Chinese Pot Roast

Tonight for dinner he had one of the best pot roasts I have ever made. A special thank you to my sister, Emma, needs to be given as she is the one who gave me a set of slow cooker recipes cards for Christmas. I LOVE being able to prep dinner the night before, or in advance and freezing, throwing it in the crock pot and coming home to the wonderful aroma of a meal that has been cooking all day. I have modified this recipe as we like to have potatoes, carrots, and onions with our pot roast.I apologize ahead of time as I forgot to take a picture. I will the picture next time we make it. The picture above looks very close to how our roast was this evening. A huge hit in our house and took 30 minutes to prep!

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless beef pot roast
2 Tablespoons of Flour
1 Tablespoon of oil
2 Large onions, chopped
6 Carrots, chopped
5 Medium sized potatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 Cup soy sauce (I recommend reduced sodium)
1 Cup water
1/2 Teaspoon, ground ginger

Need:
Crock pot
Large zip lock bag

1. Cube potatoes (If you are preparing them ahead of time make sure to cover them in cold water and place in the fridge.)
2. Chop onions and carrots (If you are preparing ahead of time it is OK to put these in a container together in the fridge.)
3. Put flour is large zip lock bag and shake until roast is covered in flour
4. Put oil in skillet and heat over medium heat
5. Once oil is warmed up place roast in skillet and sear both sides (About 1-2 minutes each side)
6. Place roast in crock pot
1. If you are preparing to cook the next day do not do the next step until you are ready to start cooking.
7. Top with onions and carrots
8. Salt and Pepper to taste
9. Combine soy sauce, water and ginger and pour over roast.
1. You can prepare this mixture ahead of time and store in the fridge until ready to use
10. Cover with crock pot lid
11. Cook on high for 10 minutes.
12. Reduce heat to low and cook for 8-10 hours.
13. Slice and serve

Our First Shopping Trip!!!

Well, we finally went on our first "dairy free" shopping trip at Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart!  Hy-vee was by far the better experience between two
.

Hy-Vee had a wonderful selection of organics and natural section! It still took some time to sort through what items did and did not have dairy however they had a well placed refrigerated  and freezer section dedicated to the department. We bought some Almond Breeze milk, dairy free cheese, dairy free yogurt, and coconut milk ice cream. On a whole the shopping trip was a great experience.

Our Wal-Mart trip did not quite go as easily as our Hy-Vee trip. We did find a cheaper price on the Almond Breeze milk in a larger size however we had to really search to find the products we were looking for. The best news of all Clayton found out the Jell-o pudding does not have any dairy products and is making pudding right now. We will let you know how it turns out!!!

Today is our third day of being dairy free and I did have some cravings for things I knew I just could not have. However for the first time in a while I was ready to get up when the alarm went off and I was not as tired through out the day.

Next weekend we will be venturing out to Aldi..... We shall see how we can maintain our tight food budget while still maintaining being dairy free. We got to splurge a little bit this week!

Cream of Chicken

Thank you Naomi on Better Batter!!!

Ingredients

8 oz. canned cooked chicken breast, with water
2 tbsp. Earth Balance Natural Buttery Sticks
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
3 tbsp. Better Batter flour
3/4 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup milk, soy creamer, heavy almond milk (plain),

Instructions
To make soup: Melt the margarine in a skillet and add the chicken broth and liquid, onion powder, salt and pepper. Stir in flour and cook a minute. Add the chicken stock, and bring to a simmer.
Add the milk, soy milk, or almond milk and simmer til sauce thickens, about 10 – 15 minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasonings

Almond Joy Bars

Thanks to Adrienne Urban and her post on The Balance Platter I will now be able to enjoy one of my absolute favorites Almond Joys!!!! 

Ingredients
Chocolate / Carob Base:

1/2 cup coconut oil (Nutiva is one brand that I use.  Palm would work well too, or butter. See notes below.)
1/2 cup almond butter (any nut or seed butter would work, but almond is especially nice.) See my post on Homemade Nut / Seed Butter.
1/4 cup granulated sweetener. 4-6 scoops stevia extract is a good alternative.  NuNaturals is one good brand of stevia.)
6 Tbsp carob or cocoa powder
3 Tbsp honey or other liquid sweetener (for candida diets, use vegetable glycerine. Now Foods has this at a great price.)
1 tsp vanilla (Frontier is a great alcohol-free brand.)

Coconut Topping:

1 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
7 Tbsp coconut oil
1/3 cup granulated sweetener (or 2-3 scoops stevia extract powder. I recommend NuNaturals.)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp additional flavoring (optional. Almond or coconut are good choices)
2 tsp arrowroot powder (cornstarch may be substituted)
Almonds halves or slices (optional)

Method:
Base:

1. Melt oil and nut or seed butter over low heat.

2. Stir in carob and sweetener and combine thoroughly (See my post on Substituting Sweeteners for Cooking and Baking.)

3. Add and mix in remaining ingredients. Stir continuously until mixture slightly thickens. Remove from heat.

4. Stir in liquid sweetener (or substitute a granulated with water) and vanilla.

5. Spread mixture into 8×8 pan. While you make topping, place in freezer or fridge to harden.

Topping:

1. In small pan, melt oil and add coconut flakes. Stir.

2. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer slightly and stir until it thickens a little.

3. Once chocolate mixture is hardened enough to work with, gently smooth coconut mixture over top.

4. Place slivered or whole almonds on top if desired. Place pan in the freezer until hardened. The fridge will work, but takes a bit longer.

5. Slice into desired size. They’ll be a bit hard to cut right from the freezer so let the thaw a bit first.

6. Store in the refrigerator.