Better than ever Herb and Wine Pot Roast

There are some dishes that just taste like comfort. Pot roast is absolutely one of those. I can smell my mom opening the oven bag that she would often use to make this dish. We didn't eat too many meals that would be considered your standard American fare but this "meat and potatoes" standby still reminds me of running in the door just barely making it for dinner at 5 pm sharp. I decided to put my own little spin on this dish as so many recipes call for the "classic" version using ketchup for flavoring. I would like to think our pallets are a bit more sophisticated so I used a blend of red wine, diced tomato and plenty of fresh herbs to season this dish instead. I did stick with the traditional carrots, onions and potato though since some things just work well and don't need to be messed around with.

There are a lot of good things happening with this pot roast, the first being how easy it is to make (and its easily adaptable for the crockpot!) I always sear my meat first so I don't usually use the crock pot since once the dutch oven is dirty I figure why waste another pan but you can switch over if you want to be able to leave it cooking while you are away from the house. I put my carrots and onions in with the meat for almost the full time but left the potatoes out until that last 90 min so they wouldn't get over cooked and mushy but I have to admit, I think that might be part of the charm of pot roast. I also made a gravy to go with the dish by reducing by 2/3rd the juices and then straining and adding a touch of Wondra flour while whisking but feel free to serve as is. Don't forget to take some time when you are prepping and make sure the veggies are similar sizes to ensure even cooking.

Greek Potato Salad

I love summer BBQs just as much as the next girl but traditional fare is...well boring and full of bad fats! Now I am not one to start preaching about fat and calories  (especially when most of my recipes involve a fair amount of "good" olive oil) but eating mindless gobs of mayonnaise when there isn't any taste just isn't my style. I decided to come up with this potato salad recipe that has tons of flavor by using my favorite type of green salad as inspiration. I used large red potatoes cut into bite sized pieces, however small marble sized potatoes would be very cute as well!

Because this salad is mayo-free its a little easier to store and serve at a hot summer BBQ, there is some cheese in it however so don't leave it out too long! We have an olive- hater in our family so serving anything "Greek" style can be a little challenging. The best part of this salad though is that the olives (or the cheese is there is a dairy-free person) can be tossed in to individual taste.

Christma-Channuk-Thanksgiving-mas!

Its seems that it is always hard to find time to get everyone together but during December this is especially true. One of the best parts of the holidays is visiting with friends and family that we might not see often enough during the rest of the year. This year it seemed like we had even more than usual going on and so we decided to combine our usually holiday parties into one big dinner....for 12! Officially our biggest sit down dinner to date.

Last year, we held a Latkes/Christmas Cookie party - everyone really enjoyed dinner and loved decorating cookies so we knew that was definitely part of the evening. Since my Thanksgiving was a little short of leftovers,  I was really itching to cook a turkey so there was another huge part of my menu. With so many holidays to celebrate we certainly didn't have a shortage of traditional foods to choose from! Everything came out really well except for my stuffing... which needed a little more time in the oven to get nice and brown.

I used a Martha Stewart recipe for the sugar cookies and they came out wonderful! Just make sure you watch them because a sheet of mine (or maybe two) ended up in the trash when I got distracted. For the latkes, I used about 7.5 lbs of potato and 2 onions to make about 60 latkes. I didn't have any matzah meal on hand so I went with panko breadcrumbs....it didn't seem to cause any issues.

6/17/10 - Amazing Roasted Vegetable Salad

This salad isn't really a salad.... its a buffet! This everything salad was inspired by an excellent lunch I recently had at the Time to Eat Diner in Bridgewater, NJ. For under $15,  I got a plate filled to the brim with Grilled Steak, Chicken and Veggies as well as baby mixed greens. There was so much I actually split it in half for 2 days lunch. Since I was adding so many more veggies I decided to skip the meat and go with seafood as a little twist on the dish.

First I had to take a quick walk to the Farmer's Market to grab some potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and beets. When I got home, I roasted the veggie then prepared a mixed green salad that was the base of my dish. To top everything off I added some seafood which was the perfect compliment to the filling salad. Since I had different eaters with me I let everyone find their own mix from the ingredients mixed together. This meal was super easy to prep.... the only equipment needed is a sharp knife and a baking sheet (well and an oven!)> I am lucky to have an aunt who went to culinary school and frequently sharpens my knifes... if you aren't so lucky check out the Daily Special on FoodBuzz for a deal on the Chef's Choice Angle Select Knife Sharpener.

Check out our homemade Salad Bar:
Green Salad - Mix of red leaf, romaine and boston lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrots and scallions
Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Beets
Roasted Veggies - Broccoli, Cauliflower, Red & Green Peppers
King Crab Legs
Tuna Salad - Tuna, mayo, pickles, chipotle mustard
Cheese

4/4/10 - Easter Dinner....Boneless Leg of Lamb

We were with family all weekend but left early on Sunday to beat traffic, which means I made my first ever Easter dinner. With lamb on sale this week at the store I couldn't resist picking up a small boneless leg to attempt a roast. I left it to defrost in my refrigerator on Friday afternoon and came home Sunday morning hoping that everything would be ready to go (it was!). We had a friend joining us so I tried to have dinner ready by 5 pm but as always I was a off by an hour. I assumed that the stores were closed because of the holiday, so I had to throw a nice dinner together with the left overs from the week.

I was a bit perplexed when I saw that my roast was wearing this elastic girdle but quickly figured out that it was a clever way to "tie" the roast. I studded the roast with garlic and lemon before coating it in salt & rosemary which infused a lot of flavor throughout the meat. I was happy that I got the roast on the right side of med- rare/ med line and everyone was happy. I added a side of raspberry chipotle maple glazed carrots, asparagus wrapped in bacon and finally a baked potato (simple but delicious!). I also served a small salad to start - mixed greens salad topped with pear and cheese (pictured above).

2/7/10 - Super Bowl with out the snacks - Bacon wrapped Asparagus

I couldn't wait to try a fun new technique that I found online this week (I know it seems like all I do is go online to food blogs but I promise I do other things too) Bacon Wrapped Asparagus! So fun and a perfect mix of the healthy with the excessive! With all the snow on Saturday our party didn't end up as planned and this was pushed to Sunday and a different friend. No matter who dinner might have been with this was just delicious and not too hard to master. Some suggest that you use toothpicks to secure the ends of the bacon but if you are careful you can get them tucked in on their own

1/15/10 - Pork Chops w Mashed Baby Red Potatoes

I was able to created mashed potatoes on a week night because I used mini baby red potatoes which don't need that long to boil up. I mashed them up skin and all . I added some sour cream for a better texture.

Also I finally made my own Chimichuri sauce which was so easy and now I can have it all the time!

Chimichuri Sauce
1 bunch parsley - leaves only
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

1) blend all ingredients till smooth