What's cookin' tonight

Recipe request for Laura B...

SLOW-COOKER POT ROAST

This is such an easy recipe. One great thing about it is that you can vary the vegetables you use depending on what you have, or what looks good at the store.

Tonight I used:
3-4lb chuck roast
1 sweet potato, chopped in large chunks
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and cut in ~3 inch sticks
1 med sweet onion, 1/2 sliced, 1/2 diced
1 large clove garlic, diced
Beef broth
Red wine

Season the beef with coarse salt and pepper. Oil a pan and brown the beef at med-high on all sides. Place vegetables and beef into crockpot. Add at least 1 cup of liquid in a ration of your choosing. I did 1/4 cup wine and about 1.5 cups broth. Cook on low 9-10 hours.

You can eat the roast just like this, but tonight I decided to make a gravy, too. To do this, take the roast out of the crockpot and place on a serving dish. Take out vegetables with a straining spoon and place around roast. Pour the remaining broth and add more, until you have 2.5 cups liquid in a small saucepan over medium heat. In a separate cup, combine 1/2 cup cold water and 1/4 cup flour, stirring until smooth. Pour this into the warm broth and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add salt and pepper, if needed. Cook until gravy reaches desired consistency, then serve in a gravy boat with your roast. Mmm Mmm Good! :)


Everybody likes a little something sweet after dinner. Since Tony is sick, I decided to make him cookies for tonight. The recipe is VERY easy and worth sharing! This makes 1/2 batch.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
1 stick butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used JIF Natural)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup flour
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together. Add the egg and beat well. Add the baking soda and flour, beat until just mixed. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and slightly flatten with spoon (or your fingers, so you have an excuse to lick them!!). Bake at 325 F for 15 minutes. Let cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Love you, LB. Hope you enjoy these! :)