasted. I always use homemade sauerkraut for this delicous recipe. The apple reduces the strong pungent taste of sauerkraut. I also add caraway seeds for an extra splash of flavor. This is one of my favorite meals growing up.
Add all the ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on high for 12 hours.
A German classic! This is a slowcooked marinated beef has a sweet and sour taste. Enjoy with potato dumplings and braised cabbage.
Salt and pepper roast and place in a container or glass baking dish.
In a pot, add cider vinegar, water, lemon, onion, juniper berries, mustard seeds, peppercorns, bay leaf and rapadura. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool. Poor cooled marinade over beef, cover with a lid and refrigerate. Turn meat in marinade every 8 hours for the next 2 days.
After marinating, warm olive oil in a cast-iron pan. Brown all sides of the roast and then place in a slow cooker. Lay bacon over roast. Pour marinade over roast and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Once roast is done make the gravy with the sweet roux. In a small pan, melt butter and rapadura until it starts to caramelize. Add flour to complete the roux. Turn heat up to high in the slow cooker and add roux. Whisk until well combined and starts to thicken. Slice or shred roast and serve with gravy.
Serve with potato dumplings and sweet and sour cabbage!
Fettah (also spelled fattah or fatta), is meat – often lamb or beef – with rice and toasted pita bread. Fettah is one of my favorite feast recipes, though I have to admit it’s a bit carb-heavy. The flavor of the meat and broth with the rice and toasted pita is not only filling but also sublimely flavorful. Even though I wouldn’t advocate repetitious consumption of this on a weekly basis, I recommend it as a party-pleaser and a great filling meal for feasts and large gatherings. I’m making this for Orthodox Easter this weekend!
Soak the rice in enough water to cover, plus 1 tablespoon of whey, lemon juice or vinegar. Cover and let soak at least 8 hours.
Cook the lamb. Add 7 cups of water to a large pot on the stove. Add bay leaves, cardamom seeds, chopped onion, salt, and pepper. As soon as the water starts to boil, add the 3 lamb shanks, lower to medium heat, and cover pot. It takes the lamb 1-1.5 hours to fully cook. Use this time to prepare the other components.
Toast the pita bread. Cut up the 2 small loaves of pita bread into 1-inch pieces (you can use kitchen scissors or simply do it by hand) and place in a pyrex dish and drizzle with a bit of ghee. In a 250-degree oven, toast the pita bread for about 15-20 minutes, checking on it occasionally to make sure it is not burning. Remove and set aside.
Make the rice. Drain the soaking water off of the rice and rinse with filtered water. Once the lamb is at least halfway done, take out two cups of the lamb broth for making the rice. In a separate pot, add two cups of the broth to one cup of rice, stir, and turn heat to high. As soon as it starts to boil, immediately lower heat to low. Stir one or two times before turning off the heat after about 20 minutes.
Sauté the garlic and add vinegar. Peel and grind 6-7 cloves of garlic with a mortar and pestle or hand-held blender. Melt a teaspoon of butter (or you can use ghee) and sauté the crushed garlic for a few minutes until it starts to turn brown. Once brownish, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and stir on medium heat for about a minute.
Cut up lamb. Remove cooked lamb meat from heat, and with knife, remove meat from all sides of the bone, and cut up into small pieces. Discard bones.
Flavor broth. Add broth to garlic and vinegar mixture and boil for a few minutes.
Add yogurt. Add 3 tablespoons of yogurt to the mixture and use food processor to blend well.
Mix it all up. In a pyrex dish, mix together cooked rice, cut up lamb meat, and toasted pita bread.
Add broth. Pour over the mixture slowly, making sure to cover each part of the dish.
Bake. Bake on 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Warm and comforting, this Stroganoff dish made with pastured beef is great. Slowcooked beef in a rich sour cream gravy fills you up. I like to serve it with sourdough whole wheat noodles.
Heat a cast iron skillet, add olive oil. Brown beef in pan, you may have to do this in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan. Salt and pepper to taste.
Remove beef and place in a slowcooker. In the same pan add onion, garlic, and mushrooms and saute until tender, add to slow cooker. Add paprika, salt and pepper to taste.
Pour 1 C. stock into cast iron skillet to deglaze pan. Pour drippings and remaining stock over beef and mushroom mixture.
Cook on low for 5-6 hours, or until the beef is tender.
Right before serving, turn slowcooker up to high. Mix sour cream and cornstarch in a small bowl.
Whisk in cornstarch mixture to thicken the gravy.
Serve over your choice of noodles or rice.
Editor’s Note: Try making your own pasta with Old-Fashioned Soaked Noodles recipe.
An easy, frugal, filling dinner with plenty for leftovers the next day. It’s adapted from a recipe a friend gave me for “Meatless Sloppy Joes,” but my family didn’t like it because it didn’t taste like “real” Sloppy Joes. So I tweaked it and presented it as “Saucy Lentils,” and now it’s a family favorite.
Soak lentils in warm water with 2 T. whey, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice for 8 hours or over night. Drain and rinse.
Place 3 cups of water, lentils, onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, molasses, apple cider vinegar and spices in slow cooker and stir to combine.
Cook on high for 4-6 hours on high until lentils are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. If the lentils are cooked and the mixture is still too runny for your preference, you can add more tomato paste or take the lid off and let it cook until it reaches the desired consistency.
Serve over mashed potatoes, rice or biscuits, topped with melted cheese.
Needing some creativity for your grass-fed beef roasts? I was. So the other day, I decided to try some slow-cooker barbecue beef and it turned out to be a big hit!
Place roast in slow-cooker. Blend the rest of the ingredients in a blender. Pour over the roast, coating all sides. Cook on low for 12 hours. Remove meat from slow-cooker and slice into 3/4″ slices. Place back in slow-cooker, immersing each piece. Cook for another 4-6 hours. Meat should be tender and falling apart when ready.
The way I see it, chuck roast was made for the crock pot. I mean, when you get a nice, grass-fed roast, you don’t need much to make the flavors pop, it’s already pretty tasty. Not to forget that it’s usually on the cheaper side of the roasts department. Let’s hear it for chuck! Here is a quick, GAPS-friendly, gluten-free recipe that can be started after breakfast with very little prep time. It’s aroma slowly envelopes the home throughout the day with a welcoming, enticing fragrance that is a blessing for hungry loved ones to come home to. Once it’s ready, you can fix it oh so many ways: on a bed of lettuce with grated cheese and creme fraiche as a meal-salad, use it instead of chicken in the easiest enchilada recipe, wrapped in a tortilla with beans as a hearty burrito, spooned atop a steaming baked potato, or thrown into a quesadilla to jazz things up. Needless to say, leftovers are a joy because they can be turned into an altogether different dish than what was made the day before. Cumin is included in this recipe not only for it’s delicious flavor, but also because it’s a potent stress-reliever and memory-booster (quite helpful after a long day). Garlic and red pepper flakes boost immune function. Always helpful.
Rinse off meat and place in slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and mix.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
One hour before serving, use two forks to flake the meat by pulling it apart to bite-sized shreds. Remove any clumps of fat and bones. At this time, if you’d like to add beans to this recipe, do so now to warm them up. Cover and let cook for the last hour.
Serve any way you’d like it (suggestions mentioned above).
This is the simplest dish ever. It almost shouldn’t be listed as a recipe. It was so delicious, though, that it didn’t seem right to keep such a dish to myself, so here it is. This is perfect for any season, really, but I love to save it for the summertime when the oven and I take a break from each other *sniff*. If you’d like to make it GAPS-legal, use your favorite squash instead of potatoes. This is the incredible five minute meal. That’s all it takes to assemble, then you let it slow cook for about 7 hours. It fills the home with a fragrance that puts those chemically air fresheners to shame.
Wash chicken. Stuff chicken with lemons, slightly squeezing them in the cavity to release the juice.
Place chicken in the crock pot and surround it with potatoes (or squash). Brush chicken with olive oil & drizzle just a little bit over potatoes.
Sprinkle seasoning over chicken and potatoes. Don’t be afraid to use a lot. Sprinkle garlic halves around chicken.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours if your crock pot tends to be on the hotter side of things (like mine), or 8-10 if it’s, well, slow like a slow cooker should be.
*TIP: Don’t allow chicken to get super brown on top or it will take on that “crock pot taste.” Just check that the thickest part of the meat isn’t at all pink and it reaches 165º. This is a wonderfully moist chicken dish, and the potatoes get nicely light brown and crispy along the edges.
This simple, traditionally-prepared, gluten-free dish can easily be transformed into a GAPS-friendly meal by placing the chicken on a bed of squash instead of rice (I’m using up my non-GAPS ingredients in case we decide to go for it). All it takes to prepare this is a little forethought at the beginning of the day instead of at four o’clock. But I love that, don’t you? Knowing dinner is cooking away while I go about my day is just plain happy. This recipe leaves no leftovers for our family of six (our oldest is only nine, mind you), so if there are more of you or you want leftovers, I recommend doubling it.
First thing in the morning or the night before, soak rice in 4 cups filtered water with the cultured dairy or lemon juice. Cover and set aside (the rice should soak for 7-12 hours).
Begin the next two steps 6-8 hours before dinner. Combine honey, mustard, curry powder, and butter in a saucepan. Mix over medium-high heat until it reaches a boil. Boil 1 minute.
Place chicken in the crock pot. Drizzle prepared glaze over the chicken. Place lid on top and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
1 hour before serving, drain and rinse soaked rice. Put in saucepan with 4 cups chicken stock and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam, reduce heat, cover, and let simmer until all the stock is absorbed. This takes about 45 minutes.
To serve, spoon a bed of rice onto dinner plates. Drizzle juices from crock pot over the rice and place one or two pieces of chicken on top of the rice. This goes great with a side of fresh veggies or a side of vegetables sauteed in butter. Spooning some of the juice from the chicken over the veggies is suggested. Sprinkle Celtic sea salt and pepper over everything to taste.