clickinmyheels

My girls are in their final few days of summer! They are excited and love school so we are all looking forward to what this next year brings. They are going to a new school in a new school district, but luckily will be at the same school so this shuttle bus driver has fewer stops on those busy school days. I feel like I’ve kind of been in a cooking slump over the last week. I’ve browsed recipe ideas online, and thought about making a few things, but have been lacking the desire and motivation to get back in the kitchen. I’ve been throwing meals together and wanting to inhale all junk food that is in the house. This is not good! I need my routine back! I need preschool to begin again so I can get to the gym a minimum of three days a week. I need to have a purpose in the morning instead of enjoying my leisurely third and fourth cup of coffee, munching on bagels and cream cheese with spoonfuls of homemade strawberry jam, and those hash browns that seem to hop in the skillet and fry themselves each day. All that can be done on the weekends, but seven days a week is just no good!

I’m excited to get back into the swing of things again with more structure and discipline because this momma needs it! Today, I did feel like firing up the oven and making something tasty. A real supper for my husband to enjoy when he got home from a long day at work. A big enough meal that there was plenty of leftovers for him to take to work tomorrow so he can have a home cooked lunch, instead of grabbing something at the food court. That real meal I made today was pot roast! It had been on my mind for a few days since my mom told me she made one earlier in the week. This pot roast hit the spot! I also made these oooey gooey Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies for dessert. They tasted great, but kind of turned out to be a messy disaster so they are not blog worthy. I’ll work on tweaking that one before I share it with you! My taste testers will not mind all the practice batches it takes until they are just right!

Pot Roast

Ingredients:

one 3-6 lb boneless chuck roast. Mine said Boneless Chuckeye Roast.

6-7 potatoes

1 bag of baby carrots

1-2 onions – diced

2 garlic cloves – minced

2 bay leaves

1 teas fresh thyme

Olive Oil

3/4 C red wine. I’d use a semi sweet to dry wine for this.

2 C beef broth

1 TBS Worcestershire sauce

Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Gravy:

3 TBS Butter

3 TBS Flour

1 1/2 C of the juice/gravy from the pot roast.

You may need an additional 1/2 C or so of beef broth to get the gravy to the right consistency.

I try to get the biggest roast I can afford since I try to get a few meals out of it. I’ll go into that in more detail at the end, but keep in mind that meat always kind of shrinks down during the cooking process. As George would say, “I was in the pool!” Leftover pot roast has so many uses, so when in doubt, get the big one!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 Degrees F.

Season your pot roast on all sides with salt and pepper.

Coat the bottom of a large, heavy oven safe pot or deep roasting pan with olive oil and heat on high heat.

On high heat, sear the pot roast for 2-3 minutes per side, rotating until all sides are seared.

Remove the pot from heat, add in diced onions, minced garlic, bay leaves.

Pour 2 C beef broth in the pan around the pot roast. Add in the wine and worceshershire sauce. I add in a little more salt and pepper. Cover with a lid or tightly with foil and bake in the oven for an hour. (in the meantime, peel and chop your potatoes, soak in cool water and set aside)

After the first hour, add in the potatoes carrots, and thyme. My Thyme was in frozen chicken broth cubes. It’s all I had besides ground Thyme and I prefer fresh.

Cover and return to the oven for another 60-90 minutes, depending on how large your roast is. Making sure it’s done, but not over cooked. Cook at 300 until the vegetables are tender and the meat is fall apart tender. Once it’s done, remove from the oven and set aside.

Shred the meat with two forks and return to the pot. Cover to keep warm.

The gravy is optional since there should be plenty of good liquid left that cooked along with the pot roast, but I like to make it, especially if you are a potato fanatic and want mashed potatoes along with your roasted potatoes in with the meat.

To make the gravy, melt butter in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Add in the flour and stir until it becomes golden in color and forms a roux.

Use a strainer and ladle in a few ladles of the juice from the pot roast into your gravy pan. If you don’t have enough juice, you may need to add some beef broth.

Stir on medium heat until thickened to gravy consistency.

Spoon gravy over the carrots, potatoes, and yummy pot roast!

Leftovers! You could just toss it all together in a container and enjoy it the same way the next day. You could add more beef broth to make more of a beef soup. Or, you could separate the meat from the veggies and make another meal with the meat. That’s what I’m doing this time. Stay tuned for that meal!

Enjoy!