By Jessica Ivey, RDN
Between work and school, extra-curricular activities, and of course, football season, fall is a busy time for most of us Alabamians, but a full schedule doesn’t have to mean fewer home-cooked meals. A slow cooker is one of my favorite secrets for preparing hot, homemade meals ready when we are. Check out my tips for making the most of this versatile kitchen tool.
- Choose the right cut. Lean cuts of beef, like bottom round roast and shoulder pot roast, become tender when cooked low and slow in a small amount of liquid. Convenient beef stew meat is another good option that can be an economical choice.
- Get rid of excess fat. Before putting your roast into the slow cooker, be sure to trim away the excess fat. For recipes calling for ground beef, brown the beef in a skillet before adding to the slow cooker using a slotted spoon to drain away the fat. This will result in a lower-fat and more appealing final product.
- Include vegetables, beans, and/or whole grains. For a well-balanced complete meal, be sure to add a serving of vegetables to your slow cooker. Heartier vegetables, like potatoes and sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers and kale, can be added at the beginning of the cooking time. Add more tender vegetables, like squash, zucchini, and fresh spinach, during the last 30 minutes of cooking to ensure a crisp-tender result. Fiber-rich whole grains and beans are an easy addition to round out a meal and provide additional nutrients.
- Prep ingredients in advance. Cutting meat and chopping vegetables in advance can help set you up for faster meals on especially busy days. Place prepared ingredients in large zip-top plastic bags or air-tight containers, and store in the refrigerator up to three days. If you have a slow cooker with a removable insert, you can even assemble the recipe in the insert and refrigerate the whole thing overnight; in the morning all you have to do is slip the insert into the base and turn it on.
- Reinvent leftovers. Instead of serving the same recipe twice, turn last night’s leftovers into a fun new dish. For example, make this After Work Beef Pot Roast Dinner early in the week, and later stuff the remaining meat and vegetables into a loaf of French bread cut in half lengthwise. Top with slices of provolone or mozzarella cheese and bake until the sandwiches are hot and the cheese is melted.
What’s your favorite beefy slow cooker meal? Let us know in the comments or post a picture of your Crocktober creation on Facebook or Instagram. Be sure to tag @alcattlemen.
On Wednesday, Oct. 11 ACA checkoff staff joined ACA President-Elect Jack Batts, Regional Vice President Jay Buckley and Walker County President Tyler McClendon in Jasper to award Black Rock Bistro with its Bama’s Best Burger winning plaque.
the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries to host a Beef Up the Blood Supply event with LifeSouth. All who donated blood earned a ribeye steak sandwich grilled up by ACA staff! We surpassed LifeSouth’s donor goal by five donors…just another way to show that cattlemen care!
On Oct. 12-13, ACA Director of Industry Relations and Youth Programs Michael Agar headed west to set up a booth in the Worlds of Work “Ag World” at Shelton State Community College where over 4,000 8
Auburn fan and Lauderdale County cattleman Dan Goode could not believe his eyes when we found this Shorthorn heifer in his pasture. Marked clearly with an Alabama “script A,” this calf was born a fan, by default, of the Crimson Tide. Her markings have made her quite popular and have even spread as far as ESPN, Fox Sports, Sports247, SEC Country, thanks to a little push from Paul Finebaum.
available online at 
Beef has been the talk of the town this October Beef Month thanks to the work of county chapters across the state! We at the state office have had an influx of great pictures from counties who have participated in Cowboys in the Classroom, hosted steak sandwich sales, educated about beef cattle at farm/ag days and even from restaurant-owning cattlemen who have offered a beefy special in their eateries throughout the month. Great job, cattlemen! View photos 
event in partnership with the Alabama Department of Ag and worked hard to educate influencers, such as Auburn City Schools food service representatives and culinary students, through multiple Beef 101 programs. Besides getting out and promoting beef, we’ve amp’d up our social media footprint through beef-specific advertisements and posts such as recipes, beef facts, production practice infographics, how-to videos, cooking tips and more. We’ve worked hard to point people back to the checkoff-funded BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. Our website even took on a new look for the month as it features beef imagery in the background, an “October is Beef Month in Alabama” banner across the top and scrolls through delicious, themed recipes each week throughout the month. So far, we’ve promoted burgers, easy weeknight meals and tailgating appetizers, and this week is all about stews and chilis as fall weather brings a welcomed chill to the state!
We also took a leap into unknown territory this month as we partnered with the Ibotta couponing app to drive a $2 OFF roast rebate to consumers across Alabama. WOW at its results! This campaign has been exposed to over 400,000 people and has earn over 4,500 rebates to date. With just a week left in the campaign, we expect to meet our goal of encouraging the sale of over 5,000 roasts of any brand or variety across Alabama grocers. That’s YOUR checkoff dollars at work putting beef on consumers’ tables!
Imagine a half-pound beef patty topped with made-from-scratch pimento cheese and a fried green tomato. If your mouth is watering at the thought of a burger of this caliber, then a trip to Black Rock Bistro in Jasper, Ala. is due in your future.
and Sysco Gulf Coast joined us at the Auburn Beef Teaching Unit & Meats Lab to learn about beef from pasture to plate. ACA President Richard Meadows welcomed the group, helped lead a conversation about the beef life cycle and gave a background on his cattle operation. Jason and Dr. Misty Edmondson spoke to the group about beef production practices during a live animal evaluation then Meats Lab staff fabricated a beef carcass into retail cuts for the group to see. It was a great program and introduced many of those who sell our product to the production and meat science aspects of the industry!
This week, ACA Executive VP Erin Beasley hosted NCBA Supply Chain Relationship Management Director Shelley Bradway to Alabama as she visited several distributors and participated in Beef 101. On Monday, Beasley and Bradway headed to Atlanta to visit Buckhead Beef to discuss educational opportunities and resources available to them through the beef checkoff. Following Beef 101 
on Tuesday, Shelley along with program staff and AU Meat Sciences faculty toured the new Golden State Foods meat plant in Opelika. This