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Monday, August 31, 2009

Recipe: Mom's Pot Roast

This is one of the best recipes my Mom taught me how to make and was one of my favorite meals growing up and is one of Kevin's and the kids favorites now. The secret ingrediant in this pot roast is pickles. I know it sounds strange, but trust me...you don't taste them and they add a wonderful flavor to the gravy. I've tried this in the oven, but have had the best results in the crock pot.
Mom's Pot Roast
2-3 slices bacon
1 t. lemon pepper
3-4 pound beef rump roast
1 can Campbells GOLDEN mushroom soup
1/2 cup chopped dill pickle
2 t. worcestershire sauce
3 medium sized potatoes (I like red potatoes with skin on)
2-3 carrots
* you will need 1 large crock pot with lid

First step is to prepare your roast. Trim off any fat that may be on the roast. Then lightly sprinkle lemon pepper evenly over the roast, rubbing in. I don't measure it, I just cover the roast lightly in the lemon pepper. Set aside the roast. In a large fry pan, cook bacon until crisp...set aside the bacon for later. With a large meat fork or tongs, set the roast down into the pan with the hot bacon grease. Cook both sides of the roast on medium/high heat until meat is browned (about 3-4 mins each side) Then set the roast down into the crock pot, setting it aside while you make the sauce.


Combine the soup, chopped dill pickle (I use a Pamp Chef food chopper for ease) and worcestershire sauce in a medium bowl.


Pour the sauce over the roast and cover. Put the crock pot on low and leave for 5 hours.

Five hours into the cooking time of the roast, it is time to add the vegies. Cut the potatoes into one inch chunks. Then peel the carrots and cut into one inch chunks. (try and get the vegies about the same size for even cooking)


Arrange the vegies around the meat and push down into the gravy. Do not over pack the crock pot with too many vegies. There needs to be enough room for everything to cook in the sauce. Put the lid back on and continue cooking or another 5 hours.


Five hours later the roast is ready to serve. The meat will be so tender it will fall apart. I chop up the reserved cooked bacon and sprinkle on top. I like to serve this with grands biscuits. This is comfort food at its best. ENJOY!
*note: If you need to leave your home and let the roast cook all day, don't add the vegies at the beginning of the cook time. The vegies will be mushy and will fall apart if they cook for 10 hours. Another alternative is to steam the vegies when you get home just prior to serving and then serve on the side with the roast, pouring gravy over the top of them. I've done it both ways.




Sunday, August 30, 2009

A house becomes a home

Here are a few snap shots of our house with our things inside. I will post a few rooms at a time over the next few weeks. To see a larger view of the pics, just click on the images and the picture will enlarge. Then click on your back arrow key to return to the post. I hope you enjoy these pics of our new home. We sure love it!!
The breakfast room. The room is so large we were able to put the leaf in our farm style table and we are really enjoying it this way. Kevin did a great job painting the room a light almond. As mentioned in a previous post...most all the rooms in the house have splotchy walls with a mismatched touch up paint. This room was the worst of all of them, so I am SO happy that Kevin painted this room before our furniture arrived. My favorite part of the room is my Mom's painting to the left of the window. My Dad gave it to me a few months ago and it is my most cherished possession. Isn't it beautiful!?
Kevin did a great job painting over the gold paint and pink/purple brackets. Now they are neutral and go with the sage green tile.

The family room. We are so excited to use the fireplace this winter. This couch used to be in our living room in our other house. I put away the formal pillows and put these casual striped pillows on the couch instead. Other than the leather chairs, the big screen t.v. and other family room furniture from our other house is now in the loft. (not done decorating the loft, will picture later)

Another shot of the family room.
The dining room. This room could be used as a dining room or living room. We chose to use it as a dining room. There is not light fixture above the table, so we will have candle light meals in here!

The entry way.

A shot of the kitchen. We need bar stools!

A closer shot of part of the kitchen. I love the maple cabinets
and the sage green tile is growing on me.
It seems to go well
with my Tuscan/country decor.
The dowmstairs guest room. This bedspread ensemble was new in our last home. We thought
it worked well in this room with the brown wall. We decided to keep the window coverings as they looked fine with everything.

Another shot of the guest room. The antique dresser was in my room as a child.

The downstairs guest bathroom. We decided to keep the lavender paint when I found this matching shower curtain and towel ensemble that went well with the color. I decided that priming and repainting this wall (including the ceiling) was more work than I was interested in! I actually LOVE the way it looks now. We replaced the bamboo shade for ivory mini blinds which lightened up the whole room.

another shot of the downstairs guest bathroom.
Stay tuned for more pictures of our new home in the days and weeks to come. We have several painting projects to complete as well as applying vinyl decorations to some walls. As the projects are completed we will share them.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

helpful hint

Dear Blog Readers:

Directly after the post on two new card designs you will find the wedding scrap book I made for my Dad and Polly in it's entirety. When you are scrolling down to view the pics and it stops...you will need to click on "older posts" on your bottom right hand side, which will take you to a screen with the rest of the book.

Two new card designs




Here are two cards I recently designed using all Stampin Up! supplies. Making hand stamped cards is so much fun!
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A Wedding Scrap book for Dad and Polly




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