Perfect Pot Roast

Looking for an easy and simple pot roast recipe?? To start, you will need any sort of beef roast and some simple root vegetables.

Start off by browning the meat on all sides in some vegetable oil until it is brown. Use a large, heavy bottomed pot. While you are doing this, chop up your veggies. I used carrots, celery and onions, but you could add potatoes, turnips, anything that can stand up to a long cook time.

When the meat is browned, take it out of the pot at brown the onions for a few minutes by themselves. Once the onions have a little color, add in the rest of the veggies and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir the veggies a few times, allowing them to pick up some of the bits and pieces of brown form the bottom of the pot. 

Put the meat on top of the veggies and then add 4-6 cups of water (enough to cover veggies and come up to the sides of the beef) and some beef stock base/bullion cubes. If you want you can also add some herbs, I added 1 bay leaf and some oregano. Allow the water to come up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover the pot and allow the meat to cook for 3-4 hours, turning the meat every 30 minutes.

I like to serve the pot roast with crusty bread. Ymmmm!!! 

Recipe Recap:

3-4 lb beef roast

3 medium onions

4 carrots

5 stalks celery

4 cups water

2 tsp beef base

1 bay leaf

1 Tsp  oregano

Brown the meat in 2 Tsp of oil, then remove the meat and brown the onions and other veggies. Put the meat back in the pan, add the water, herbs and beef base and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 3-4 hours, turning the meat every 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Grandma's Beef Stew (with Dumplings)

The perfect dinner for a cold, snowy winter night.....Grandma's Beef Stew with Dumplings! Here is my version of my grandmothers beef stew recipe along with my mothers drop dumplings. Whenever I make this my husband eats seconds, thirds, fourths, you get the idea!

This recipe couldn't be more simple. First I gathered the ingredients: carrots, beef stock base, an onion, salt/pepper, oil and some stew meat.

I chopped up the onion and cooked it in a heavy bottom pot until it was translucent.

Then I added the meat (that had been salt and peppered) to the pan and browned it on all sides.

Next I added in the pealed and chopped carrots for a few minutes, just to coat them in the onion and meat mixture.

Finally I added 2 teaspoons of the beef stock base and 4 cups of water. I let this come to a rapid boil for 5 minutes and then covered and cooked the stew on a medium low heat for an hour. At this point, salt and pepper to taste. At the end of the hour I brought the stew back up to a rapid boil to make the dumplings.

To make the dumplings I mixed flour, milk and an egg into a thick dough.

I then poured the dough into the boiling stew, put the lid back on the pot and cooked for 5 more minutes until the dumplings were cooked through.

Recipe Recap:
1 lb stew meat
Carrots (peeled and chopped)
1 medium onion chopped
1 tbsp Beef Stock Base
4 cups water
1 Tsp Vegetable Oil
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
Salt/Pepper

Cook the onions in a heavy bottom pot. Add the meat to brown. Add in the carrots, water and stock base. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes and then cover and simmer for an hour. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring the stew back to a boil. Mix together the flour, egg and milk and pour into boiling stew. Cover and allow the dumplings to cook.