Crockpot Sweet & Sour Oriental Pot Roast Penny Pinching in Tight Times

Chef, and Self-Employed Business Owner. We are a family owned Grocer, and have made the switch to mostly internet based sales. The whole family works together: purchasing, marketing, sales, packing, distributing, web design, etc. Less than a year ago, We worked outside at private firms, and the other was secondary. Now, it is completely the opposite. We spend more time together working, but everyone is a lot happier and a lot less stressed, and we can easily spend more or less time on projects when need be. A change in focus is sometimes the biggest blessing you could have easily overlooked before.

We all love to eat, and lately the slow cooker has been used more than ever. By the time lunch rolls around each day the whole place smells fabulous. This seems to help keep everyone alert when working too, double bonus. You can easily take a lot of my recipes and add more vegetables, and cut the amount of meat used to stretch your dollars. You can use 1/3 of a cutup chicken instead of the whole thing. I buy large portions of cheap stew meat and bag in 1/4ths for many different meals and add more of whatever is cheaper. I see this from my restaurant point of view, and you can too. If you get a great deal on carrots, put more in your stew, and less potatoes, etc..this is the best part about cooking....there are very few wrong ways to do did....some of the best recipes are ones you improvise.

Relax and have fun. The most important thing about cooking is having nourishment, and some quiet time to enjoy it. It doesn't matte if you are alone, or with the whole family. Take a second to relax, chew, and enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Oriental Pot Roast

Roughly makes 8 Servings

3 to 3 1/2 Pound of Beef Chuck pot Roast, or to cut cook time you can use pre-cut Stew Meat
2 Tablespoons of Cooking oil
16 Ounces of Bean Sprouts either fresh, or cheap canned works great too!
5 Ounce can of sliced water chestnuts drain off juices.
1 Bell Pepper seeded, and cut into squares or thin slices.
1/3 Cup of Apricot jam (I've used Apple jelly in a pinch, and also I've substituted crushed pineapple)
1/4 Cup Vinegar (Rice vinegar gives a fantastic flavor)
1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce
1 Clove minced garlic
pinch of salt...(.I omit altogether)
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
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11 Ounce Can of Mandarin Orange slices
3 Tablespoons of Cornstarch
Serve with either Hot cooked rice, or with sauteed oriental blend of veges like Broccoli, Carrots, Peppers, and pea pods, etc.

Trim excess fat from roast. cut in half (toss in stew meat if you are using that instead) and place meat in bottom of cooker.

Toss in Sprouts, oil, chestnuts, bell pepper.

Turn on cooker to high and let it begin to warm up while you get the rest together.

In a medium sized bowl toss together (Jam, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, salt, ginger, pepper) and mix to blend together....then pour over meat in crock pot.

Lower crockpot setting to Medium-Low, or Low. NOT warm...that is for holding, not cooking!

Cover and cook for 8 hours.

Measure 2 Cups of the cooking liquid and pour into small saucepan.
Drain juice from oranges and save. Toss oranges into saucepan. Blend 1/4 of a cup of the drained orange juice in with the cornstarch until it is smooth and slowly blend the cornstarch mix into the contents of the saucepan. Thicken on low and if you need to add a little more of the drained off orange juice you can add a tiny bit at a time.

Slice pot roast, and serve over rice, or with a side of stir fried veges and drizzle with content of sauce in saucepan.

If you enjoy added heat, Worldstoreone carries Tabasco brand soy sauce that does just the trick!

Cooking slow is the cheapest way to go! Be creative and season the way you prefer...you can always add more too if need be later. Not a beef person...try a cutup chicken, or even better chicken quarters (legs/thigh combos) or thigh meat, or whole thigh pieces for a cheaper version of this recipe. Not in the mood to drag out the saucepan...use all those left over duck sauce packs you have been accumulating for years...