Best Pot Roast Ever!

Oh my gosh. I've been cooking pot roast once a week or so for months now. This week we finally hit on the perfect recipe for us. The seasonings are based on Ina Garten's company Pot Roast recipe. I made it in the crock pot, and it was so tender and yummy. The boys scarfed it down with none of the usual whining (not that they don't like roast, it just seems like dinner time is whiny time). Max had a double helping. John, who professes to not like beef, admitted it was tasty. And best of all, Gabe ate his WITHOUT KETCHUP...and no, that wasn't a pig that just flew over my head. This is now my go to method for cooking a pot roast. Yum!




1 (4 to 5-pound) grass fed beef roast
Real sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Coconut Oil
4 rough chopped carrots

2 chopped yellow onions

4 stalks rough chopped celery

2 rough chopped parsnips (or turnips or whatever root veg you like)

5 large cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 cup red wine

1 jar tomato sauce (I used Trader Joe's Bolognese)

2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried rosemary


Heat some coconut oil in a cast iron skillet. Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with salt and pepper. Add the roast to the pan and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large crock pot. Toss in veggies, tomato sauce, and dried herbs.

Add chicken stock to the pan and deglaze. Pour into crock pot over roast and veg. Cook on low 8 hours or until falling apart tender. Shred meat and serve with Crock pot juices and stewed veggies. Enjoy!

Corn Chicken Chowder

Yesterday for my Black Friday Holiday Hoopla John was hanging with the boys for the whole day. He even sat for our little friend Nathan so his mom could scrap with me upstairs. He did a great job with the boys for the whole day, even getting them to play a silly bowling game the boys love where they pretend to be bowling pins and get "knocked" down by a soft soccer ball bowling ball. Strike!

For the girls I did a gluten free Chicken Corn Chowder.  I did a couple a funky things to get the chowder to thicken up as much as I like it without adding flour, like adding creamed corn and also the mashed potatoes leftover from Thanksgiving. Thick and mildly spicy -It was so yummy!

Chicken Corn Chowder

• 6 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 3 medium potatoes, small diced  
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup half and half 
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2-15 ounce cans of white corn and 1-15 ounce can cream corn
• 2 cups mashed potatoes
• 1 small can chopped green chiles
• 2 cups roasted chicken, shredded 
• handful of grated cheddar, for garnish

Instructions

1. In a large stock pot, fry the bacon pieces until crisp. Remove from the pan, leaving the drippings, and set aside. I usually start the bacon in a spoonful of melted coconut oil so it won't stick in the bottom of the pan as it gets going.
2. Place the potatoes and onion pieces into the stock pot and cook over medium heat until the onions have softened, 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Sprinkle in the cornstarch and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute.
4. Pour in the dairy, chicken stock, and seasonings, stirring well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
5. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add corn, mashed potatoes, chicken, and green chiles. Cook over low heat until heated through, about 5 minutes. Garnish with reserved bacon, and cheddar cheese.

Banana Pudding "Pie"



Little blast from the past: Gabe & Ben in November 2009

 In our first ever gluten free Thanksgiving, I am testing and saving recipes to use for years to come. It's a little bittersweet, giving up the old traditions (good bye pie crust and rolls), but it feels good to know that I'm giving the boys treats that are better for them. Plus since we all tend to have intestinal issues when exposed to gluten now, it's a big plus to know we aren't going to spend the hours after our feast feeling terrible and dealing with clean-up-on-aisle-twelve!

One thing my hubby loves at the holidays is Banana Cream Pie. That was an easy enough fix - just ditch the crust. But since we are avoiding processed foods too (gluten contamination, too many chemicals), we wanted to make the "pie" from scratch. I pulled together a couple of recipes, and came up with this. Thank you to Paula Deen for the addition of the butter...yum-o! Now if we can quit "testing" the pie, maybe there will still be some left after dinner!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup coconut sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot

3 cups whole milk or half n half

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ounces (1/2 stick) pastured, cultured butter

4 medium bananas, squashed (or pureed)

2 medium bananas, sliced

Mix together sugar and starch then slowly blend in the milk. This probably should be cooked in the top of a double boiler, but I cooked it over very low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens a lot--do not leave it unattended (especially at the end). Slightly beat egg yolks and temper with a small amount of the hot custard; stir well. Blend egg mixture into custard pot and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter plus 2 of the squished bananas.  I always let the boys squish bananas in baggies so they are "helping". Let cool. Lay sliced bananas in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate or baking dish. Top with the squished bananas - like a banana crust! Pour in custard and let set in the fridge. Add whipped topping for serving, if desired.

A Visit with Santa 2011

I know it's super early, but we went to visit Santa today. It works for us that Santa arrives at the Mall waaaay before Christmas since that tends to reduce the crowds for Santa, which stresses out the boys a bit less, making for a nicer experience (for Mommy at least). It's a little weird seeing Santa before Thanksgiving, but the boys were all excited. At least, on the way there they were excited.

It was all smiles and giggles in the van on the way to the mall. Max was cracking Knock Knock jokes. Gabe was reading the new Thomas catalog. Ben was singing to himself. Everyone was calm and happy.

Then we got to the mall. The parking wasn't too busy. We got our favorite parking space right next to the elevator where there's room to dance around in front of the van without too much chance of any little boys being run over by errant and inattentive drivers while Mommy spends forever loading all possible supplies into the stroller.  All is good...

Soon we got to Santa. And they are doing this new thing where they have you enter your cell phone into this terminal so they can text you when it's "your turn". So we put in the number and went around to the front to wait since they said it would only be a few minutes. The text came, and we booked it around to the back of the Santa area to get in line...and our name was erased from the line. Apparently we didn't get there fast enough. I guess the text didn't arrive to my phone right away - it had been a whole 10 minutes since we got there. Shame on us for being too slow I guess! Thank goodness we hadn't actually wandered away in the mall. The elf let us in line anyhow, though now there were quite a few people in line waiting.   Yea for technology!

We managed the wait without too much whining (and a GF pretzel snack), and soon it was our turn. Max had been happy as a clam all morning, through the waiting, right up until I placed him on Santa's lap. Then the tears came pouring out. Max was REALLY screaming.

Helpful Mommy couldn't stop laughing at Gabe (smiling his biggest cheesy grin to make a good impression on Santa), Ben (sort of smiling only because he was promised candy canes and a smoothie if he would just sit on Santa's lap), and Max (wailing like Santa's lap is made of razor sharp knives). So the first shots are Gabe smiling and Max screaming. Towards the end we got my favorite shot...Max is finally looking at the camera and only whimpering, Ben is squirming and asking after the promised candy cane, and Gabe...well, Gabe's got crazy eyes.

That Santa was amazing - smiling no matter how much Max screamed and keeping everyone on his lap. I can't even hardly get them all to sit still in their car seats lately and those have buckles! He must have really strong arms. I know Gabe is small, but dude is heavy! Look at him dangling there off the side...

Once the photos were taken, I almost forgot to grab Max as the photographer wanted me to view the goofy pics of the boys right away. I ran back to Santa, grabbed my still whimpering baby, and the older boys trotted off with the elf to get candy. Hmmm...maybe should have the stranger danger chat... Max started freaking out in my arms, and clearly communicated that he wanted Candy too. Soon everyone was eating sticky candy canes (are they GF? Who knows!?) and we were off to get a smoothie treat. Now I get to threaten to text Santa if the boys are having naughty behavior for the next month or so... ahhh, now that's the Christmas Spirit!