Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Classic Pot Roast

I'm always looking for THE pot roast recipe, and I think I may have found it.

CuisineAtHome.com


3 T vegetable oil
1 boneless chuck roast, trimmed and seasoned with salt and pepper (3-4 lb)
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 T tomato paste
1/2 c dry white wine I used red
1 1/2 c low-sodium beef broth
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 c sliced onions I used one big onion
6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2 to 3 inch pieces I used 2 handfuls of baby carrots
3 large celery ribs, cut into 2 to 3 inch pieces
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme I used 1 t dried thyme
2 bay leaves



1. Heat oil in a saute pan over med-high. Sear roast on all sides, 10 minutes total. Transfer roast to 4 to 6 qt slow cooker.

2. Stir flour into saute pan; cook 1 minute.

3. Add tomatoe paste and cook 1 minutes more.

4. deglaze pan with wine, cooking until liquid evaporates and a paste has formed. Stir in broth and Worcestershire sauce; bring mixture to a simmer, scraping up brown bits.

5. Transfer broth mixture to the slow cooker and add onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves.

6. Cover and cook meat until fork-tender on high-heat setting for 4-5 hours. I did 6 hours on high.

7. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves before serving.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Coconut Chicken Fingers

This was delicious and it seems to be pretty healthy. And I would think they would be kid friendly...but I don't have any kids yet to try them out on. We tried it with the salad. I liked the vinaigrette, but it had a very strong onion taste, so I would probably use about half of what it suggests, or just leave it out. Thanks to Rachel for posting about Our Best Bites. I have several recipes that I want to try from their website.

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/11/crispy-coconut-chicken-fingers.html

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Asian Lettuce Wraps

A new year= a new diet... at least for me it does. I found this gem at Our Best Bites.
http://www.ourbestbitets.com/2009/01/asian-lettuce-wraps.html
I omitted the water chestnuts & mushrooms (in an effort to make it more attractive to my children... which didn't work CURSE picky eaters) and the flavor was still great.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Hello Dollys

These cookie bars have a million names: magic cookie bars, 7-layer bars, etc. For some reason, my family calls them Hello Dollys. I told my sister to check this blog to get the recipe and then, got a text from her saying it wasn't on here...

...probably because I have it memorized because it's easy and delicious!

Hello Dollys

1 stick of butter
14 graham cracker sheets (you know, 4 little crackers still stuck together), crushed
1 cup coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1 can of sweetened condensed milk

(Other people add butterscotch chips and pecans--1 cup of each)

Melt butter, mix with crushed graham crackers and form the crust in the bottom of a 9X13 pan. Spread evenly coconut and chocolate chips. Pour milk over the top.

Bake at 350 until golden--I think this takes about 20 minutes.