Recipe: Old Fashioned Harvest Root Vegetable Pot Roast

Nothing says fall like a hearty pot roast with lots of fall veggies! This one has carrots, red potatoes, turnips, onions, and parsnips, along with tender beef which makes lots of great gravy. It's making me hungry just thinking about it!

Old Fashioned Harvest Root Vegetable Pot Roast

Ingredients:

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2 Tbsp oil
1 beef chuck roast
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp chopped rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 cup dry red wine
4 cups beef stock
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp fresh black pepper
8 small red potatoes, halved
1 yellow onion, peeled, quartered
4 carrots, peeled, coarse cut
2 small turnips, peeled, quartered
2 small parsnips, peeled, coarse cut
1 tsp chopped fresh dill
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
• In a large Dutch oven or other oven-safe big pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
• When hot, add the beef chuck roast and cook on both sides until browned very well.
• Remove the beef from the Dutch oven and set aside.
• Add the onion, rosemary, bay leaves, and rosemary to the Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for about 2 to 3 minutes or until herbs are fragrant.
• With the heat still on, pour the wine in the Dutch oven and stir, loosening the brown bits.  Continue cooking and stirring until the liquid thickens and reduces.
• Pour in the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce and bring back to a simmer.
• Add the black pepper, then lay the roast in the Dutch oven and put the cover on.
• Put the Dutch oven in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
• Remove and add the potatoes, onion, carrots, turnips, and parsnips; put cover back on and return to oven and continue cooking for 30 minutes more, or until the veggies are fork tender.
• To serve: Remove the beef roast and vegetables from the Dutch oven and set aside, covering to keep warm.
• To the Dutch oven, add the dill and parsley, taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.
• Serve plates with meat, vegetables alongside, and spoon the sauce from the Dutch oven over everything.

Low-Carb Recipe: Crockpot Pot Roast And Vegetables With Savory Gravy

This classic comfort food, the pot roast, is good old-fashioned low-carb cooking at its best! An easy dish to make in the crockpot, with this one, you can have a delicious dinner waiting for you when you get home from work - just prep the vegetables the night before, and put everything in the crockpot before leaving in the morning. It will cook slowly all day, releasing the nutrition form the meat, and creating its own savory gravy. Yum - I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!  (Note: If you don't have time to brown the meat, it's fine to put it in the crockpot uncooked - it just won't have quite the same depth of flavor.)

Crockpot Pot Roast And Vegetables With Savory Gravy
(Serves 6.)

Ingredients:

(Photo credit: sundaykofax)

3 lb boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and tied with butcher string to secure
coarse black pepper to taste
light oil for browning meat
3 large carrots, peeled and coarse cut
3 stalks celery, coarse cut
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup dry red wine or beef broth
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp crushed dried thyme
2 large bay leaves
salt
* (Optional: 1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp cold water, or substitute almond flour mixed with water.)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle roast all over with black pepper. (Add salt if desired.)
2. Spray a heavy non-stick skillet with cooking spray or coat with oil. Put skillet over medium-high heat.
3. When skillet is hot, add the roast and sear until browned well, flipping after side is browned - do not flip continually, just once per side. Brown all over, not just 2 sides.
4. Arrange the carrots on the bottom of the crockpot, then the celery, then the onion, and sprinkle the garlic over all evenly.
5. Set the browned roast on top.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wine, tomato paste, Dijon mustard, thyme, and bay leaves, then pour gently over the roast and vegetables. 
7. Cover the crockpot, set the heat to LOW, and cook 8 to 9 hours or until beef is fork tender.
8. When done, remove beef and vegetables to a platter.  You may thicken the gravy at this point if desired.  Turn heat on crockpot to high.  Mix the cornstarch and cold water (or almond flour and water) in a cup until dissolved, then stir into the crockpot and stir until liquid thickens; turn heat off.
9. Spoon vegetables on each plate and serve thin slices of beef alongside.  Spoon the thickened gravy over all. 

* (Note: Cornstarch is not low carb, but the almond flour option is low carb. Another low-carb option is to add okra to liquid and allow to cook together for 5 minutes.  Eggplant is another low-carb thickener.)