Italian Beef Roast

If you're paleo with young children, you probably have a lot of roast.

I love looking at other paleo food blogs out there and seeing all the amazing meals some of these people put together, but there's no way I'd be able to pull off that kind of cooking more than once a month or so. I just don't have that much uninterrupted cooking time during the day.

Roasts are THE perfect slow cooking food, since they cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. That means I can toss it in the crockpot while I make our breakfast and have dinner AND our morning eggs done at the same time. And paleo kids love roast. My toddler is totally weirded out by graham crackers or chicken nuggets, but she scarfs down as much roast as my husband does most days.

But if you have a bit more time for your roast some Saturday (say, when the baby is taking his morning nap... and when the husband so graciously takes the toddler to the zoo?) perhaps give this recipe a whirl.

Serves 4-6 (depending on roast and portion size)

The Tools:

Saute Pan
6 qt. crockpot

3 T olive oil
2-3 lb. boneless beef roast
1 large sweet onion
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 T oregano
1 t rosemary
1 t Italian parsley
1/2 cup red wine (I used a Merlot)

The Process:

Method One - Traditional Method:

Heat up olive oil in your saute pan. Brown your roast on all sides. Plop in the crockpot.

Chop up your onions and garlic and in same pan, saute until garlic is fragrant and onions are somewhat translucent. Add entire can of tomatoes and all spices. Cook for a *touch* longer, then scrape entire contents of your pan in the crockpot.

Pour wine in your saute pan and scrape up any browned bits leftover. Then pour the wine on top of the roast in the crockpot.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

Remove roast and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.

Serve with juices from crockpot ladled over the roast.

Method Two - Super Fast/Late For Work/Hurried Mother Method:

(People without children, do not judge. I swear, I get up early almost every morning to get dinner in the crockpot before the kids wake up. But some mornings the kids wake up an hour earlier than normal, due to a bad dream or teething, etc. Sometimes I literally have to throw something in the crockpot and just pour something over it. Sometimes there is not an extra ten minutes to deglaze a pan.)

Plop your roast in the crockpot.

Dice what you can manage to dice, and mince what you can manage to mince.

Pour all other ingredients over the roast.

Shake your crockpot up a bit to sort of mix your ingredients together.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

Either way you cook it, enjoy!