​Slow Cooker Balsamic Pot Roast with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I am taking a class all this week, so I wanted to make my meal prep easy, but also make sure I made an amazing meal to look forward to eating all week. I've made this balsamic pot roast before and it's so incredibly yummy. Ironically my friend sent me a picture of this meal last week saying how delicious it was too. She threw this in the Instapot for 30 minutes, so if you have that appliance and want a quicker meal prep then there you go! Also, even my family has implemented this one into their rotation of dinner recipes and I'm sure those of you cooking for your whole family understand the challenge of finding something healthy that everyone will eat. Basically what I am saying is you need to give this recipe a try! I decided to pair this with some roasted sweet potatoes like I did last time because I really enjoyed that combination. I am not sure I've ever picked two crockpot meals for meal prep before, but I knew I was going to have a busy weekend and even busier week, so I tried reducing the stress of meal prep a little bit. I cooked one of the crockpot meals over night and threw the other meal in the crockpot first thing in the morning. This worked out perfectly and really helped my meal prep on Sunday, so if you are in need of a new suggestion for easier meal preps then give that a try. Also, give this pot roast recipe a try too! You will not be disappointed! 

​Slow Cooker Balsamic Pot Roast
Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless Chuck Roast
• 1 TBS olive oil

Rub:

• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Sauce:

• ½ cup high quality balsamic vinegar
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 TBS dijon mustard (I use Woodstock Organic Dijon Mustard, found at local grocery store)
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 TBS arrowroot powder

Directions:

1. Generously grease the bowl of your slow cooker. Set aside.
2. Make the rub: In a small bowl, mix together garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Make the sauce: In a medium bowl whisk together balsamic vinegar, honey, mustard and beef broth. Set aside.
4. Putting it together: Coat the roast in 1 TBS olive oil (I spread it around with my hands). Set in your slow cooker.
5. Evenly sprinkle the roast with the rub, pressing it into the meat so it sticks.
6. Pour sauce over roast and turn your slow cooker onto low.
7. Cook on low for 8-12 hours, occasionally spooning more sauce over the roast, until it is very easily shredded with a fork.
8. Shred and continue cooking on low for another 1 hour.
9. Just before you are ready to serve, remove the meat from the sauce and strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl (do NOT pour it down the drain)!
10. Transfer sauce to a saucepan and whisk in 1 TBS tapioca flour or arrowroot powder.
11. Cook on medium heat until sauce becomes thick.
12. Pour ¼ of the thickened sauce over the meat and save the rest for people to spoon on when you serve!
13. Eat and enjoy!

​Original recipe found here

My Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:

• 4-6 Sweet Potatoes (Depending on how much you want to make. 5 medium sized sweet potatoes usually gets me 6 oz of sweet potato fries for 6 meals. I think my idea of medium sized is bigger than most though.)
• Olive oil spray
• Sea salt (I actually use Garlic Sea Salt on everything I cook)
• Optional: Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Skin and cut the sweet potatoes into whatever shape you want. I either do fries, wedges or circles.
3. Spray baking pan with olive oil. Lay down sweet potato fries flat (please do not just dump a pile on the pan).
4. I fill my Misto with olive oil and lightly spray the fries, then add some sea salt (sometimes cinnamon too).
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Take out of the oven and move them around or flip them over. Bake for another 15-20 minutes.
6. Keep an eye on them, if they are thin bake for less time, and vice versa. Key is to move them around or flip them over half way through baking them. I usually make mine thicker, so I bake them for at least a total of 40 minutes.