It was seriously hard for me to leave for work after I threw this recipe into the slow cooker this morning. IT JUST SMELLED SO GOOD ALREADY! Back in the day when I ate bread like it was my job, I would drench toast in balsamic vinegar and olive oil because I loved the flavor so much. Now that I try to limit my grain intake, balsamic-soaked bread is sadly a thing of the past. When I was searching online for a slow cooker roast recipe, I knew I would love this one just because of the balsamic! This was super easy to throw together before work (just chop an onion and smash some garlic), and coming home to a delicious meal that's ready to serve is probably the most exciting thing since sliced bread (with balsamic vinegar). I quickly roasted some carrots and Brussels sprouts in the oven as a side dish (roasted veggies are the easiest and tastiest side dish ever). Thank you, Primally Inspired, for this amazing recipe!
Balsamic Roast Beef
ingredients:
Here's my rump ready to be roasted.
3-4 lb. roast (I used rump roast)
1 cup broth (veggie, chicken, beef)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Himalayan sea salt and black pepper to taste
about 3 tablespoons arrowroot powder to thicken gravy
method:
Place roast fat side down in slow cooker.
Add remaining ingredients to slow cooker (except arrowroot powder), cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.
Roast is done when the meat easily shreds with a fork and is slightly browned on top (and when you're salivating from the ridiculously amazing aroma emanating from your kitchen).
Remove roast from slow cooker and transfer to a covered dish to keep warm.
Blend the onions, garlic, and juices from the slow cooker (either with an immersion blender or in a food processor) to make the gravy to serve with the roast. Add arrowroot powder 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired thickness. Be careful not to overfill your blender and spray half blended gravy everywhere like I did. :D
Serve with a side of roasted veggies and enjoy!
Rosemary roasted carrots and salt & pepper brussels made great sides!
Josh was mainly excited that we got to use the gravy boat tonight.
*note: My garlic press is my BFF (as far as kitchen tools go). I love adding garlic to everything, so this makes the process much quicker and easier. Invest in a good one!
Has anyone ever heard of Thug Kitchen? They take delicious cooking to the next level by eloquently inserting harsh curse words into otherwise innocent recipes. For example:
Here's what Thug Kitchen has to say about soup: "It’s getting colder outside and you feel the urge for soup. But that sodium soaked, store-bought condensed can of crap you’ve been eating since you were a kid? That shit is just fancy salt water. Take charge of dinner and make yourself a big bowl of this fall-flavored motherfucker. It’s fat free, low in salt, and easy as hell to make. Save the store-bought canned bullshit for when you get snowed in and don’t want to eat cat food. It’s the only excuse to have that shit in your pantry." I LOVE IT. This is exactly how I feel about canned soup, especially since I've learned how easy it is to make your own yummy soup at home. This is a recipe I whipped up last night for a fairly quick weeknight meal. I was haphazardly adding spices, so you can take out what you want and experiment with your own combinations. My measurements below are definitely approximate, too! We had this soup with some sauteed kale seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, and Slap Ya Mama cajun seasoning, which has recently become my favorite add-to-everything seasoning instead of sriracha (Gasp! Blasphemy.). Sweet Potato Basil Soup ingredients:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4 gloves garlic, minced
4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon powdered ginger
tiny pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala (spice blend)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander
Himalayan sea salt and black pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon each or more to your liking)
1 13.5 oz. can of full-fat coconut milk
method:
Heat oil in medium stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute onions until translucent and add garlic, sauteing about 1 more minute.
Add spices (basil, ginger, cayenne, garam masala, cinnamon, coriander, s & p) and stir to coat onions and garlic. Deglaze with a splash of water to keep mixture from sticking.
Add sweet potatoes and stir for a minute or so to combine with onion mixture.
Add broth. Liquid should be almost covering all of the sweet potatoes, so if there's not enough you can add more broth or water.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium to simmer for about 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes fall apart when poked with a fork.
In batches, puree soup in a food processor or blender until smooth.
Return to stock pot and stir in coconut milk.
Salt and pepper to taste, and serve it up!
I'm proud of my dirty stove top. It means I use it!
*note: I like to use the "better than bouillon" soup base (that small jar in the above photo) because it's way cheaper than buying cartons of broth and more convenient since it will last for several batches of soup. You just add 1 teaspoon of the paste-like stuff to 1 cup of hot water to make a cup of broth. It probably has more sodium and sugar than necessary, but it does the trick!
Something really, really great happened to me last weekend...I got a slow cooker! A whole new world of delicious recipes has opened up to me, and the first one I tried was from the Against All Grain cookbook: curried short ribs. On my visit back to Missouri for Thanksgiving, my parents hooked me up with some of the beef from the cow they just bought (yep...they bought 1/2 a cow and there are way too many delicious cuts of meat chillin' in their deep freezer). My boyfriend Josh made this recipe for us the other day, and it is definitely one of our new favorites. With cauliflower mash and carrots as a side, this was the perfect winter comfort food (and it's grain free and dairy free!).
Against All Grain's Curried Short Ribs
ingredients:
Danielle's presentation is much prettier than mine! ;)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, cut into 3-inch pieces (you can also use a chuck roast for a more budget-friendly option)
salt and pepper
curry sauce:
1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup red curry paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
about 8 whole carrots
method:
Place coconut oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the short ribs and sear on all sides, about 6 minutes.
Whisk together curry sauce ingredients. Add sauce and onions to slow cooker and place the short ribs on top, spooning some of the sauce over the meat.
Cook for 8 hours on low, basting the ribs once.
Skim off and discard the fat that has accumulated at the top of the pot.
Add whole carrots and cook for 1 more hour.
The grocery store was out of white cauliflower, so we had yellow cauliflower mash.
Cauliflower Mash ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
~2 tablespoons olive oil
splash of almond milk
~1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
method:
Roughly chop cauliflower and remove green stem
Boil cauliflower chunks until very easy to puncture with a fork, about 15-20 minutes.
Drain cauliflower and place in food processor with the rest of your ingredients.
Process until smooth, and add more nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper to taste.
I recently became an ambassador for Yoga Travel Tree, working with them to help get people to go on their amazing yoga adventures--yoga retreats and teacher trainings--around the world. I am so grateful to be a part of this community of yoga and travel lovers! YTT recently did this interview with me to introduce me to their online community, so check it out if you'd like. Also, if you're interested in signing up for one of their yoga retreats or teacher trainings, use the code "cindyloo" to get $100 off. Have a lovely day, friends!
I started an Instagram challenge yesterday called #25daysofbuti...you should join me! (Find me @cindy_loohuu) Buti is a workout that blends yoga, dance, and plyometrics, and it is all sorts of amazing. Check out this video that tells a bit about it:
Part of this #25daysofbuti challenge is clean eating--grain free, gluten free, dairy free, paleo eating (the Buti gals call it 30 day slim down or 30DSD). You can buy meal plans, DVDs, and online workouts on their website, butiyoga.com. I will post some of the recipes I use over the coming weeks! If you'd like to join me for the Instagram fun, HERE are the poses/challenges for #25daysofbuti:
1.Vasisthasana - side plank (Find your favorite boots and hit your pose )
2. Bound Trikonasana - bound triangle (Strike a pose next to something orange in the environment around you - the color of the 2nd chakra)
3. Headstand variation or prep for headstand (Pick a beautiful wall as your backdrop and blend your pose into the canvas)
4. Durga-go - 3 legged bow pose from quadruped (Find a HEART in your environment and pose...)
5. Urdhva Danurasana - wheel pose (Write your secret down and use your wheel to frame your declarative statement to the world!)
6. Utkatasana - chair (Add your favorite mudra into this pose. Tell us what you are manifesting for 2015.)
7. Butisattva Wild Card (What's your favorite pose + why? Does it challenge you? Open you up? )
8. Side Bakasana - side crow / crane (Strike this arm balance using your kitchen as a jungle gym)
9. Natarajasana - variation (It's time to find your favorite dress and show us your Dancer Pose - shout out to @ekateryna23 for this lifechanging picture last year)
10. Camatkarasana - wild thing (Get wild in the wild... pose outside and find a way to get up close and personal with nature)
11. Peacock pose (Become a superhero in this pose. Dress up and tell us which superhero you'd be... feel free to make one up!)
12. Bent knee pike - or pike * with wall if need be ( Leg warmer challenge - find your favorite leg warmers and show us those gams ♥)
13. Koundinyasana I - or prep (Find a spot in nature to create the perfect pose - use the elements to bring this post together)
14. Revolved Adho Mukha Svanasana - twisted down dog (Pose with your animal! If you don't have one... borrow someone's OR ask a stranger ♥)
15. Airplane (If you could go anywhere... where would you go and why? Make a collage of your destination with your airplane pose!)
16.Vrksasana - Tree pose (Let's call this Treehugger pose... find your favorite tree and strike a pose)
17. Supta Badhakonasana (Show us this pose in your room! Let us see your style, flair and what makes you YOU!)
18. Ardachandrasana - variation (In honor of the moon, let's see this pose at night. Don't forget to get the moon in your shot!)
29. Flying crow or crow (Supermarket challenge... let's see your #supermarketcrow extra points for someone on a checkout stand)
20. Bound Side Angle or Bird of Paradise (Your favorite window... show us this pose with your favorite window. Tell us why it's your favorite.)
21. Plank (Find a willing stranger to plank with you... even better... find a stranger to plank on-top of!)
22. Astrakavasana - 8 limb pose or prep (Show us the 8 most important things in your life. Incorporate them into your shot or create a collage.)
23. Pigeon - variation (Guest star - pick someone important in your life and get them to pose with you!)
24. Pinchamayurasana or Dolphin (What's your favorite body part? Show it off in this pic and tell us why it's your fave. )
25. Christmas Flow (Xmas pajama flow... pick a song and BUST IT!)
There you have it, Butisattvas ;) I hope some of you will join me and/or try out Buti!
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