Pot Roast

This was a good pot roast, don't know if I would call it perfect like she did, but it was very good. Adam loved it. I thought it maybe needed a touch more seasoning. I needed my oven for something else, so I simmered the pot on the stove for the last hour. Seemed to work fine.
I got the next 2 pictures in the wrong order. I took a picture of the juices from the roast in my fat separator...see that layer on top of fat? Once I drained the fat off then I poured the juices into a small saucepan and simmered the sauce, whisking in "Wondra". That is wonderful stuff. It is a sauce thickener that you can pour right into hot liquids without getting lumps like flour would give you. Go get you some if you don't have any.

Once I thickened the juices I poured them back into the pot with the carrots and beef that had been trimmed and cut smaller. We ate the leftovers tonight for dinner and it was even better. Adam says he missed the potatoes. I roasted some on the side, but he said it wasn't the same as having them cook in the juices from the roast--Carissa

Janice Makes Baby-Sized Braised Beef Brisket

My husband has this odd thing he likes to do—he loves to trim and cut up large hunks of meat and package them in small portions for the freezer. (He also loves to debone a chicken—even 2 or 3 at a time—weird, I know, but handy for me!) So I had one of his 2 pound brisket portions in my freezer from his last big butcher party with a humongous brisket, and decided to use that for this recipe.  However, I no longer had that big hunk of fat on top the brisket, as hubby really likes to trim lean, so there was not much of that fat layer left. 

I was unable to locate the beef consume, but I found beef stock, so used that instead. I didn’t put the stock in the marinade, however, but rather added it just before baking.  I wanted to marinade in a zip lock baggie, so that I could turn the meat over every few hours so all side would sit in the liquid. I thought the beef stock would make too much liquid for my baggie. I marinated for 24 hours, then poured the brisket and liquids into my pan and added some of the stock. Since my brisket was much smaller than PW’s, I just kind of guessed at the appropriate amounts for the marinade.  

I cooked my small 2 pound brisket for 2 hours, then let it sit covered for another 30 minutes before slicing. (PW suggests about 40 min./pound.) Hubby was really hanging out in the kitchen cause it smelled really, really good…so he took over the slicing (so he could nibble!).

My meat was very tender, but did not fall apart as much as PW’s.  I wondered if that was because it had almost no fat on it. It also seemed to need a lot of salt at the table, and I wondered if that had anything to do with the fat-free meat too…

The leftovers are going to be very good…I will probably get 3 more meals out of this meat…I think some of it will wind up in some BBQ sauce for sure.

Enchiladas, Pinto Beans and Cornbread

Had to blog about these three together because I made them together and they were delicious!

Pinto Beans- so yummy! This was my first time to cook real beans and we loved them.  I cooked them the night before for about 3 1/2 hours, stored them in the fridge, added a bit more water the next day and heated them up again- delicious! 

Cornbread- I think my cast iron skillet might be bigger than the one she uses for this b/c ours was thinner and turned brown quickly- The taste was yummy, though.

Enchiladas- I usually make an enchilada casserole- but decided I would do it the real way this time- I wasn't so sure about the black olives in the mixture, but went ahead and did it- I don't think they added anything and it made a couple of my guests turn up their noses- I will leave them out next time- but the flavor of the mixture with the green chiles was yummy!  I did put "enchilada seasoning" ( I already had it in the pantry) on the meat as I was cooking it and I think it helped give more flavor.

Meatballs

I gotta say that the PW has done it again. These were fantastic! In her description she mentioned that the meatballs would taste more like meatloaf, and she was right. I think I was expecting a flavor more similar to Italian or BBQ, but her description of these “mini meatloafs” was perfect. I made mine a little larger than the PW and I paired it with her macaroni and cheese.

Blackberry Cobbler (PW's Blog #2 version)

I have been wanting to try PW's cobbler recipe since I got her cookbook but my husband does not eat things like this so I had to wait. 
Then my birthday came and my parents came over and my mom wanted to fix a cake for me.  So I opened the laptop to skim through various cake recipes because I wanted something new and different and I saw cobbler #2.  This is the sort of cobbler I was raised with- okay well this is the sort of cobbler my mom and I would make when we found wild blackberry bushes except we did it with biscuit dough...like from a can.  So I called her yesterday and asked if she would mind if we had cobbler rather than cake (I think my dad was disapointed). After church we went to lunch and came home and my mom and I began the #2 version YUM.  It was tangy and sweet and yum. :) which has a lot less dough. 
The only thing I would do differently is that I would tuck some dough in between the berries not just on top.  Thats it. 

Reminder this is a very simple recipe so if you are looking for fancy this isn't it. 
Sorry there are no photos of it open to see the berries... it looked yummy- then it was eaten. :)

Maple Pecan Scones

Today I tried the scones-- and I am very glad I decided to give them a shot. They are tasty and wonderful and best of all easy to make. These are something I can whip up on Sunday morning before church easily and seeing that I have a habit of inviting people over at the last moment would be great to do quickly.


I don't think I would change a thing. I of course made a half batch because its just the 2 of us here therefore they are mini scones.

Happy Eating!!!

Pancakes

Ok...these technically aren't PW but they are on her blog...kinda. Someone submitted it to her tasty kitchen site and she then did a thing on it on her blog.

They taste like cinnamon rolls! They are the best pancakes ever. So, if you do Sat pancakes definately give these a try.....they got all the healthy things a person needs in their diet!!:)

oh and definately put the icing on them....yummo!

Pancakes:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breakfastbrunch/pancakeswaffles/cinnamon-bun-pancakes/

Icing:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breakfastbrunch/pancakeswaffles/maple-butter-icing-for-pancakes/