Classic Beef Pot Roast

I have been searching for a good pot roast recipe. I came across some very interesting ones but because we've never made one, we opted for a more basic recipe. Steve actually found the recipe, I was only turning up strange things. Like how can a pot roast not have potatoes in it? Right so, he found one that's actually from Cooking Light magazine. I didn't think they'd have such a hearty meal in a cooking light magazine. Anyway, our long-time dream came true as we smelled the wonderful smells in the kitchen.

Here's what I did. I took a chuck roast...one word. In my mind, I'd always thought that pot roasts were those big hunks of packaged meat, but this recipe called for a chuck roast which is sliced much like a london broil. Looked like a thick, giant steak. So I seasoned and browned the roast in the dutch oven. Then I removed it from the pan and cooked up the large diced onions. I let them get a little caramelized. The roast went back into the pan and I added the liquids and seasonings. Red Wine, Beef broth ( I used progresso from a blue box), dried thyme (recipe called for fresh but we didn't have any so I substituted), fresh chopped garlic & bay leaves. There ya have it. You bring it to a simmer, put the lid on it and throw it in the oven. After about an hour and a half, you throw in the potatoes (2" cut) and carrots (1" cut). Wait another agonizing hour and you have your final product.

We both enjoyed the meal very much. The potatoes were beautiful. Perfectly cooked. I thought the carrots were slightly overcooked but Steve thought they were perfect and loved them. Now the meat, the chuck roast. It was tender, however, not as tender as I expected it to be. It wasn't falling apart as easily as I would've liked. But it was tender enough to savor and enjoy. Some times it takes a bit of work to Eat Something Good!

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Baked Buffalo Wings

I love buffalo wings. Love them. I don't have them too often but when I do, I'm usually not disappointed. The only time I get sad is when they add spices to it like cayenne or something. I like it straight up hot sauce & butter. That's basically what buffalo wing sauce is. But because I'm not an expert at making them, I just followed the very simple directions on my giant bottle of Frank's red hot sauce. Previously, I've broiled wings and then tossed them in sauce. They turn out okay. A little crisping to the skin.

The directions suggested either frying the wings or baking them for an hour at 425 F. I chose to do the baking thing because it's way easier and it made me feel somehow a teensie bit healthier. Crazy, I know. Anyhow, I threw the wings on a sheet pan and did not do a thing to them. I threw 'em in the oven and let it go. After the hour was up, I spooned on the buffalo sauce and served them with the potato wedges that made an appearance in last week's salisbury steak dinner. I added a little more oil this time though I don't think it was necessary. I would've liked to have served this finger feast with celery sticks but we didn't have any. We did, however, have Ken's lite blue cheese dressing. Yey!

I'm not kidding when I say this. Steve said they were some of the best wings he's ever had. He totally loved them. I liked 'em a lot too. We were both so surprised at how crispy, crunchy the skin came out. It was almost as though they were deep-fried. Amazing. I had no idea. The potato wedges didn't turn out as good as last time, but as I dipped my wedge into the blue cheese dressing, I didn't mind them at all. Not one bit. Mmmm. I'm definitely making these again. Oh, we bought wingettes which basically means you don't have to go through the work of cutting them up. Steve really liked that cause I usually make him cut up them up. But look for wingettes at the grocery store and you won't have to go through much work to Eat Something Good!

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Potato Pancakes II

We went for another round with the potato pancakes. As you can see, we didn't care about the shape. Clearly, it's not round. I can live with that especially with the way it tasted. We served them with asiago cheese and sour cream. And this time we used enough salt. It was seasoned pretty well. We also made some changes and added paprika, ground mustard and finely grated carrots. It was yum.

I had a thought as I was eating the pancakes. I don't usually get cravings for imitation crab sticks, but my grandmother used to make little fritter type things with thin shreds of the fake crab. We'd dip it in soy sauce and I didn't mind the flavor. Strange, huh? But I won't eat it any other way. That's why I don't eat seafood salad because they usually add the fake stuff. Anyway, get out there today and Eat Something Good!

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My Traditional Mac n Cheese

This is officially my traditional (as I'm calling it now though I've only made it twice) macaroni and cheese. I think I goofed last night and used sharp cheddar instead of extra sharp cheddar. It was missing a slight tang. Steve noticed and I had to agree with him. He is, by the way, a macaroni & cheese expert. The texture turned out nicely. The macaroni wasn't at all overcooked and the cheese (as you can see) formed a very nice crust. Thank goodness we have leftovers to feed the macaroni monster, my honey the expert. Yey! Mac n' Cheese!

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Salisbury Steak

I talked about it and then I did it. I found a recipe for salisbury steak and I made it for dinner last night. I've only had frozen entree ones before. There's some variation in taste and especially texture amongst them. But there was always the main idea of a meatloaf ee meat covered with a brown gravy. That's how I usually picture them. Our recipe last night took a little turn after reading the comments about the dish.

I employed Steve last night for the parts I didn't want to deal with. Hehehe. For the steak, you mix together ground beef, egg, bread crumbs (we used japanese bread crumbs (panko)), 1/3 of the condensed french onion soup and s & p. I had Steve mix up the batch and shape them into loaves. Too cook, I changed around the directions a little. Instead of pan-frying them all the way though, I seared the meat on one side, flipped it over and poured the sauce on top. Then I threw it in the oven. Speaking of which. For the sauce, I combined the remaining condensed french onion soup, condensed cream of mushroom soup (added this as per people's suggestion - the recipe did not call for it), water, flour, ketchup (yes, ketchup), Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder and s & p. As I said, I poured this mix over the steaks and let them finish cooking in the oven.

I served herbed potato wedges with them. I had Steve wash two large russet potatoes and cut them into 8 wedges each. They looked like giant steak fries with the skin on them. To a plastic bag, I added olive oil, plenty of salt, black pepper, dried thyme and dried rosemary. I put the potatoes into the bag and made sure all the wedges got herbed n' oiled. Then I threw them onto a sheet pan. I stood them upright with the skin side down. I baked them up on a high'ish heat and then later cranked up the heat to try to get them crispier. Oh, and I nuked up some frozen Bird's Eye peas and also some corn.

The verdict. Ok. Steve enjoyed it as did I, however, I didn't love it. I'll tell you why. It was all in the sauce. First of all, I shouldn't have added the cream of mushroom. Sounded like a good idea and people swore by it. I shouldn't have followed their lead. And there was sort of a gross taste to the sauce. Steve thought the tang could've been from the onions in the french onion soup. But I quickly pointed out that it was really the ketchup and dried mustard combo that I didn't love. Sometimes I have burgers or hot dogs with both ketchup and mustard on them. Sometimes I'm just in that kind of mood. Last night, I wasn't. And I wasn't expecting it in this dish. A word about the texture. It was very good. Very, very good. It was uniformly soft and tender but still had a meatiness to it. I think the panko really helped. If I were to repeat this dish with changes, I'd do the steak part the same way. It was almost perfect. I thought the texture was great.

The potato wedges were good. At first, Steve didn't like them cause he thought the outsides were too leathery. I didn't get the crisp that I was looking for. But once he hit it with the sauce, he raved about them. I liked them right off the batt. I'll definitely do the potato wedges again. The peas and corn were fine. I think, however, that canned green beans would've been a better match for this trash meal.

Settle in for some down home cookin' and Eat Something Good!

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Chicken Burritos

I had the good sense to cook up all 6 boneless chicken breasts earlier this week. I made a decent salad out of half of it. And last night, I used some for our dinner. I'd already shredded the chicken. (Pulled apart with 2 forks.) It was pretty tender. Not overcooked. And I swirled it in the pan juices before I sealed it all up in a plastic bag. I think the liquid helped to keep the chicken moist and tender.

For the chicken, I sauteed up some green peppers (small diced), red onion (small diced), and added some spices. I added a hint of chili powder, a hint of cumin, dried cilantro, salt. I then tossed the chicken in that and heated it through. To make the burritos, I had to pull out the electric griddle. Heat tortilla on both sides to desired doneness. If you leave it longer, the tortilla will become lighter and crisp. I didn't go quite that far though I wouldn't have minded if I did. I just didn't have the patience to wait. So, I threw down some American cheese. Then I added a good amount of the seasoned chicken mixture. On top of that, I added quartered grape tomatoes, diced onions (small), thinly shredded iceberg lettuce and that's it. I didn't tuck in the sides, I just sorta rolled the whole thing over. I plopped on a generous dollop of sour cream and hot salsa (Tostitos brand) on top of the thing. Along the center. It said 'eat me' so I did. We did and...

Steve loved it. I thought it was pretty darn good too. Almost as good as a decent Mexican joint. The only unfortunate part was that I didn't make enough of everything for a third burrito to share. Hehehe. I may be making this one again when we have leftover chicken. I actually have more chicken to make chicken salad with. And the celery and red onion are already diced, almost minced. Yey! Mmmm, yummy sammies. Don't forget to take a break today to Eat Something Good!

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Potato Pancakes

The only place I occasionally have potato pancakes is at Jewish deli restaurants. In our case, Epstein's. Before Epsteins, I had potato pancakes at friend's houses growing up. They were Jewish and certainly knew how to make latkes. I think they have it for the holidays. I don't remember. Anyway, Steve & I weren't celebrating anything in particular nor were we using a recipe. I looked over some to get potato to flour ratios correct.

So here's what we did; what Steve did. He grated up three large russet potatoes using the medium hole in the box grater. To this we grated a little onions and then squeezed out the whole mixture by hand til it was somewhat dry. To it we added, eggs, flour and baking soda. The baking soda element surprised me. I had no idea. But two recipes I looked at called for it. To continue. We plopped some potato mixture into a pan with a good amount of canola oil. Then Steve would flatten the top with the spatula. We fried them til they were golden brown and crispy on the outside. Oh, we made them in two batches. For the second, we added panko (Japanese bread crumbs) to the potato mixture. Steve read somewhere that it improved the texture.

I didn't love them. I'll tell you why. Main point: Seasoning. It lacked some serious salt. The flavor was not what it could have been even with the tops being salted. For most foods, I prefer that the salt be in the food. I don't like having to add extra salt but too many times, I find that I have to. The first batch was crispy on the outside and mashed potato ee on the inside. It had a slight onion flavor that I enjoyed. It wasn't just straight potato. Steve likened the first batch to potato knishes. I saw his point.

Steve liked the second batch better. The panko created a different texture. You could taste the potato shreds. It didn't mush up as much. I thought they tasted a little underdone but Steve thought it was perfect and loved them. With a little more seasoning in the batch, minus the panko, the potato pancakes are good. Oh, we had them with sour cream though we toyed with the idea of applesauce. In the end, we put a little low sugar grape jelly on some - to be eaten with the sour cream. It was okay.

As always, Eat Something Good!

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Beef Barley Soup

All winter long I've been wanting to try this soup recipe. I love beef barley soup though I think it's possible that I've only had it from a can. Hot soups are perfect on like snowy days. And we are expecting snow again. So last night, I cooked up a quick soup. Quick because there's little preparation and mostly simmering. Here's what I did.

First, I sauteed up some garlic (minced), onion (large dice), celery, carrot rounds and sliced mushrooms in a little canola oil. Then you add the beef broth (I used Progresso - the kind in a blue box), dried barley and small pieces of stew meat. Finally, you simmer it all together for about an hour or until the barley cooks through.

Steve loved the soup. I thought it was okay but I didn't love it. Here's the part I didn't love. I was hoping that the little bits of meat would be like yummy nuggets that would impart a salty, beefy flavor. Unfortunately, the way the recipe was written, there was little hope for the beef. Next time, I'm going to sear the meat beforehand and then sautee the veggies in the same pot afterwards. I'm also going to add more barley. It's safe to say, I'm going to double the amount. With these changes, the soup will improve and I'll Eat Something Good!

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Betty Crocker Potato Spuds

I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday so Steve made dinner. He decided to make one of our trash meals. I wanted burgers for dinner but he had a different idea. He wanted to serve fried burgers with swiss cheese and brown gravy. It sounds almost like a salisbury steak which, by the way, I'm interested in finding a recipe for. I've never made it before but I like some of the frozen kinds.

Anyway, we had instant mashed potatoes with them. I had Betty Crocker Potato Spuds once in high school or younger. I made them myself and I thought I had a nice, almost creamy product to enjoy. All opinions changed last night. Despite their claim that they're made from 100% real potatoes, I noticed that it lacked something. Oh yes, that would be the actual potato flavor. I couldn't believe how bland it was. Even with gravy, salt and pepper. By the way, we used Heinz rich mushroom gravy (the kind in jars.) I've had the savory beef before and I liked it for a jarred/canned gravy. Back to the potatoes, they were very soft and I guess the texture was smooth but it was an almost unpleasant, pasty smooth kinda thing. I didn't like the texture. I'm sticking to real mashed potatoes next time. I can do without the instant stuff. By the way, I'm not a snob about processed foods. I like to try different kinds every now and then to keep up on the many food products out there - some of which are pretty good. I wouldn't want to miss a gem for our plentiful trash nights.

Til we meet again, Eat Something Good!

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