BBQ Beef Ribs, without the BBQ

One of my plans for last week's dinner involved making beef ribs in my slow cooker.

If you think about it, a slow cooker is a great way to make ribs. The best ribs are those that are cooked at a low temperature over a long period of time. Sounds like a slow cooker to me.

I used the last of my part cow I bought in the fall, three packages of beef braising ribs. Braising ribs aren't my favourite cut of meat, but I had them and needed to use them.

Hands on time for this was minimal. I browned the ribs in the oven while getting my lunch together for work that day, then chopped up some garlic and onions, added everything to the pot with a jar of bbq sauce (I used a President's Choice Chicken and Rib sauce, which was okay, but I like Honey Garlic so much better.) When I came home from work, all I had to do was cook up some corn on the cobb and dinner was ready.

Everyone enjoyed this, and clean up was a breeze.

You can find the recipe for this over at A Year of Slow Cooking.

Almost forgot - my crock pot had a good amount of sauce/liquid in it at the bottom. If you have time, rice would be a great accompaniment, with the sauce poured liberally over the top.

It's too hot out for soup today

Summer might finally be here, so, yes, it is too hot out to make soup right now. But that doesn't mean I can't share and enjoy a soup I made last month. Since not everyone I know is in a hot part of the world. And some people like to make soup in the summer anyways.

For those people, I give you a nice bowl of Pho. My absolute favorite soup in the world.

You know how when you are sick, chicken soup is usually the first thing people want to feed you? Well not me. I like chicken soup, sure, but when I'm sick and not feeling well, I'd so much rather have a big bowl of Vietnamese Pho, with rare beef, green onions and basil.

However, it is a bit time consuming to make the broth, and without good broth, the soup is nothing. So when I saw this recipe for making Pho in a crock pot on Steamy Kitchen, I hit print. Then I worried about finding beef bones. Not an easy task.

Fortunately, I found a local farmer who provided me with beef bones and put my crock pot to work. The reward of my searching and its work:

Crock Pot Pho
from Steamy Kitchen

For the Pho Stock:
4 pounds beef bones
1/2 onion
4 inch section of ginger, sliced
1 package Vietnamese Pho Spices (or as many of these spices as you have: 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons whole coriander, 1 teaspooon fennel, 3 whole star anise, 3 whole cloves, 1 cardamom pod) (I used the spices)
9 cups water
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar

For the Pho Bowls
16 ounces fresh or dried rice noodles
1/2 pound flank, london broil, sirloin or eye of round steak, sliced as thinly as possible.
11 ounces Vietnamese beef balls, cut into half (we didn't have these)

For the table
1-2 limes, cut into wedges
fresh herbs: cilantro, Thai basil, mint
2-3 chili peppers, sliced (skipped this)
2 big handfuls of bean sprouts
Hoisin sauce
Sriracha hot chili sauce (skipped this)

Bring a large stockpot with water to boil over high heat. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the beef bones and boil vigourously for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat a frying pan on medium-low heat. Add the Vietnamese Pho Spices and toast until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Dump the spices to the empty Crock Pot or slow cooker immediately. Return frying pan to medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger slices and the onion half. Cook until the ginger is browned on both sides and the onion half is nicely browned and softened. Add the ginger and the onion to the Crock Pot or slow cooker.

When the bones have been pre-boiled, drain, discard water and rinse bones briefly to clean them. Add the bones to the Crock Pot or slow cooker. Fill the Crock Pot with fresh, clean, cool water to just 1-1/2 inches below surface, add the fish sauce and sugar. Cover and set the Crock Pot or slow cooker to cook on low for 8 hours. Taste and season with additional fish sauce if needed.

When you are just about ready to eat, you’ll prep the rest of the ingredients for the Pho bowls. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the beef balls and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove the balls, keeping the water boiling and now cook the noodles according to package instructions. If you are using fresh noodles, all they need is a couple of minutes. Drain immediately.

Strain the stock with a fine meshed sieve. Discard the solids.

Line up 4 large bowls on counter. Distribute the noodles, beef balls and thin steak slices evenly amongst the bowls. Ladle the hot Pho stock into each bowl. The hot stock should cook the thin steak slices. Serve with lime wedges, fresh herbs, chili peppers, Hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot chili sauce at the table.

Montly Mingle: Kids Lunches

I would never put this in one my children's school lunch boxes. Too messy for the quick 15 minutes they get for lunch at school. Or rather, not lunch, but "nurtrition break." My children go to a school that has a balanced school day, which means that rather than the traditional morning recess, hour long lunch time divided between eating and playing, and afternoon recess, they get two "nutrition and activity breaks," each 45 minutes long, again divided between eating and outdoor play. Time-wise it works out to the same amount of time as they were getting before, but it seems so much shorter.

As a result, my children are getting to school for 9:15 am and having "lunch" at 11:15 am. Then "snack" at 2pm. By the time they get home at 4:30pm, they are starving! So when they are home, I like to give them a bit more of a substantial lunch than they would get to have at school, with a little more time and alot more leisure.


Slow cooked shredded beef sandwiches are a nice way to have a relaxed lunch together. Cooking the beef all morning in the slow cooker until it is tender and falling apart, soaking up the seasonings in the liquid. Piled high on fresh buns, soft on the inside, but toasted for a little bit of contrast. Top the beef as you'd like, with salsa or cheese, with dressing, with stacks of caramalized onions, however you want to eat it. I had mine with an avocado aoili that I'd thrown together (really, just avacado with store bought mayonnaise and alot of garlic).

I served these dripping sandwiches with a platter of cruidites, fancy for raw vegetables, and a dip. A lovely crunch to pair with the softness of the beef and bread.

This might not be quite what Meeta and Srivalli had in mind when they asked for submissions to this session of the Monthly Mingle, but the beauty of the mingle is that you never know what anyone is going to come up with. Be sure to see both these blogs for more ideas, and check for the round-up!

Slow Cooked Beef Sandwiches

2 1/2 - 3 lb boneless beef pot roast (a cheaper cut works best here, don't go with prime rib or sirloin!)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup of water
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
5 cloves of garlic, minced
dash of hot sauce
1 tablespoon of olive oil
kosher salt (just a pinch, the Worcestershire sauce will have plenty)
freshly ground black pepper, lots of it!

Heat a medium pan over high heat. Rub the olive oil all over the roast and season with the salt and pepper. Sear the beef on all sides on high in the pan. You want a nice crust here.

Place the seared beef in a 3 1/2 - 4 quart slow cooker (I used my small one.) Mix together the rest of the ingredients and pour all over the beef. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, until the beef is falling apart when you touch it with a fork.

Remove the beef from the slow cooker with a slotted spoon, to drain slightly) into a bowl. Shred up any that does not fall apart on its own. Serve with toasted buns and a variety of toppings, your choice.

Dinner has to be good, not pretty

While summer doesn't officially end until next week, the weather has not felt like summer. Between the rain and the cold, it seems winter is on its way fast!

What a better way to warm up dinner than with a tasty pot roast, one you can throw into the slow cooker and walk away from. Served with cheesy mashed potatoes and caramalized carrots, this was a tasty dinner.


Southwestern Pot Roast Cooked in the Crockpot
recipe created by Kalyn

3 lb. boneless chuck roast, trimmed of visible fat (I used a sirloin tip, couldn't find anything else)
1 can reduced sodium beef broth
1 1/4 cup salsa (I used the last jar of homemade, but next time will use Pace or something I like to dip chips in)
steak rub or your favorite seasoning for steak to rub on meat before browning
1-2 tsp. olive oil for browning meat

Put beef broth in a small saucepan. Boil until the broth is reduced to 1/2 cup.

While beef broth is reducing, trim all visible fat from chuck roast. Rub pot roast on all side with steak rub (or your favorite seasonings for steak.) Heat olive oil in heavy frying pan. Brown roast well on all sides.

When roast is browned on all sides, put in crockpot. Pour reduced beef broth into frying pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape off any carmelized bits from the browned meat. Add salsa and stir into broth, then pour salsa/beef broth mixture over pot roast.

Cook on high for one hour, then turn to low and cook 3-4 more hours, or until meat is very tender when pierced with a fork. (My crockpot has one setting only, so set the timer for 5 hours then left.) Remove meat from crockpot, tent with foil, then pour sauce into small saucepan, simmering until reduced to about 1 cup.

To serve, slice meat across the grain and serve hot, with sauce spooned over the top.