Crockpot Ball-Tip Roast & A Mishap

This may amuse some of you (as it did my household last night) so I thought I'd share and give you the recipe as well. 

 There is a place down in the bay area here in California that sells a yummy marinated ball-tip called Kinders. I decided to try and make a recipe as close to theirs as I could. Their recipe is top secret so this wasn't an easy task and I spent a good month or more researching recipes and taste-testing to see if I could recreate it. (I have a pretty decent palate)

 I finally just decided to combine some of the ingredients I knew were in the recipe, with a few that I had guessed myself, along with some of go-to ingredients used in a typical beef rub. Here's where the mishap comes in. 

I have numerous recipes on my laptop and I keep them in a few places. Namely a pfd file where I write them out myself. So I go to the crock-pot and start measuring everything and dumping it in. My husband is kind of a picky eater so I always make a side of whatever sauce, dip, marinade etc for him to taste. So I let him taste this one and he HATED it. He got a very sour disgusted look on his face and I had no idea why and I said "Well its too late now because after I spooned your taste out I put the roast in." I figured he was just being picky and he doesn't like too many spices so that's what I chalked it up to. Well a few hours go by and I go to check the temp on the roast and let me tell you I did NOT like the smell coming from the crock-pot. So I took it out cut a piece off and hoped I wouldn't be disappointed. Let me tell you, It took one taste to realize what my problem was and why my husband didn't like it. It was lemon overkill! The marinade itself was  great flavor but I put in wayyyyy too much lemon,which made me scratch my head as I'm usually very careful about balancing my acids. Yet here I was standing there tasting a very lemony roast. So I walked over to the recipe I wrote out on my pfd file and everything seemed fine, until I realized that I had opened a recipe right next to it that called for 3X the lemon. Yep. I did that. LOL! I turned my laptop around and showed my husband who preceded to laugh his lemon hating butt off. So to counteract the acidity from the lemon I made a gravy to cover it and it actually turned out really good! Hubby was delighted with it and we dined happily. 

The recipe you see below is the right version of  my try at a copycat recipe for kinders ball-tip marinade. Its not as close as I'd like but practice makes progress! If you'd like the gravy recipe make sure you go to my blog HERE and get it after you read this. 

I used a 4 lb roast with this so you may need to adjust ingredients depending on how small or big the roast is you're using. Also, if you like to marinate your meat prior to cooking I would recommend 24 to 48 hours as balltip can be tough in certain areas depending on the cut and quality. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of Sesame Oil

2 tsp of parsley 

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp ginger

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3 cloves of garlic

2 tsp coarse black pepper

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup Lemon Juice

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup Worcestershire

1/4 cup honey

2 cups Beef Broth

Directions:

Combine all wet ingredients into crock-pot and stir. Take dry ingredients and use processor or blender to mince. (I use this method to not only mince the garlic but to also infuse the flavors of the herbs and spices with the garlic) You can also add a little white wine to the processor just to make sure they marry well. 

Empty dry ingredient mix into crock-pot and stir well. Add roast to crock-pot and cook on low for 4-5 hours. 

The finished product with veggies and my homemade gravy

Melodys Lip Smackin Crockpot Meatballs

I love meatballs. Yes I do. They are pretty much the only way ill eat ground beef anymore, aside from the occasional taco or meatloaf. There is so much you can do with these bad boys! Heres the recipe i made tonight for dinner. My kids were pleased! My husband thought they were a bit too spicy so definitely adjust to your (or your S/O's) own spice tolerance.  These were just bursting with flavor & even before I started cooking them they smelled heavenly. Enjoy ya'll! 

This recipe makes ALOT . 

We have leftovers for the next day so be aware of that so you can adjust your servings.

Ingredients:

4lbs of Lean Ground Beef

1 1/2  tbps of Ground Ginger

1 1/2 tbsps Cayenne Pepper 

3 tbsps Garlic Powder

1/2 package of Ritz Crackers crumbled

2 tbsps Basil

1 tbsp Rosemary

2 tbsps Parsley

1 egg

1/4 cup Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce original

1/4 cup Bullseye BBQ sauce (sweet & spicy)

1/4 cup Honey Mustard

1/2 jar of concord grape jelly 

1 can ocean spray cranberry sauce (jellied) 

Meatball Instructions:

Combine all dry ingredients & egg with ground beef and roll into meatballs. 

Sauce Instructions:

In large bowl (or in the crockpot) mix all wet ingredients until combined well. 

Combine meatballs and sauce and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Or on high for 5-6

This recipe was written by me. Any similarities to other recipes is purely coincidental.

Smothered Parmesan Crockpot Pork Chops

Yesterday the hubby and I went to the our local meat market (Roseville Meat Company) and bought a 45 lb variety box. I love my meat market, not only because of their prices but because of their integrity. The markets been in business since 1946 and has employees that have been there now since the 1980s. When you walk in youre greeted by a friendly "Hello!" and a smile. I know not every meat market is like ours but I highly suggest that if youre looking to save a buck or two (depending where ya shop already) and want some tasty meat that cuts out some of the middle men, you go look at your local meat market. You might be surprised! 

So out of this 45lbs of meat Matt chose the pork chops for tonights dinner and after watching wayyyyyy too many (not possible) cooking shows the last 2 nights on tv I decided to make some comfort food. Nevermind that its almost summer and 90 degrees out!  =) Heres my own recipe for some smothered cheesy slow cooker pork chops. Ive made this without the parmesan as well and its still fantastic!
My kids and husband LOVE these. They are a  Herman household staple so I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! 

Ingredients:

4 -6 Pork Chops
1 cup of parmesan cheese (shaved)

1 1/2 cups of Cream or Milk

1 can of Cream Of Chicken 

1 cup of Chicken Broth 

2 Yellow Onions (sliced)

Green Bell Peppers (chopped )

1 1/2 tsps Basil

1 tsp Parsley

2 tsps Coarse Sea Salt

Directions:

Slice the onions and place in bottom of crockpot

Rub salt into pork chops 

place pork chops in crockpot

Mix parm, cream, chicken broth, chicken soup , and herbs in a bowl and pour over chops.

Take the chopped bell peppers and drop them all over the sauce. 

Cook on low 6 - 8 hours.
I prefer my sauce a little thicker than most so heres a way to get it almost gravy like.

When done transfer sauce to saucepan. (optional)
In separate cup mix 1/2 cup milk & 1 Tbs of corn starch until dissolved.
Add slowly to sauce stirring until thickened up. 

Enjoy!

This recipe was written by me. Any similarities to other recipes is purely coincidental.