While beef stew is almost too easy to make, I will admit to not being great at replenishing my seasonings supplies as needed. Because seasonings and spices/herbs are so expensive, I keep putting off purchasing them and the list to replenish them just keeps getting longer and longer. Eventually, I don't have anything with which to work. As such, I planned 2 6-qt crock pots of beef stew for over the holidays to always have something hearty and warm on hand for family as they came/went. Lo and behold, when I finished cutting up all the meat and veggies and loaded them into the crock pots, I had nothing on hand to actually flavor those main ingredients. So, sent hubby off to the grocery store for a quick cheat...McCormick's beef stew seasoning packets. Of course I never told him how many to get, and as he wanted to 'do it right the first trip', he got a handful of them. Actually, in error, he grabbed the ones I'd never seen before: the "SLOW COOKERS" item. Man, oh, man! To heck with buying expensive, one-jar spices to keep on hand for this meal. This product worked perfectly! Open packet, mix with 1 1/3 Cups water, pour over ingredients in crock pot, mix it up just once and let the cooker rip for a few hours. The stew was excellently cooked, beef was so tender one needed a spoon with which to lift it otherwise it would break apart and the veggies were tender but not mooshy. It was more than flavorful; the au jus was not too thick and not too thin perfect for sopping up with homemade bread that, unlike my spices, is always available in this house.
I liked it so much, as did the family members, I'm back to purchase the pack of 12 here to keep on hand as well as the "SLOW COOKERS" for pot roast. I confess, for these two meals from now on, I'm being lazy, but quick and efficient. No serious measuring, no countless bottles of assorted spices, no mess and a tremendous result.
NOTE: I did use 2 packets for each 6-qt slow cooker for although there is an easy recipe on the reverse of the packet, I don't measure my meat and veggies. I use what I have on hand and once the crock pot is at least 3/4 full, that's when I usually throw in my seasonings. The recipe provided would not be enough for my family. I didn't notice any additional recommendations on the packets indicating how much for what size slow cooker. I began with just one packet dissolved in the recommended 1 1/3 Cups of water (I used boiling water to dissolve it quicker add some warmth to the slow cooker as it begins cooking), but after pouring it over all the meat and veggies in the first pot, I just didn't think 1 packet was enough as my family likes a lot of the 'gravy'. Therefore, I added an additional prepared packet to each 6-qt crock pot which gave me perfect results.
This product uses only natural spices, no MSG, 0g trans fat per serving and no artificial flavors.
Edit: 1/2/10 Another batch made for New Year's...this time, I reduced the amount of water per packet to 1 Cup (vs 1 1/3) and got thicker, more substantial 'gravy' vs the usual 'au jus' consistency. The family liked it much, much better that way.
This packet makes excellent pulled pork. It calls for a 3lb boneless pork shoulder roast with most/all of the fat trimmed off, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar and 1/3 cup cider vinegar. Mix up the sauce, place your pork roast in your crockpot, pour sauce over, cover and that's it! You can cook your pork on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
If I'm going to be gone slightly longer than 8 hours then I take the pork roast out of the freezer the night before and the next morning put it in the crock only partially defrosted. This seems to help keep the pork more moist if its going to be cooking more than 8 hours on low. Because usually if I'm gone for work, I'm going to be gone at least 9 hours and sometimes as much as 10. If you're going to be cooking the 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low then I recommend that the roast be completely defrosted because you want it to cook thoroughly enough that it's "pull apart" done.
I make this exactly as the recipe says except instead of regular brown sugar I used Splenda blend. I thought the ratio between meat and bbq was perfect using two pounds of meat rather than three. If you use 3lbs and you like your bbq pretty "saucey", I'd add a couple of tablespoons of water to the mix to make it stretch a bit further.
If you decide to cook this on high, I recommend using 1-2 tablespoons of water to keep the bbq sauce from scorching because generally I cook this on the low setting for 8 hours and once I let it go almost to 9.5 hours because I was late getting home and the sauce got kind of coagulated. That was fixed by adding just a bit of water and it was still fine but it might scorch if you are cooking on high and leave it longer than the 4 hours the recipe calls for.
This is a great summertime meal! I serve it with cole slaw or potato salad or macaroni salad and corn on the cob. It's fast and doesn't heat the house up and no hovering over a hot stove.
One last thing, I HIGHLY recommend using a crockpot liner when cooking this. I ran out the last time I cooked this and ended up having to soak my crock overnight and still had to scrub a bit to get the baked on sauce off of it.
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While I prefer the old fashioned way of making pot roast in the crock pot, on occasion, I don't have all the ingredients handy and/or I'm in a hurry to get it done. This is a lifesaver on a hectic day. It is flavorful, easy to use, and gets the job done. Food tastes great. The family does like a lot of & thicker 'juice', so the second time around using this product, I used 2 packets and reduced the required water by a little...well, the pot roast and veggies were stellar, although a bit 'peppery hot'. I can't explain the reason for it other than I didn't use all the recommended water for the product, but it was as if I accidentally dumped a whole pepper shaker full of pepper into the pot. The meal was edible, and on a cold, Nor'Easter night it was comforting but it also helped drain all our sinuses....word of caution: stick to the instructions on the back of the packet. I'll continue using 2 packets vs 1 for my pot roasts, but will most definitely use the recommended amount of water from now on.
p.s.I also love McCormick's Slow Cooker Beef Stew packets for the same reasons mentioned above, but I've not yet messed with those instructions!!!
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We purchased this from Amazon as our local store was only carrying this occasionally. It is the exact same product. It is a fast dinner that you can throw in a crock pot and do the rest when you get home. My family loves this. We have a problem, half the family cannot have dairy products, so we make the first part which is dairy free. Then we split it in two and add the sour cream to the one half. Both ways are very good. I chop the mushrooms finely and our picky eaters never know they are in there. I put the entire thing over egg noodles to complete the meal. We usually use two packets to make a double recipe because it gets eaten so fast. We never have any left overs. I highly recommend this product. McCormick has a real winner here.
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I really like this mix. It is convenient and flavorful, and is great to add to pot roast when you are running out the door. I also use a packet of this mix when I am slow cooking oxtails. I like my sauce thick, so I use less water than the recommended 1 cup. I use about a 1/4 cup of water because the pot roast & veggies are going to sweat in the slow cooker anyway.
I had this at my friend's; she microwaved it and put it on ice cream. Yum! I'm sending a few to my parents as gifts.
