`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·ஐ The life God blessed me with... `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··.

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