Slow Cooker Pot Roast

I love Pot Roast, yet I have only ever made it once before. This was the meal I would request when I came home from college, I loved that deep flavor of the meat that infused all the vegetables that it was cooked with and the nice fall apart texture of everything! I finally decided I needed to have pot roast and what better way to have it then to put it in the slow cooker before I left for work. 10 minutes of prep, go to work, come home and when you are ready for dinner, serve! So simple and guaranteed to impress your family with a good home cooked meal during the week!



Slow Cooker Pot Roast: 4-6

3lbs Beef Chuck Roast
2C Beef Stock
1tsp Crushed Rosemary (dried)
1tsp Onion Powder
~ 1-2lbs Red Potatoes - Halved
6-8 Large Carrots - Peeled & Cut into 3" Segments
1 Large Onion - Cut into Wedges (approx 6-8)
Salt & Pepper

Place the vegetables on the bottom of your slow cooker, coat the roast with the rosemary, onion powder, salt & pepper on all sides and place on top of the vegetables. Pour the stock over everything. Place the lid on the slow cooker, and cook on low for 8-10 hours. (note mine was going to be cooking for 11-12 hours - long work day, late dinner time! and my slow cooker cooks fast so I set mine to cook on low for 1.5 hours then switch to warm for the remaining time)

At the end of the cooking time the meat should be falling apart easily. I chose to take about 2C of the drippings in the slow cooker and to add a mixture of 1/4C of milk and 2TB of cornstarch to it in a small stock pot which I brought up to a boil while whisking until thickened to a nice gravy consistency. Serve & Enjoy!

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WW: 3oz COOKED Pot Roast is 8 Points Plus. In a 3 pound raw chuck roast I would say you can easily get 4-6, 3oz cooked servings. I have not included points for the potatoes as that is something you can easily calculate or alter to your individual plan.

Cabbage Rolls

Good Morning everyone! I was in Maine a few weeks ago for one of my best friends weddings (which was totally awesome!) and in the days before we were doing all those last minute chores, setting up, favor bags, hair, nails, etc. and her wonderful Aunt brought us delicious cabbage rolls for lunch one day. I took one bite and knew I needed the recipe. I just made a cabbage roll casserole and used her spices in it and I instantly fell in love again with cabbage rolls (not that I ever fell out of love!) Feel free to use this stuffing recipe to either make traditional cabbage rolls or to make a cabbage roll casserole! Either way you will not be sorry, well maybe when it is all gone.



Cabbage Rolls:

1lbs Ground Beef - I use 93/7
1/2C Rice
1C Water
1tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Allspice
2tsp Dried Mint Flakes
2tsp Onion Powder
2 Cloves Garlic - Minced
2 Carrots - Shredded
1 Onion - Diced
1 Can Diced Tomatoes (15oz)
2 Cans Tomato Sauce (15oz Each)
Juice of 2 Lemons
1 Cabbage

Okay first decision - cabbage roll or cabbage roll casserole.... I'm going to give you the instructions for cabbage roll casserole, but if you want to do traditional rolls just core a green cabbage and boil it in a large pot of salted water until the leaves are soft and pliable, then stuff, roll and place in the casserole dish.

To make cabbage roll casserole you need to roast the cabbage.

While the cabbage is roasting, place the water and rice in a small sauce pot and bring to a boil, stir once, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until all the water has evaporated, remove from the heat and set to the side.

While the rice is cooking place the ground beef, onions, garlic, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp allspice, 1tsp mint, 1tsp onion powder and some salt and pepper in a large saute pan and cook over medium heat until the beef is cooked completely through. Drain the beef and return the mixture to the pan. Add the rice, shredded carrots and tomatoes to the beef mixture.

Give a quick rinse to the rice pot then place it back on the stove and add the tomato sauce, lemon juice, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp allspice, 1tsp mint and 1tsp of onion powder to the sauce, bring up to a boil, stir and reduce to a simmer, cook for a few minutes then remove from the heat.

Once everything is cooked we can assemble! In a 13x9 place half the sauce and spread evenly on the bottom, then layer half of the cabbage leaves on top of the sauce, now spread the beef mixture all over the cabbage, top with the remaining cabbage then the remaining sauce and toss in a 350° oven for 30-45 minutes until nice and bubbly. (For Cabbage Rolls you will still place sauce on bottom, then place rolls on top of sauce, then top with the remaining sauce!)

This is great the first day but even better the second day after it has a chance to marry all the flavors together! Serve & Enjoy.

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WW: 3 Points Plus / Serving @ 8 servings
5 Points Plus / serving @ 6 servings
7 Points Plus / serving @ 4 servings

Sourdough Bread

Hi Everyone, sorry for the blogging hiatus! I am still cooking, just haven't had a ton of time to put together posts. I appreciate the emails asking if I am okay and when I will be posting again. This recipe is one I saw on pinterest from The Italian Dish that looked so good and promised to be super duper easy so I had to try it. I must say it was such a success that I have already made it twice! The beauty of this recipe - it takes less than 5 minutes to make the dough, within 2 hours it is ready to cook, you only cook what you want and put the rest of the dough in the fridge for use later (that's right....you can have fresh bread at every meal if you wanted!), the dough lasts up to two weeks in the fridge and the taste only gets better (more sourdough like) with time. I made a half batch of what was called for on The Italian Dish, which makes approximately (2) 8-10" loaves about 4" in diameter. Because you decide the size of your loaf cooking time may vary depending on what size you decide to bake. I love that I can do dinner rolls as easy as I could do a full loaf of bread for sandwiches. (this recipe is for the full batch, works well as a half batch as well!)



Sourdough Bread

2 Packets Instant Yeast (~1-1/2 TB)
3C Lukewarm Water
1-1/2TB Salt
6-1/2C Flour (I used King Arthur Brand - White All Purpose)

Instructions...get ready to be blown away. Put the yeast, water and salt in a large plastic bowl, mix together for a few seconds. Add in the flour - yes you can really just dump it all in there, no you don't sift it!, mix with a wooden spoon. Just mix until all of the water is incorporated into the flour and you can't see any dry pieces of flour. Totally fine that there are lumps and bumbs. Let it sit on the counter for 2 hours then put in the fridge until you are ready to use. You do want to put a lid on it but make sure the edge is off of it as the bread needs to breathe. (I just laid my lid on lopsided so the corners were open).

If you want to make it right away it is ready to bake after the 2 hours on the counter or anytime after you put it in the fridge. Just cut off a hunk of dough (or use the whole thing if you want a super huge loaf), coat your hands in flour and dust a bit on top of the dough so it doesn't all stick to you and gently fold it in on itself until it has a nice smooth top and all the edges are under the loaf. Place it on a piece of parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet and let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes. While the dough is resting on the counter preheat your oven to 450°. After the dough has finished resting slice the top in a few spots (I usually do a slash through the dough every 2-3" about 1/2" to 1" deep - kitchen scissors work great for this). Place the pan in the oven and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, the loaf will come out and nice and golden brown with a very nice crust to it.

Cut open, try not to burn your fingers on the deliciousness, serve and enjoy!

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WW: 75 Points Plus / Batch ** - Note a batch should easily make (4) 8-10" loaves that are 4" in diameter. If made into 4 loaves, each loaf would be 19 points. Each loaf could easily have 8 slices, each slice being approximately 2 Points Plus.