POT ROAST OF BEEF w-CRANBERRY SAUCE

I wanted to cook a fancy beef roast for my birthday supper (Hubs like meat meals and I wanted festivity), but the freezer was short on that particular item (aka: NO roasts left), so I grabbed a large chuck steak and used that instead and cut back on the cooking time. I also, as usual, used my crockpot because I ruin meat any other way. No joke. I have been cooking for 43 years and STILL cannot serve a decent meat meal from the cook range top or from the oven. If my family is going to eat a palatable meal, it has got to be cooked either in my crockpots (I have 1 for every size required; LOL), or from my electric skillet.

And I really do not have time to spend in the kitchen all day long: I am a busy woman with my crafting and teaching our little prince. Lately the crafting has fallen by the wayside too, but that’s okay – babies grow up and start to pull away, so there is only a limited window of teaching opportunities available before they begin to glean lessons from others; but the yarn will always be around later on ;-) Right now, baby boy is wanting to learn and this ‘gamma’ is willing, so he takes precedence over everything and everyone at the moment.

Anyway, getting back to this recipe … it is G.O.O.D!

This is the first time I’ve made this dish and Hubs had requested that I do repeats :-D

I concur ;-)

I am posting the original recipe, so if you are a small family lie we are with 2 adults & 1 small child, just half the ingredients.

And baby boy’s home education curriculum Units are finally DONE!

(https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2018/01/brunswick-stew.html) Thank Adonai ;-) There are now 16 Home Education Files completed with MOD stories and themed Units I put together from various gleaned internet sources.

Now the fun begins …

2018 is going to be a blast :-D

POT ROAST OF BEEF w-CRANBERRY SAUCE – Serves 8-10

5 pounds chuck beef, boned & rolled (or bottom round roast) – 4 Tablespoons fat (I used bacon drippings saved) – 2 cups homemade Cranberry sauce (or 1 canned) – 3 cloves (or 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves) – 1 onion, chopped – 1 cup water – Sat & ground Black Pepper – 4 – 6 Tablespoons flour – 4 Tablespoons butter

In a large Dutch Oven pot, melt the fat and sear the beef on all sides. Add cranberry sauce, cloves, onion, water, and salt & pepper. Combine flour and butter and add to pot. Simmer covered for 3 hours (or until beef is tender). 

Pour off liquid, cook down until it thickens. If not rich enough, add a little extra butter.

CROCKPOT VERSION: In a large skillet, melt the fat and sear the beef on all sides. Set aside.

Beef Roast w-Cranberry Sauce. Bacon fat.

Beef Roast w-Cranberry Sauce. Meat.

Beef Roast w-Cranberry sauce. Mashing the canned sauce while meat sears; sent Hubs to grocery store to get foil …

Beef Roast w-Cranberry Sauce. Searing the meat.

Place in crockpot: cranberry sauce, cloves, onion, water, and salt & pepper. Combine flour and butter and add to pot. Cook on LOW for about 5 hours (or until beef is tender).

Beef Roast w-Cranberry Sauce. Onions.

Beef Roast w-Cranberry Sauce. First meat layer.

Beef Roast w-Cranberry Sauce. Stacked meat layer.

CHOCOLATE! My husband brought this back with the foil; he knows how to keep me happy. LOL

COUNTRY PORK RIBS w-HERBS

Well … there were no more pork roasts to be had from our freezer when I went to get one to thaw. So I had to improvise. I grabbed the country-style ribs and prayed the jury-rigged-meal would suffice.

It did, and I will be substituting the ribs for roast off and on for this recipe in the future ;-)

The original recipe is actually, “Roast of Pork w-herbs”, and THAT is what I will be posting … but as I did, you too can substitute the country-style ribs and the effect is just as good. This is a stand-by recipe for me and we really enjoy it.

If you are only a couple as we are, just half the recipe; it works just as well.

This recipe smells heavenly as it cooks. It’s a perfect Winter meal dish where the sense need to be woke up in all the dreary weather.

PORK OF ROAST w-HERBS – Serves 8 – 10

1 loin of Pork, 8 – 10 pounds (or Country-style Pork Ribs) – 2 Tablespoons Butter – 1 teaspoon EACH Salt & ground Black Pepper – 1 Tablespoon granulated white Sugar – ½ cup Flour – 2 cups Beef broth – 1 cup Cider – 1 clove Garlic, minced – 1 teaspoon crushed Rosemary – 1 teaspoon chopped Basil, 1 teaspoon Nutmeg – 1 teaspoon Ginger – 1 cup heavy cream

Combine the butter, salt, pepper, and sugar; rub meat with the mixture. Sprinkle with flour and put into a moderate 350-degree oven. Cook 30 minutes. Then baste with mixture made of broth, cider, herbs, and spices together for 5 minutes. Cook an additional 3 to 3-1/2 hours. (See now why I almost always exclusively use my crockpots?)

Add cream to pan gravy and serve hot, but do not boil as this would curdle the cream.

CROCKPOT VERSION: Dredge meat with flour and sear in butter hot skillet. Place meat in crockpot; pour broth and cider over. Add salt, pepper, sugar, herbs, and spices.

Country-Style Pork Ribs in crockpot. I left off the flour this time too … and just added the butter to the crockpot with everything else.

Cook on LOW 6 hours.

Add cream to pan gravy and serve hot, but do not boil as this would curdle the cream.

BRUNSWICK STEW

I love chicken and could eat it almost exclusively. This yummy stew is delish! And cooks in no time at all ;-)

As usual, I cooked it in my small sized crockpot because I was busy all day and couldn’t … and didn’t want to  … spend time hunched over the kitchen stove slaving away. LOL

While this meal cooked, I worked on finishing our little prince’s home education curriculum. I have themed the Units around farm and forest animals with my own concocted and printed cute little animal stories (https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2017/07/mod-booklets-for-my-little-prince.html) with added hands-on activities, worksheets (not too many, but gotta have ‘em if mama is going to put him back into public school at some point: I wish she wouldn’t, but she will), and field-trip adventure ideas that fit the stories I wrote for him.

It rained and poured here all day long and this meal was refreshing and revitalizing, the smell wafting from the kitchen area stimulated our senses and kept us awake during the sleep-inducing deluge; and the eating of the meal stimulated our taste buds, picking up where the aroma left off :-D

BRUNSWICK STEW – Makes 2 servings

1 teaspoon Butter – ¼ cup chopped  Onions -12 ounces Chicken breasts, skinned & cut into chunky pieces – 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce – 1 teaspoon powdered Mustard – 1/8 teaspoon Cayenne – ¼ canned Italian Tomatoes – ¼ cup hot Water – 3 ounces potatoes, cut – ¼ cup fresh or canned Green beans – 1/8 teaspoon EACH: Salt & ground Black Pepper

In a medium skillet, heat butter until bubbly and hot; add onion and saute until soft. Add chicken and brown well on all sides. Set aside.

Brunswick Stew. Searing the meat.

Place into crockpot: Worcestershire sauce, mustard, red pepper, tomatoes, water, potatoes, salt & pepper. Add chicken and onions. Cook on low for about 4 – 5 hours (or until potatoes are fork-tender); THEN ADD green beans and steam until hot (maybe 10 minutes or so).

Brunswick Stew. Tomatoes and seasonings.

Brunswick Stew in crockpot.

Variation: Substitute green beans for frozen baby lima beans and cook with meal; OR use whole-kernel corn for potatoes & green beans.