Diary Free Soy Free Crock Pot Tomato Braised Beef

I’m usually a pretty bland cook. The go to seasoning for me are cinnamon, garlic salt, onion salt, regular salt and pepper.  The one major exception for me is the spicy fall flavors that usually accompany pumpkin flavored food in the fall.  I was interested in the recipe when I noticed that it used a lot of those fall flavors and I decided to step out of my standard spice comfort zone and give it a try.  I’m so glad I did, it was amazing and flavorful but not in an overwhelmingly spicy way.  This is also the first time I’ve used coco powder for something that was not a dessert, who knew coco was so versatile? Ha.

Crock Pot Tomato Braised Beef

Adapted from The Healthy Foodie - Tomato Olive Braised Beef with Rustic Cauliflower Turnip Mash

Ingredients

• 3 lbs boneless blade roast
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• ¼ cup vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp canola oil

The Spice Mix

• 1 tsp pepper
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground clove
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp dark cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Trim all the visible fat from your blade roast, for me this meant tearing it into pieces to remove the long strips down the center of my meat.  Multiple pieces of meat is fine.
2. Mix the spices together.
3. Cover all sides of your meat with the spice mix.
4. Preheat about 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large heavy skillet over high heat. When pan is sizzling hot, add the meat and do not move it until it has formed a nice dark crust, about 5 minutes. Flip the piece of meat and sear the other side until it too, forms a nice golden crust.
5. Transfer meat to the crock pot.
6. Add onions and garlic to the pan and cook for another minute or two minutes.  This gives time for the vegetables to soak up some of the meat spices that are still on the pan.  When finished add the vegetables on top of the meat in the crock pot.  
7. Add water and vinegar to the cooking pan to finish collecting the spices then pour that liquid over the meat and veggies.
8. Add the tomatoes to the top of the mixture in the crock pot and put the lid on.
9. Cook on low 5-7 hours or on high 2-3 hours or until the meat pulls apart easily with a fork.
10. Check the meat from time to time to make sure there is still liquid in the pot.  If you are running low add a little bit more water.
11. Serve alone or over rice.