Crock Pot Roast Beef

I had yesterday off and thought it would be a great day to put a roast in the crock pot...  Ok, what inspired me was, a few days back my boyfriend and I were in Safeway and he was drooling over a piece of hot Roast Beef in gravy.  Well, I haven't made a roast in a long time, so I decided that enough was enough and I wold go all out and put on a roast...

My friend was over for coffee and got to witness my magic in action.  Ha ha!  Magic I say.  She probably thinks I'm nuts now.  I secretly (or now not so secretly) hate touching meat.  But alas, meat must be handled somewhat.  So she had to witness my delight in repeatedly touching the lovely roast.  Don't get me wrong... I have handled a lot of meat in the past, and can do this.  I just don't like to.  Not my favorite thing.  

Anyways... Crockpot Roast Beef...  There is no real set rules in my kitchen for what goes into it.  But one thing I do like to do is put some sort of veggies into the bottom of the pot.  I think this adds flavor to it and helps to make yummy gravy.

So before the roast goes in, I put in some celery chopped a few times, but left in pretty long chunks.  Peel and chop up a few carrots, big chunks.  Peel and halve and roughly chop an onion into big chunks.  Spread out on bottom of crock pot.  Then I sprinkle in some onion soup mix.  Put in a cup or so of Beef Stock.  Yesterday I threw in a few springs of fresh Savory.  

The roast its self, I gave a rinse.  Stabbed it full of holes with a thin knife and stuffed them with slices of fresh garlic.  (About 3 or 4 cloves.) |All over top bottom and sides, randomly.  Put pepper all over the outside. Ok, sometimes I will sear the roast in a hot pan with oil to brown the outside and seal in the moisture.  This time I didn't.  I figured it usually comes out tender enough out of the crock pot.  You can sprinkle on more herbs or spices if you want.  Because I used Onion Soup Mix, I didn't add any salt to anything.  It was salty enough.  I put another sprig of Savory on top.  and dusted a little more onion soup mix on it.  You can also just use onion powder if you want.  Whatever floats your boat.

Into the Crock Pot.

Put a lid on it.  Pug it in and set it to Low.  Now, Forget about it.... For about 8 hours.  Or if you put it on High, then leave it for 4 hours.  Let the crock pot do it's magic!

In about 8 hours you will lift the lid to see this steaming beauty!

So last night to go with my roast I cooked Butternut Squash.  Just cut in half, seeds scooped out, and into a casserole dish.  I dab butter here and there all over it and sprinkle it over with salt and pepper. You cold put in a little splash of water if you want.  Cover with tin foil.  Bake at 350" until tender... (It takes my oven over an hour I think).

Also had Mashed Potatoes.  Peel, quarter, and boil until fork tender, Drain.  Throw in some butter, whipping cream (or milk), salt and pepper and mash.  Also good with a some dill sprinkled on top.  Yummm!

Of course we needed cooked carrots with butter and dill.  They go so well together.

Then I got all ambitious and attempted Yorkshire Pudding.  Oh yeah.  Something I haven't done for several years.  I will post the recipe separately as soon as I can.  I just love Yorkshire Pudding with roast and gravy.  Mmmm!

Oh yes!  Lets not forget the gravy.  Gravy is pretty easy.  After I took the roast out of the crock pot, I strained the juices and veggies.  The liquid went into a pot.  And back on to the stove top to be brought to a boil.  You can thicken it with flour and water shaken in a jar, or you can use a gravy browner.  I used a gravy browner for the first tiem ever last night and it came out really nice.  I just sprinkled it over the boiling broth and whisked it until it was thickened.  I didn't need to add anymore spices or salt, because of the onion soup mix.  Easy and good to go.

Oh yeah!  We also had my Wicked Greek Salad with our meal!  
http://thekitchenexpedition.blogspot.ca/2013/08/wicked-greek-salad-recipe.html

Well, I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too busy preparing and by the time I was ready to eat I it was smelling to good to take the time.  Ahhhh!  What a life!

My New Job! The Baker Extraordinaire!

So, I'm rather excited about this!

I have a new job!  I have started working at a lovely little bakery called The Baker Extraordinaire! It's a small very homey bakery that grinds their own wholewheat flour and makes wonderful fresh bread, muffins, scones, cookies, and pies, as well as some seasonal things.   The baking is done fresh every day, so what ever you go pick off the shelf will be really yummy.  

 I've worked 4 shifts there and absolutely love it.  The owner arrives in the wee hours of the morning and gets the bread all on the go, and by the time I arrive in the morning I can smell the wonderful smell of baking bread wafting down the street.  Is that not the best smell in the world?  When I walk in the door there is such a homey feel to the place that I feel like I am stepping into someones kitchen.  I just love it.

I have so much to learn, but so far I am learning to make the muffins, scones, and pies among other things such as making up the mixes and prep.Soon we will be starting Thanks Giving and then it's Christmas Baking!

Yesterday I made my first ever Pumpkin Pies.  I've never bothered making them before.  Instead usually just have a slice at my Mom's or something like that.  For some reason, Mission Pumpkin Pie has always kind of scared me...  Well, people, no more!  It wasn't so bad to make after all.  The hardest part was getting it to the oven without spilling it.

I also made Mixed Berry Pecan Muffins, Cranberry Scones, Apple Pie, Apple Crumble, Blueberry Pie, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, Mixed Berry Pie, and Peach Pie....  never made so many different pies in a day in my life!  Right now, I am feel like I am rather slow, but I hope with time and practice I can pick it up.  We use a dough roller to get the dough to the right thicknesses.  The pie dough is rolled back and forth on this sort of conveyor belt thing making it thinner with each passing.  You need to hit a start button and send it thought to the other side... then hit a stop button before it falls of the end of the conveyor... then back through to the other side.  Back and forth... start button, stop button, start button, stop button.  A different start button for each side depending on which way you are sending he dough.  My fear is hitting the wrong  button and sending the dough flying off the end.  So far it's only happened once.  Yay for the dough roller!

Anyways, I'm really enjoying working there... it's kind of a dream thing for me.  The owner is wonderful and are the coworkers and so far the customer base coming in are really nice.

I'm sure I'll be talking more about my job as time goes on.

Here's a link to their website.  Check it out!
http://www.engr.mun.ca/~brianclaus/bakerex/index.html