Success in the Kitchen

Since I'm still not working these days, I've been trying to cook a lot more. Although I've had a couple issues lately, I've mainly had some success! I've tried a couple of recipes from KraftFoods which have been pretty good. I've also made some meals in the crockpot...I'm loving that thing! Who knew it was so easy to make a really good dinner? :) For example, the first dish I tried was pork chops. I just put potatoes and onion in the bottom of the pot, then put the pork chops on top of them. This time, I seasoned the meat with salt, pepper, and rosemary, and then I poured a can of cream of mushroom soup over everything. 6 or 7 hours later...the most tender pork chops I've ever had!

One of my favorite meals has always been beef roast, but I'd never tried making it before. So when my friend Kim was raving about making a roast in the crockpot, I was excited to try. The first time I tried it (a couple weeks ago), it didn't work out very well. You know how a roast should just fall apart when you put a fork in it? Well, Shawn and I had to use steak knives to eat the roast that first time. Definitely not tender! I asked a few friends for some suggestions, and the basic consensus was that I needed to cook it longer, and I could probably use less water.

So earlier this week, I got up early (before 8:00am...which is really early for me these days!) to start making dinner. I sliced up 3 smallish potatoes and put those on the bottom of the crockpot. Next came a little yellow onion and a little red onion, followed by some baby carrots. I then seasoned the roast with salt, pepper, and Mrs. Dash, then plopped it on top of the veggies in the crock pot. Finally, I poured a cup of water over everything and turned the crockpot on low. This time, the roast cooked for about 11 hours...and it was wonderful!! Very moist and tender.

Shawn's enjoyed eating the cold leftovers for lunch the last couple days. I've also had leftovers for lunch this week, but I put a little garlic and pepper marinade on the beef and put it in the microwave. I think my leftovers might have been better than the original roast! So next time I make the roast, I might add a little garlic. :)