Italian Pot Roast Recipe & More!

Alright...I have kept you in suspense long enough. The Italian Pot Roast I made for Valentine's Day is the best Pot Roast I have ever had. It instantly makes the house smell amazing. If you want the original recipe you can click here! It is a Giada De Laurentiis recipe. I love her cooking. It's very fresh and very easy. She rarely makes anything I feel like is so challenging that I don't even want to attempt it. This one has a little red wine in it so I just want to preface you preparing this recipe by saying I think it is mandatory while cooking this you have a little glass...you know...just to make sure the wine is good enough to put in the dish! (o;  I will say "You're Welcome" in advance for this one.

The Italian Pot Roast ready to go into the oven for 3 hours and make the family drool while we wait!

 

 

Here's my take on her recipe. WARNING!!!! You need to use a pan that you can use on the stovetop and then pop in the oven. I just want to preface this recipe with that or you could get to the oven part and not be so happy at me. Consider yourselves warned.

Italian Pot Roast

(Adaptation from Giada De Laurentiis - Stracotto with Porcini Mushrooms)

Ingredients

• 1 (5-pound) boneless beef chuck roast
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 (15-ounce) can low-sodium beef broth
• 1 package of sliced mushrooms
• 1 large sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed and chopped

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. 
• In a heavy 6-quart pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. 
• Add the beef and cook until browned on all sides, about 12 minutes. Remove the beef and set aside.
• Reduce the heat to medium. 
• Add the remaining oil and the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 8 minutes. 
• Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until aromatic. 
• Add the wine and scrape up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. 
• Stir in the broth and mushrooms. 
• Return the beef to the pot as well as sprig of Rosemary and bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook until the beef is fork-tender, about 3 hours, turning the beef over halfway through and adding more beef broth, as needed.
• Transfer the beef to a cutting board. Tent with foil and let stand for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, spoon any excess fat off the top of the pan juices. 
• Puree the pan juices and vegetables in a blender until smooth for a gravy.
• Shred or Cut the beef into 1-inch pieces and place on a platter. Spoon some of the sauce over the meat and serve the remaining sauce on the side. I also try to remove any excess fat from the beef.

I wanted to share another yummy recipe I just made. It is Smore's Brownies. They are so wonderful because you get Smore's AND a brownie all in one bite. The kids loved this recipe and it was so easy to make. I had bought a huge bag of Mini-Marshmallows at our local BJ's for Ian to take to school. They were celebrating the 100th day of school in their Kindergarten class so they were going to be counting lots of different things. The only problem is the day I brought them home his teacher sent an email saying what she still needed. The marshmallows were already covered. Man! Now what am I going to do with ALL these marshmallows? Well I made some Rice Krispy Treats. I love these but I forgot how sticky and messy they are to make. Maybe that would be why my brain conveniently tucks away that recipe. Then I saw this recipe on the side of the box of brownie mix from Duncan Hines for Smore's Brownies.  I like Smore's and I love brownies. Hmmmm.

First you make the brownies according to the box. As soon as you pull them out of the oven and the brownies are still nice and hot put about 4 cups of Mini-Marshmallows and 1 cup of Chocolate Chips spread over the top. Then place it back in the oven for a minute or two. You just want them to get nice and soft but not totally melt all the way. Then pull it out of the oven and while that is hot take 5 graham crackers and break into small pieces. Place these pieces into the top of the mixture and cut when the whole thing has cooled. Here's how mine turned out.

My son was not pleased at coming home from school and smelling these fresh from the oven only to be reminded that they were for after dinner only. I did feel bad about torturing him like that with the smell of them. He did get to eat one then...after dinner!

I still have enough marshmallows for another recipe so I am sure you will be seeing another marshmallow ingredient recipe in the near future.

It's a rainy day here today and I can tell you all I feel like doing this afternoon is sleeping so you know what that means...MORE COFFEE!!!!!  Speaking of coffee can someone tell me how this works? I am drinking coffee with Fat Free Hazelnut Creamer in it and having a piece of the Smore's Brownie. Is that equivalent to eating a burger but having a diet coke from a fast food place? They even themselves out right? I mean the fat free cancels out the fat in the actual brownie, right?! LOL This dabbling in baking is really going to be bad for my waistline. Whatever...it's a Monday...anything goes on Mondays!

I hope you have a blessed day! †

·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ  Rebecca  ·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ

Under Construction

So I just wanted to say please excuse the appearance of my blog site while I am under a little bit of construction. I am adding some tabs for an easier time finding recipes and crafts as I start to add more. So far those are the two categories I have come up with. I am hoping to get some more once I think of them. Seriously I told it was under construction. (o;

Anyway...I wanted to make sure I posted that so nobody wonders what this crazy woman is doing now! It's my disclaimer. LOL

I am just in blog heaven right now with all these cute little features, etc. I am definitely going to be posting some more yummy recipes and crafts so stay tuned!

Just as a teaser...a little something I made for our Valentine's Day dinner for the family. Recipe to follow.

There...I have you...now you HAVE to come back and check out the blog...and YES I know I am behind being that this was for Valentine's Day. Patience. I know I don't have it but I just thought I could torture someone else.

I hope you have a blessed day! †

·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ Rebecca ·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ

It's been a while!

Wow! My last post was the end of January and now it's almost the end of February. Where does the time go? I guess we have just been so busy some days I really feel like my head is spinning.

I don't know if anyone has seen The Truth Project from Focus on the Family but it is amazing! Really. The hubby and I attended the training event and have the DVD's which is just such a bad thing for me because I just have to watch them and I mean all of them in a short period of time. We are watching them with our church right now Sunday nights and it has just been a blessing but I watched them all right after we got them. They are excellent. I especially have loved the science section. It's been really informative. It's been awesome for the correction in some of my thinking that was not biblical and things I never even thought about before. I have already heard lots of positive feedback on the video series from people who are attending so that is really encouraging. I think really that is the most important thing we are focused on right now is just growing spiritually and using our spiritual gifts to bless others.

My wonderful and extremely smart husband, Jared, is doing awesome in his classes he has been taking. He is consistently on the Dean's List so I have to give him a big shout out there. I am so proud of him. He totally is the smart one in the family...not on ALL things (o; but on most. I am the smarter one when it comes to domestic issues such as how to get a stain out or what to make for dinner when our pantry is dwindling on supplies but if you want to know pretty much anything else he's your man and if he doesn't know he will become the expert on it. I ask him random stuff all the time. He's the spiritual leader in the family so he becomes my personal pastor I suppose you could say.

I have personally been suffering with my migraines much more frequently since Christmas. That has been putting a crimp in the schedule as well. People sometimes ask how I do it all and I tell them it's God. I don't know how all this would work the way it does unless He holds us together. I don't know why I get my migraines but I have been forcing myself on most episodes to rejoice in them. I do thank God for the doctors who have been given the ability to come up with the medication that I can take in those instances. I do that because I know I am going through it for some reason and I know God will work good out of it. I can tell you that I certainly do appreciate what it feels like to have a clear non-throbbing head when I do have it.

On a crafty note...I have some awesome ideas for crafts coming up for the spring. I can't wait to post about them. There is someone special that I am especially bubbling over about making one project for. More than anything I just love blessing people with something little I made with the gifts that God has given to me. I am at an unfortunate stand still in my crafting for the moment because I need paint for the two projects I want to do and I just can't seem to squeeze in running to the store to get the right paint that I need. I am hoping that I will have some time this weekend.

I also have two recliner rocking chairs that were given to my by my parent's that I am extremely excited to reupholster and paint/distress the wood arms. There is also two children's rockers and the full size rocking chair that my parent's rocked me to sleep on that I want to completely re-do. Oh that is going to be so awesome. It will be my first time and the recliners were my grandparent's so I can't wait to see how they are going to turn out. It's pretty neat that these pieces each have a little story to tell with my family. I have been just besides myself wanting to tackle some furniture make-overs. I currently have my eyes peeled for a small entertainment center OR something to turn into that for our bedroom. We have our TV on Jared's nightstand right now. It's almost the perfect first project because we don't really need to have something so I can totally take my time working on that. I am sure it will be a learning experience. OH and I have a really awesome desk that was my grandfather's from the navy which is just so beautiful. I can't wait to do something with that as well but it may be last on the list just because I am so hesitant to mess that up. I just love it so much! PLUS I think I a wonderful friend from church is giving me her old sewing machine. This may just be the most exciting thing for me of the year. I have been dying to get my hands on a sewing machine but just don't have the money to buy one now. God is awesome! I have been praying about that one. I didn't know how I was going to get one but I think it is imperative I do so I can only expand my growing little craft experiment that will prayerfully turn into some kind of way to bring extra money into the house. I don't know what God's going to do with this new obsession of mine but I know He will use it for great things. I don't mean like I am going to get an award for being the best crafter in the world. I don't know I guess I just have to just keep going and see what happens. That's the most exciting part of it. (o:

I am finding it very difficult to wrap my brain around how to sort and organize my digital photos. I have Picasa loaded onto the computer but I really just need to devote some time to sit down and sort and go through all those pictures. If anyone has suggestions please let me know what you have done that has worked for you. I might just have an easier solution that way! That just seems so daunting of a task I can't think about it without almost hyperventilating. I also have the same issue with making a 2011 project list. I need to pencil in some time for that while my lil' girls are napping one day and Ian is at school to work on this. I also have lots of things I want to do to the blog which by the way if you see me constantly changing things around it is because I get bored easily and I like to keep things interesting!

Here's a little pic of the my daily projects...

...keeping these three happy!  (o:

I also wanted to share a song that always, always, always comes into my head. I just love it and I have known it for quite some time now. I hope it blesses your day!
(if you want to watch and listen to this scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page first and hit the pause button on my blog music. Yes, it is a song on my blog list as well!)

Here's the lyrics...

Ginny Owen - If You Want Me To

The pathway is broken
And The signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I'm gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to

Chorus:
Cause I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise You're not through with me yet
so if all of these trials bring me closer to you
Then I will walk through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'd never go alone

So When the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley If You want me to


I hope you have a blessed day. †

·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ Rebecca ·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ