I work a 40 hour work week.
I am also a full time 24 hour a day mom to a one year old boy, I’m a girl guide leader to 8 or so 12-14 year
olds, I’m vice president of the local Community Arts Council, and somehow I manage
to squish arts and crafts in there. What
I am not is Superwoman.
I don’t exercise enough, the dog doesn't get walked nearly
enough, and my new philosophy is that if I can get the closet doors shut – it’s
clean enough. I’ve hired a housekeeper to come for 3 hours
every two weeks to help me cope. However in the time between when I get home
from work around 5ish and when Chicken Little gets thrown into bed at
7:30. I somehow need to get a meal on
the table. My solution has been breaking
out with freezer meals (mass produced casseroles that I can freeze and pull out
at any time to pop in the oven which are largely assembled on weekends or when Chicken
Little is in bed) and Crock-pot meals assembled
in much the same fashion. It’s
working. We are fed, we even get
vegetables on most nights.
I do still like to cook,
and so it was when hunting for slow-cooker meals I dug up my mother’s
Pot Roast Recipe, with the thought of turning into a crock-pot meal. It’s an old one. It’s a Pot Roast.. Do people even make pot
roast anymore? Some dinners get a bad
rap like tuna casserole, meatloaf and pot roast The stigma may come from bad experiences or maybe
because those meals are just ugly to look at. But I’m a mother without enough
time on my hands...
When I re-read the recipe... all I could see was caramelized
onions and beer... this has to be delicious... I decided I’d actually spend the
time, and make it in the oven on the weekend. I sent DH out for the meat. I sat Chicken Little on the counter, I sliced onions, Chicken Little tried a few.. but spat them
out, and was shortly after pacified by Christmas Oranges – followed by playing
in a sink of soapy water. I stirred,
and caramelized those onions.... stir and wait.. they will eventually get brown
and yummy... wait for it, just let them do their thing... wait for it.... browning
up. It is sooo worth it. I added beer,
and tomatoes.. and threw the works in the oven.
Eating dinner that night and watching chicken little down
those stewed up onions one after another, I wondered why I have not done this
more often – back when I had time to cook.
But even better than the flavour was the gravy – a thick stew of onions,
carrots, turnip in beer and tomatoes.
Yum.
I could not bear to throw out this deliciousness.... I put
it on the stove. Added 4 cups of water, an assortment of vegetables, the left
over roast cut into bits, and called it pot-roast soup. It will serve as lunch for the coming week...
and voila! Almost instant homemade soup -
this is the stuff I need to get me through the time crunch of the coming
week! Delicious.
Pot Roast with
Beer and Caramelized Onions
3-4 pound boneless beef pot roast
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 -3 tablespoons oil
4 med onions halved lengthwise and
sliced thin
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon pepper
3 large garlic cloves chopped
finely
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 bottle beer
1 can tomato sauce (213 ml) (or
some puréed tomatoes when you realize you have no tomato sauce)
1 ½ pound carrots
1 small rutabaga
On a large plate, roll meat in flour to coat, shaking
off excess…reserve excess flour.
In a large Dutch oven heat half the oil over medium -
high heat. Brown meat on all sides about 8 minutes. Transfer meat
to a plate.
Reduce heat to medium Add remaining oil to pot.
Add onions, brown sugar, bay leaves, salt cinnamon, ginger and
pepper. Cook 12- 15 minutes or until onions are tender and golden,
stirring often.
Add reserved flour and garlic. Cook 30 seconds,
stirring. Add vinegar, cook until evaporated. Pour in beer and
tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute or until
thickened, stirring. Return meat and accumulated juices to
pot.
Cover and stick in oven at 325 for two hours, turning meat
occasionally.
Meanwhile, peel carrots and rutabaga cut into 2 x ½
inch strips. Add to meat and cover and simmer for another 1 –
1 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
Remove roast from pot, spoon sauce over meat and serve remaining sauce separately.
After dinner.... make Left-over Soup– Chop up remaining roast into bite sized bits, return to pot,
with 4 cups of water, and a host of vegetables – green beans, corn, potatoes,
cauliflower, mushrooms, kohlrabi or whatever you can find in the bottom of your
fridge.
Bring to boil.
Voila! Lunches for the whole family for the week.
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