Pot roast was on the menu for tonight's meal. Whenever our family eats this dish, we are reminded of a certain special woman. Sean's Gram made the best pot roasts ever! We said good-bye to Gram this past June and we miss her dearly. While breathing in the aroma here in our own home today, I longed to have one more of my chats with Gram. These treasured moments so often took place at her kitchen table back in CT. I met Gram a week after Sean and I had our first date. I could instantly see the strong bond between the two of them and knew that this relationship was deeply significant to the man that I had just met. Spending time with her for nine years of my own life causes me to be so very thankful.
While prepping the beef earlier today I began to laugh as I remembered an oven roast adventure of my own! I was in my mid 20's and had to come home to spend a few days visiting my parents. I was the first one home one afternoon and Mom had asked me to please put the roast in the oven. I admitted, with chagrin, that I really had no idea how to make a roast? She reassured me that I simply needed to add some seasoning and a bit of liquid and then place at all in the oven. Well, I have always been somewhat of an extremist! I added plenty of seasoning. Perhaps too much seasoning?? Mom had said to just go ahead and include some things from the spice cupboard. So I did! Upon her return home that evening, Mom showed me how to prepare the gravy. (To be honest, I still do not attempt gravy here in my own home! We go the route of "Au-jus" with our beef! ) Anyways, back to 2003... the three of us sat down to dinner. Dad had added gravy to his plate of dinner. Low and behold, he was quite surprised to discover that the gravy was extremely spicy! Spicy gravy? How did that
happen? We put the pieces together and realized that I had included an abundance of cayenne pepper while adding the other more typical roast seasonings.… Bottom line, the gravy was inedible. I have not since made that mistake! Our oven roast dinner turned out fine this evening and I will include the recipe below. While peeling the carrots this morning, I was taken back to a different time in life. As I remembered my spicy pot roast, I began to picture so many things. I had done plenty of cooking during my early years at home. In fact, I love to open up a "Taste of Home" cookbook, choose three or four new recipes and then have my mom take me to the grocery store! I would then prepare a rather complex meal. We would invite another family over for dinner and those are some of my favorite memories. Somehow my repertoire did not include pot roast! I was 26 years old when I met my husband in 2004. I was living between New York, Connecticut and Maryland
while working at my most favorite job of all time! I was riding and teaching while working for incredible people in amazing surroundings. I was having the time of my life! It was this job that I left when we moved to Erie in June 2006. I was expecting our daughter and life was about to change!
By the spring of 2009, I found myself as the mother of two young children! Rest assured, somewhere in there I had learned the proper way to make a pot roast. Looking back, 2009 and into 2010 was a very challenging time in my life. I imagine that all mothers of young children are able to relate! Getting together three times a week to double stroller-walk three miles at the Peninsula with a close friend with kids the same ages as mine (Tara) is how I made it through that summer of 2009!
I will never forget the days that I was feeling so overwhelmed by my potty-training two year old daughter and nursing infant son. One afternoon, I sat in my living room and just cried and cried. I longed for a different time in my life. All that I could think of was how
I will never forget the days that I was feeling so overwhelmed by my potty-training two year old daughter and nursing infant son. One afternoon, I sat in my living room and just cried and cried. I longed for a different time in my life. All that I could think of was how
the "good old days" were so much better than this. I used to have an outstanding job that I loved and was just really enjoying life! Then I met an amazing man. Now I felt as though we barely had time to connect. Becoming a mother of two young children challenged me in ways I never could have imagined! To be honest, most days I was really not sure if I was quite cut out for the role. As resentment rose to the top of my heart one afternoon, I sat down and opened up my Bible. What happened next still gives me goosebumps and has become a definitive reminder that will be with me all of my days, through all seasons of life.
I just happened to flip open to the book of Ecclesiastes, which was by no means my go-to book for pick-me-up reading. This was the sort of day where I would have been much more at home in the Psalms! Anyways, the pages fell open to Ecclesiastes 7:10, "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions". HOLD ON! I know with all of my heart that God speaks to us through His Word. But still, the timing of all of this was just too much for me. I began to weep tears of acceptance for that time in my life and all that it entailed. And then my eyes scanned up to verses 8 and 9, "The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools". Time seemed to stand still in that moment as I pondered all that had been building up within me. My children were oftentimes "residing" in my lap and I so did not want to have my own anger and resentment right there next to them. I prayed that day that the Lord would help me to bear these things in mind. Then I asked Him to please change me from the inside out. I can't tell you how many times these three verses have come back to me. Solid truth to live by each day!
So there it is, much pondering of my heart today as I spent time working in the kitchen and gazing out my window. And to think that this entire journey began with the mention of a pot roast. Here is my recipe!
Oven Roast Beef with Veggies
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Thyme
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 1/2 Teaspoons Oregano
1 1/2 Teaspoons Paprika
2 Teaspoons Minced Dried Onion
2-3 Cups Wegmans Organic Vegetable Broth (a favorite ingredient of mine!)
3-4 Red Potatoes, cleaned and cut into 1/8's (or smaller if your potatoes are very large)
4-6 Carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
3 Celery Ribs, bias-cut in 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 Onion, sliced into wedges
1) Brown meat on all sides in hot oil. (I use my 8-Quart Pampered Chef pot for this recipe)
2) Remove from heat. Sprinkle dry seasonings over the roast. Add 1 cup of Wegmans Organic Vegetable Broth along either side, NOT pouring it over the roast in order to keep most of the seasoning there on top.
3) Cover your pot and place it in a 325 oven for one hour.
4) Remove pot and and carefully add your veggies. I listed what I happened to have on hand today. Add whatever you like! Your veggies should completely cover your roast. Pour an additional cup (or two) of the vegetable broth on top of everything.
5) Cover pot and return to the oven. Bake for an hour or so, until veggies are of desired texture.
6) Remove from oven and allow pot to remain covered for 10 minutes or so before opening it up and pulling out your beef to begin slicing.
7) This meal serves nicely in a bowl. Place veggies in bowl first, top with some sliced beef and then spoon a bit of the flavorful broth on top of everything.
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