Sunday, March 04, 2007

The end of another day

Today's been a fairly nice day, but I might "need" to wear my "Kiss Me, I'm Grumpy" shirt tomorrow. ;) Gotta love being a gal!

When I posted about changing the rotary blade the August link reminded me of my 4-patch squares quilt and seeing it gave me a kick to start it up again.

It's not for the faint of heart! Those squares measure at 1.5", unfinished and I have to be extra careful to make sure I'm having a proper quarter-inch seam allowance. I've already sewn up over 200 squares together... and it just makes a little pile behind my machine! :P I doubt the quilt will get much bigger than lap size.

The pot roast was a hit! It's very flavorful and I'm going to run to the store tomorrow to buy another roast or two - they're $1.99/pound, down from $5.99. Good deal!

To Die For Pot Roast (ok, I don't think I'll die for it, but it's good. :)
(1) 3-5 pound beef roast
(1) package dry Ranch dressing mix
(1) package dry Italian dressing mix
(1) package dry Brown gravy mix
1/2 cup water (I used closer to 3/4 cup)

Put roast in the crockpot. Mix water with the 3 dry packages and pour over the roast. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

It was very tender and flavorful. We had it with noodles, but it would have probably been better with potatoes. I have no knowledge of gravy making, but there was a bit of juice in the bottom that might have made a nice gravy for the potatoes.

I think I'm gonna get myself a bowl of the sugar free ice cream I got a few days ago. I was slaving over the iron for 45 minutes before posting and cold stuff sounds good. :)

Leah

2 comments:

Wandering Chopsticks said...

Hi Leah,
Just discovered your blog and I love your quilts. I'm working on my 4th one. But I'm not anywhere skilled as you. I just piece by hand and do straight lines, with some applique.

Anyway, as for pot roast, try this: Dry rub 1 tsp of salt for each lb of meat. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for an hour.

While meat is marinating, chop some potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, or whatever other veggies you like.

Then lightly coat meat with flour. Sear in a pan on high heat until browned.

Place meat, veggies, a cup of water in your crock pot, or simmer on stove top on medium low for several hours. The flour that was on the meat, along with the pan drippings from searing it, will combine with the water to thicken into a gravy.

You can get fancy and make cuts in the meat and put in garlic cloves, or season with thyme, savory, parsley, basil, etc.

Hope you like my version. It's not as simple as yours, but it's pretty flavorful and you get the side of veggies without dirtying another pot. :)

Nicole & Phil said...

Hi Leah,
wow, these little squares are fiddly, but I am sure once they are all together they will look great! I look forward to see a picture of them as they grow!
Did you know there is a web ring for stash buster's who blog. send an email to Swooze on the stashbuster group, and she will get in touch with you...otherwise, click on my blog, and follow the link on the right hand side!
Cheers
nicole