This roast will make you happy

We rarely eat red meat. But this last weekend, after 6 years of marriage, I got up the courage to cook a roast for Sunday dinner. I thought it might be a disaster, and I'm pretty sure J thought so too. But it turns out you can't go wrong with a crockpot. What would I do without the internet? The roast turned out fantastic, it was even better for lunch leftovers.

CROCKPOT ROAST

Mix together 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp seasoned salt, 1/4 tsp ground cayenne, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder.

Rub mix over the surface of a 3 lb. roast (I used a rump roast). Throw it in the crockpot with 1 1/2 cups of water, 3 beef bouillon cubes, 1/4 cup grated onion, and another 1/4 tsp pepper.

Cook on high in a crockpot with 1 1/2 cups of water for about 4 hours (or on low for 8 hours or so).

I steamed my potatoes and carrots separately.

Serve the roast with the potatoes, carrots, and juice from the crockpot.

30 month checkup

Boo had her 30 month well-child checkup this week. She's not a fan of the doctor. Last check up did not go well, so this time around we tried to prep her for what was coming, as she seems to do much better with new things when we talk about it a few days ahead of time. The first time we talked to her about getting a shot, she broke down in tears. The next time she pretended like I wasn't even talking. And then whenever the doctor subject was brought up, she simply said, "No, going to Hannah Noah's."

She insisted that this was the plan all the way up until we walked into the office. I was pretty sure we were headed for meltdown city, but all told she did much better this time around. The shot was bad, but we're (finally) done until kindergarten boosters.

Cousin Tyler

Boo got to play with her only Hall cousin this weekend. Tyler is such a good kid - he was right at home in our Valentine's brunch madness. After the Kiss Hunt, he wanted to inspect Boo's cup of kisses, so he planted both of his little paws on her knees to get a better look. Boo, ever possessive of what is rightfully hers, immediately hollered, "MY PANTS! MY PANTS!!"
They played together very well all afternoon on Friday. Saturday was a little harder...it's so hard to share...hopefully Becca will let Ty come back again so we can practice.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day.

Valentine's breakfast...
Pancakes, strawberries and...

whipped cream!

Valentine's Brunch

Friday morning we had a Valentine's play group with some friends and cousins. We had chocolate chip heart pancakes and strawberries for brunch. (There was supposed to be whipped cream to go with it, but I forgot to whip it.)

There were plenty of kids to go around.

We had a Hershey's Kiss Hunt at the end, and the kids loved it. Boo saved most of her kisses and we have played 'hide treats' several times since.

Grand Raspberry Trifle

I saw this on Martha Stewart's Everyday Baking and gave it a try last weekend. For not being a chocolate dessert, it was awesome. Here is the original recipe, and here is what I did:

1. In a small saucepan, bring 1/4 cup sugar, 1/8 cup water, and 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice to a boil. Boil and stir 1-2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Combine 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam with 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries, mashing the raspberries slightly.

3. Whip 1 cup of heavy cream with 1 TB sugar to stiff peaks.

4. Slice about 3/4 of a loaf of pound cake. Brush both sides of cake slices with the lemon syrup, then cut the slices into chunks.
5. Place chunks from 1 slice of pound cake in the bottom of a glass (I used short and wide tumblers, but parfait glasses or wide goblets would be very pretty). Drop a spoonful of raspberry mixture on top of the cake chunks, followed by a spoonful of whipped cream. Repeat twice more, so you have three sets of layers.

6. Garnish the top with fresh raspberries. Refrigerate until serving, up to 24 hours.
As I was making it, it seemed like there was too much pound cake and not enough raspberry sauce, but when we actually ate it I think it was the perfect ratio. A great Valentine's Day dessert!

And baby makes four...

Baby girl #2 is scheduled to arrive June 26th.

Boo is excited and wants to name her Puppy.

I'm looking forward to painting, rearranging rooms, and getting out all those cute newborn onesies.

Bring on the pink!

Under construction

I'm changing my blog up a bit, even adding some buttons.

I gave Simply Chic blog backgrounds a try, they have some cute Valentine's backgrounds.

Heather introduced me to a fabulous website, No Time For Flashcards. I L-O-V-E it and can't decide where to start first.

January Snow

We've had very little snow this winter season, but this week we got 12 1/2 inches in one shot.
The day before the big snow, we got just an inch and Boo loved shuffling around in the snow, making tracks, and eating snow. She especially liked the snow off her boots.
But 12 1/2 inches isn't quite her cup of tea yet. A little too much to be able to walk. So I stomped out a little place and she stood in one spot and threw some snow around and licked it off her mittens. At 15 degrees we didn't stay out too long, but it was fun to play outside for a change.

Resistant bacteria and advanced directives

The clinic that I work for was recently sold to a hospital network. For the most part I think it will be a good change, once we get used to all the changes in procedure and paperwork (March?? April??). We all had to go to a two day training this week, geared towards new employees of this network. Now I have had a lot of different jobs, and attended a lot of new hire orientations. This one was the biggest snore of them all. At one point we were being instructed on how to access the website, with a majority of the instruction being how to open up Internet Explorer. But I did get a free lunch.

Fortunately today was better...and shorter. Although the discussions on resistant bacteria and hand-washing were NOT good for my paranoia and OCD. We did have a good discussion on advanced directives. If you do not have documents indicating your preference for resuscitation, artificial hydration/nutrition, and power of attorney, should you become unable to make these decisions for yourself, it is absolutely worthwhile to take the time to fill out the necessary forms. Laws regarding these forms vary between states, so talk to your doctor or attorney. Put the forms in a safe place, give copies to close family members, make sure they know what you want. It's not a pleasant thing to contemplate, but will save your family a lot of suffering and indecision. Check with your parents to see if they have completed these forms and where the documents are kept.

Colbert clip of the week

Enjoy this clip from the Colbert Report about PETA's latest scheme.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Tip/Wag - Monkey on the Lam

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

My own cheerleader

"YAY! Mommy did it!"

Nestle's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I went to a cooking activity last week and my friend said that she baked her cookies on a PIZZA STONE. And her cookies were the best texture ever, so I wanted to give it a try.

So Boo and I made chocolate chocolate chip cookies this evening and they turned out GREAT, if I do say so myself. I preheated the stone with the oven. And since my pizza stone is pretty seasoned, I put the cookies on parchment paper, then slid them onto the stone to bake (totally not my idea, it's all Ellen). I imagine it would work with any type of cookies - give it a try. BTW, the recipe works great halved. Here's the recipe:

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c softened butter
3/4 c sugar
2/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 c chocolate chips

Mix flour, cocoa, soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla in another bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet or stone. Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes until centers are set. Let stand for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes

My friend Diane told me about this book this week, and I was completely skeptical. But she was glowing in her praise, so I did some internet research and found this excellent video tutorial (by the authors) and the Master Recipe (which I was hoping to link, but now can't find). I also spent a lot of time on their website and reading various food blogs critiquing the book.

Since it didn't take a lot of ingredients and wasn't super labor intensive, I gave the Master Recipe a try this weekend. Here's how it went...

Mix together 1 1/2 TB yeast, 1 1/2 TB salt, 3 cups lukewarm water, 6 1/2 cups flour. (This is the full recipe, but I halved everything and used 1/3 part wheat flour.) The dough really did come together in 5 minutes, even with Boo helping me. Boo and I like to taste the dough, and I was upset by how salty it was (Boo, on the other hand, didn't care - she would eat salt plain). This would not be first time I had oversalted something. But I popped it in the fridge anyway and didn't worry about it again until evening when I sliced off a chunk of dough and set it to rise. I tasted the dough again and it wasn't nearly so salty.

After about 1 hour and 40 minutes of rising, on my well-floured cutting board (you should use a pizza peel and cornmeal if you have them) it was time to slash and bake. I preheated the pizza stone for 20 minutes (middle rack) before sliding the round loaf in (450 degrees). I also added a cup of water to a metal pan on the rack beneath the stone. I overcooked it a tiny bit, but it tasted decent. J tried some this afternoon and said it was EXACTLY like the bread he used to eat everyday in Portugal.

Today I cooked the second half of the dough. This part is, I think, the beauty of this kind of bread. I came home from church, pulled out the rest of the dough, set it to rise while I made some soup, and then popped it in the oven an hour and a half later. Although it takes time for it to rise and bake, my actual hands on time was probably less than 2 minutes. Supposedly the dough will last in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. So you make the dough one day (in five minutes) and then over the next two weeks, just cut off a chunk of dough when you need a new loaf. The longer it sits, the more of a sourdough taste you get. Food blogs say the prime taste is at about 3 days. FYI, all the clever things about this recipe (cooking it on a stone, water on the lower rack, etc.) came from the tutorial.

I got a prettier loaf the second time around. And the extra time in the fridge really did make a difference - it tasted GREAT. The bottom and top crusts were perfect.

Looks just like a Panera Bread loaf. :)

I got on the waiting list at the library, but it looks like it will be a few months before my turn. We happened to be at Barnes and Noble last night, so I browsed the book for a few minutes. And it looks fantastic. The whole wheat bread looks just as easy, and not too different, so I will give that a try this week. The pastry section had me drooling (ganache filled something or other, OH MY), and a ton of other recipes for pizza crust, soft pretzels, challah, and the list goes on.

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for your comments on your experience with Bosch, Kitchenaid and bread in general. I'll be experimenting over the next few months and will let you know how it all goes.