Italian Pot Roast Recipe

2 lb boneless chuck roast

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup water

1 - 14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, undrained

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp italian seasoning

1/4 tsp crushed red peper

1 bay leaf

cornstartch

water

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F with the rack in the middle postion. Rub the roast with salt and pepper. In a large stock pot, that is all metal and has a lid, heat oil on medium and sear the meat on all sides.

Add onion, garlic, water, petite diced tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sugar, Italian Seasoning, crushed red pepper, bay leaf.

Cook over medium heat until the sauce starts to simmer. Cover pot and place in the oven. Cook for 2 hours. 

Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Transfer the roast to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. (When handling the pot remember that it is extremely hot. Use hot pads when removing the lid and moving the pot. I didn't think about it and tried to treat the pot like I usually would and I burned my fingers.) 

 Remove bay leaf and skim any unwanted fat from the sauce. Heat the sauce on medium heat. Make a slurry of cornstarch and cold water. Add the slurry slowly to the sauce while stirring until the sauce thickens. (The recipe says to discard all but 2 cups of the sauce, but it is so good that I thicken all of it and use the leftover sauce on chicken, etc.)

Slice the roast and serve with the sauce. 

Chocolate Muffin Recipe

2 large eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup Carol's sorghum blend 

3/4 cup regular cocoa powder

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt 

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup Mint chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Grease a 12 cup, gray, non-stick muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs on low until light yellow and frothy. Add milk, canola oil, and vanilla extract. Beat on low until well blended.

In a another mixing bowl whisk together Carol's sorghum blend, cocoa, brown sugar, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt.

 Slowly, with mixer on low, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth and slightly thickened. Stir in chocolate chips (and mint chips).

Pour the batter evenly into the muffin tin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are firm and the sides start to pull away from the sides of the tin. Cool muffins in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove and cool for another 5 minutes. 

 I adapted this recipe from Carol Fenster's recipe for Chocolate Latte Muffins in her book, 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes. I just left out the 2 teaspoons of instant coffee granules and the topping.

More Excuses

Wow. What a difference a couple years make. I now have two kids. One a very active 1 year old boy and a 2 month old girl who is still in the NICU. February of this year I found out that I have stage four colon cancer. My little girl was induced at 31 weeks so I could start chemo treatments. If you would like to follow our progress, my husband has been posting updates at ihaveplansfortomorrow.blogspot.com.

I am slowly getting stronger and one of these days I will start cooking again. So please be patient with me. Again. Thanks.

Chocolate Muffins

In July one of Baldwin's Sister-in-laws and her daughter came to stay with us for a couple days. During their visit I made some of these muffins for breakfast and both of them asked for the recipe, which I thought I had posted here. When we went "up north" for a visit our niece reminded me that they still needed the recipe. So here it is. I adapted this recipe from Carol Fenster's recipe for Chocolate Latte Muffins in her book, 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes. I just left out the 2 teaspoons of instant coffee granules and the topping.

 Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Grease a 12 cup, gray, non-stick muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl beat two large, room-temperature eggs  on low until light yellow and frothy. Add 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup canola oil, and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Beat on low until well blended.

In a another mixing bowl whisk together 1 1/2 cup Carol's sorghum blend, 3/4 cup regular cocoa powder, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum, 1/2tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp salt.

 Slowly, with mixer on low, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth and slightly thickened. Stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips (in this batch I also added mint chips).

  Pour the batter evenly into the muffin tin.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are firm and the sides start to pull away from the sides of the tin. Cool muffins in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove and cool for another 5 minutes.

Eat and enjoy.

Something Smells Good

This week Beef Chuck Roasts were on sale and it put my husband in the mood for Italian Pot Roast. So that's what I made for dinner tonight. Since it is the middle of the summer and still pretty hot outside I decided to make it in the crock pot. I had cooked it that way once before and the meat was much more tender. It was nearly falling apart on our plates. While dinner was cooking the apartment slowly filled with an almost heavenly aroma giving me cravings to eat something, anything. On one trip into the kitchen looking for a snack (of which there were none) I made jello to go with dinner. On another I decided to make cookies for dessert.

I had a package of Betty Crocker GF Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix on the counter waiting for me to "find the time" to make them. I guess I finally found the time.

 The recipe said that the dough would be crumbly. They were right, but I wasn't too concerned because one of my husband's favorite (not gluten-free) cookie recipes made a dough that looked a lot like this.

Once you press it together with a spoon it looks more like normal dough.

 

They cooked up beautifully and tasted great.

My major mishap of the night was while I was getting the ingredients together for the pot roast sauce. I let the pan I was heating to sear the meat in get too hot. When I put the meat in, the hot oil splattered everywhere. It landed on the hot burner I had just moved the pan off of making an impressive 6 inch burst of flames. As well as on my wrist, burning it.

Overall it was a delicious meal.

My Kitchen

If you have ever wondered why all of my pictures have either the stove or the sink in the background, this post is for you. I have a really small kitchen which I think is the second biggest reason why I don't cook much. When I am working on a project (cooking) the stove top or sink are often included as part of my work surfaces.

(There is about 3 feet of space between one set of counters and the other.)

This is the "wheat" counter where my husband can make his sandwiches and where his toaster and cooking utensils are located.

This is my "gluten-free" counter where I can make my sandwiches and where my toaster and cooking utensils are located.

This counter is where our dirty dishes like to gather. It is a DMZ or no-mans land where I take my chances with food being contaminated with gluten unless I just cleaned it.

There is little storage in this kitchen so I have had to get a little creative about where I keep my flours.

I hope that my next kitchen is a little bigger but with apartments you have to take what you can get.

Starting to feel better

This week has been similar to the Spring cleaning that a lot of people have been doing lately. Unfortunately mine is more of a "clean everything that I have let slide the last several weeks". Not only did I get all of my housework caught up, but last night I made a fancy (for us) dinner. (Sorry, there are no pictures. I was busy enough trying not to burn anything or cut myself.) We had steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and a green salad.

The steaks were Top Sirloin steaks that I rubbed with salt, pepper and garlic powder and let marinate in a plastic bag in the fridge for several hours. Then we broiled them in the oven. (My husband was home by this time and helped keep an eye on them.)

The garlic mashed potatoes were the ones I have mentioned before, here.

The fruit salad had apples, bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew and fresh pineapple. The apples and bananas I dipped in a lime/water mixture to keep them from going brown. (I prefer lime juice over lemon juice because the taste is more subtle.)

The green salad was a simple lettuce, carrots and celery salad with ranch dressing and sunflower seeds.

As you can see compared to some meals this meal sounds simple but there was a lot of chopping involved which previously would mean that I would be so worn out by the time the meal was ready that I wouldn't want to eat. Last night I felt a little tired, but with a good meal behind me I still had the energy to go to a movie and actually enjoy it.

My husband figures that we spent about $10 for the entire meal which is much cheaper than if we had gone out to eat and I didn't have to worry about what might be hiding in my food. We might have to try this again sometime.