While visiting our relatives in PA, we enjoyed this very tasty meal of a French Roast and veggies, prepared in a Crock-pot.

The whole meal was cooking by itself in a Crock-pot, providing lots of time together to catch up on our past family events, while snacking on delicious horse devours.

The main course was preceded by delicious homemade Borscht, as well as tossed salad, completing the meal with a decadent dessert of a Coffee Cream cake.

This recipe yields plenty of food for 4-6 people.

Ingredients:

•  3-5 lbs of beef (Rump Roast, Eye Round, London Broil)
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 8 oz. baby carrots, whole (I did not have baby carrots on hand, so cut up regular carrots)
• 2 stalks celery, cut up
• 4 russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 cup French Dressing
• 1/2 cup Beef Broth
• 2 Tbs. Dry Tapioca

Directions:

1. Trim the meat of fat, and rub it all over with salt, pepper and minced garlic.
2. Brown the meat on all sides, on stove top in a frying pan seasoned with some oil.
3. Set aside.
4. Place the potatoes, carrots and onions at the bottom of the slow cooker.
5. Sprinkle Tapioca over the veggies.
6. Mix the French salad dressing with beef broth.
7. Pour 1/2 of the mixture over the veggies.
8. Please the meat over the veggies ( I cut my meat into serving portions)
9. Pour remaining dressing/beef broth mixture over the meat.
10. Cover slow cooker.
11. Cook on High for 4-5 hours.

Best served hot.

Enjoy

The past week has been kind of gloomy for me, so as a pick me up, I decided to share something little more humorous.

At least I think it’s humorous, and hope you will to.

This insert has been forwarded to me by a friend, hence unknown author or origin.

There was a man who had worked all his life, had saved all of his
money.

He was a real miser when it came to his money.

Just before he died, he said to his wife…’When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me.’

And so he got his wife to promise him, with all of her heart, that when he died, she would put all of the money into the casket with him.

Well, he died. When they finished the ceremony, and just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife  came over with the box and put it in the casket.

Her friends politely asked her if she was foolish enough to put all that money in there with her husband.

The loyal wife replied: 

‘Listen, I’m a Christian; I cannot go back on my word.

“I sure did!

I got it all together

Put it into my account.

Wrote him a check….

If he can cash it……then he can spend it.”

Well ladies, there is a good lesson to learn from this one, so please pass it on….

Chicken is known for being one of our healthier meat choices, and there are myriad of ways of preparing it.

I prefer chicken meat over turkey, as you already know from my previous posts, and am always searching for new recipes to try.

A friend shared this recipe, so I am not sure of its origin, but you will LOVE it…it’s so moist on the inside, yet crispy and crunchy on the outside.

Ingredients:

• 4 large chicken breasts, boneless, cut in half
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 cups Panco crumbs
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. black pepper, ground
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tbs. parsley, dried
• cooking spray

Directions:

1. Get three medium bowls, and fill one with milk, one with cheddar cheese, and one with Panco crumbs.
2. Line a baking sheet (I used a glass one 10 x 13 inches) with aluminum foil, and coat it with cooking spray.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Dip each piece of chicken breasts (8 pieces in all) in milk, then pat it on all sides with cheddar cheese, then dip it in Panco crumbs.
5. Arrange coated chicken breasts in the baking pan.
6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and parsley flakes.
7. Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven.
9. Let it rest in the pan for few minutes before serving.
10. For best results and crispness, serve it soon after cooking.

Enjoy!

Few weeks ago I baked my first bread in the Dutch Oven, but used all-purpose unbleached white flour, mixed with some whole wheat flour.  The bread was very tasty, and spongy.

Today, I tried the same recipe, but with bread flour, and the results were amazing.

The bread dough was rising much more rapidly than my first one.  It was very spongy, and light, and the bread turned out even better than my first loaf.

I can’t believe there is such an easy way to make homemade bread.

Since I used the same recipe and same directions, I will not repeat them here, but you can check out my previous post, if you are ready to make some fresh bread for your family.

I am definitely going to invest in a Dutch Oven of my own (waiting for a good sale), as this one is borrowed from my daughter.

Can you believe this loaf of bread costs only 81 cents….and that includes all the ingredient, and cost of the energy used to bake it.

I was about to try a Potato Kugel recipe, to share with my friends who are planning their Passover menu, but a young lady I work for, shared this wonderful recipe for Potato Kugel Cups, posted on another site.

I thought this was a wonderful idea, and decided to give it a try.

Very quick and easy process of preparing a traditional Passover dish, with a modern twist.  It presents itself nicely, and tastes scrumptious.

Excellent idea for individual servings, making it so easy to handle, rather than scooping out portions out of a casserole dish.

I did not have enough individual baking containers, so I used a muffin pan, which was even more convenient.

For serving, I removed them from the pan, and arranged them on a serving platter, surrounded by lettuce leaves and carrot shavings, as in this picture of a single serving.

This recipe produced 6 muffin size cups of Potato Kugel, or if you want smaller portions, you can use cupcake pan, and most likely make 12 potato cups.

If you noticed, I placed a sheet of Aluminum Foil under my muffin pan, to catch any oil drippings spilling out of the cups, because I overfilled them, and my oven would have been a mess.

Ingredients:

• 6 large potatoes (I used Russet Baking Potatoes – they are less watery), grated on a large eye grater, or food processor
• 1 large onion, grated on a fine eye grater ( or in a food processor)
• 3 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper, ground
• cooking spray

Directions:

1. Clean, peel, and grate potatoes (keep peeled potatoes submerged in cold water to prevent from browning).
2. Place grated potatoes on a strainer to drip off any excess liquids, until ready to mix.
3. Add the shredded onions.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, along with the muffin/cupcake baking pan.
5. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper.
6. Place the grated potatoes and onion into a medium bowl.
7. Mix in the egg mixture, until evenly distributed.
8. Remove the muffin/cupcake pan from the oven, and generously spray each cup with cooking spray
9. Scoop out potato mixture, to fill each cup about 3/4 full,  until you use up all your potato mixture.
10. Place the pan back in the oven, on the middle rack, and bake uncovered for an hour, or until the tops become crunchy.
11. Remove from the oven, and let them rest for a minute or so.
12. Using a plastic knife (so you don’t scratch your pan) loosen up the cups around the edges, and slide them out onto a serving platter.
13. Best served warm. However, may also be made ahead of time, and heated in the microwave, or on a baking sheet in the oven.

These individual Potato Kugel cups make a great accompaniment to any meat dish, or can be served with apple sauce, or any way you like them.

Enjoy your Passover meal.