Braised Short Ribs...

Since I am in a one year masters program, we have an odd schedule.  Starting today, I have 3 weeks of night classes.  This makes it hard to make dinner, and since Dan (my husband) is not necessarily "gifted" in the kitchen, I have been having a hard time with dinner ideas.  I decided that my crock-pot is more reliable for a delicious dinner than Dan.  I had some short ribs in the freezer left over from New Years.
For this recipe I had:

2.5 lbs of boneless beef short ribs
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 cups sliced baby portabella mushrooms
3-4 cups red wine
2 Tbs. beef base (2 beef bullion cubes)
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. nutmeg
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 Tbs. Tomato Paste

Set out and season the ribs with salt and pepper for 10-15 minutes prior to starting the recipe.
Heat the oil in a pan on medium high heat.

Working in batches, add the ribs and brown for 4 minutes on each side.

While you are doing this, you can chop the tomato, onion and garlic.  Slice the mushrooms.

To seed the tomato, cut out what you can, and squeeze out the rest with your thumb.

Flip the ribs.

Transfer to a large crock-pot.

Pour off all but about 1 Tbs. of oil.

Add garlic, mushrooms and onion, and cook for about 4 minutes, scrapping up browned bits.

Stir in wine and tomatoes, brown sugar, garlic powder and nutmeg, and bring to a boil.

Transfer to the crock-pot.

Set on a low temperature, for about 6 hours.

Remove ribs and place on separate covered plate.

Strain sauce from crock-pot and put in a medium sauce pan, boil until there is about 2 cups left.

Add the tomato paste and boil.

I had some left over mashed potatoes in the freezer (from Christmas) so I stuck them in the microwave.

Now you can plate it up and enjoy!! (I usually serve steamed green beans with it, but didn't have time tonight after class)

ENJOY!