The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast

I like this picture best, with the sunlight on the plate, but the hubs feels the
meat is not "present", hidden within the shadows.

The hubs likes this one better - no sunlight, but flash on the camera.

I love Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.  All 3 of us do, actually.  We all watch her show, I've read her book, own her cookbooks and enjoy her recipes.  One of my favorites is her Perfect Pot Roast.    When I tried this recipe earlier this year, I had not made pot roast in 10 years.  I'd given up!  Whether I did it on the stove or in the slow cooker, it turned out blah, tough and dry.  I decided to give it another try with Ree's recipe.  The 1st time I made it, I liked it.  It was flavorful, it fell apart nicely, but it was a little dry.  The 2nd time I made it was at my mom's.  I cooked it a little longer, but she did not have an oven proof pan with a lid and all she had on hand was top round, not chuck roast.  It was a little dry, too.  But everyone loved the flavor.  My mom had not made a pot roast in several years, either, and said she would definitely start making pot roast again with this recipe.

Tonight I made it for the 3rd time.  I used a chuck roast from Wegmans and cooked it for 4 hours, even though it was less than 2.5 pounds.  It came out perfectly!  Using the right meat and cooking it longer was the key.  I hope you try her recipe.  It really is pretty simple and you will be a hero to those to whom you serve it.

I served it with mashed potatoes and made some gravy from the pan juices and some masa.  I usually make terrible mashed potatoes so that is the hubs' job now.  But tonight, I decided to try them and they turned out beautifully - so fluffy, smooth and flavorful.  I made a perfect dinner tonight!  I'm sure that means the next 4 months of dinners will probably turn out crappy, but it will be worth it!  ;o)

Recipe: Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions

I found this wonderful recipe for Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions from Peace, Love and Low Carb on Pinterest.  Chicken, butter, heavy cream, shrooms, onions...all my favorite things!  Oh, crap!  I just looked at the recipe again and realized that it called for parmesan cheese!  I totally missed that when I made the dish the other night.  LOL  I love parmesan cheese, too!  Well, I'll have to make it again and it will be even better with that addition.

This was a hit with all three of us, thank goodness.  Definitely adding this to the dinner rotation.  This is also a "guest worthy" dish, IMO.  The author made it in 2 pans but I just used one.  Why wash another pan if you don't have to?  As you can see, I served it over pasta, very unlow carb, but all that yummy, creamy sauce (sauce that would have been even creamier had I put the parmesan cheese in it) needed something to run into, cling to, and what better than shells?

The pictures on this blog look fabulous and I'm sure I will be making other recipes from it.  The author has beautiful, step-by-step pictures to walk you through this recipe, so go check it out!

Leftover Wednesday: Dinner Leftovers...for BREAKFAST?!

Yes, peeps, that's how I roll.  Most "breakfast" foods are starches and they don't stick with me but an hour or two, even the ones full of fiber that Weight Watchers swears fills you up for a long time.  My tummy's not built that way, evidently.  When I eat dinner leftovers for breakfast at 8am, I can go until 2pm before I get hungry again and I have plenty of energy.  And I'll eat all leftovers for breakfast - casseroles, pizza, grilled meats, whatever is in the fridge.  So let me tell you about my favorite leftover, Breakfast Hash!

Paula Deen and I have so much in common and one is that we both keep cooked potatoes around as a staple.  We happened to have steak and baked potatoes the night before, so I made sure I cooked extra potatoes.  Dice a baked potato, add to a hot pan with your favorite oil and cook until crispy on all sides.  I used to use butter in my hash but learned from my Uncle Lanny that butter was the reason they didn't crisp up.  You need oil for that!  I also salt, pepper and paprika the potatoes at this time (the paprika was another secret I got from Uncle Lanny).

After the potatoes are crispy all around, or just crispy on one side if you want some softness to your potatoes, add in some diced onion and cook until the onion is as done as you like it.

 Next, if I have other leftover veggies I want in my hash, I'll toss them in after the onions have cooked and before the meat.  They just need a minute or two to warm up; you don't want them overcooked.  Then you throw in whatever leftover meat you had for dinner the night before, diced up.  The smaller you cut it, the quicker it will heat up.  The longer you cook it, the tougher the meat will get, so just a minute or two will heat up diced meat.  Don't be hatin' on the temperature I eat my red meat, y'all!  ;o)

 Ta-da!  Yet another appetizing meal ruined with a crappy picture of the finished product.  LOL  But I eat with my taste buds not my eyes because I have learned from experience that you can't judge a book by it's cover!  This lovely hash was served with a zigzag of ketchup on top and set the tone for a productive and energized day!

 I hope you give breakfast hash a try.  It's a great way to serve breakfast for guests, especially at holiday time.  You always have leftover ham, potatoes and green beans after Easter.  Make a big, one-pot breakfast hash for everyone to eat!  You only have to cook once.  As people awake and stumble into the kitchen at different times, they can scoop themselves out some hash and pop in the microwave to heat up if need be.

Milwaukee Pork Stew

I love this recipe.  It's so flavorful, filling and has a hint of sweetness.  I made it once for the hubs, long before B was born, and he did not like it.  (I cut this recipe out of a Betty Crocker recipe book that I bought at the checkout stand in the '90s.)  The hubs was not a soup man back then.  The past couple of years I have made more soups and stews and he is liking them during the Fall and Winter.  So if I had made this for dinner for all of us, he may have finally liked it.  But I didn't give him the chance.  I didn't want to set myself up for one of those dinners that I think is great only to hear complaints from both members of my peanut gallery and then have them request something else.  So I made them Baked Potato and Sausage Soup and kept the Milwaukee Pork Stew to myself.  (Although, if you look at the pictures of both dinners, the pork looks more like a "soup" and the potato and sausage looks more like a "stew".)  I halved the recipe, which is at the bottom of this post.

I cut a big, sweet onion into rings and then quartered them.

Cubed 2, thick-cut pork chops b/c that is what I had on hand, but you can use a pork roast, as the recipe calls for.  I mixed the flour with some salt and pepper and tossed the pork pieces in  the flour mixture to coat.

Browned the pork pieces on all sides in a medium-high heat dutch oven.

Then I added my onions, a diced shallot I wanted to use up and garlic.

Stirred occasionally and cooked until the onions softened. I had to give you a shot with the crusty bits on the bottom of the pan - my favorite part of cooking!  That's where all the flavor is!

I added the broth (beef b/c I had no chicken), beer, bay leaf, brown sugar and red wine vinegar.  I had no parsley so it was left out.  I had no caraway seed so I substituted celery salt.  Brought the pot to a boil, scraped up all the crunchies from the bottom of the pan, reduced the heat and cooked for 1 hr 15 minutes.

1/3 cup flour 

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 lbs pork boneless sirloin or shoulder, cubed 

2 tbsp vegetable oil 

4 large onions, sliced into rings and quartered 

1 garlic clove, minced 

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 

1 tsp caraway seed 

1 bay leaf 

14.5 oz can chicken broth 

12 oz bottle of beer 

1 tbsp packed brown sugar 

2 tbsp red wine vinegar 

Mix flour, salt and pepper. Coat cubed pork with flour mixture. Heat oil in dutch oven over med-high heat. Cook pork in oil until lightly browned. Stir in onions and garlic. Cook 5 minutes, stiring occasionally. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and cook over med-low heat 1 to 1.25 hours, stirring occasionally, until pork is tender. Remove bay leaf. 8 servings.

Don't forget to serve with The Bread!