Italian Beef Roast

I was shopping the other day and found some gorgeous tomatoes. They just looked summery, something we all need! The problem is, I am not a fan of them, and heavy tomato sauce isn't a favorite around here. 2 days later I realized I really needed to use them.. So, I made a sauce and added it to a roast. Healthy, full of vitamins, and not too tomato sauce like.

Italian? I'm not so sure, but it tasted good...

3 cloves garlic
4 fresh tomatoes
1 shallot
1/2 c yellow onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Italian seasoning
potatoes
1/2 # fresh carrots (I used baby carrots)
3# beef roast
Frozen veggies
garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

Chop the garlic, tomatoes, shallot and onion and saute in the olive oil.

Turn to low and let simmer to break the tomatoes down.

Slice some potatoes (your choice, I actually used one sweet potato since I had that on hand.
Place those in a crock pot and season them along with the carrots.

Remove the tomato mixture from the pan and pour over the potatoes and carrots.

Sear the roast on all sides and add to the crock pot. Put a bit of water in the pan and pour over the roast and veggies.

Cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for 2-3.

I added frozen peas and corn about 1/2 an hour before we were ready to eat. It turned into a really flavorful roast without a heavy tomato flavoring. Just very robust.

Total cost for the meal - around 13.00, since winter veggie prices are high. But there was enough for 3 people for dinner, lunch, and dinner again the next day :)

I created a monster...

A cookie monster, or a cooking monster. After making the cake, my genius-boy nephew said he wanted to cook more. He's all the sudden fascinated that you can 'create' a recipe. Genius boy will be reading this so I will keep my soliloquey of his virtues short but needless to say, I must indulge the cookie-ing monster.

So tonight, we made Paula Deen's Oatmeal cookie recipe, found in her Christmas with Paula cookbook, and HERE online (to save on some sort of copywrite infringement.) Genius-boy agreed after I made it clear he could customize a recipe by adding some of his own ingredients. Therefore it was still his to publish, just based on someone else's. (if Paula is reading this, I know you'll relate, and understand why we needed to do this, I'm sure the original is amazing!) so we omitted the raisins and nuts (having non-raisin and nut eaters here) and added white chocolate morsels, semi sweet morsels, and coconut (see Paula - YUM!)


Creaming ingredients


Crackin' eggs


Adding more ingredients


HIS idea of chocolate chips


Scooping them out onto the silpat mat (totally a great tool by the way - really, really get one!)



Genius-boy (and Paula's) Ultimate, loaded, totally cool oatmeal cookie recipe!

Genius-boy's additions:

1 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of semi-sweet chips
1 cup of white chocolate chips

Chocolate Cherry bliss!

This is the easiest cake recipe ever. I received it from a woman in 2006, and now all of our cakes are made this way. Well, ok, I won't make a real cake due to a traumatic experience when I was 10 (baking soda, baking powder - what's the diff? A lot). Anyway, this is a super fast, super easy cake. It can also in a pinch serve as a breakfast cake. In this one we used cherry pie filling and chocolate cake. Anything can be used. Our 2 favorites are blackberry and french vanilla and apple and spice cake. The blackberry and vanilla has served as a buffet breakfast cake with amazing reviews.

So here we go:



The ingredients, yes that is all of them.

1 can of pie filling
1 box of moist cake mix
3 eggs.



Mix goes into the bowl



Then the eggs



In went the cherries and it was mixed, then into the silicon baking pan, which is greased with Crisco.

It bakes for 35-45 minutes (till an inserted knife comes out clean)



Frosting the cake with chocolate frosting (1 tbsp of crisco, 1 tsp of cocoa powder, 1/4 tsp of vanilla flavoring, 1/4 cup milk and 1 cup + of powdered sugar) by the way, yes, this is a different kid, you're not crazy!



The 2 chefs showing off the masterpiece



The best chocolate cherry cake ever in existance, thanks to the 2 chefs Devin and Cory!

Weekend Cookin'

Since I work full time one of the things I do is cook on the weekends. During the week, I cook 1-3 times, depending on what I make and how long it lasts. The Mayan Chicken for example, we ate for 3 days of dinners. The original one, the next day sauteed with red potatoes and peas. and the 3rd made into a quick sour cream fettucini. That took us to the weekend!

Today, breakfast was a southern fried breakfast. (probably because I watched Paula Dean this morning!) we had bacon, fried biscuits (simply a tin of buttermilk biscuits cooked over the stove instead of in the oven) and sunnyside up eggs. Healthy? Nope, but soooo good!

Then for dinner I took 3 chicken breasts. Seasoned them with garlic powder, McCormick carribean jerk seasoning and olive oil. Popped it in the oven at 350 for about an hour. Alongside of it, I cooked peas, brocolli, some peppers, and sliced red potatoes with a bit of olive oil drizzled over it. After I got it done, I realized the chicken was a bit spicy for the Minnesotan contigent but I made a gravy to offset this and everyone loved it.

Now I'm heading back downstairs to make a Cherry Chocolate cake, the best you will EVER eat and the easiest recipe in the world! Stay tuned!

Mayan Chicken

Here's tonight's dinner, slowcooking in the crockpot. I know it doesn't look good now, but it will be wonderful when it's cooked - in about 5 hours.

Crockpots are amazing. Anyone who works, or is busy should have a crockpot. I actually have 2. This one, is my bigger one, the Hamilton Beach store n go. I love, love this crockpot. In it, I can make a wonderful meal while I'm at work, or while I'm working on other things. If I want it done in a few hours, I set it on high. If I want it done for the evening and I'm heading out the door, it goes onto low.

Today, it's set on low and here's what's in it:



Yes - this is right - this is a savory dish. But we have:

1 baking chicken, about 5 lbs
Cinnamon (about 1 TBSP sprinkled)
Ginger (approx 1 tsp)
Paprika (1 tsp)
Garlic powder (1 TBSP)
sliced garlic (I believe in garlic - especially during the winter to boost your immune system!)
cocoa powder (1/2 tsp)
soy sauce (2 TBSP)
1 cup of water

Believe it or not the cocoa powder (which of course isn't sweet) and the cinnamon and ginger will offset the flavors. This may be closer to an Asian chicken than a Mayan one, but the chocolate and cinnamon reminded me of Mexican chocolate.

It will cook all day, already the house smells amazing. I'll pair it up with some whole grain rice, and veggies for dinner. Cost involved: $5.40 for the chicken, $1.00 for garlic and spice, .50 cents for rice, $2.00 for frozen veggies. Total of $8.90.

The Inner Chef

Welcome to my new blog. I decided to start this, after talking to some people at work. They were amazed that I'd created honey mustard dressing at home. In today's world, many people consider cooking to be where to go out to dinner, or buying a ready made pizza or if they're adventerous a dinner in a bag stew kit. And I should know, becuase I was one of those people! For years, I didn't cook at all besides one or 2 tried and true meals. I had no interest in it, though I loved watching cooking shows. Then I spent 3 months visiting relatives and eating gourmet meals cooked at HOME with them. It opened my eyes and when I moved away, I was determined to learn how to do it. The Food Network became my best friend, and I bought cookbooks. I quickly figured out, I prefer to look at a recipe for inspiration rather than for absolute guidance. I also really enjoy creating, and changing things.

This blog will hopefully showcase some recipes I've developed, help readers figure out how to incorporate cooking into their busy schedule, and help others find their inner chef!