Three Packet Slow Cooker Roast

I got this recipe from my old boss who said it makes the best roast ever. It is certainly wonderful and very easy too! The gravy I made with the leftover juice is yummy.

Three Packet Roast
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/three-packet-slow-cooker-roast/

1 cup water
1 (.7 ounce) packet dry Italian dressing mix
1 (1 ounce) packet ranch dressing mix
1 (.75 ounce) packet dry brown gravy mix
3 pound boneless beef chuck roast
Whisk together the water, Italian dressing mix, ranch dressing mix, and brown gravy mix in a bowl until smooth. Place the beef roast into a slow cooker, and pour the sauce over top.

Cook on low until the roast is easily pierced by a fork, 6 to 8 hours.

Gravy
1/4 cup fat drippings (use butter to make a total of 1/4 cup of fat if there aren't enough drippings)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups drippings (use boiled water and beef base to make a total of 2 cups if there aren't enough drippings)

Make a roux. Melt fat from meat and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add flour and mix with a whisk. Cook until it becomes bubbly and thick.

You need two cups of the remaining drippings. If you're short, use boiling water and beef base (1 cup water to 1 teaspoon beef base) to make up the difference. Add your drippings and water/beef base mixture to the roux if needed. Cook on medium heat until thick, stirring often. If you're not serving immediately, turn on low heat and stir occasionally. I strained the gravy before putting in the gravy boat to remove any lumps.

Makes 2 cups

Creamed Eggs on Toast

This is something I remember Grandma Cleo making when I would visit during college. Since then I've learned to make it and I love it! It's a pretty quick meal to prepare (probably about 30 minutes including the egg boiling.

I would say that these quantities would feed 2-4 people, depending on their appetites. I'm satisfied with about a third of this so I'd go 2 eggs, 1 T butter, 1 T flour and probably about 1/2 cup of milk.

Look at that yumminess!

And that homemade whole wheat bread underneath?

Delectable! :)

Creamed Eggs on Toast
6 hard boiled eggs
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Toasted bread

Boil your eggs. I've found that it's easier to peel them if they're still warm so I prefer to cook them right before I'm making this. Peel the eggs and chop up into big chunks. You'll want to complete this step before starting the next step, unless you take the next step super slow.

Make a roux by melting butter in a saucepan on medium heat then adding flour (I included some amounts here but if you want to make more or less, it's equal parts butter and flour). Once the mixture starts to bubble and thicken, add milk. Continue to stir; the sauce will begin to thicken. Add the eggs. If they're cold, you'll want to let them cook long enough to warm up. Add salt and pepper to taste.

A note about the roux...I'm always afraid of using too high heat, but I've found that using a medium-low heat takes forever. I put it on medium and just watch it closely. Don't be afraid to be a little aggressive with the heat.

Toast your bread then spoon the egg mixture on top.

While my homemade whole wheat bread is really good with this, I find that my homemade French bread makes it extra delicious. I'll post those recipes one of these days.

Sweet Pork

This is one of many versions of Costa Vida's sweet pork I've seen. This one came from the Gilbert Ranch Ward cookbook.

This is my first foray into posting pictures and it makes me wish I had a nice granite countertop and lots of pretty serving dishes. But alas I'm just a normal gal in a normal house.

Sweet Pork
3-7 ounce cans tomato sauce
2-7 ounce cans El Pato tomato sauce (found in Mexican food section)
2 cups dark brown sugar
4-5 pounds pork roast (again, I prefer the boneless type)

Mix the sauces and brown sugar then pour over pork roast in a crockpot. Cook on low about eight hours. Shred and serve on burritos, nachos, or salads.

I like to top it with lettuce, tomato, onions, black or pinto beans, rice, cheese, and a creamy salad dressing.

A note about quantity: I only used about 3 pounds of pork and we've eaten this for three meals and we still have quite a bit of meat left.

We had burritos the first day and I made these delicious nachos today.

And...a note on leftovers: We've been making a lot of fried rice with leftovers. This is not good as fried rice, not sure why. :)

The dressing I tried is from Our Best Bites. The pork is so flavorful that you don't really taste the dressing much but it does have a little bit of a kick to it. Adrian also adds sour cream to his, but I'm fine without it.

Creamy Cilantro-Lime Ranch Dressing
from Our Best Bites
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
1 lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons lime juice)
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (just the dry mix)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 cup green salsa
Hot sauce (I used 1 teaspoon of Tabasco)

Combine mayonnaise, milk, lime juice, and the contents of the packet of ranch dressing in a blender. Add garlic, cilantro, and green salsa and blend to thoroughly mix all the ingredients. Season with hot sauce, if desired. If possible, refrigerate for several hours to allow the dressing to thicken and the flavors to meld.

Makes about 2 cups.

Yellow Chicken - An Indonesian Specialty

This is a favorite recipe of Adrian's family, from their Indonesian father. It's absolutely delicious! You'll find the lemongrass and galanggal at the Asian market (galanggal is a spice, lemongrass is a grass that comes in a bag in the freezer/produce section). I just made a discovery: lemon grass in the produce section at Wal Mart. It is in a squeeze tube by the fresh herbs.

2 chicken breasts, cubed or thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon lemongrass
1/4 teaspoon galanggal
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cans coconut milk

Sauté onion and garlic in oil. Add all the spices to the onions and stir. Add the chicken, cook on medium/low heat stirring occasionally until cooked through. Add coconut milk, bring it to a soft boil, then remove from heat. Serve over cooked white rice.

It will seem like there's not enough liquid to cook the chicken in, but the chicken adds enough liquid. Adrian's dad would use a whole chicken (and perhaps make more of the sauce) but I'm not a fan of bone-in meat so I just used chicken breast.

The final product has a lot of sauce which is really good to put on the rice. You could probably add more chicken without affecting it too much. Adrian's dad used a whole chicken.

It's a really quick and easy recipe to make.