Monday, April 11, 2022

Straight from the Oven POT ROAST.

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 Straight from the Oven POT ROAST.

(Previously posted in 2020) Perfect for these still cold days in Chicagoland

I brag about my cooking in my bio-description and then rarely post anything we cook. Mostly because I don't work from recipes anymore, at least not for the family, and only occasionally for company.

During the stay at home order we (WERE) digging in our freezers, and trying to use the 'oldest' items first. Hubby came up with a big beef roast for Easter dinner, and some chicken legs/thighs for me.


So, OUR Pot Roast, today---just with what we have from the freezer and pantry.

Why not use a recipe--especially now? Because, we have to be FLEXIBLE...so I have offered some alternatives as we go along here. I have done all of the suggestions at one time or another, so feel free to wing it, yourself.

Today, I used a 3# beef roast, the more marbled, the tastier it will be. Generously sprinkle meat with a garlic/pepper based steak seasoning-your choice. If you like it on a hamburger, it will be great on your roast.

2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce or one of your choice.


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Deeply fork the roast all over, and season in a low pan. Dribble the Worcester or your favorite sauce on it, turn over and repeat the dry seasoning and sauce. Cover with foil and leave at room temp for 1-2 hours or in the fridge overnight.


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This was a pretty long piece of meat, so I used my griddle with two burners working on HIGH.


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Definitely had a good sizzle going. Do every side until it is seared all over, even the edges. 


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My favorite splatter lid.
While this is searing you can prepare the vegetables. 

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3 onions cut in quarters
5-6 stalks of celery cut in hunks
6 Large carrots-split down the middle
6 potatoes cut in sizes that will bake in 1 1/2 hours.
(These vegetables will make an excellent gravy.)

Reserve 1/2 the celery and 1/2 the onions, but use
pan spray on the rest and store at room temperature, covered. This will keep them from drying out and discoloring. Or, you can leave in salt water also.
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This will keep them from drying out and discoloring. 



The thick piece now has a good sear, which will keep the juices in. Move the  meat into a lidded roaster or heavy lidded oven pot.

Meanwhile, lower heat on stove,


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Add to griddle/frypan

1/2 cup of any wine---(bottom of your bottles is fine or, 1 cup of cider, or beer)
1/3 cup of catsup or a tomato based sauce. (The sugar content in this, will help caramelize and adds an extra kick of flavor.)
1/2 cup of water

Bring liquids to boil to deglaze pan, scrape all the goodness of bits and pieces up. Add one half of the celery and onions on top and sides of the beef. and then pour the deglazed liquid on top of the beef in the roaster.


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This should be enough liquid to start your roast with, you can always add more.

Cover roaster and put in oven at 325 degrees for one hour.

Check  to see if there is enough liquid. Add more (water with wine, beer or cider if needed.) Bottom should be completely covered. 



Roast one more hour, covered.

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Now add your room temperature vegetables. You can see the spray sitting on top.

(Normally I would add a mixture of zucchini, peppers, fresh tomatoes, or parsnips/turnips depending on the season, but our fresh stuff is depleted.)
Vegetables will add lots of liquid, great for gravy. I baste the vegetables when I put them in the roaster for seasoning with the juice, which is already a rich brown.
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Season to taste or baste with pot juices. TASTE juice if you aren't sure. Roast covered until done (1 1/2 hours) (I upped the temp to 350 at this point, but watch your liquids.)

If you must fuss with it, you can baste the vegetables again, but every time you open the oven, it takes LONGER.
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Remove vegetables/meat to platter or dish and cover and keep in oven at 200 or under. Fork test, all the veggies are caramelized to a beautiful gold. Since it was just us, I skipped the large platter and used a pan.


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Taste the drippings in roaster for salt/seasoning, adjust. Place on top of stove, reduce the liquid to increase flavor and bring juices back to boil. I added a cup of water to the bottom of my pan for gravy. The seasoning was perfect as it was.


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Add 1 Tbsp of either cornstarch/flour/or arrowroot to a 1/2 cup of water and dissolve. Slowly add to the juices in the roaster and cook. Repeat as many times as necessary, until desired consistency is reached. I figure 1Tbsp of cornstarch per 1 cup of juices. (I ended up using 1 1/2 TBsp of flour for this gravy. An immersion blender makes quick work out of the gravy and gives you all that vegetable goodness.

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Health Tip: By putting juice into a fat reducer measuring cup, you can pour off only the broth (basically vegetables), leaving the fat in the cup. 
















With a nice fresh salad, this is worthy of a holiday meal!

If you are working/ QUICK COOK: Sear meat on stove top, throw everything in a crockpot on high for 1 hour, and then low all day! Remove meat and make gravy on stovetop, at night.

Hubby said this is the best roast I have ever made, and we have been married for 51(53-now) years! 

This is an oldie but a GOOD ENJOY!



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Thanks  ALWAYS  for visiting,
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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. Please do not use my photos without permission. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts, or any products shown or anywhere I shop.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Sandi 



Friday, April 8, 2022

SO, DOMINOS: We aren't Remodeling, just Spending $$$$$???

 UM...Spring is supposed to be the time to REVITALIZE.


But, I never thought our house (built in 1973) would need so much revitalizing at this time of our lives. We bought this house in 1984, and now IT is OLD AND RETIRED, too, and apparently was so need of 
HOUSE MEDICARE. LOL.

Up until now---we've always done ALL our own REDO work, but since November we have had to have a new furnace/air-conditioner installed, ($8,500) then our VERY HARD well water chewed through the third water softener, so we added new filtration water system and softener ($5,600). (The well was redone 5years ago for 8K.)

Last Wednesday the electrician was here. We need to sorely upgrade our voltage/panel, raise the 'stack' (to do the roof), move the meter to a new LEGAL location, and run more amps to the garage (for a heat-exchanger). And guess what ---the house has not been properly grounded????since 1974.) ($12,000+).

We currently run a fan and a heater for the greenhouse which is partially insulated. 

At least the greenhouse saves on plants and produces 'free', lol, $food$.

The insulation has helped and we easily keep the greenhouse +20 degrees over the outdoor temps running on half power.

Hubby has a full workshop in the garage, and wants to add an heat exchanger for heating, which makes sense as he has gone crazy with the long winter this year.

And all that---for THINGS you can't  see??????? 

I cringe thinking what the contractor might want for the new roof? We had planned to raise it so all the leaves, debris, and snow slide off???? We are getting past the age of climbing on the roof ten times a year to clean it.

We have redone all the sewer and plumbing ourselves, and upgraded most appliances and  light fixtures. 



 

While not blog, 'Decorating', fodder this was quite the feat. I got a sewer line/pump and water to my craft shop. In some post-covid day, I can have classes in there. 

Hubby also changed the angle drain from kitchen sink/ /dishwasher/washer/dryer pipes sixty feet away. Upgrading the 50 year old pipes didn't hurt a thing either. 

Of course this meant we upgraded the toilets too! DOMINOS...||||||//////______

We have a passive solar home that has been re-insulated,and new windows replaced over the last 15 years and new doors. 

(Last year, the final window bill was $3,000)

 doing it ourselves. 

Hubby matched the siding, and added brick below. This replaced our drafty floor to ceiling 108" leaky windows. Very late in the year, and I never really took any great photos of the finished 'look'. 

So, well, is Easter on ??? NOT At the moment???

The electrical starts the day after Easter. Leaving us without power for how long? 

Now, I think we are not doing the floor in the extra bedroom---and concentrating on these big expenses  and upheaval first. We will be clearing the porch and basement for the Electrician$ to have room to work.

NOTE: (A day later the permit arrived online). Last time we needed permits ourselves---it took 3-5 weeks. YAY---for the Electrical Contractor!

At this point, I'm hedging on the two gallons of paint to do the living room. You know what happens when you paint a room, Decorating Dominos begin to fall, and there will be no $$$ for decorating with anything new.

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As we said to our kids, when we added 'cement' siding and the new windows to the house a few years back,  "Welcome to your 'No maintenance' Inheritance!"

Smile...if it isn't one thing...it's another...

Saturday Night Live NBC Giphy

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. Please do not use my photos without permission. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts, or any products shown or anywhere I shop.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Sandi 






















Sunday, March 27, 2022

Blast from Spring's Past:Bunnies in the Chaos

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Early on in my blogging, I posted this SPRING blog. As we are going to do some major upheaval (the last room in the house for floors)...we are going to have a mess again and I'm not adding any Spring decor or decorations until it's done.

So, I thought I would post my Springs' Past. Most of this post was from 2016. And, it's been pretty miserable here in Chicagoland in March. My Christmas cactus is setting blooms again---which will make you understand how many GRAY and miserable days we have had this month.

BUT, it is time to THINK SPRING! Welcome to this OLD SPRING Post!


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THINK SPRING!

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This NEW little bunny plate wandered home with me a couple of weeks ago, only $3.99 from HomeGoods. (Goodness I'm sure it would be a lot more now!!!)

I'm trying to use items I already have for decorating. But this was so sweet. I also bought matching tissue from WorldMarket, which had the most adorable spring items, it was really hard to walk away. I only bought the tissue to decoupage eggs with.



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These little NEW bunnies came from Menards/lumber yard. They are destined for the planter cage on the front porch and are cement, with BIG eyes. I thought they were cute, but they creeped everyone out at a family dinner two weeks ago.

 The light was not cooperating.

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Brilliant sunshine to gloomy shade in seconds.

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Right now the bunnies are protecting the daffodils in an OLD blue stoneware pot, a favorite of my mother's. Every Spring it would be filled with daffodils I would bring her as soon as they began appearing in the grocery stores.

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When the daffodils along the the house popped up, it was never empty. The OLD fish poacher is filled with paper grass and a couple of toys from the grand. The cement bunnies protect some bubble wands Hubby brought home. Perfect for a spring day.


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The light was not cooperating at all.

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I resorted to the flash. I either have GLARE here or GLOOM!


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Here is Harriet and Harry Hare....gracing my white cabinet in the kitchen. I found them Thanksgiving weekend stuffed on a junk-filled shelf at a Thriftstore for $7.00 each. They are heavy--heavy--resin, highly detailed and marked copyright 2000, but nothing else? A small gold foil label is scraped off?


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Who could turn down this detail and the sweet face of Harriet. Outside we had intermittent sunshine so the pictures are all over the place with tones.


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Harry is so dignified with a gentlemanly air. I did one small repair on them...which took a few seconds, otherwise I won't change a thing. Their grass fill baskets will eventually hold --special eggs yet to be completed.


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The kitchen is the only island of peace in the chaos of the remodel. However I had to move pieces of drywall to get at the washer/dryer last night. So I collected my bunnies and made a display....which will probably change. Small toy bunny in a blue and white planter, the bunny cake mold (which needs a bow), a child's book, some beaded flowers with a spring bee nestled in them in a jar.

The unusual flexible metal flower frog may hold chocolate foil covered eggs for Easter. Right now the window gets hot sun early in the morning, so it's not such a good idea.


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The sun peeked out and then I had problems with the photos. My Rosemary plant was in a bright orange pot---I covered it with a Spring HomeGoods bag for 99 cents.


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 Bright sun outside---not enough light though. Impatience is my middle name.

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 Then the glare of using a flash. 

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The GREEN Ivy wreath urn, with an OLD porcelain bunny planter (my Grandmother's) where some summer plants will go when I move the urn outside. The bunny is probably German porcelain from the early 20th century. I added some peeps and garden markers the Grand painted in glitter paint.

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Hiding in the top of my OLD Grandma's enamel coffeepot is a little rubber rabbit of the Grand's. She has workout clothes, tennis shoes and a headband on? But she's a bunny!


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In the center of it all is my Granny's glass cookie jar, stuffed with peeps. Well not stuffed, they have been dipped into---for hot chocolate and the Grand spotted them and has a weakness for anything marshmallow!


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I used the old glass inside trick, I may turn this around and use fresh flowers when I have some and I will add more PEEPS!


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The cookie jar will be very cute with daffodils inside.

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Sweet little bunny here and there and everywhere.

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And the light goes Ka-Ka again.


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Another nest---lovely OLD chicken basket has almost opaline on the edges, it was my mom's, and I always remember her having it. Silly bunny cake pan,  NEW that my hubby picked up.
(WEHAD SNOW 3 TIMES LAST WEEK-4/11/22)  
I can't wait for REAL Chicagoland SPRING!

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Happy Spring from my Old New Bunnies in the Chaos and thanks for stopping by. I will be happy to answer any questions or comments.

If You enjoyed this post please FOLLOW IT in the upper right hand corner, to get just one email of each AD-Free post.

Thanks  ALWAYS  for visiting,
I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

I will post at the following Link Parties, 
I hope you visit them.


All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. Please do not use my photos without permission. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts, or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Sandi