salt & pepper Archives - Pretty Little Apron

This Crock Pot Beef Tips and Gravy Recipe combines just a few simple ingredients for a delicious, hearty dinner. Tender pieces of sirloin in a thick mushroom and gravy sauce come together for the best comfort food around! Serve over homemade mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice.

Welcome back to another episode of my life is a circus and I don’t really have time to cook! My name is Dana, I’ll be your host! Today we are making Crock Pot Beef Tips and Gravy for your whole family to enjoy. :)d

My circus has been wanting really simple food lately. Mix too many things together and there is a good chance 3 out of the 4 who eat food (baby is still doing the boob thing) won’t be interested in dinner. It might “look weird” or maybe it has “something green on it.” Whatever the case, I’ve started really simplifying not only my meals, but my shopping list as well.

I thought to myself for a hot second that there was no way I could post this Crock Pot Beef Tips and Gravy recipe. People would think it was stupid because it is only a couple of ingredients. What if… gasp… I used a Simply Organic brown gravy packet instead of making an elaborate sauce myself and spending $25 to gather the ingredients for the sauce? Then I remembered there are other Moms out there just like me who have a million things to do and just need a semi-healthy and very delicious dinner to put on the table tonight. Enter… Crock Pot Beef Tips and Gravy.

The Mashed Potatoes

Now that we have cleared up the fact that I indeed to have picky eaters and I am also the ring leader of a tiny circus of humans who have been refusing to eat lately, it might be time to talk mashed potatoes. Listen, let’s just be honest here. If the mashed potatoes aren’t good, the whole meal just isn’t as good. Mashed potatoes are the glue of a dinner and I’ve figured out how to make a pretty darn good potato.

I always make homemade mashed potatoes and I have a big secret. Many people have commented on my recipe wondering what I was doing different and how I delivered the best mashed potatoes ever. This will have its very own post one day soon but for now let’s just talk about why my mashed potatoes are better then 99% of the rest. I use cream cheese.

That’s right, cream cheese right in the mixer with the potatoes, butter, milk, and salt. With the whisk attachment, not the paddle. If you aren’t mashing your potatoes with a stand mixer, now is a great time to finally grab that mixer you have been stalking on Amazon. So here you go…

Products from Amazon.com

I’ve had my KitchenAid Artisan 5 qt mixer for a long time now, and it has been super helpful with everyday recipes like mashed potatoes. It is definitely a kitchen appliance staple in my house!

If you aren’t feeling the mashed potatoes, this recipe would be awesome over rice or egg noodles as well.

Dana Carvell (3BoysUnprocessed)

Remember when I said I hated crockpot meals, then kept making more crockpot meals? Seriously.

But you know how indecisive women can be so I’m totally blaming my gender on this one. In real non-food blogging life I’m actually pretty indecisive too. Like when my husband asks me a question and I say “I don’t care.” But somewhere inside I care, I do! I just can’t for the life of me make a decision! It is just too mind consuming to actually pony up and say what I want. No…clue…why!

But this CROCKPOT chicken though! It is so yummy and delish in all of it’s mustardy and honey-y glory. Yes, that’s two y’s because honey already ends in a Y. Yeah. So I hyphenated. And all the grammar people go nuts!

I hate to say this…but you know what else is really great about crockpots? The word *freeeedddoommm* singing in my head as I put the ingredients in the crockpot and walk away. Yeah, like knowing you totally have the next 4 hours to NOT spend in your kitchen piddling around over the stove and knocking over spices. Until I decided to make chicken stock.

Did you notice I said the words “knocking over spices?” Who else has a big pile of spices stored right beside their microwave in the most unorganized and clumsy fashion ever? You’d think being a food blogger and all I’d have a really nice spice organization system, like those little jars with magnets that hang right on the wall in the prettiest way ever. But no, I have this heaping mess of spices that is ever-growing and seems to get in the way all the time. Not to mention, try finding something in that mess! Where’s the pepper? Where’s the paprika? Heck, I can’t find it, so I’ll spend the next 15 minutes looking for it, only to find it right in front of me, on top of the microwave, where it was never supposed to be in the first place. Who put it there? Oh yeah.. I did yesterday. *sigh for all of those unorganized folks like myself* Just incase my husband is reading this… my birthday is next week *ah-hem* 🙂

So I’m using whole grain mustard in this chicken because my wonderful husband kept buying it, and I kept putting it into a bunch of random recipes and realized it’s kind of a big deal (are people still saying that?). Now if you aren’t keeping whole grain mustard stocked in your refrigerator at all times already, I’m suggesting you do so. You’ll find a ton of ways to use it, in recipes not just as a condiment, that will make you wonder where it has been all your life. I’ve been using it in pasta salads all summer, in chili, sauces, and now in crockpot meals. So yeah, you can’t go wrong with whole grain mustard!

In addition to the whole grain mustard I added raw honey, soy sauce, and chicken stock. How simple is that? Believe me, it doesn’t sound like much but this chicken is out of this world! The addition of the soy sauce kicks it up 10 notches and goes perfectly with the other ingredients.

*Just check ingredients before purchasing! I have seen some companies sneak random things like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives in mustards. A good mustard should not contain anything that you wouldn’t keep in your own home.