A slow cooker can be a huge help on very busy days. Wake up a few minutes earlier, throw everything in there, set for the whole day and “Forget About It.”(<– with a New England Accent)

Now you might say: “Wake up a few minutes earlier? HA, HA, HA!”

Well, to you I say; you can also set it up the night before and you will have a cooked meal when you wake up, like the food fairy visited and left you a delicious meal while you slept, just remember to turn off the slow cooker before you leave for work. You don’t want to burn that meal the food fairy slaved all night making for you!

In this particular instance I made a brisket. Brisket is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef and generally tough, so it benefits from that long and slow cooking process.

Bento Components:

• Slow cooked brisket
• Vegetables
• Rice with peas

 

Slow Cooker Brisket —

Ingredients:

-4 lb brisket

-5 carrots

-3 stalks of celery

-1 onion diced

-salt and pepper

-parsley for garnish

 

For the sauce:

-1 Tbsp garlic diced

-1 Tbsp liquid smoke

-1/4 cup soy sauce

-2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

-1/2 cup red wine

-1 Tbsp brown sugar

-1 tsp tomato paste

-juice of 1/2 a lemon

Season brisket with salt and pepper. You want to season really well, massage it, get that salt everywhere (bow chika bow wow). Chop the celery and carrots into big pieces. Sprinkle half the onions and the carrots and celery on the bottom of the slowcooker. You want them to absorb all the delicious meat juices as it cooks. Lay the beef on top of the vegetables.

In a separate container (small mixing bowl, saucepan, etc.) mix all of the sauce ingredients. Pour it over the beef and vegetables. Then add the rest of your diced onion. Put the lid on it and cook on low for 8 hours.

Once you are ready for it, take the brisket and vegetables out of the sauce. Let the brisket rest for at least fifteen minutes. Meanwhile put the sauce in a saucepan and reduce on medium high heat. You want it to reduce by at least 2/3 of the original liquid.

Slice the brisket against the grain. To serve, arrange brisket atop the vegetables, then spoon some of the reduced sauce over it and chopped parsley.

 

Here is a side that goes well with it:

Rice With Green Peas —

Ingredients:

-2 cups of rice

-1/2 cup of fresh or frozen (Not Canned) green peas

-chicken stock

-salt and pepper

-1 Tbsp olive oil

If you have a rice cooker measure out the rice to make enough for 4 people. Add the peas, salt, pepper, olive oil, and substitute the normal amount of water with chicken stock. Put the lid on and let it cook. Fluff with a fork when ready, and it is ready to eat!

If you don’t have a rice cooker, in a medium sized pot add 2 cups of rice, 2 cups of chicken stock, peas, salt and pepper to taste, and olive oil. Bring to a boil, then cover it with a lid, set heat down to low and cook until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid. Fluff with a fork and make sure that the rice is soft. If some grains are still a little hard then let it cook for a while longer, checking every 5 minutes.

 

Note: For this bento I made the two above dishes and just saved the leftovers for the next day. They can be heated in the microwave perfectly so this works great as a leftovers meal.