Italian-Style Pot Roast with Gremolata

So for an early Christmas present, when my parents were in town for Thanksgiving, they bought me a chest freezer. I've been wanting one for a while now so I could prepare my own freezer meals. And start cooking a lot more, putting any leftovers in the freezer. I found this recipe and it sounded good and it made a lot, so I knew I could freeze the leftovers. I'm not sure if I liked it a lot but it was decent and the gremolata added some needed extra flavor. I froze half of so I'll definitely eat it when I'm hungry for it. The only thing different that I did was that instead of using all-purpose flour, I used gluten-free flour (tastes the same). I found this recipe in the Cuisine Tonight magazine.

Italian-Style Pot Roast with Gremolata (8 servings) (Cuisine Tonight):

2 tbsp olive oil
1 (4-5 lb) boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed, seasoned with salt and pepper
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 c flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp anchovy paste
1 tbsp beef base (bouillon)
1 c dry red wine
1 (14.5 oz) can whole tomatoes in juice, quartered
2 dried bay leaves
1 tsp dried rubbed sage
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb small white potatoes, halved
4 carrots, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
12 oz pearl onions, blanched, peeled
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 tsp minced lemon zest

Heat oil in large skillet over med-high until it shimmers. Brown roast on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer roast to a slow cooker.

Stir chopped garlic, flour, tomato paste, anchovy paste and beef base into skillet and cook 1 minute. Deglaze skillet with wine and reduce by a third, scraping up any browned bits. Add tomatoes, bay leaves, sage, rosemary, nutmeg, salt and pepper flakes; bring to a boil and cook until thick, 3-4 minutes. Pour wine mixture over roast in slow cooker.

Add potatoes, carrots and onions to the slow cooker. Cover slow cooker and cook roast until fork-tender on high, 4-5 hours, or low 8-9 hours. Transfer roast to a platter. Using a slotted spoon, arrange veggies around roast. Strain sauce; skim off any fat from the surface. Serve sauce with the roast.

Combine parsley, minced garlic and zest for gremolata. Garnish roast with gremolata. Enjoy!




Roast browned and smushed into the crockpot...






Sauce being cooked...






Veggies piled on top of the meat and sauce...






Cooked and ready to serve...






Pot roast sprinkled with gremolata...






Enjoy!...

Salted Caramel Bark

I had family in town for Thanksgiving and I wanted to make a dessert that could be eaten throughout the weekend. I love making desserts but I only like making them if I can share them because otherwise the majority of it would go to waste. This made way too much as it is but it was really really good. The recipe calls for a bag of dark chocolate chips and a bag of milk chocolate chips. I'm not a fan of dark chocolate so I used a bag of semisweet chocolate chips. Everyone seemed to like it but the only thing I wished I had was more of a coarser salt. All my aunt had was the fine sea salt, which worked, but I had to use a lot of it and it still wasn't enough. I also think I should have melted the caramel without the water because when I went to break up the bark, the caramel was still really soft. I found this recipe on Pinterest.

Salted Caramel Bark (20-30 pieces):

11.5 oz pkg of Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips (or semisweet chocolate chips)
11.5 oz pkg of Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips
11 oz pkg Kraft Caramel bits + 2 tbsp water
Coarse ground sea salt

Rip off a piece of wax or parchment paper and cover a cookie sheet. In microwave-safe bowl, microwave caramel bits with 2 tbsp water for 2 minutes. Then stir and microwave for additional 30 second intervals until fully melted.

Place both pkg of chocolate chips in a separate bowl and melt in the microwave or place on the stove with a double broiler and stir until melted and glossy. Spread the melted chocolate with a spatula on the wax paper, making sure the chocolate goes all the way to the edges.

With a spoon, drop dollops of the caramel. Take a spatula and swirl it into the chocolate in an up and down motion across the pan creating swirled ribbons. Sprinkle the salt across the top. Don't be stingy with the salt.

Place your cookie sheet in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Take it out of the freezer and break the bark into pieces. Pull off the waxed paper and layer in a container with parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!




Chocolates melted and spread into pan...






Caramel and chocolates swirled together...






Liberally sprinkled with salt...






Enjoy!...

Spiralized Sweet Potatoes

Last week my family, who was in town, made a simple dinner at my aunt's one night. She wanted to do sweet potato and yam spears in the oven and I've been wanting to try to spiralize them so I stole a sweet potato and started experimenting. I had bought a spiralizer back in September before I moved but the only thing I've made so far with is is spiralized zucchini in place of spaghetti noodles, which I do quite often actually. I also experimented with a carrot once, but since the carrot is such a hard veggie, it was a little difficult. My spiralizer is the Paderno that I found on Amazon but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere too, or you can use a veggie peeler.

I had to watch a video online to figure out what blade I needed to use and once I figured that out, it was super easy. I added a 21-spice blend my aunt had bought from Costco. It doesn't have salt in it and I loved the flavor-guess I'll be making a trip out to Costco soon! This was just an experiment but it actually turned out really flavorful. They spiralizer made the sweet potatoes into shoe strings and with the spice blend, it turned out really yummy. I bought some yams at the store yesterday so I'll be trying those soon to see if they turn out as good as the sweet potato.

Spiralized Sweet Potatoes (3-5 servings)

1 1/2 sweet potatoes
1-2 tbsp olive oil, more as needed
21-spice blend, or whatever seasoning you have on hand

Use the number 3 blade, which is the smallest hole-blade to spiralize the sweet potatoes.

Heat oil in large skillet on the stove over med-high. Once the oil is hot, add the spiralized sweet potatoes. Using tongs, toss the sweet potatoes until sweet potatoes start turning brown and crisping up. Add the seasonings as you cook the sweet potatoes. Enjoy!




Spiralizer






Spiralized...






Enjoy!...

4-Berry Pie with Lattice Topped Pie Crust

I can't remember where I found this recipe but I made it several years ago for Christmas at my aunt's house when she lived in Arizona. I had never made a pie before then and I love berries so I came up with this recipe from somewhere and it was really good!

My family came down for Thanksgiving this year and I decided to make this again, hoping it was as good as I remembered it and it definitely was! Lots of flavor from the berries and the cinnamon on the pie crust set it off. I think I added too many berries because the filling over-filled a little bit onto the oven floor-oops! I made it the day before to let the flavors really meld-yum! Originally this pie was only a 3-berry pie calling for blackberries but I'm not a huge fan of blackberries. I did add a small container of blackberries but then I also added a container of strawberries, which is probably why it over-filled but it worked out.

4-Berry Pie with Lattice Topped Pie Crust (6-8 servings):

1/2 c fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 c fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 c fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 c fresh or frozen sliced strawberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 c sugar
4 tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
2 unbaked pastry shells (9 inches)
Cinnamon, for sprinkling

In large bowl, sprinkle berries with lemon juice. Combine sugar and tapioca. Add to berries; toss gently to coat. Let stand for 15 minutes. Spoon into pastry shell.

For topping, cut strips into pastry shell. Inter-weave onto top of berries to create a lattice-look. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is browned. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!




Berries macerating...






Berries poured into pie bottom...






Sprinkled with cinnamon...






Fresh from the oven...






Enjoy!...

Crock Pot Honey Pork & Apples

About a month ago, I bought several different kinds of meats to cook up in the slow cooker and a pork tenderloin was one of the meats. I started looking around on Pinterest and came upon this recipe. It sounded different from anything I've ever made before so I decided to try it. I came home yesterday from work and my apartment smelled amazing! I didn't get an after picture because it wasn't very appetizing to look at right away lol. I think the top part burned a little in the slow cooker because it was all black when I opened the lid. Once I stirred things around, the meat looked okay though. And then I started eating it and forgot to post an after picture! I would definitely make this recipe again! The pork was very tender and tasted sweet. I think the apples fully cooked down though because I couldn't find any in the broth, which was okay because I could taste hints of them in the pork. The recipe says to cook it for 8-10 hours but I checked mine after 7 hours and it was completely done, so it may depend on the slow cooker.

Crock Pot Honey Pork & Apples (6 servings):

1 (3-4 lb) pork tenderloin
2 large Granny Smith apples, sliced
1/2 c honey, divided
2 tbsp cinnamon

Slice slits in the pork tenderloin. Place 1-2 apple slices per slit into the pork tenderloin. Place 3/4 of remaining apple slices in bottom of crock pot. Drizzle 1/2 of the honey over the apple slices. Place pork on top of the apple slices. Sprinkle cinnamon over everything. Place remaining apple slices on top and drizzle the remaining honey over everything.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove from slow cooker, slice and serve with apples on top.




Apples at the bottom of the slow cooker...






Pork stuffed with apples...






Honey poured in...

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

I'm from MN and I've been living in Las Vegas for exactly two months today. Back home at Panera I could easily get chicken & wild rice soup-at the Paneras out here, that's not one of the soups. So I've been craving it. I have a couple bags of real wild rice that I've been wanting to play around with but I've never really made anything with it before. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it had a mixture of long grain rice and wild rice so I thought I'd try it out and if I liked it, I would find a soup that didn't have the long grain rice but only the wild rice. I did like this soup but I wasn't sure I liked the leftovers. It was really thick after sitting in the fridge so I had to add about 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken broth to water it down so I could eat it. If I made this again, I wouldn't add as much flour in the roux and hopefully it won't make the soup as thick. I made two substitutions in this recipe-it calls for Rice-a-Roni long grain & wild rice but I used Uncle Ben's. And I also used gluten-free all-purpose flour. The soup was good and it tasted similar to the Panera one so I'll probably make this again.

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup:

4 1/2 c chicken broth
2 c water
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c butter
2 c half-and-half
1 c grated carrots
1 c diced celery

Combine broth, water, carrots, celery, chicken and rice (along with seasoning packet) in large slow cooker. Cook on low 6 hours or on high 4 hours. Take chicken out and shred with two forks and then add them back into the slow cooker.

In small bowl combine salt, pepper and flour. In med saucepan over med heat, melt butter. Stir in flour mixture by tbsp to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Stir cream mixture into slow cooker and then let cook on low 15 more minutes. Enjoy!




The roux...






Enjoy!...

Elbow Macaroni with Crispy Breadcrumbs & Broccoli

I found this recipe in the Food Network magazine and it stood out because the pasta wasn't in a heavy sauce. This was a really good dish and I'd definitely make this again. The breadcrumb mixture really made the pasta good and added an extra kick with the pepper flakes. I substituted the regular pasta with gluten-free pasta because I've been trying to cut back on my carbs and the gluten-free pasta is a lot healthier. I chose the quinoa pasta and this was my first time making it-I think I overcooked my pasta a tad but all in all it tasted just like regular pasta. I also added 2 more cloves of garlic than what was called for, because everyone knows you can never have too much garlic! I think you could actually use the breadcrumb mixture over any type of pasta-I could definitely play around with this recipe in other ways!

Elbow Macaroni with Crispy Breadcrumbs & Broccoli (4-6 servings) (Food Network):

Salt
6 tbsp EVOO, plus more for drizzling
1/2 c panko
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
3 c elbow macaroni
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (I used 3 cloves)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 c chicken stock
1 c freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, in large skillet over med, add 2 tbsp oil. Add the breadcrumbs and toast, stirring constantly, until they are crisp and golden, 4-5 minutes, taking care not to let them burn. Scrape into a small bowl and toss with the lemon zest and parsley and then season with salt.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to pkg directions until al dente while you make the sauce. Wipe out the skillet used to toast the breadcrumbs and return it to med-high heat. Add the remaining 4 tbsp oil and when oil is hot, add the broccoli and toss to coat. Saute until it turns bright green, 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic and pepper flakes. Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute, then pour in the stock. Simmer until the broccoli is tender, 5-6 minutes.

When pasta is done, scoop it out of the water with a small strainer and add directly to the sauce, reserving the pasta water. Simmer the pasta with the sauce just to blend the flavors, 1-2 more minutes, then drizzle with a tbsp or so of oil and toss again If sauce seems too dry, add up to 1/2 c pasta water. Off heat, stir in the cheese. Serve in warmed bowls and sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture. Enjoy!




Breadcrumb mixture...






Pasta stirred into sauce...






Enjoy!...