One roast, four recipes OR How much I love my new kitchen!

So I know I'm few and far between in the way of posts lately - but I am here and I am writing, just not as much as usual.  However, there are some things I must share.  This lovely story about one eventful evening at the grocery store (and it's wonderful outcomes) began on Thursday. 

Now usually, on payday, Mr. Dan and I will go to the store and get something yummy from the butcher.  This week we were late so we skipped the butcher and went straight to the meat cases and there it was - this beautiful, wonderful, ON SALE, sirloin roast beef.  Don't ask me how big it was, I say around 8 or 10 lbs.  It was BIG.  And it was on sale.  By a lot.  Now Mr. Dan wasn't too sure of my ginormous roast, he said it wasn't as pink as the rest of the roasts but being that I'm the cook and I said it was okay, he let me get it.  I gathered up some other essential stew supplies and we trotted home.  I decided to put the roast on all day Saturday so we could have a nice dinner before we both went out for the evening. So I put the roast in the crockpot, poured in my low-salt beef broth and some fresh ground pepper and let 'er rip.  It took 10 hours but once I was home I knew it was ready.  It smelled DEVINE.  So I cooked up some roasted potatoes and veggies (recipe below) and served it to Mr. Dan.  We were both thoroughly satisfied and put the left overs away for lunch.

Now the next day at lunch we wanted something good, so I hauled out the beef.  Trouble was, what were we going to make?  Well we had a brain wave and created BBQ beef sandwiches (recipe below).  They were a HIT (Mr. Dan had two).  And I STILL had roast left over.  So, time to wash the crock pot and create some beef stew (recipe below).  It was also a HIT.  Mr. Dan loved it (and a good thing too, my parents made beef stew for supper the next night!!)

So, now you're thinking - "wow Paige, you've given us some recipes and you've gotten a lot out of that roast.  Good job."  Well thanks, reader!

BUT WAIT......THERE'S MORE!!

I'm a big believer in reusing and recycling anything that I can, and when I made the stew I simply had too much broth for the amount of meat and veggies - so I saved it.  Today, at dinner I took my broth, some left over meat, some onions andddd we had our final meal from the roast, French Onion Soup.

So that's my story of the 4 meal roast, and why I love my new kitchen.

RECIPES!!

Paige's Simple Roast Veggies

What you'll need:
Potatoes, washed and cubed (peel optional)
Sweet potatoes, wash and cubed
Carrots and onions, washed and diced
Montreal Steak Spice
Garlic powder
Olive Oil

What you do:
Take your cubed veggies and toss them on a pan with 2-4 tbsp of olive oil.
Dust veggies lightly with garlic powder and Montreal steak spice. 
Pop in a pre-heated oven (325-375, depending on the oven) for 20 minutes.  Remove, flip, and cook for another 20 minutes.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

What you'll need:
Left over roast beef
Sweet red peppers, thinly sliced
1 tsp olive oil
Onions, thinly sliced
1cup BBQ sauce (we used spicey brown sugar)
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
Pepper to taste
Bread/buns/etc

What you do:
Saute onions and pepper in olive oil until onions are translucent, add beef.
Add BBQ sauce, ketchup and water.  Stir. 
Add pepper to taste and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. 
Place beef on the bun and enjoy! Goes great with a salad:)

Beef Stew

What you need:
2 pounds of left over roast
A sprinkle or two of sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
Celery, chopped
Potatoes, peeled (or not) and chopped
Parsnips, peeled and chopped
Onions, peeled and chopped
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
28-ounce can of whole tomatoes
½ bottle red wine
3 or 4 cups of beef stock or water
A few bay leaves

What you do: 
Put in crock put on low setting for 4-6 hours or high for 2-4.


French Onion Soup

What you need:
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp flour
3 cups beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine (optional but SO good)
salt and pepper to taste
crusty bread
shredded cheese

What you do:
Saute the onions in olive oil on low heat.  Add the garlic about 3/4 the way through, the onions should be just slightly brown when you're finished. 
Add the flour and saute with onions and oil until brown.
In a separate pot, add beef broth and red wine, add salt and pepper to taste.  Allow to simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.
Place browned onions, and flour, into an oven safe bowl.
Pour broth/wine over onions.  Place crusty bread on top, with cheese.
Bake on 350F for 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.


Longest.post.ever.

Applesauce

I'm feeling much better now.  The cold is all but gone, my stomach has returned to normalcy (thanks yogurt) and I spent an entire day just lounging around in my bed.  MUCH BETTER.

Now, I owe you applesauce.  I did make it the other night.  It took me quite some time to peel all those apples but it got done.  But wait, lets start from the beginning: Mr. Dan and I went apple picking about 2 weeks ago. We drove out to the valley and, keeping with Nova Scotian tradition, we picked apples for a few hours.  Now, we only picked about 10lbs of apples...but it was lovely!

Like my shoes? Me too, hot pink and silver/grey...niiiice

So Dan and I spent the afternoon wandering around the apple orchard, picking this apple

Or that apple...

And then, once we had accumulated 10lbs, or so, of apples we paid and hopped in the car to head home.  Now these apples sat for a bit once we got home.  Dan ate some, I ate some, but mostly they sat.  I wanted to make applesauce but had to find the time.  FINALLY, earlier this week I found the time!  So here is my delicious, simple, wonderful applesauce recipe...with pictures to make you crave it!  Enjoy!

Applesauce
1 lb cooking apples, peeled, and quartered
1/3 cup sugar (more if you like it sweet!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cut and peel your apples.

Place them in a pot, cover with water, add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg - boil over low heat for 1-2 hours, until right consistency.  

Once your applesauce is at the right thickness place it in glass jar and viola! Enjoy!

Crock-pot pulled pork

Dan got me a crock pot for Christmas 2008.  I thought it was a wonderful invention and while I was in school we used it several times a week.  Since getting a "real" job, moving and subsequently getting a car, we haven't used it much.  I decided to clean the kitchen last weekend and re-discovered my long lost crock pot.  So imagine my joy when I also came across a sale on pork at the grocery store! ZOMGKITCHENNERD!  I decided it was time to do some of my delicious pulled pork so, without further ado here is my recipe for crock pot pulled pork...

Crock Pot Pulled Pork
2 -4 pork chops
1 large onion, diced
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup sliced sweet red, orange or yellow pepper
1/2 cup Diana Sauce (the yellow label)
1/2 cup Bulls eye BBQ sauce (red label is the best for this)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup water
garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in and cook in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours.  Once you're done open it up and pull pork apart with a fork.  Yum yum!

Left overs!

So tonight Dan and I needed a quick supper.  I still had some Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad left so I decided to use that.  I took some skinless boneless chicken breast poured a bunch of garlic powder and some olive oil in a pan and cooked it up.  Then I added the rest of my leftover pasta salad.  Let it simmer for 5-10 mins on medium heat and VIOLA! Sun dried-Tomato Pasta.  It was fabulous - maybe even better than the pasta salad.  And we have some still left over.

nom nom nom

Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad

So I was heading to a BBQ this weekend and thought I should bring along a salad.  I wasn't sure what type to make until I stumbled across sun dried tomato pesto at the grocery store.  Once I saw that pesto I knew I had to make Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad.....YUM!

Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad

What you will need:

• 1 box of rotini noddles
• 1 container of sun-dried tomato pesto (I think I got Bertolli brand)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs of olive oil
• 1 small or medium onion, diced
• 1/2 cup of assorted olives, diced
• 3 vine tomatoes, in small chunks or a pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• salt and pepper to taste
• grated cheddar or Parmesan cheese

What you do:

• Take the sun-dried tomato pesto, garlic, onion and olive oil and place it in your food processor.  Whirrrrrr it up.  Put this aside (preferably the day before) and let it rest.
• Cook rotini noodles and set aside to cool.
• Once noodles are cool take your pesto concoction, add tomatoes, olives and onions and mix together. 
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Place in a decorative bowl with serving spoons.  Sprinkle with cheese.
• Enjoy!!

Cupcake Fever!!

I blame this all on The Katie Chronicles, but lately I have an obsession with cupcakes!!!

Funny thing is - I don't like cupcakes that much!  I'll have one every once in a while but I just make them because they're fun and pretty.  This weekend I had a BBQ/bonfire to attend.  I decided I would bring some of Katie's delicious margarita cupcakes.

It was really hot, and my slime green icing started to melt BUT they turned out deliciously.  So good, in fact, that I made more!! I'm hoping to move on to pink lemonade cupcakes next.

nom nom nom

Receipe Share!

It's that time of the year again - ASPARAGUS SEASON!!!!  Dan and I ADORE asparagus.  I will eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if he'll let me (he won't but that's another story).  So in honor of one of my favorite veggies I will now present you with my three favorite asparagus recipes.  One for breakfast, one for lunch and one for dinner.  Enjoy!

Asparagus Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons margarine, melted
1 loaf  sliced bread, crusts removed
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
2 cup cubed fully cooked ham
6 eggs
3 cups milk
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

Instructions:
In a saucepan, cover asparagus with water; cover and cook until just tender but still firm. Drain and set aside.

Lightly brush margarine over one side of bread slices. Place half of the bread, buttered side up, in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Layer with asparagus and ham. Cover with remaining bread, buttered side up.

In a bowl, lightly beat eggs; add milk, onion, salt and mustard; pour over bread.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 50 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Return to the oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Makes 10-12 servings.

Cream of Asparagus Soup
I got this from Canadian Living a few years ago.  It's FANTASTIC!
Ingredients:
1-1/2 1-1/2lb  asparagus
2 tbsp butter (I use margarine)
1 chopped leek (use the white part only)
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4tsp pepper
4 cups chicken broth (if vegetarian you can use veggie broth as well)
1/3 cup 10% cream (I use 2% milk)
chopped Fresh chives

Instructions:
Cut asparagus into stalks into 1-1/2-inch lengths. Set aside.
In large saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat; cook leek until very soft.  About 10 minutes.

Add asparagus, parsley, lemon rind, lemon juice and pepper to pan. Pour in broth and bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until asparagus is tender, about 5 minutes. Using tongs, remove 1 cup  of the asparagus tips; chop coarsely and set aside.

In batches in  food processor, puree sou.  You should also press it through sieve over saucepan to remove any fibre. Pour in cream and heat until steaming. Serve garnished with set-aside chopped asparagus and sprinkling of chives.


Broiled Asparagus
Use this as a side with a delicious steak or BBQ chicken breast.

Ingredients
12-24 asparagus stalks, trimmed

1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs lemon juice
a pinch (maybe like 1/6 or an 1/8 of a tsp) ground cumin
1/4 grated lemon rind
a pinch black pepper & salt to taste
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients, expect asparagus in a bowl.  Spread over your veggies then broil them for about 10 minutes(on the highest rack) in your oven.

I hope you enjoyed my recipes.  I look forward to having LOTS of asparagus this season.

Sunshine, seasalt and steak!

While at the grocery store today I saw "top sirloin grilling medallions" on sale.  Like REALLY on sale.  So I grabbed two for Dan and I to try.  When I arrived home I thought - What a great time to try a new recipe! So I did!!  Here it is:

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1-3 cloves of fresh crushed garlic

1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

2tbs Olive Oil

2 top sirloin steak

Instructions:
Mix basil, garlic, pepper and salt in large bowl with olive oil.  Brush liberally over sides of steak.  Place steak in pan and grill evenly.  5 minutes for rare, 8 for medium rare, etc.

I added grilled baby potatoes and a garden salad to ours.  It was delicious!! Enjoy!

Cooking with class

I don't think I'm a horrible cook.  I can whip up a meal in good time.  And I have some  tested and true receipes that I follow.  Dan, almost, always likes what I make for dinner and I've heard few complaints from guests that stop by.  However, I'm leary of trying new things in the kitchen.  I always enjoy new tastes when I'm out, but ask me to cook it and I'm going to freeze.  I can take my old recipes and adjust them...add more of this, less of that, throw in pork instead of chicken, etc.  But brand new flavours make me nervous. 

So last night I challenged myself.  I wanted to try something new, something different.  So I made Katie's Mustard Baked Chicken.  (I must confess that I've made the chicken before just not the pasta...and I only put a LITTLE of the paprika last time.  I was ascared!)

So how did it turn out, you ask? WONDERFUL!!  The chicken was delicious (this time I followed the receipe to a T) and the pasta (with some grilled veggies) was delicious!  I think I'm on the road to new adventures in the kitchen.  But we'll see...