Crockpot Roast Recipes

My love of all things culinary has been working overtime since Christmas.  Of course my favorite kitchen thing is still the Cuisinart Crockpot!

It seems that during the summer and fall I must have been a busy little kitchen elf, working to can and freeze summer veggies, make and freeze several batches of spaghetti sauce, can 3 batches of old fashion Dill Pickles, make peach and blueberry cobblers and take advantage of SAM's special buys on beef roast , pork shoulder roast and pork tenderloin.  Now the challenge is to use what is "in house" to make interesting meals for the two of us and occasionally the family.  So my culinary creative has been working overtime.  Mostly successfully, with only a Coconut Pie flop.

It seems as though I am unexpectedly collecting crockpot roast recipes after 3 or 4 new recipes were wonderful.  My scrapbook cookbook now has a new section for Crockpot Roast Recipes.

Here are 2 of the most recently added recipes.

Authentic Taste German Pork Roast Bavarian Style

4 lb Pork Roast (deboned shoulder roast)
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
!/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Paprika
2-3 TBS Olive Oil
2 medium Onions (peeled and quartered)
5 medium Carrots (each cut into 4-5 pieces)
8 or 9 Red Skinned Potatoes ( cut in thick slices)
1 pkg. Knorr Leeks Soup mix
3/4 cup Water or Vegetable Broth

Salt and Pepper roast and sear in olive oil. Add all remaining ingredients except carrots and potatoes.  Cook in crockpot for 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.  Add carrots and potatoes and cook an additional 1 to 2 hours.

Serve with sauerkraut, rye bread, and butter for traditional style meal.

Adapted for a crockpot from an old German recipe.

 

Amazing Crockpot Roast

1 (4-5 lb) Beef Pot Roast (any cut)

1 (1 1/4 ounce) package Brown Gravy mix

1 (1 1/4 ounce) package Italian Salad Dressing mix

1 (1 1/4 ounce) package Ranch Dressing mix

1/2 cup Water

Sear roast. Add all ingredients to crockpot. Cook on low for 7 hours.  Add potatoes and carrots if desired and cook and additional 2 hours.

The joy of favorite things!

 

 

 

So Much Basil.... What to do?

 

Due to a crazy summer schedule my gardening this summer was limited to containers on our deck.  With the aid of a drip watering system and plenty of sun my small "Herb Garden" produced a bumper crop of Basil, Italian Parsley, Oregeno, Thyme, and Dill.  Well what to do with such a bumper crop?

Since my Basil might give me an early fall cutting, I decided to "harvest" it first.  Such a wonderful, refreshing smell, now how to use my treasure. Last year I dried herbs and that was great during the winter to go to the garage, grabe a dried bundle of what ever, crush it, and add it to the recipe.  My creative urge what on high for Labor Day, so off to my new favorite cookbook.....Google!  My search gave me the ecpected Italian type recipes.  Still looking for something, well different I tried Fresh Basil Desserts and found Lemon-Basil Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

With great luck everything I needed was in my kitchen already so no trip to the store was neccessary!  Of course that would not have been all bad as we have a new EV!  This Nissan Leaf is GREAT!  Well, that will be another post.  Trying to stay on subject, back to the cupcakes.

Cake batter was easy prep and filled exactly 24 cupcake papers.  They baked very level and smelled wonderful!  Only had 23 to frost as I just had to sample one fresh out ot the oven.  The basil-lemon aroma and flavor was heavenly.  I had sugared 25 of the prettiest basil leaves first and they were slightly crunchy in their robe of superfine sugar.  So pretty.  The frosting recipe was very light, butter, cream cheese, lemon juice and only 2 cups of powdered sugar rather than a pound. 

Ready to frost...... I piped on the frosting then garnished with lemon zest and one of the candied Basil leaves.  Beautiful and tasted wonderful! 

 

I still have a large bundle of Basil to use and more to harvest.  Considering making and freezing 2TBS packets of olive oil/basil to have on hand for winter cooking.

 

This recipe will be added to my scrapebook of all time favorite recipes!!

 

This was a great way to spend a Labor Day!

 

Lemon-Basil Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

 

• 1 cup butter, soft
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 heaping tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
• 1 heaping tablespoon finely shredded basil
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup buttermilk

For sugared basil leaves

• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 24 basil leaves
• 1 egg white, beaten until frothy

For Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3/4 cup butter, soft
• 6 ounces cream cheese, soft
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
• 2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and soda. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter until fluffy. Add sugar, lemon peel, basil and lemon juice, mix just until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk, mixing until combined. Scoop batter into 24 lined cupcake tins, I used an ice cream scooper to divvy up the batter. Bake cupcakes for 12-14 minutes, check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center. Remove from tins and let cool on a wire rack.

For the basil leaves: Wash and thoroughly dry the basil leaves. Beat the egg white until frothy, set aside. If you don’t have superfine sugar on hand, put the sugar into a food processor and grind for 30 seconds. With a pastry brush, brush the basil leaves (one at a time) with frothy egg white- then immediately sprinkle generously with the superfine sugar to coat the leaf. Shake off any excess. Let dry for at least three hours- the leaves will stiffen and the sugar solidify. Top each frosted cupcake with a basil leaf.

For the frosting: Beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Add in the lemon juice and zest, beat until for 3 minutes or so until the mixture becomes more fluffy. Gradually add in 2 cups of powdered sugar, mix well. Beat in another 2 cups powdered sugar until the frosting reaches a consistency you can spread. Now get frosting!



My View

The morning view from my kitchen window is ever changing. Minute to minute the light streaming through the trees makes the falling dew drops flash like diamonds.  It is as if during the hours before dawn, God was busy carefully placing each water droplets so it would roll off the leaf at just the instant when the sun would bring it to life for one split second in a spectacular flash of  his glory. Most mornings I come into the kitchen before the sun begins to stream through the trees and sadly I often miss the glorious display the creator has placed just outside my window.  How may other wonders he has created for me do I miss each day?

I truly enjoy feeding the birds.  An over the years we have established a reputation in the bird world as a dependable spot for a free meal.  Usually, safe from neighborhood cats with only the occasional diving hit and fly attack by what must be a super sonic falcon. Amazing event!  The hit happens in less that a blink of an eye and I usually stand stunned watching feathers float down, wondering, what happened?  But such is a part of God's master plan, the balance of nature.

Blue Jay, Goldfinch, Nuthatch, Towhee, Warbler, Chickadee, Flycatcher, Mockingbird, Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Hummingbird, Brown Thrasher, Titmouse, Cardinal, and Bluebirds all stop by multiple times during the day to check out the daily buffet of sunflower hot meats (hot to keep the squirrels form emptying the feeder), suet, freeze dried meal worms and take an occasional sip from the birdbath. This year we have been over whelmed by 3 types of Blackbirds who can empty the feeder in less than an hour.  Bullies are never welcome, but again such is the balance of nature, and so we wave arms and scare them away a few times and then give up.  It does seem however, that without our help our "favorite" birds are able to enjoy the buffet.  So even in a world where there are bullies, life can go on. 

The Cardinals, Bluebirds and Woodpeckers are favorites.  It is easy to give them my perception of a "personality".  Bluebirds seem to want to be close to me, especially when I am putting worms in their feeder.  I repeat a whistle  pattern and with seconds there will be a Bluebird within 3 feet waiting for the buffet service to begin.

The Wren has the title of "Boss of the Deck," as he or she seem quite comfortable managing every activity that occurs on his/her deck and will inform all around of his/her interest and concerns!

And then there are the Hummers.  What a marvelous creation!  So tiny and yet so agile. One of the special joys of my life are my close encounters with Hummers.  One hovering eye to eye with me, several feeding from nectar in my hand, the amazing sound and feel of the little birds hovering right next to my head. What a privilege God granted to me in these encounters with this one of his smallest creation.

My New Kitchen Favorite Thing ......

A Cuisinart 4-in-1 Crock Pot with programmable temperature and cook time, retractable power cord, and wait for it ........ brown and saute option! Now the need for a second pan to brown a roast, pork chops, etc is for ever forgotten. Saves clean up time and late nights prep time. The Crock pot produces dishes reminiscent of my Mother's cooking slow and flavorful.

The memory of my Mother in her kitchen is a very favorite things!

My new one pot wonder

Old fashioned Pot Roast, Potatoes, Carrots and Onions
10 hours later Yummmmmy!

Try Again.....

Well, my first post did not go quite as I expected!

The power went off!

I hope that is not a sign of things to come.

It seems to me the first post on my first blog should have been my beautifully crafted introduction to the world of blogging.  But such was not the case.  So I will try again.  The pressure of eloquence is gone and I think I will just start typing.

Right now, I think this blog will be a collection of random things I enjoy and want to remember. Because I am baby boomer blogger, I may need to depend on this blog to help me..........what?...... Oh, yes, as I was saying, remember many wonderful, random, favorite things.

Hummm... Looks ok. There are more than two lines of type, that's good.  I think I should try to include a picture in this first post. Here goes......

My Two Favorite Little Boys

Wow!! I did it! This granny may be able to do this bloggin' thing.


Guess I should add a caption.









The little boy on the right is my amazing grandson.  He is the one who changed me from Mom to Gramma.  There is a little quote I read the other day that said it well.  "A Grandchild fills a space in your heart you never knew was empty." 

And he has and  he does! 

The little boy on the left is also my grandson, because his Mommy is the daughter of my best friend and they are willing to share him with my husband and me.

We all hope these little boys will become "best buds".  Looks like they are off to a great start.

There will not be many pictures of friends and family posted here, as I want to be respectful of everyone. If friends and family give their permission I may add pictures now and then, because friends and family certainly are some of My Favorite Things.

Watch for that one unique blessing God will give you today.