Crock Pot Rosemary Roast

Crock pot roast is a staple in the rotation of meals in my kitchen. I've got beef in freezer and it's easy to throw it into the crockpot and go about my day. I almost always do it the same way; onion soup mix, rosemary, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. You can check out my crock pot pot roast recipe HERE.

A while back my youngest sister sent me this recipe that she found on cdkitchen.com, prefaced with this message: "Looks yummy. Tired of the same boring roast. You should try it!" I'm always up for a new recipe (as you can probably tell from looking at this blog), so I decided to give it a whirl.

I'm glad that I did. Although there is a lot going on with this recipe ingredient-wise, it didn't taste all that different from my go-to pot roast recipe. However, the gravy that this recipe produced was a little sweeter, spicier, and thicker than I get from my regular pot roast recipe. Definitely a bonus.

To begin this recipe, I heated some oil in a skillet. Then I rubbed the roast with a combination of rosemary, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. I popped the seasoned beef into the skillet and browned it for a couple of minutes on both sides.

You're not trying to cook the meat until "done" here, you're just going for this nice, seared, browned effect on both sides.

While the roast sears, add a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of diced tomatoes, a packet of onion soup mix, a packet of ranch seasoning, a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar, and a bay leaf to the crock pot.

Stir it all up. I admit, at this point I was skeptical about this slurry of flavors. Thank goodness that it turned out okay!

The recipe called for 2 cups of broth. I just added 1- 1 and 1/2 cups of water to thin the mixture.

Add the roast to the soup/seasoning/tomato mixture. Turn it to coat.

Then top it off with a combination a baby potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots. Put a lid on it and cook at the lowest setting for 8-10 hours or until the veggies are done and the roast is fall-apart tender. Note: I like to stir the contents of the crock pot once or twice during the cooking time so that every component has a chance to soak in the sauce and cooks more evenly. (Yes, I realize that this is a slow cooking faux paux and that I am supposed to leave the lid on to keep the heat from escaping, thus elongating cook time. This hands-on cook just can't resist the temptation!)

To prepare this roast for the table, I removed all of the meat from the crock pot and broke it into chunks while removing any remaining fat from the roast.

I was left with the veggies and gravy in the crock pot. Using a slotted spoon, I removed the veggies to a serving platter.

Then, I strained everything left in the crock pot into a pan for the gravy. Usually, after this step, I thicken the gravy with a little cornstarch and water. No need for that this time! This sauce was gravy-boat-ready and delicious after I strained out the "chunks".

I piled the roast over the veggies on the serving platter a placed the gravy next the plate on our table so that everyone could create their plate to taste.

This dinner was a hit! We all enjoyed a twist on my usual pot roast. Thanks to my sister, Angie for bringing this recipe to my attention.

Here's the recipe, which I adapted slightly from cdkitchen.com

Amazing Rosemary Roast
altered from CDKitchen http://www.cdkitchen.com
Serves/Makes: 4 | Difficulty Level: 3 | Ready In: > 5 hrs

Ingredients:
1 (3-4 lb size) beef roast (boneless shoulder, round bone shoulder, chuck roast, or small rump roast)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 packet onion soup mix
1 envelope ranch dip, dry mix
1 can whole tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed firm)
4 carrots
7 red baby potatoes
1 large onion, quartered
2 stalks celery
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cup water (depending on how much juice you like)
1 tablespoon rosemary
3/4 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon oregano
4 cloves garlic
oil (canola, vegetable or olive)

Directions:
Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Place roast in skillet with oil and sear (brown over high heat) on all sides. Marinate roast with rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, basil and oregano until beef is completely covered while it's in the skillet. Hold it up in the pan with a long handle cooking fork if necessary or with tongs. Remove roast from pan, leaving drippings, if any, in the pan. Place roast in slow cooker.

Add the vegetables (and canned tomatoes), broth, cream of mushroom soup, onion and ranch dip packets, brown sugar, bay leaf and water. Add salt and pepper. Add garlic cloves.

Cover and leave in crockpot for desired time of cooking. You can cook on high 3-4 hours, medium 6-8 or low 10+.

Barbecued Brisket Sandwiches and Cucumber Ribbon Salad

This week has been so busy that I decided to utilize my slow cooker to ensure that dinner would be ready on time. With vacation bible school taking up our mornings and swim lessons taking up our evenings (and playdates in between), we've been out the door by 8:30 a.m. and have returned around 6 p.m. every night. I put this barbecue recipe together in the crockpot late on Monday night and placed it in the fridge for the next day. On Tuesday morning, I removed the crockpot from the fridge and set it on the lowest setting before we departed for a fun-filled summer day. When we arrived home on Tuesday night, the brisket was perfectly cooked and bubbling away in the delicious barbecue sauce. I quickly shredded the beef and threw together an easy zucchini salad and we had dinner in minutes!

Here's how the barbecue came together:

First, I combined all of the sauce ingredients in the crockpot. This is a chopped onion, minced garlic, ketchup, vinegar, beer, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, oregano, and brown sugar. Stir the ingredients together until combined.

A couple of days before, I began thawing a big chunk of beef brisket in the fridge.

From Wikipedia:

"Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the eight beef primal cuts. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectorals. As cattle do not have collar bones, these muscles support about 60% of the body weight of standing/moving cattle. This requires a significant amount of connective tissue, so the resulting meat must be cooked correctly to tenderize the connective tissue."

In my opinion, brisket is best prepared over low and slow heat. My preferred method is the crockpot. Because of the way it shreds up for sandwiches, the brisket happens to be one of my favorite cuts for barbecue.

I got this 5-6 lb. brisket from one of the steers my grandpa raises. It was a big piece of meat!

As I trimmed off much of the fat, I began to sympathize with the poor cave women like Wilma Flintstone. This is how she must've felt trimming up Fred's enormous Brontosaurus steaks. ; )

After trimming off as much of the external fat as possible, I cut the brisket into three large chunks (mostly so that it would fit into my crockpot, but also to ensure even cooking) and covered it with the barbecue sauce. I refrigerated mine overnight at this point. If you've got the time, you could also just throw it all together in the morning and cook it right away.

After cooking all day, I removed the meat from the sauce and let it cool for a few minutes in a separate dish.

Then I shredded it.

You can use a couple of forks and shred the beef by poking them into the meat and pulling them apart in opposite directions. However, I prefer to use my hands. That way I can feel my way through the meat and remove any lingering bits of fat.

After shredding the beef, I put the finishing touches on the barbecue sauce. First, I stirred in a little cornstarch mixed with water to thicken the sauce a bit.

Then I used my immersion blender to puree the sauce for a smoother consistency. You can also use a blender or food processor for this step if you don't have an immersion blender. Or...get an immersion blender! I love mine. No need to worry about transfering the hot sauce from the crock pot to another appliance when you've got an immersion blender, you just stick the immersion blender in and tah-dah- smooth sauce in seconds! Best of all, you won't create more dirty dishes. Who wants to take apart and wash a blender? Invest in one of these instead: Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender, Brushed Chrome (See all Hand Blenders) I use mine all of the time for soups, sauces, salad dressing, and smoothies. I love it!

With the beef shredded and the sauce finished, I bet that you can guess what's coming next. A reunion! Stir the shredded beef back into the sauce.

Now all you need is a bun! My family and I really enjoyed this recipe, which I found on allrecipes.com

.

It's right up there with my favorite beef barbecue recipes. I still think that Slow Cooker Barbecued Short Ribs take the prize and I'll always be a fan of this tried and true Texas Beef Barbecue recipe. But I have yet to try them all side by side. In a blindfolded taste test I'm not sure which one I would pick....



I served the barbecue alongside this impressive Cucumber Ribbon Salad.

Isn't it pretty? You'd never guess that it came together in minutes. I purposely chose this recipe because it called for radishes. I'm not a huge radish fan, but I proudly harvested these radishes from my garden this week. They are the first crop to be ready for consumption. Yay! Of course I had to use them in a recipe. The radishes added that perfect "bite" to this fresh, tasty salad.

I quickly readied the veggies for this salad: cucumber, radish, and red onion. Note: I scooped the seeds from these cucumbers with a spoon.

I used a plain ol' vegetable peeler to thinly slice the radishes.

It created perfectly uniform, thin slices.

Then I chopped 1 cucumber into chunks.

I used the veggie peeler to slice the second cucumber into ribbons. I purchased these cucumbers at the grocery, but tonight I counted 14 cukes growing on the vine of my garden cucumber plant (and it's not done growing yet!). Soon, I'll be able to step into the backyard and gather all of the cucumbers I need for recipes like this.

Arrange the cucumber ribbons around the outside of your serving plate or bowl.

These look pretty and the peeling goes really fast! Not tricky at all!

The recipe also calls for tomato-basil feta cheese. Lucky me! It was on sale this week at our local supermarket.

Ohhhh, and kalamata olives. I got mine from the olive bar at the grocery. I cut them in half so that there was a bit of olive in almost every bite.

I stirred the chopped cucumber, sliced red onion, radishes, feta, and olives together with some Italian dressing.

Then I heaped the mixture in the center of the plate with the cucumber ribbons.

It was both pretty and delicious. The few simple ingredients packed a big flavor punch. We ate it with our barbecue sandwiches and then I put the leftovers in the fridge and took them to a picnic the next day. This salad was even better the second day!

Here's a closer look:

This was such a great dinner!

Here are the recipes:

Slow Cooked Barbecue Beer Beef from allrecipes.com

1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup beer
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
4 drops liquid smoke flavoring
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 pounds beef brisket
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
16 potato buns, or as needed

Directions:
1. Place the onion and garlic into a large slow cooker. Pour in the ketchup, beer, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke; set aside. Combine the salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, oregano, and brown sugar until evenly blended. Rub the spice mixture all over the beef brisket. Place the brisket into the slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining spice mixture over top.
2. Cover, and cook on Low until the beef is easily shredded with two forks, 10 to 12 hours.
3. Remove the beef from the slow cooker, and place into a large bowl. Ladle the fat from the remaining sauce in the slow cooker and discard. Pour about 2 cups of the sauce from the slow cooker into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water, and stir into the simmering sauce. Cook and stir 5 to 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Meanwhile, shred the meat into small pieces using two forks.
4. Pour the thickened sauce and remaining sauce from the slow cooker into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the sauce right in the slow cooker.
5. Stir the shredded beef and pureed sauce together in the slow cooker. Use tongs to serve

Notes:
*Because my brisket was 5 1/2 lbs, I increased the sauce recipe by 1-1/2.
*This recipe makes a good amount of barbecue. We had plenty for dinner, then I put a pound in the fridge to eat as leftovers and I froze about 3 pounds in two packages for later. It freezes well!

Easy Crisp Cucumber Salad from Kraft Foods and adapted by me

2 large cucumbers
8 radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 cup ATHENOS Crumbled Feta Cheese with Basil & Tomato
1/3 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
1/3-1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced

Make It

USE vegetable peeler to cut 1 cucumber into long thin ribbons.

Chop remaining cucumber into 1-inch cubes. Toss with remaining ingredients.

SPOON cucumber mixture onto center of platter; surround with cucumber ribbons.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Substitute
Prepare with KRAFT Light House Italian Dressing.
nutritional information per serving

Calories 100 Total fat 6 g Saturated fat 1.5 g Cholesterol 5 mg Sodium 300 mg Carbohydrate 9 g Dietary fiber 2 g Sugars 4 g Protein 3 g Vitamin A 6 %DV Vitamin C 10 %DV Calcium 6 %DV Iron 4 %DV

Enjoy!

Rustic Beef and Onion Tart with Crispy Fried Morel Mushrooms

With a bag of morel mushrooms that I found in the woods on my recent trip home to Indiana and a tub of Philadelphia Cooking Creme in my fridge, I was inspired to come up with this simple, savory, dinner tart. Made with refrigerated pizza crust, it comes together in a snap and the whole family loved the combination of flavors.

Last year I competed in The Real Women of Philadelphia cooking contest. If I had time to make and edit a video submission this year, I would've entered this recipe in the running for the entree category. It was a delicious way to use the new Philly Cooking Creme and showcase my favorite fungi. As you read through this post, you will realize that this tart certainly cannot be considered health food. However, since Ms. Paula Deen never discriminates against recipes with lots of butter (or cheese), I'm declaring this one a winner!

Here's what I did:

First, I browned a pound of lean ground beef, seasoned with minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Then I tossed in 1/2 of a sliced red onion and stir-fried it for a couple of minutes until the onion started to get a little tender.

Next, I grabbed a tub of Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme.

I oiled a baking sheet and then pressed a tube of refrigerated pizza dough (I used Pillsbury Thin Crust) to fit. Spread 1/2 of the tub of cooking cream onto the pizza dough.

Then top with the browned beef and onion (drained of excess fat).

Drop the remaining cooking creme by spoonfuls over the beef and onion.

Fold up the sides of the pizza dough to form the tart. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Meanwhile, heat a stick of butter in a skillet. Toss morel mushrooms with flour, shaking off  the excess flour before placing them in the hot butter. Fry until golden brown and a crispy around the edges, then remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain. Salt to taste.

Top the pizza with some of the fried morels and serve the rest around the tart.

Garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

Slice it like a pizza to serve and enjoy!

Rustic Beef and Onion Tart with Crispy Fried Morels
1 lb. lean ground beef

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 of a medium red onion, cut into thin slices

1 tube refrigerated pizza dough

1 tub Italian Cheese and Herb Philadelphia Cooking Creme

1 lb. morel mushrooms, halved


1/2 cup flour

1 stick butter

fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. In a skillet, brown beef with garlic, salt, and pepper. Add onion stir-fry over medium heat until onion is tender. Drain off fat.

2. Meanwhile, grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment. Unroll pizza dough on baking sheet Roll or pat dough to a 15x12-inch rectangle. Spread with 1/2 of cooking creme. Top with beef mixture, keeping filling within 1-1/2 inches of all edges. Drop remaining cooking creme over the beef by spoonfuls. Fold edges over the filling, pleating as needed.

3. Bake tart 15 minutes or until crust is golden.

4. Meanwhile, heat butter in a heavy skillet. Toss morels with flour, shaking off the excess. Fry in the butter until golden brown and crisp around the edges. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain and salt to taste.

5. Top the tart with some of the fried morels and serve the rest around the tart. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Serves: 4-6 

Note: If you don't have morel mushrooms, you can use regular button mushrooms. Either slice and toss them into the beef with the onion and bake into the tart or quarter and fry in butter just like I did with the morels, adding them to the tart after it bakes.

Individual Bacon Cheddar Meatloaves with Baked Onion Rings PLUS the Meal Plan and Grocery List 3/21-3/27

I will sing the praises of these yummy lil' meatloaves in a moment, but first this scene from my kitchen:

"What's for dinner?" my husband asked. "Meatloaf!" I sang out enthusiastically. Disregarding my exuberance, he gave me a wary look from across the kitchen and responded with one of those questions that isn't really a question, "I'm supposed to be excited about meatloaf?" (He might as well have added a nice juvenile "Ewwww" before he asked it and threw in  a "YUCK!" after his "question".)

Since it wasn't really a question anyhow, I ignored it and continued gathering my ingredients. Oh, you'll eat it, buddy. And you're gonna like it too....

Seriously, why does meatloaf get such a bad rap? It's good!

These individual-size meatloaves are especially good. Full of cheese and topped with bacon, these may just change the opinion of even the most adamant meat-loaf "haters". I had to laugh when I overhead my husband bragging to some friends later that evening, urging them to try the leftover meatloaf.

If you've never made meatloaf before, it's really simple. You just dump everything together and mix well. This was a pretty basic meatloaf recipe. I used ground beef, eggs, cracker crumbs, onion, salt, and pepper. The special ingredient here was shredded cheddar. I like to use my pastry cutter to blend the ingredients, but your hands work great too! Squish, squish!

Divide the mixture into 4 parts and shape into mini-loaves with your hands. Place in the bottom of a 11 X 7 inch baking dish.

Brush with equal parts of ketchup and barbecue sauce. (I left one plain for my anti-condiment kiddo). Top with bacon.

Then, to put these over-the-top I gave them a final sprinkle of cheese before popping the dish into the oven.

While the meatloaves baked, I set to work on the baked onion ring recipe that was featured with the meatloaves in Light and Tasty magazine. Just slice a large sweet onion into rings. Then, dip the onion rings in egg (or egg substitute) until coated.

Toss them with bread crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper. Arrange the onion rings on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and bake for 15-18 minutes, turning halfway through.

The meatloaf was a big hit. The onion rings were okay. No surprise... they tasted like baked onion rings. Not nearly as good as the fried version, but if you're trying to cut back on the fat and calories and you need to satisfy that onion ring craving, these might do the trick.

Bacon Cheddar Meatloaves inspired by Light & Tasty magazine April/May 2007
4 Servings Prep: 20 min. Bake: 40 min.
Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup crushed butter crackers (about 13 crackers)
1/3 cup plus 8 teaspoons shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound lean ground beef
2-3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
2-3 tablespoons ketchup
2-3 bacon strips, cut into smaller strips
Directions
•In a large bowl, combine the eggs, crackers, 1/3 cup cheese,
onion, salt and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well.
Shape into four small loaves; place in an ungreased 11-in. x 7-in.
baking dish. Combine barbecue sauce and ketchup, brush over the top of each meatloaf. Top each with a half-strip of bacon.

•Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until no pink remains and a
meat thermometer reads 160°. Sprinkle with remaining cheese;
bake 2-3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 4
servings.

Notes: The original recipe was a lightened up version of meatloaf. It called for 4 egg whites instead of 2 eggs, reduced fat crackers and cheese, turkey bacon, and did not call for a sauce on top. These are great ideas to lighten up this recipe!

Baked Sweet Onion Rings published in Light & Tasty April/May 2007

4 Servings Prep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients
1/2 cup egg substitute
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 sweet onion, sliced and separated into rings
Directions
•Place egg substitute in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish,
combine the bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Dip onion rings into egg,
then roll in crumb mixture.

•Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425°
for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Yield: 4
servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving equals 66 calories, 1 g fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 312 mg sodium, 12 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein. Diabetic Exchange: 1 starch.

_____________________

And now for the meal plan and grocery list...

Monday March 21st

Cauliflower Cheese Soup and BLT Sandwiches

Tuesday March March 22nd

Chicken and Artichokes with Wine Sauce

Wednesday March 23rd

Cheesy Southwestern Pasta

Thursday March 24th

Leftovers

Friday March 25th

Tomato Gnocchi with Broccoli Pesto Cream Sauce

Saturday and Sunday March 26th and 27th

Road Trip! I'll be packing a basket of snacks, but no cooking for me this weekend.

Grocery List

Produce

onion
carrots
celery
1 whole cauliflower
parsley
lettuce
tomato
mushrooms
sweet red pepper
green onions
cilantro
1 head broccoli
garlic
pine nuts

Meat

bacon
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Dairy

butter
milk
1 cup half and half
shredded cheddar
Parmesan cheese
eggs

Canned Goods

2 quarts + 1/3 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup dry white wine
cooking oil
chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
olive oil
tomato paste
1 cup prepared alfredo sauce

Dry Goods

bread for sandwiches
crushed sage
flour
bowtie pasta
cumin
chili powder
basil

Freezer

8-9 oz package frozen artichoke hearts

To download or for a printable copy of this meal plan and grocery list, click HERE!