Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef

A savory beef to eat as a main dish with vegetables and potatoes, on a bun with au jus, or just by the handful as you surf the 'net. I won't judge.

Served with julienned and roasted carrots, beets, parsnips and sweet potatoes

Ingredients:

5 lb. beef chuck roast

1 cup beef broth

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce (or a gluten-free substitute)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 cloves garlic, pressed

Preparation:

Whisk together all of the ingredients (except the roast, of course) and add to the slow cooker. Put the beef roast on top of the mixture.

Cook & Serve:

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove the roast and cut into hefty pieces to serve. Or, shred with two forks, and top with slow cooker juices. I remove the fat as I shred (instead of before cooking) to lend extra flavor to the beef.

A Little Backstory:

Well, it finally happened -- I used my own cooking website to look up a recipe. If nothing else, this has helped me organize 20 years of clipping, jottings on scrap paper and printed-out emails. Many of which I've never cooked. Isn't that funny how we do that? We tend to fall into a rut and cook the same dozen things all the time.

Let's branch out. Especially when cooking is as easy as throwing a bunch of stuff in a pot and not looking at it for 8 hours.