Pot Roast Stew

It snowed yesterday so it was a perfect weather for comfort food. I made macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, spaghetti casserole, and stew last night. The stew and mashed potatoes were dinner, the rest was for later in the week and for lunch.  The stew recipe is something I made up on the fly (it was inspired by Jeff), it turned out pretty good, we ate it served over the mashed potatoes instead of me putting potatoes in the stew. Here's the recipe:

Nic's Pot Roast Stew
2 T butter
1-2 T oil (I used canola)
4 medium carrots, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 an onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 T flour
3-4 C french onion soup (or cooked both from a 4-5lb pot roast) with the fat skimmed off
1-2 lbs of left over pot roast
oregano
peas
bay leaf
salt and pepper

Combine butter and oil over med-low heat in a dutch oven.  Sweat onion, carrots, celery, and garlic 5-7 minutes or until veggies are soft.  Add the flour and stir for 3-4 minutes.  Then add soup/broth, bay leaf, and oregano bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat, add the meat and set on a low simmer for 30 mins. You may want to skim off any fat/grease that rises to the top.  Add the peas and serve over mashed potatoes once the peas are hot.

Here's what I do to maximize the food that I have bought. I make French onion soup (Julia Child's recipe) eat that for dinner, use the left over soup to cook the pot roast either in the oven or in the crock pot. Eat the pot roast for dinner and then use the sauce/soup concoction and make stew with the left over pot roast. That way I have 3 meals (and then some). It makes me feel like I'm being thrifty.

The mac and cheese recipe is what my Mom used to make all the time, serves about 4-6 people as a side dish. While it uses velveeta I'm OK with that, I am not one to turn my nose up at processed cheese.... it melts soooo well and is easy to use. I justify this by not using it that frequently.

Mom's Mac 'n Cheese

2 C cooked elbow pasta
2-4 T butter
1/2 onion diced, sauteed in a little butter
3-4 T flour
velveeta - I never measure best guess would be about 1 1/2 C cubed
3-4 C milk
pepper
nutmeg

Grease 2 qt. casserole, add pasta, onion, and butter, toss to coat. Add velveeta, stir, add flour, stir. Pour in milk, until all is covered but not swimming. I microwave the milk for a few minutes just to preheat. Add pepper and a dash of nutmeg. Bake at 350 for 45 min- 1 hr (or until top is brown and edges are bubbly you don't want it soupy). Enjoy!

The spaghetti casserole has been a favorite of my families since I was a kid. I have no idea where my Mom got it, I've adapted it a bit to suit my tastes.


Spaghetti Casserole

1lb ground beef
1 garlic clove, diced
1 onion, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato soup
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 can diced mushrooms
1 lb. spaghetti, cooked
shredded cheddar cheese

In a large dutch oven brown ground beef with onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Drain off fat, combine with soups and mushrooms. Add in spaghetti, toss well to combine, top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until hot and cheese is melted.

Pork Chops

We had pork chops for dinner on Sunday, they were good. I marinated 3 chops in Stubbs BBQ sauce. The other 3 I made up a marinade, it turned out quite good. I think I will use this marinade again, it added a lot of flavor to the chops. Unfortunately I didn't measure anything..... here's my best guess:

½ a Lemon zested
Juice of ½ a Lemon
1-2 T Honey
Couple good shakes Soy sauce
2 spoons full Hoisin sauce (maybe 1-2 T)
2 glugs of Vegetable oil
S&P TT
Garlic powder

Next time I will use fresh garlic. I also tried a new macaroni and cheese recipe... pretty tasty! But of course it's hard to go wrong when you use an Alton Brown recipe. Here's the recipe, it's well worth the effort.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese - Alton Brown
Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.
Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.

I used radiatore instead of the usual macaroni. My only complaint about this recipe is, I microwaved some leftovers and that didn't go so well. I'm sure if you baked it in the oven it would probably turn out better. I've got meatloaf, skillet ziti, and maybe spaghetti with bolognese sauce on the menu for this week. We'll see if all of that get's made. Have a great week everybody.