Slow Cooker Au Jus Pot Roast

Pot roast has always been a winner in our household. Dad loved it. It was almost guaranteed to be his birthday dinner. It can be an expensive cut of meat, but it's often on sale. Which is how I ended up with one this weekend.

The main difference between the way we cooked these for Dad and how I cook them is that I won't be adding potatoes and carrots to it...sadly.

It also makes enough for lunches all week for me. So I have a 4lb chuck roast in the slow cooker right now.

In fact, a new slow cooker...I dropped the lid of my last one, ordered a new one. Then dropped the entire insert on my way home from the work pot luck. Decided it was time to get a smaller one since it's just me.

Slow Cooker Au Jus Pot Roast

Image from AllRecipes.com

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Serves: 8
1 (4 pound) boneless beef chuck roast
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
1 tablespoon Montreal-style steak seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cube beef bouillon
1 cup hot strong black coffee
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano, or to taste
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, or to taste

Rub chuck roast with 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and sprinkle on all sides with steak seasoning.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the roast in the hot oil until browned, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer roast to a slow cooker.

Dissolve beef bouillon cube in the coffee and pour the mixture over the roast. Pour tomato sauce over meat and season with oregano; drizzle meat with 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce.

Set cooker to Low and cook until meat is tender, 8 to 10 hours.

Spicy Ranch Crackers

This low carb thing means I can't have bread, or bread like things on a regular basis...or ever if I want to stay below my carb amount. That's not ok for me. I love bread and I love bread things. 

I'm also a snacker. I like to have snacks with crackers, cheese and salami. Enter Spicy Ranch Crackers.

These are fantastic! It's basically the Fat Head Pizza dough recipe with some different flavor. I have found my cracker. So many options here. Instead of ranch you could use garlic salt. You can use Italian seasoning. You could use a sugar substitute and cinnamon. The list goes on.

The making of the dough was tough for me. This is the first time I've worked with mozzarella and almond flour in a dough like scenario. It was tough to mix and get incorporated. After reading on it I discovered I just gave up too early. They still turned out fine.

I also cooked mine longer. I like a crunchy, crispy cracker. Some may have been cooked too long, but they were still good. They also don't stay crispy after you store them. I pop them into our toaster oven at work and they crisp right up.

Spicy Ranch Crackers
Recipe from the fabulous blog: https://thatlowcarblife.com/spicy-ranch-crackers/

2 cups grated mozzarella

2 tablespoons cream cheese
3/4 cup almond flour
1 large egg
1 tablespoon ranch seasoning mix
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Add the mozzarella and cream cheese to a large microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted.

Stir the cheese until smooth and stir in the almond flour, egg, ranch seasoning, and red pepper flakes.

Place the dough on a large sheet of parchment paper. Top with a second sheet of parchment. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick.

Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1-inch square pieces yielding about 60 pieces.

Transfer the crackers to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 5 minutes, flip the crackers, and bake for 5 minutes more.

Cool before serving.