Beef Pot Roast

Today I created this pot roast recipe and found it to be delish! Caleb claims that the gravy I made from the drippings is as good as the school lunch gravy...ummm...let's just say, he used to never eat gravy until he tried it once at school this spring and he discovered he liked gravy. He came home from school that day and said, "MOM!!! I like gravy! Can you make it like the school lunch people do?" I knew I would never make gravy like the school lunch kind because it was probably full of sodium and additives, but I promised him one day I would make him yummy gravy. I haven't made beef roast yet this summer because, well, it's kinda hot to be making pot roast. I love to eat it in the fall and winter. For some reason I had a yen for it and decided to make it for Sunday dinner. Here's what I did:

2 lbs. beef rump roast
Olive Oil
Flour
1 cup red cooking wine
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (optional)
1 onion, sliced
3 carrots, peeled and cut into one pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into one inch pieces
3 cloves of garlic
Dried rosemary
Salt and Pepper
2 cups beef broth, reduced sodium
2 bay leaves

Pour enough oil into a dutch oven to lightly cover the bottom. Heat on medium high heat. Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour and sear on all sides until a light crust forms on all sides. Set the roast aside. Caramelize the onions in the oil until soft. Put roast back in pot and make deep slits on the top. Slice up the garlic and stuff and 1/3 of a garlic clove in each slit. Stuff each slit with rosemary. (I like to do this so the meat absorbs the flavor of all the spices. Pour in the wine. I also added a douse of red wine vinegar, but my mom said she thought it made the drippings just a little too sour, so omit that if you want. Put in the bay leaves, carrots, celery and broth. Cover the roast and place in a 300 degree oven for about 3.5 hours. You could also slow cook this.

To make the gravy, remove the roast and vegetables. Mix about 3 tbs. cornstarch in about 1/4 cold water. Slowly pour into the drippings. Slowly heat, stirring constantly until slightly boiling. Boil for about a minute.

Honey Whole Wheat Waffles

The kids were begging for waffles this morning and Caleb loves "yellow" waffles, a.k.a. all-purpose flour waffles. However, to show him whole wheat waffles can be almost as good, I decided to add honey to the batter. The result was delicious! He claims he likes these even more than the "yellow" waffles.

2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour (we used white wheat)
1 tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbs. baking powder
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup honey

Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff and soft peaks form, set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix together egg yolks, milk, honey and oil. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients just until slightly blended. Gently fold in the egg whites. Cook on a hot waffle iron.

Easy, Fast Spaghetti Sauce

Tonight I meshed together a couple of recipes to make a super easy, flavorful spaghetti sauce. I guesstimated a lot, but I will put down how much I think I put in of each ingredient:

Homemade turkey sausage: (if you don't want to make it, you can buy a pound at the store, but the storebought stuff is very high in sodium)

1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 lb. lean ground turkey


1 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed or finely grated
canola oil
1 28 oz. can crushed tomato, no salt added
2 cans 8 oz. tomato sauce, no salt added
1/2 tsp. dried basil or more to taste
1/2 tsp. dried parsley or more to taste
1 tbs. sugar or more to taste
salt and pepper


To make the sausage: Mix together the first five ingredients. Put ground turkey in a large bowl. Sprinkle spice mixture over the turkey, carefully blending it in with your hands.

Drizzle oil in a large frying pan, enough to coat. Turn heat to medium high. When the oil starts to bubble just slightly on the edges, put in the onion and garlic, stirring until onions or a light caramel color and tender. Put in the turkey sausage, breaking it up with a spatula and cook until brown.

Put in the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce, basil, parsley and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for about half an hour.

I don't always cook spaghetti noodles since it seems they are harder for my kids to eat. I love to pour this sauce over bowtie pasta, but penne or shells pasta would work, too.