Savory Pot Roast with Onions

Since I don't follow recipes exactly when I am reading them (for one reason or another) I have trouble sometimes making the item again.  That is what is happening to me now :(  I made a pot roast back in November that tasted really really really good.  Usually if I can find the base recipe, I can remember... but I can't even find this base recipe.  So here goes what I remember with a few changes. 

We loved it!!

Sear the beef and season with salt and rosemary.

Flip the seared beef and it should have a nice brown cast with slight bronze streaks.

Put into dish and put onions around the beef.

Mix together sauces for the gravy.

Place the gravy over the roast and sprinkle with more rosemary

Serve with Roasted Root Vegetables

Savory Pot Roast:

*1 1/2 pound Roast ( I used a beef chuck roast shoulder)
*2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (or butter)
*1 pressed garlic clove
*salt
*1/2 teaspoon rosemary

*1 onion chopped lengthwise

Sauce:
*1/4 cup red wine vinegar - or- red wine
*1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
*1/2 jar of Heinz low fat gravy
* 2 Tablespoons water (if double, use 1/4 cup)
*1 teaspoon rosemary
*1/2 teaspoon bay leaf or 3 whole bay leaves (whole to be removed after cooking)

Preheat the oven to 375.  Put the olive oil (or butter) into a skillet & turn on.  I trim the fat off of the meat and then pierce the meat with the fork several times on both sides.  I sprinkle with salt and then I place the meat into the hot skillet.  Put the rosemary and pressed garlic onto the top of the roast.  At this point, the bottom is ready to be flipped.  I look for a nice even brown color with a few carmel streaks.  This locks in the flavor when it is baked in the oven.

Set the meat aside in the dish you will be using.  Put the onion on the sides around the meat.

Combine the gravy, red wine, Worcestershire Sauce and water.  Mix well and pour over the top of the roast.

Cook at 375 for an hour.

Note:  When I make a roast this way, I cook the vegetables separately.  I have found the potatoes get too soggy with this roast.  I use my Roasted Root Vegetable recipe to accompany this dish.

If doubling this for a 3-4lb roast, do not double the vinegar.  If using wine, double :)

Roasted Root Vegetables

Before roasting...

Served with Savory Pot Roast

Roasted Root Vegetables:

*3 potatoes
*3 medium carrots
*1 large turnip
*1 onion
*3 Tablespoons olive oil
*1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Chop vegetables into small pieces (nickel and quarter size).  Toss with the olive oil.  Place into roasting pan and season with salt.  Bake for 45 minutes or until vegetables are easily pierced with a fork.

Other items you can add:  turnips, sweet potatoes and any other root vegetable.  This dish even works well on the grill in grill packets.

Jillian and the Chopsticks...

Jillian didn't have much success with the chopsticks... but that didn't stop her from eating one of her favorite things - RICE!

Sweet Shot of: Drew

 I wanted to link up with Sweet Shot Tuesday to share this photo.  The girls had gone to bed and it was around 10pm.  Drew had fallen asleep in my arms and his little lip was so sweet and pouty.  I had Josh grab my camera and I turned off the flash and got some great shots of my sweet babe (and he stayed asleep the whole time too!)

The Cowl - First Crochet Project...

So, day by day & bit by bit I have been working on this cowl neck scarf.  I told Josh last night at the rate I am going when I finish it will be springtime and I won't need it.

About two nights ago, I started wondering what I could make instead of this cowl with this piece I have already completed.  I do that with my cooking sometimes; I begin to make one dish and realize that I don't have the proper ingredients and change it into something else.  Since I have been cooking since the tender age of 8, I can usually do that with success.  So, I look at this piece and wonder what in the world else I could make it into.

Some thoughts I have had:
*a little poncho for our American Girl doll - Kit... but I don't want my first project to be for the doll.
*a hot pad... but I don't want to use such a great yarn for a hot pad.
*hmm... an iPod case?  Stitch the sides together?

Well for now I will keep on crocheting and hope that eventually these tight little stitches and knots turn into something useful.

(why didn't I make a potholder???)

Bok Choy and Onion Stirfry (HAPPY Chinese New Year!)

I lived in China for a year back in 2001-02.  I love good Chinese food and I really should make it more often - especially since the Chinese restaurants taste different than what I got used to eating.  This recipe was definitely a keeper.

Bok Choy and Onion
*Baby Bok Choy - sliced into long pieces
*One white onion
*1 Tablespoon olive oil
*1 Tablespoon soy sauce
*1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Mix the olive oil and soy sauce together and saute/stirfry the bok choy and onion for approximately 5 minutes.  When the leaves are wilted, it is done.

We ate it over a long grain rice mixture.  It was tasty!

Happy Chinese New Year!

My little bruiser

                                                 (Can you just see the sneaky twinkle in her eyes?)

My sweet and extremely energetic little Jillian is intense!  The other day at Sunday school she got a knot on her head because she fell over and banged her head on the metal door frame.  Later that afternoon she fell when she tripped on an imaginary line and got a raspberry on her nose.  The very next day her little fingers got shut in between the door and the frame.  She took a break on Tuesday.  Wednesday, she fell backwards off of a kitchen chair.

We have a boo-boo buddy and I bet we pull this thing out 5 times per week for this little girl :)  I do have to say, Jillian is tough as nails though!