Slow Cooked Roast Beef with Mushroom and Red Wine Gravy

I had this lovely Beef Topside Roast, and had no idea what to do with it.

I have never really been a roast cooker. I always found it intimidating, and my Mum was such great cook and roast was her specialty. So I avoided them. I let Muddled Hubby cook them from time to time, and he is a great cook too, but not me.

I decided to tackle this head on. Take my Slow Cooker Challenge to the next level and do a Slow Cooked Roast.

I started exploring for a recipe I knew the family would like. I searched my favourite Facebook pages, my favourite websites, then more widely, google. Nothing. Nothing jumped out at me and said "THIS is your recipe". So I decided since I was tackling a roast, I may as well tackle the idea of creating my own recipe!

I know, from past casseroles and meals that red wine and mushrooms make a good base, so, without further rambling on my part, here is my VERY FIRST own recipe creation!!

Slow Cooked Roast Beef with Mushroom and Red Wine

Topside Roast around 1.2kg 

1 cup beef stock (I made my stock stronger than normal, using 1 1/2 times the amount of stock powder for a stronger flavour)

1/4-1/2 cup Red Wine. (I used 1/2 cup and found it a little too much, but its a personal thing!)

1 tin crushed tomatoes

1 brown onion sliced into rings

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp coriander

2-3 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp basil

1 tsp paprika

2/3 cup mushrooms

Sauce 

1/2 the juices in the slow cooker

4 heaped tsp of beef gravy powder

2 tbs corn flour

Line base of slow cooker with onion rings and place roast on top.

Coat with spices. You could add more or less, depending on how strong you like your flavours to be.

Add crushed tomatoes, red wine and the beef stock.

Cook on high for 3 hours. Turn meat over and cook for a further 2 hours on high. 

Remove approx 1/2 the liquid in the cooker. The liquid will increase during cooking time due to the moisture in the slow cooker. Once liquid is removed, add mushrooms and cook for a further hour.

Remove meat and allow to rest while making gravy

Using remaining juices in the slow cooker, add gravy powder and corn flour and whisk until thick and creamy. Add more corn flour if needed.

Serve with oven roasted vegetables.

Hopefully your family enjoys as much as mine did! 

Slow Cook Sweet and Sour Pork

So, after a crazy hectic week of accidents, miserable toddlers and organising and running the worst garage sale in history (thanks ever so much RAIN!) it was finally time to pull out the slow cooker again. 

A spur of the moment decision saw me throwing pork into the microwave to defrost while i searched for a good recipe the whole family would enjoy. I don't like cooking frozen meat in the slow cooker, although I have been assured it is fine to do, I feel more comfortable, and find its a much better flavour if I brown meat first.

Jumping onto my favourite Facebook group Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families, I searched the Pork section and stopped as soon as i saw Sweet and Sour Pork. This is one of Muddled Hubby's favourites. Could I slow cook it? Could I cook it from scratch, having never tried before? Only one way to find out! 

On checking the recipe I was short on the amount of meat, and didn't have the vegetables recommended, but that didn't stop me! I used mushrooms to fill out the meat portion of the meal, and just what vegetables I had in the fridge. Having never attempted this before from scratch, I stuck to the basic sauce recipe.

So, without further ado, here it is!

Sweet and Sour Pork

500 grams pork (I used diced heart smart pork)

10-12 mushrooms

2 carrots

1 zucchini

1 tin corn

1 tin unsweetened pineapple pieces, or crushed pineapple, with the juice.

3 tbs brown sugar

1 tsp crushed ginger

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/4 cup white vinegar

3 tbs Soy Sauce

200 grams raw cashews

1 tbs corn flour

2-3 tsp herbs for flavour (I used garlic and herb salt & mixed herbs)

Turn slow cooker on high to preheat.

In a bag mix corn flour and dry herbs and coat pork pieces. Use a small amount of oil (olive oil for us, but you could also use Sesame Oil) to brown meat lightly. 

Put meat and veg in pan, add vegetables and then corn, pineapple, sugar, ginger, garlic, vinegar and soy sauce and stir to combine. 

Cook on high for 1-2 hours, and then on low for a further 4-5 hours. I put cashews in in the last hour of cooking and left the lid off to reduce liquid and let sauce thicken a little.

Serve with rice.

Easy and delicious!! 

If you have Facebook, head over and like my Page.

Also, if you love a good slow cooker meal, check out the Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families group. So many good recipes in there worth trying!! 

Please note: no one is paying or asking me to promote this group or any of the recipes. These are just my own experiences of what I have found to be a valuable resource for our family, that I thought I would share. Over coming weeks you will also get to see recipes from Taste.com and the Bikini Cookbook range that I tweak to suit our family.

4WFF THE FINALE!!

Well, this post is long overdue! I have been so busy with things lately, that it just didn't happen! 

And then, to add to things, I forgot to take "after" pictures! Now its too late, as I have been on holidays where a kitchen and general healthy eating options were at a minimum! So......I will post my "after" pics at the end of this month instead!! 

Firstly I want to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU to Christine Tinslay from Bod Squad Personal Training! 

If you haven't already, you HAVE to check out her Facebook page and her Website! This woman is a genius! She makes everything make sense! She seriously explains WHAT to do and then WHY! She doesn't just give you a menu and exercise plan and say "stick to it for the best results", she teaches life skills! Things like how to make the best choices within your own tastes, how to exercise effectively and to gain the best results, how to live a "normal" life while keeping fit and healthy and making the best possible choices everyday!

So, my results.....

In my 4 weeks...despite a nasty case of the flu and a visit to hospital with Mini Miss, and several other interruptions.....I lost.... 

3.8kg!!! 

AND......

4cm off my waist, 1.5cm off my thighs, 3.5cm off my hips....


So despite not following her program "perfectly" I still lost weight and cm's! I feel better. I recovered from the flu quicker than I normally do. Even with the recent holiday splurge, I have jumped straight back into the menu and exercise planning, the making good choices and the following the general rules of Chriss's program. Not because I feel I have to, but because I want to. Next month I will be signing up once again, and will set myself a whole new lot of goals and aims. Then, hopefully I will be fully equipped with all the tools I need to do this long term life journey.I am under no illusions that the kind of weight loss I need will happen overnight. In fact, I am giving myself 12 months to lose most of the weight. During this time I will be lucky enough to have access to not only Chriss, but a wonderful group of people on the same journey via a Facebook group. This online access to support from other people in various stages of their journey, sharing successes, failures, recipes, tips and hints, seeking support and help from each other is great. It helps to know you are not alone. It helps to talk to others and get advice. It helps to have others cheering you on!

I am so so grateful to my wonderful Melbourne bestie for pointing me in Chriss's direction. It was a life changing action and decision. It has given me the knowledge, motivation and skills I need to do this once and for all! You knew what I needed and pointed me in exactly the right direction!

So my 2nd MASSIVE THANK YOU heads out to you bestie!! 

You know who you are! We have been through so much together, and I cannot and do not want to imagine life without you! A constant source of strength for me despite your own struggles....A person could not find a better friend who ALWAYS has others best interests at heart! 

So yay!! For now the official challenge is over.....but really it has just begun. Can I truly put into action what I have learnt? Once a month I will check in and let you know how I am going. Life is busy. It can be a great excuse. But I refuse to let that happen. 

My family and friends deserve and need the healthiest me I can be, so that is what I am aiming for!!!

4WFF - Middle of Week 3

So we are in the middle of week 3, heading for a weigh in just 2 days...Do I think I will have lost more? Gee I hope so! 

I still haven't been "Perfect", but I am, for the most part, following the "rules". 

I feel more energetic. In fact, I feel more awake than I have in months. I have had a cold for the last week and a bit, but even that is clearing up quicker than normal. Rather than losing my voice for a week or more, it was a couple of days. Today, I almost feel better! I even went for a nice long walk this afternoon! First REAL exercise in a week.

More than just feeling physically well though, mentally I am in a better place. I know that I am still on Anti depressants, but now I am on the lowest dose. No, I attribute the feeling mentally better to a lot of things, including the change of diet and being more physical. I have said before I wasn't aware of just how many carbs I was consuming. Well, I think reducing them has not only lightened me, but lightened the darkness in my mind. I am not sure I can explain it properly, but....eating mostly the right foods, with only the occasional "bad" food, rather than the other way around has left me feeling less fuzzy, able to think more clearly. 

Fueling my body with the foods it needs, and regular exercise, has helped me in ways I didn't think of.

That's not to say this has somehow "cured" me. No, but it has HELPED. 

So, the importance of eating right and exercising, or at the very least, MOVING your body regularly, is for so much more than physical health. Its for overall health. 

This "life change" will stay around forever. It will change my life so completely, that it won't feel like a change soon. It will just feel like the regular way of life. I know this, because it has come at a time when everything in our lives is FINALLY falling into place.

Hubby has a full time job after being out of work for 14 months (so so proud and happy!!). Miss Teen has settled into high school and new friends, and is focusing on her passion. Mini Miss has settled into a good routine (FINALLY!!) and is happy. 

And me? Well, things keep changing. I am not a fan of change, this is not a secret. But all for the positive. This life change. Work is changing. God is moving me into serving our church in ways I never thought I would, and I am loving it. 

Yeah, for the first time in a very long time, despite certain stresses, and still my dark days.....

I AM LOVING LIFE!!!