Thursday, November 3, 2011

Bloody Mary Pot Roast with Fall Veggies, YUM

I love pot roast and I love Bloody Mary's so why not combine the two for one delicious slow cooked dinner. The recipe calls for arm roast, but I substituted a chuck roast because they were on sale. This recipe also calls for fall veggies such as leeks and rutagas, but I did not have either so I substituted onion for the leeks and potatoes and carrots for the rutabaga. I must confess that I have never tried a rutabaga, but I'm not opposed to the idea. I don't really think the name of this veggie is really doing it any favors though, it just sounds yucky. I do remember as a kid my Grandma Spellings talking about "rutabager pie" I was thinking to myself that ain't no pie I wanna try!! This recipe seems like a lot of steps but it really wasn't hard to put together and it was worth it.



Bloody Mary Pot Roast With Fall Vegetables
Serves Approx 8 people
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 -4 lbs boneless beef arm roast, seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup low sodium beef broth
• 1 (12 ounce) bottle vegetable juice cocktail (V8)
• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 leeks, sliced
• 3 ribs celery, sliced into 2-inch pieces
• 1 rutabaga, cut into 2-inch chunks (1 lb.)
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, leaves
• 2 tablespoons vodka
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• hot pepper sauce
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• celery leaves (optional)
Directions
1. Heat oil in a saute pan; brown roast on all sides in hot oil over med-high heat, about 12 minutes total.
2. Remove roast from pan; place meat in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker.
3. Deglaze the pan with broth, scraping up brown bits.
4. Stir in vegetable juice, horseradish, celery seed, and bay leaf; pour mixture into slow cooker.
5. Arrange leeks, celery, rutabaga, and bell pepper on top of meat.
6. Cover slow cooker, cook until meat and vegetables are tender—on high heat setting for 4-5 hours, or on low heat setting for 9-10 hours.
7. Using a slotted spoon, remove meat and vegetables to a serving platter; cover and keep food warm.
8. Transfer juices from slow cooker to a saucepan; skim off fat.
9. Stir cold water into flour; stir flour mixture into juices in sauepan; cook over medium heat until gravy is thickened, 2 minutes.
10. Stir parsley, vodka, and vinegar into gravy in saucepan.
11. Season gravy with hot pepper sauce, salt, and pepper.
12. Serve gravy over pot roast, vegetables, and noodles (if desired).
13. Garnish each serving with celery leaves.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Happy Boss' Day

Happy Boss' Day! To those of you who are bosses, don't be a "horrible boss"; to those who may one day become the boss, remember what it was like when you weren't the boss and be kind and considerate; to those of you who never want to be a boss, remember your boss is usually juggling a lot of responsibilities at once, be patient.

At our office we made breakfast for our bosses this morning. My contribution was a delicious French Toast Souffle. Also a family favorite for Christmas morning at my house. You do all the prep work the night before and refrigerate, then pop it in the oven in the A.M. I hope you will try it and let me know what you think if you do!!



French Toast Suoffle'

Yield: Approx 12 servings

Ingredients:
10 cup cubed sturdy white bread, about 16 slices (I use Pepperidge Farm Hearty White)
8 oz block cream cheese, room temperature
8 large eggs
1 1/2 c milk
2/3 c half and half
1/2 c maple syrup
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T powdered sugar for garnish (optional)
Extra maple syrup for serving

Directions: Place bread cubes in a 13x9 cooking dish coated with cooking spray. Beat cream cheese with mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add milk, half and half, 1/2 maple syrup and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture over top of bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Remove bread mixture from fridge; let stand on counter for 30 minutes. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes until set. Sprinkle souffle' with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Test Recipe Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

This week's test recipe was an effort to recreate one of Little Chief's favorite Chinese Food Noshes, Orange Chicken. He LOVES some orange chicken. However, Mama don't love the calories and fat that accompany that citrus goodness. I liked this recipe. It was so easy to throw together in the A.M. and when I got home from work, I just threw some rice in the rice cooker and we were ready to eat in 20 minutes. Next time, I would make a few changes to the recipe, mostly add some heat with crushed red pepper and would probably throw in some veggies, broccoli and water chestnuts and onion maybe. But we did veggies on the side this time. Little Chief did not like it so much. He said it was OK, but it didn't taste nothing like the orange chicken he liked. I told him it was a healthier version so it would not taste the same, but the essence should be the same. He went on to tell me "Mom, I am a connoisseur of orange chicken, I know what it should taste like". And he gave me that "Duh" look as if to say "I know everything and you know nothing". He's becoming a pro at giving me that look and he is only 10 years old. Me thinks the boy needs his booty smacked, but spanking your kids went out with feathered bangs...I miss spanking....but as they say what goes around comes around and I'm just dreaming of the day that spanking becomes trendy again. But I do digress, me and Chief liked the recipe and Little Chief ate it between protests. He also added so sweetly (not) that we should keep the Jade Garden Restaurant on speed dial. He will be eating PB&J for the rest of the week, thank you very much!!!



Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

8 small boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 Tbsp flour
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1/3 barbecue sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp grated ginger root

Toss chicken with flour in slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover, cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Serve with hot cooked rice.

Monday, October 3, 2011

What a Difference a Year CAN Make

Wow, the pics below are from 2011 Khaki ball. The last pic is from the 2010 ball. I am almost unrecognizable even to myself in that pic. I have lost 105 lbs in the lats year! Went from my embarrassing all time high of 216 in the pic below to this morning's Monday weigh-in of 111. YAY ME!!




Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Test Recipe - Slow Cooked Tex Mex Chicken

Wow!! I have been away from the blogosphere for a while now. I promised myself to get back to blogging because I really do love it. However, something always seems to get in the way. But here I go getting back up on the bike. :) I will start my "back to blogging" with a recipe that I tried this week. I like to try to introduce at least one new test recipe to my family each week and see if it will be a hit or a miss. This recipe was a hit. It was easy and inexpensive to prepare. However, it does have some spice to it, which my family loves, but if yours is sensitive to spicy heat, cut down on the chilis and use a mild salsa. And true to form, I forgot to take photos, but I'll get back into the swing of that too. Enjoy!

Slow Cooked Tex Mex Chicken
Serves 4

1 cup dried pinto beans, rinsed
1 jar (11 oz) mild or medium salsa (1 1/2 cups)
2 T chopped canned chipolte chilis in adobo sauce (mexican food isle)
2 T all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
Sour cream and fresh cilantro for serving (optional)

Directions: In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, stir together beans, salsa, chilis, flour and 1 cup water. Season chicken with salt and pepper; arrange on top of bean mixture. Scatter onion and bell pepper on top of chicken. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours (do not open lid or stir). Remove chicken from stew; shred into large pieces and return to stew. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Health Quest

As with each new year, I vow to get myself healthy and....well, I don't. But I am tired of aching backs and roly polying off the couch and getting winded walking to the mailbox. So here goes again. I have literally tried every diet known to man without any lasting success. Shoot, I think diets are set up to make you fail to keep the industry alive and well. In addition to being failure inducing, these fad diets usually come with a price tag too. Sooooo....I have vowed to diet no more!! No more diet cookies, weighing in at meetings, fake food or cabbage soup (thank the good Lord in Heaven). Instead I am just going to eat what I like in moderation, concentrate on more whole foods and less processed, and try to make one wise food decision after the other until it adds up to success. Plus I need to get my patootie in gear and get some exercise! Work, work, work, makes Kimmy a dull girl and a little bit squishy too! Little Chief said last night while sitting on the loveseat and resting his precious angel head on my arm, "Mama, I am so glad you don't work out because your arm is like a comfy pillow". Then I whacked him and told him to get off me! I found a FREE community that I have used this week to keep me on track. Check it out if you are interested. It is really cool!! Here is a blurb from the website:

"SparkPeople is growing into one of the largest free diet and health-related sites in the world.
SparkPeople has received media coverage from: Fox TV, The New York Times, and ABC TV.
SparkPeople was voted best online health site in Business Week's 2006, 2007 and 2008 "Best of the Web" awards."

Here is the addy: www.sparkpeople.com

Tell me about your goals for the New Year, I'd love to hear from y'all!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Book List 2009

Hello There! Knock, knock, anybody home? I have obviously been neglecting my blog for a very long time. I guess that is what happens when you work too much. But I have resolved to treat myself better this year and do more of what I enjoy instead of just doing things I am obligated to do. What do you think about that? I hope I can do it. So first on my list was to get back to blogging. I love it. It is a form of creative expression, you meet so many wonderful folks, you learn something almost every day, I mean what's not to love!! I looking forward to chatting YOU up. So to start with I think I'll list the books I read this year. I did not read near as many as I would have liked to (a baker's dozen)...again with the work schedule. So here it is for your literaray pleasure:

Veronika Decides to Die (Oehello)
The Hunger Games (Collins)
The Twentieth Wife (Sundaresan)
The Sari Shop (Raj Bawa)
Vanishing Acts (Piccoult)
Julie/Julia (Powell)
The Tortilla Curtain (Boyle)
Darjeeling (Kirchnea)
Revolutionary Road (Yates)
New Moon (Meyers) (Read out loud to Little Chief, my 2nd time to read it)
The Wizard of Oz (Read out loud to Little Chief)
The Road (McCarthy)
Handling Sin (Malone)

Have you read any of the above titles? Did you especially enjoy any books this year? I am always looking for titles to add to my TBR (To Be Read) pile, although the TBR pile is taking up two book cases in my house right now! I am currently reading "The Help" and I can barely put it down. It grabs a hold in a powerful way. Have you read it? Come on now, let's set a spell and talk books...or anything else you'd like to. It's been way to long, honey!