My Maui Zaui

My friend is in Hawaii and my husband was bringing craft beer home, so I had pizza and the islands on my mind. I knew I had chicken, bacon, and pineapple, so I set out to make my own version of the Round Table Maui Zaui pizza, and it turned out great.

I started by making the crust: SO EASY...All Recipe Crust

Then I prepped a 1/4 of a white onion (cut it super thin) for the topping, crisped up some bacon, chopped a chicken breast I'd been thawing in some Soyaki and threw it into a saute pan for about 6 mins on medium heat with the marinade. The chicken should be tender DO NOT OVERCOOK IT!

Turn your oven to 400 degrees and heat your pizza stone. Pizza stones are essential to a great crust. If you don't have one use your most heavy-duty pan and preheat that. You have to preheat the pan!

Ingredients:

For Sauce:

5 cloves Garlic
1/4 white onion
1/4 Mae Ploy (sweet chili sauce)
Tbsp White Vinegar
Tbsp White Sugar
1/4 Honey
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce or Soyaki Marinade
1 tsp ground ginger
ground pepper

I sauteed the onions and garlic in a splash of olive oil. Then added the sauces and used my immersion blender to make the sauce smooth. Then I reduced the sauce to thicken it. Reduce the sauce simply by cooking it longer but keep a close eye on the temp, you don't want to burn it. Stir frequently. (If it seems too runny add more honey).

For Toppings:

1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
3/4 Cup Cheddar
1/2 Bacon (cooked crispy)
1 chicken breast
1/4 white onion
Fresh pineapple 
sprinkling of cilantro

Roll out your crust on a pizza peel with corn meal so it won't stick, then transfer the crust to the hot stone when you're ready to assemble it. (I use the same method of transfer that you would for a pie crust...once it's rolled out fold it in half like a taco, then fold that in half, transfer it to the hot stone, and unfold).

I started with sauce, then chicken (putting the chicken below the cheese and other toppings ensured it didn't dry out). Then cheeses, onions, bacon, and finally pineapple. Then I crank the oven to 420 and bake it for 20 minutes. Your crust will be crispy, and the toppings will be perfect.

Enjoy!

Sorry about the cell phone pic...

Organic Coconut Flour & Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

I found a recipe a while back for peanut butter dog cookies, of course I modified it about twenty ways, made them four different times, and finally got the perfect dog cookie, so here they are...healthy dog cookies made with peanut butter, organic coconut flour, and flax seed!

Organic Coconut Flour & Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

1/3 cup steel oats

1/2 cup ground flax seed

3/4 cup coconut flour

1 cup flour (whole wheat or all purpose)

1/3 cup peanut butter

11/4 cup HOT water

Stir dry ingredients together. 

Eye-ball the peanut butter measurement because it's not worth dealing with trying to get it in the measuring cup and back out again. Add hot water. 

Mix together, then roll dough out. I used more coconut flour to keep the dough from sticking to my board. Perfect moment for a doggie photo-bomb.

 

Roll the dough until it's a little thicker than a saltine cracker, and cut out the cookies. 

These cookies don't spread out, so feel free to crowd a greased cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. I keep a close eye on them to prevent the tails from burning. Check them and watch for hot spots. Ultimately, if they come out a little too brown, your dog is not going to care. Enjoy my furry friends!

Lovin' Leftovers!

I can't believe I'm writing a blog about leftovers. I used to despise leftovers. Now, a with a new job, tighter budget, and different outlook, I'm saving money, re-purposing leftovers, and loving it. My mom used to make rissoles all the time when we were kids, and now I see why.

Rissoles

I used leftover mashed potatoes, one pre-cooked hamburger patty, a tbsp of ketchup, 1/2 an onion, about a cup of breadcrumbs, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, seasoning salt, butter, and olive oil, and the leftovers were transformed.

This is a very flexible recipe, and I don't think any two rissole recipes were ever the same in our house. These turned out very crispy and delicious so here's mine, but feel free to leave ingredients out, or add any in. Note that as with any potato pancake type of recipe an egg will be necessary as the binding agent and what keeps the potatoes together. Be careful when handling and flipping the patties because they are still somewhat fragile.

Ingredients

1. Mashed Potatoes (about 3 cups)
2. Ground Beef (I used one already cooked burger patty - you can use as much as you want or have)
3. 1/2 diced white onion
4. 1 egg
5. cup of breadcrumbs (1/2 in mix & 1/2 for coating)
6. tbsp ketchup
7. dash of worchestershire sauce
8. salt, pepper, seasoning salt all to your own preferences
9. tbsp olive oil
10. tbsp butter

Mix first 8 ingredients together only using half of breadcrumbs. Once you've formed the patties, coat with remaining bread crumbs. Heat pan to medium low, add 1/2 of the oil and butter. Add two patties, cook about eight minutes per side. They should be a deep golden brown, once you flip them. Cook the other side for eight more minutes. Remove first two and keep them warm, then repeat with the remaining rissoles.

This made four large rissoles.  We served them with a little tomato basil salad, with ketchup and grainy mustard for dipping.

For a weeknight meal rissoles are super easy, tasty, and so cheap. Enjoy!

Pesto Chicken Pizza

I love to make homemade pizza, it has a totally different vibe than anything you can buy. I make the dough but cut corners with pre-made pesto and rotisserie chicken. This recipe makes two good sized pizzas. Enough for at least 4 people. Skip the dough if you don't have the time, and buy a pre-made one (I've never bought one, so I can't advise which are the best, but I would say avoid those already baked crusts and see if you can just buy dough).

The most essential part of a great pizza crust is a super hot oven, and hot pizza stone!

Pizza Dough:

3 1/2 cups flour (bread flour is best but you can sub all purpose)
2 teaspoons salt
1 package of yeast
1 teaspoon sugar

1 &1/2 cup of 110 degree water
2 tbls olive oil + 2 tbls olive oil for the bowl

Mix dry ingredients in a stand mixer or bowl (I used my kitchen aid with the dough hook attachment), then add warm water and oil with the mixer on the lowest speed. Let the dough come together. Pull it out, form it into a ball, pour olive oil in the bowl, and put the dough back into the oiled bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and cover for 1 hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size, set it on a floured board and cut it in 1/2. Cover it again for ten more minutes. Then your dough is ready!

Pesto Chicken Pizza:

Two Pizza Crusts
1 Rotisserie Chicken
12 ounces Mozzarella (grated)
Jar of pesto (I used the Costco jar and I have a ton left) 
2 sliced Roma-tomatoes
1/4 sliced white onion
Fresh basil for garnish

Sprinkle with parm & red peppers.

While you wait on the dough, prep the rest of your ingredients. Pull chicken off of the rotisserie (you want the pieces fairly small or they will dry out), grate whole milk mozzarella (doesn't have to be the fresh wet kind just make sure it's not the pre-grated dried out variety), slice Roma-tomatoes into thin slices, and white onion into thin slices. Julienne the basil (cut into thin strips).

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees, and put your pizza stone (or pan in the oven). This step is essential to a crispy crust that can stand up to the rest of the ingredients. Without a super hot oven, and pre-heated stone, your dough will be chewy.

Toss, stretch, and press out the dough. Once it's about 12 to 14 inches, you're ready. Fold it in half. Pull the pizza stone out and transfer your dough to the stone. Unfold it. Now assemble the pizza on the stone. This process allows the crust to begin the cooking process while you work. Work fast. I start with large spoonfuls of pesto spread in a thin even layer, then add chicken, cheese, tomatoes, and onions. I added grated parm to the tomatoes before cooking.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes! Pull it out and garnish with basil, parm, and red peppers!

It's so good. Enjoy!

Homemade Pasta

I usually make fresh pasta for Spaghetti Carbonara, Chicken Parmesan, and Fettuccine Alfredo. Because Carbonara and Fettuccine Alfredo are such simple dishes, the fresh pasta takes center stage. Alfredo is one of America's favorite Italian inspired dinners, and there's no way you can do this dish justice out of a jar or packet. The nice thing about homemade pasta is you only need three ingredients: flour, eggs, and salt. So dust off that old pasta machine, or ask for one for your birthday, because dried pasta just can't match up. 

Nothing makes me feel like an old Italian lady quite like kneading dough, and cranking it through my pasta machine; it takes a lot of elbow grease and patience, but it's so worth the work! I always pour a glass of vino, play some Frank Sinatra, and burn a few candles to really enjoy the experience.

Homemade Pasta

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour
5 eggs
tsp salt

Directions:

Form a well with your flour, (I use an ice cream scoop to make the well). Carefully add the eggs to your well, and salt the eggs. With a fork carefully stir the flour into the eggs. By the time your well brakes, you should have a pretty silky runny dough. Then, trying not to make a mess, incorporate the left over flour with the silky egg dough. The dough will be firm, and tough, and you'll have to knead it at the end to get it all incorporated. Now use a rolling pin, then cut the dough into strips to fit it into your pasta machine.

After you've transformed your dough into noodles make sure to flour them or they will stick together and you'll have to start over (I know I've done that).

Boil for 3 to 4 minutes in salted water. Test a noodle to make sure they're at your desired level of doneness. 

What's for Dinner

Fish Tacos

If you're not a fish lover, these are the fish tacos for you! I don't like anything fishy smelling, flaky, or slimy, so when it comes to fish, I'm pretty limited.

I'm using Alaskan Halibut for my tacos, but cod or mahi will work too. A tip my mom taught me is to always dry your fish before you coat it with anything. I let it thaw then wrap in paper towels in the fridge for a few hours, changing the paper towels when they're soaked.

The marinade is made with garlic, lime, and cilantro which takes care of any fishy taste if there ever was one, and they come out really flavorful and these tacos couldn't be any faster! You're looking at twenty minutes cooking and marinating time!

 Alaskan Halibut Fish Tacos

1 lb white ocean fish
1 bunch of cilantro
lime juice from 2 juicy limes
1 clove of garlic
1/3 cup of olive oil
pepper
tbsp. orange juice

white corn tortillas
sliced avocado
cabbage or shredded lettuce
hot sauce or salsa

1) Once your fish is thawed and dried with paper towels, cut the skin off, and an areas that look dark. The white flesh is the least fishy, the red parts will taste more like the skin. Just run your knife along the inside of the skin. Discard anything fishy immediately! Cut fish into pieces about 2 1/2 inches long and about an inch thick. *You have to turn it on your grill pan so make sure the pieces are big enough that you can move them tongs, and you want to see nice grill marks.

2) Make the marinade by combining the bunch of cilantro, lime juice, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, and oj in a blender, food processor, or with an emulsion blender. It's going to look like a salad dressing or runny pesto.

3) Let the fish marinate no longer than 15 minutes. *The lime juice will start to cook the fish, so any longer than 15 minutes can make it tough.

4) Rub a grill pan with veg. oil and turn to medium high. You want your pan nice and hot. Add the marinated fish, cook 3 minutes MAX on the first side, and two on the bottom side.*Basically as soon as the meat of the fish goes from that translucent look to white, it's ready to turn! Watch it carefully, if it's overcooked it's not as good!

5) Wrap your corn tortillas in a damp dish towel, microwave them (in the towel) for 1 minute. You're steaming them, and they turn out nice and soft in a minute.

I like to serve mine on little white corn tortillas, with a light cabbage slaw or shredded butter lettuce, slices of avocado, and Tapatio.

What's For Dinner

3 Alarm Stuffed Bell Peppers

Last night I peered into the fridge around five p.m. still unsure of what I'd be putting on the table for dinner. I dug through the veggie drawer and found four orange and red bell peppers, and thus it was decided, time for stuffed peppers. My dad had yet to decide on his dinner plans either, so I texted him the idea and all of the steps along the way, and even though we were two hours and a hundred miles apart, we made dinner together. From Lincoln to Reno they turned out great. They are quick, easy, and so good!

One crucial step is to cook the bell peppers in the oven first before you stuff them. If you try to cook them fully stuffed the rice will dry out, and they take a lot longer.

Ingredients:
4 bell peppers
1 lb. ground turkey
1 onion
1 cup of rice
1 cup of 3 Alarm Colby Jack Cheese or 1 cup of cheddar cheese
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 
salt, pepper, granulated garlic
light olive oil or veg. oil

Directions:
1) Start the rice.
2) Cut the tops off of 4 bell peppers, drizzle them with a light oil, salt them, and bake them upside down for about 15 to 20 minutes at 375 degrees. (You want them to start looking a little wrinkled).
3) While rice & peppers are cooking. Saute a chopped onion in oil about five minutes. Add ground turkey, season with W sauce, salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. I also use the left over bell pepper from the tops and add them at this point.
4) Add diced tomatoes to turkey.
5) Once the rice is done, combine rice and turkey mixture. Taste it. Add salt or whatever it needs.
6) Take peppers out of the oven. Stuff them as full as possible, press cheese all over the tops, and bake 15 more minutes.

*I used a 3 alarm spicy Colby Jack cheese for my husband and brother's peppers, and they LOVED it!

Here's a picture from my Dad's kitchen, he only made two, but served the extra filling on the side! Enjoy...

Beef Stewguignon

I dove into the glorious world of beef bourguignon about six years ago, and followed the instructions carefully and attentively about three times. I loved it, but after making beef stew a few times after that I decided it was time for a marriage of the two. So all these years later, it's more likely you'll find a combo of both of these delicious dinners in my kitchen, rather than one or the other.

Bourguignon calls for an entire bottle of red wine, which is one of the main reasons I love the recipe. I will never deny this dish of the wine. However, the recipe for bourguignon is a little too fussy, and calls for bacon. Not that I have anything wrong with bacon, but in this dish I don't think it adds enough flavor to be worth the extra calories. And then there's beef stew, which falls a little flat for me. Mix the two recipes together, and you check all of the boxes.

You want your meat to be fork tender, so make this dish a few hours before dinner time.

Beef Stewguignon

serves 4

1 lb. beef stew meat (mine was actually 1.33 lbs, no big deal)

1 bottle of red wine

1 tbsp. olive oil

6 shallots (peeled and halved) or pearl onions

1 head of garlic (peeled and halved)

2 carrots 

1 large potatoes

1/2 bunch of celery

1 cup of beef stock

fresh thyme
salt
pepper

1) Prep your vegetables, dry your stew meat in paper towels, and season the meat with salt and pepper. You want to make the veggies roughly the same size to ensure similar cooking times.


2) Get the olive oil hot in your pan. Sear the meat on all sides and remove from the pan.

3) Sauté shallots or onions, and garlic *watch garlic closely, it burns if you're not stirring it. 

4) Add carrots, celery, and potatoes to the pan for a few minutes.

5) Then add the seared pieces of stew meat back to the pan, an entire bottle of wine, cup of beef stock, and fresh thyme. 

6) Then cover and cook at 300 degrees in the oven for at least 3 hours. I taste the stew at the end to make sure the flavor is right, I usually add a splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper too.

What's for Dinner?

Turkey Chili

I make this recipe all of the time because it's healthy, and really easy! And there are several different ways to achieve the same taste: slow cooker, dutch oven, sauce pot…

I usually serve it with cheddar cheese, scallions, avocado, sour cream, cilantro rice, and quick corn muffins.  

Ingredients
1 onion
1 can chili beans (pintos or pinoquitos)
1 can kidney or black beans (optional)
1 can white corn (optional)
1 lb. ground turkey
1 can stewed tomatoes (Rotel tomatoes with green chilies will make it a little spicier, or tomato sauce) *you can even use tomato sauce if you're out of everything else!
1 pack of Taco Seasoning
1 can of beer

Brown the ground turkey and onions together in a tbsp. of vegetable oil in a dutch oven for about ten minutes with the taco seasoning. Then dump everything in and cook.

I start it in the stove, then let it sit in the oven at a low temp. until I'm ready for dinner usually about two hours at 300 degrees F.

Or if I only have a half hour I make that work too by cooking it on the stove on medium high heat and stirring it. A lot of the flavor comes from browning the onions, turkey, and the Taco Seasoning. Longer is better, but not crucial.

I even alter this recipe to be vegetarian by subbing the meat for sauteed zucchini, squash, and peppers, and it's still very good!

Raspberry Bundt Cake with Candied Lemon Zest Icing

He agreed we can give you our recipe!

I found an awesome recipe in an old library book years ago that called for mixing box cake, fruit, and jello mix; I could never find the exact recipe again, but I remember that it was very simple, and turned out great the few times I made it. One piece of advice I have for following a recipe, especially in baking, is to read the directions FIRST! Then go back and deal with ingredients, and re-follow them. I'm still working on taking my own advice, because it's an all to common occurrence that I'll start a recipe before I've read the entire thing, and it bites me in the ass!

Cheating with store bought cake and jello mix, allows me to spend more time on the lemon glaze with candied lemon zest for the icing. It's my sister-in-law's birthday and she loves lemon, (since I made her lemon meringue pie last year), I wanted to do a cake this year.

*Also, the first cake I made in my new bundt pan stuck to the bottom despite the fact that I greased it with ample amounts of cooking spray. To avoid this tragedy use shortening and flour all over the inside of the pan. Cooking spray is not enough!

*Skip the zest if it's too much work the cake will still be great!

Raspberry Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze & Candied Lemon Zest

Raspberry Bundt Cake

1 box white cake mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup hot water
1 box raspberry jello mix
1/3 cup canola oil or veg oil
1/2 pint of fresh raspberries

Shortening
Flour

1. Mix 4 eggs, hot water, cake mix, oil, and jello on low speed for 30 seconds. Then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add raspberries and stir.
2. Pour cake into greased bundt pan (greased with shortening and then dusted with flour) and bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out the cake onto a rack.

Ingredients for Lemon Glaze 

2 cups powdered sugar

5 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice

1. Mix sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
2. Ice cake once the cake is cool to the touch. 

Ingredients for Candied Lemon Zest

4  Meyer lemons for their zest

2 cups sugar + 1 tbsp. sugar 

1 cup of cool water

1. Peel cleaned lemons avoiding the pith. Chop lemon peels and pour about 3 cups of boiling water over them, and let them sit for 30 minutes, then drain them.
2. While waiting on the peels, heat cool water and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. 
3. Drain the lemon zest and add to the sugar and water for about 10 minutes on medium low. 
4. Cover overnight.
5. Drain the lemons from the syrup, sprinkle with tbsp. sugar and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle over iced cake.

Spiced Valentine's Brownies

I recently read a recipe in Better Homes & Gardens called Sweet & Spicy Brownie Bites, and liked the sound of it. I wasn't thrilled with a dessert being spicy though, so I've made some tweaks and developed a Brownie that's spiced rather than spicy, has a wonderful depth of flavor with nutmeg, chili powder, and cinnamon, and turns an ordinary brownie into something with a little edge. Perfect for a Valentine's Day treat for your hubby or bf, and they're EASY too!

Steps I don't want you to forget or overlook are: letting eggs & chocolate mix come to room temp. and don't over mix the dry ingredients when adding them to the chocolate and egg mixture.

Spiced Valentine's Brownies 

  

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. ground Chipotle Chile powder

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

9 oz. semi-sweet mini dark chocolate chips

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

5 eggs (room temp)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter sides and bottom of a 13x9 inch baking pan.
2. Sift top 7 ingredients together, then whisk.
3. Put chocolate in a mixing bowl, and place it above a small saucepan with about 2 inches of water over medium-low heat on the stove. (Double boiler). Add the butter chunks. Mix slowly as it heats. Once all butter and chocolate have melted together remove bowl from stove.
4. Add sugar to chocolate. Stir in to combine.
5. Let chocolate and eggs come to room temp before mixing them together. 
6. Add 3 eggs to chocolate. Whisk together. Then whisk in remaining 2 eggs.
7. Slowly sprinkle flour mixture over chocolate and fold together with a silicon spatula. Just until combined. Don't over mix.
8. Pour into buttered baking pan, smooth out the top, and bake for 30 minutes.

*dust with sweet ground cocoa powder or powdered sugar to really make them fancy.

THESE BROWNIES ARE AMAZING!!!! and I'm a tough critic. Better than any box mix, or store bought varieties, and the best brownies I've ever home-made. They're even better when cooled, so making them ahead of time is ideal. 

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello!

Lemons are in season again, and I've been saving up ideas all year. With lemons from my own tree, and a massive bag of Meyers from a friend, it's lemon time.

If you can, get your paws on some Meyer lemons. Meyers, native to China, are a California staple, and I was lucky enough to learn about their sweet flavor from a friend with a love for lemon drops a few years ago. And to be gifted a large bag from another friend this year!

Don't let your lemons go to waste.  Here's the first of a few fabulous ideas for lemon:

Make Limoncello! Nothing will impress a group of guests more than a frosty bottle of limoncello after a dinner party. What's more, it's so easy. All you need is vodka, lemons, sugar, and a mason jar...

Limoncello

12 Meyer Lemons (only the peel)

1 cup sugar

700 ml of good vodka 

*Good vodka doesn't always mean expensive vodka, try Costco's Kirkland version, it's awesome.

Let's get started:

Peel the cleaned lemons, like you would peel a potato, try not to get the white part. Most recipes will tell you to cut off any white parts left behind, however, cutting it off doesn't work, SCRAPE off the leftover white pith with a serrated paring knife. Gently shave and scrape off the extra bitter pith. Add the peels to the jar. Add sugar on top of lemon peel. Add the vodka. Secure the lid, and shake. Shake the mix once everyday for two weeks, and at the end of the two weeks strain the peels out of the mix. 

Store the Limoncello in the freezer and once it's chilled, ENJOY! 

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie is a dish you can tailor-make to suit your life at the moment: homemade and healthy, not so homemade and a little less healthy, homemade and semi-unhealthy...you get the point. I usually do the last option.

I like to make my mashed potatoes with light sour cream, use ground turkey instead of beef, and low sodium beef broth, so I don't feel quite as guilty smothering the top with cheese.

My Nana was English, & my Nanny Australian, so this dish has long, deep roots for me. It's very simple, and completely comforting. The only trouble I ever have is getting myself to stop eating it.

Mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, onions & ground beef in gravy are the basic premise. I hate peas, so they don't make the cut for me. But add them if you want.

Here's my latest rendition of this hearty treat from my homeland.

Total time 60 minutes or take a few short cuts and make it in 30 minutes.
*For busy moms, or all of you that work 40 hours a week, skip making your own mashed potatoes, NO ONE will notice and use the instant "just add water" variety. Use a food processor (on the pulse setting) for the carrots, & onions. Also buy your cheese shredded or just use a food processor on the grating setting. You will cut the length of time in half and the dish will still have great flavor. 

Shepherd's Pie                                                        

2 tbsp. Light Olive Oil                        

1 lb. Ground Turkey                                   
2 Carrots                                                     
1 Onion                                                                                            
1 & 1/2 cups Beef Stock
4 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce                              
2 tbsp. Cornstarch

2 cups Cheddar or Colby Jack Cheese (or more : )...)

Mashed Potatoes
4 large potatoes
1 cup light sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. granulated garlic

 I chop onions (into a small dice as pictured), saute in a tbsp. of light olive oil for 5 minutes,

 

then add beef stock and carrots (also cut on a small dice). Saute 5 minutes. 

 

Saute onions, carrots, and 1 cup beef stock together for 5 minutes, then pour into your casserole dish.

 

Make the sauce before you add it to the meat. Cornstarch needs to be mixed with a cool liquid or it will clump up.  For sauce: mix 1/2 cup beef stock, cornstarch, and Worcestershire sauce together.  

For Mashed Potatoes: Meanwhile fill a pot halfway with water and four peeled & chopped potatoes, start them on cold and boil for 22 minutes. Drain, add cup of sour cream, salt & granulated garlic. 

Or prepare your instant potatoes.

Break up your meat in the saute pan with more oil. Add the sauce after meat is pretty well broken. Cook meat about 10 minutes and add to casserole dish. Once you have the meat & veg mixed together in the dish, top with potatoes.

  

Taste your meat & veg at this point and don't be afraid to add a bit more Worcestershire sauce or pepper if the sauce needs kick.

Smooth potatoes over top of meat & veg to seal in juices. Top with at least two cups of cheese. 

Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees F. 

Enjoy!

Dutch Oven Pot Roast

Pot roast is one of those economical, crowd pleasing type of dinners; you can feed a group for about twenty bucks. If you've had a bad experience with pot roast in the past, you're not alone. Many people make the mistake of undercooking them, and others forget to sear them initially to lock in their juices, these two crucial mistakes can leave the meat tough and dry!

To keep the roast tender:

• Sear your roast on all sides.
• Make sure you have enough time (low and slow in a dutch oven in the oven).

Dutch Oven Pot Roast

Ingredients

3 lb. beef chuck (shoulder) roast

3 tablespoons veg. oil or light olive oil

2 1/2 cups beef stock

2 white onions

2 cups baby carrots or 5 big carrots

1 carton of white mushrooms (optional)

few sprigs fresh rosemary

few sprigs fresh thyme

salt & pepper

dash of red wine vinegar

Let's get started

1. Saute onions in a tbsp. oil on medium-high heat. Prep your oven to 275 degrees F.

2. Remove onions, saute carrots in oil about three minutes. You're not cooking the vegetables at this stage just browning them for flavor. Set carrots aside with onions. 

3. Add seasoned roast to pan (add oil if it looks dry), pan should be very hot and make a sizzling noise when the roast is added. Brown for a few minutes on ALL sides. Your locking moisture in!

4. Remove roast. Add beef stock, then scrape the bits stuck to the bottom of your pan with a WOODEN spoon.

5. Add mushrooms and herbs, and browned onions, carrots, and roast back into the pot.

6. Cozy the ingredients together, put the lid on, and bake for 3 1/2 hours at 275!

 

7. Taste your liquid. Season with salt and pepper, and a dash of red wine vinegar to enhance every flavor in the pot. Let your roast rest in juices for ten minutes after you pull it out of the oven.

8. Pull your beautiful roast apart with tongs, and serve with the broth in big bowls. Serve with hot biscuits or rolls. ENJOY!