OK fans, THIS should be your new favorite holiday dish. I don’t care what you celebrate, we all celebrate deliciousness. There’s a little prep work involved, but it is worth every juicy morsel. I am making this dish for the upcoming Jewish New Year… and perhaps Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. And an early happy Valentine’s Day to me.

Since the beef is the focal point of the entire meal, I wanted to make sure I had quality beef and plenty of it. I bought six short ribs equally just over three pounds. That sounds like a lot, but you have to take into account the bones. We each ate two ribs at dinner. You can adjust the serving size as needed. I served my meat with green beans tonight and that’s eat. I mean, it. I’m still thinking about eating those short ribs!

Marinating the meat is essential to get the flavors going and the apples to break down and tenderize the beef. I soaked mine for 24 hours– you could do as little as 6-8 hours, but I wouldn’t go much more than a full day.

I first tried to fit everything into a gallon size bag, but that was a futile effort. You could use a bowl or storage container. I like to keep these HUGE bags on hand exactly for this type of need. Whatever you use needs to fit back into the refrigerator, don’t forget that detail!

Crock Pot Short Ribs is one of the only recipes where I braise the meat before I put it into the crockpot. The flash of heat helps caramelize the flavors quickly and seal in the juices. It’s worth the extra step, trust me! It’s also necessary in my house to open the windows or disarm the smoke detector when braising. Something about that quick heat and sugar causes some excess “fog” in the air— that’s what my kids call it, cooking “fog”!

When you are braising the meat, make sure you save the juices and marinate from the bag or container– that goodness goes straight into the crock pot. Do not dump it out! Once the meat is done braising, you just gently place the meat on top of the sauciness and let it continue its cooking all together.

Yes, there are more steps to this dish, but the end result is soft and juicy and smiles all around. And isn’t that the point of holiday meals?!

 

Happy everything to you. I hope you enjoy this dish and everything you celebrate throughout the year.

 

Crock Pot Short Ribs

Serves 3 (Double or triple the recipe as needed!)

 

3 lbs beef short ribs, bone IN

1 c. shredded sweet onion

2 medium gala apples, shredded (skin on)

1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and then shredded

8 cloves garlic, whole

5 stalks green onion, cut the greens only into 2 inch strips

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. Mirin or rice wine

3 T. sesame oil

3 T. honey

1/4 c. sugar

Begin by shredding onions, apples and ginger and put into large bag or bowl. Add garlic cloves and green onions. Add remaining ingredients (except ribs) and combine well. Add beef short ribs and massage marinate onto all sides of meat. Cover bowl tightly or seal bag and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to proceed, remove ribs from marinate and put everything else into the crock pot. Heat pan on high and then braise all sides of short ribs quickly, but do not cook through. Add ribs to mixture already in crock pot, cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 4-6 hours.

The meat will pull away from bones when it is soft and ready. Serve bone-in with extra juice. The whole cloves of garlic will taste amazing- do not throw them out- spread them on bread or eat like candy!

This recipe was a huge hit last night! Even the kids liked it. It’s flavorful and when all these flavors fuse together, it’s an amazing combination. These are not your candied Thanksgiving yams by any degree. When the coconut milk and curry gets a chance to melt into the sweet potatoes, the sweet smokiness will definitely make everyone at your dinner table ask for seconds.

4-5 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 can lite coconut milk

1 T. curry powder

2 T. honey

Put sweet potatoes in crock pot and then drizzle honey on top. Shake curry powder into pot and then pour coconut milk on top of everything. Mix together a couple times to make sure potatoes are coated in all ingredient. Cook on high for 2.5. hours or until sweet potatoes are soft.

I’m always looking for new foods that will be tasty to my palate, but that my kids will still eat. This recipe is a compromise of an easy go-to baby food and a flavorful combination of sweets. The sweet potatoes turn out smooth in the crock pot and you don’t have to worry about burned edges or the sugary syrup burning  like when you cook sweet potatoes in the oven.  I’d suggest serving this with something more bland– grilled chicken or tilapia maybe or even something easy like chicken nuggets or hot dogs. Any meal that can feed the masses and enjoyed by all is a winner in my household!

I like sweet potatoes almost any way they are prepared. At Thanksgiving, I love the marshmellows crisped to a sweet burn up on top; I love the Hawaiian dish made with crushed pineapple and coconut milk and I also love tzimmes (do a search on my site for the recipe!).  Today’s recipe is similar to tzimmes, but a better take on the old world concoction. This is a little lighter and the little oranges have a sweeter flavor.

Serve this to your whole family and even if your kids want to dip the potatoes in ketchup (like mine sometimes do), remember that they are getting lots of great vitamins and nutrients from this delicious, vegetarian side dish!

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked

1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges in juice (not syrup) DO NOT DRAIN

3 T. honey

Coat crock pot in non-stick spray. Dump in sweet potatoes. Pour oranges and juice on top of potatoes. Drizzle honey over everything. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.

I think it’s a wonderful community celebration when a baby is born. Friends and family gather to welcome the sweet little child and help the new parents with meals and errands and extra hands for diaper changes.  Tonight, it’s my turn to bring dinner to some friends and I’m pretty sure that they already assume it’s going to be something from the crock pot. The debate begins about what to make— it doesn’t have to be for an occasion, let’s admit that this debate happens practically every day, right?!

Let’s see– vegetarian or dairy is requested and the meal needs to feed two adults and a 2-year-old, too.  I’m guessing that pasta dishes and soups have already been dropped off or stocked in the freezer, so I decided to do an Asian tofu dish and serve it with rice.  Tofu is a unique protein, but it cooks up nicely and can suck up a whole bunch of flavor from whatever it accompanies.  There are different consistencies of tofu sold, but I suggest using an extra firm one, it’s easiest to work with as a substitute for meat.

If you are scared of squishy food, you could make this dish with chicken instead. But give it a try– you might actually like tofu! The toughest thing about cooking it, is that sometimes it can really stick to the pan.  Let it cook on each side without moving it around in the pan and then flip it quickly with a thin spatula. Enjoy!

1 brick of tofu, drained

3 T. olive oil

1/2 c. orange juice

1/4 c. honey

1/4 c. soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 medium onion, sliced thin

2 t.  rice vinegar

1/2 t. paprika

12 oz. of any green vegetable (broccoli florets, snow peas, shredded cabbage, green beans or peas)

First you need to prep your tofu, it usually has an excessive amount of water in it that you want to drain off before cooking. Put a paper towel on a plate and then center the tofu on it. Add another paper towel up on top of the tofu and then put another plate on top. It looks like you’ve made a plate sandwich with the tofu in the middle. Add something heavy on top (can of food, metal pan, small child) and let sit for at least an hour. The paper towels will fill with water and the tofu will still have it’s shape. Then cut tofu into 2-bite sized cubes. 

Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Brown tofu for 5-6 minutes on each side. Add the green vegetable, garlic and onion to the crock pot in that order, then put tofu on top. Mix the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and then pour on top of everything in the crock pot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours and then serve with white rice.