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All, I’ve never been really successful at making pot roast, so I looked up recipes on the Interwebs and decided that it really couldn’t be that hard.
So, I found some and modified a bunch to make my own recipe
First of all, unless you have a method down already, roast any vegetables separately. There are too many variations in ovens, baking pans, roasting heats, and veggie size to make it worth while to try and add a pot roast to that mix and hope for anything good to turn out – unless you already have your groove on.
So here it is:
1 Pot Roast – 3-4 lbs
2-3 TBSP peanut oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
1/2 packet liptons dried onion soup mix
1-2 regular sized cans of cream of mushroom soup (low salt if possible)
1/2 lb or so of mushrooms, chopped or sliced – fresh, not canned – unless you are lazy or in a real hurry
1/2 Cup Red Wine – I used Barbera, but any big red Cab would do well too
1/2 head of garlic – peeled
.5 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
1. Add oil to 5 qt or so Dutch Oven – burner on high, Brown meat on all sides. I did about 5 min per side
2. Add chopped onion and mushrooms – cook and stir for 3-5 minutes on high. Add 1/4 C water if things are sticking to the pot
3. Depending on your love of mushrooms, add 1 can of cream of mushroom soup. Add two cans if you love gravy and mushrooms
4. Add wine, pour a glass for yourself to make sure it’s good wine
5. Add 1/2 packet of Liptons dried onion soup mix – stir in well – use less if you don’t like salt, or if you didn’t use a low salt version of the cream of mushroom soup.
6. Put peeled garlic cloves in – use more if you like garlic, less if you don’t
7. Put in oven for 3.5 hours – check at hourly to make sure that there is plenty of liquid/gravy. Fresh mushrooms tend to have a lot of water, so you should be fine if you added them. If not, add 1/4 – 1/2C water or broth.
8. After the second hour of cooking, consider starting your roasted vegetables or potatoes. I just throw 4-5 potatoes in foil into the oven with the pot roast – after about 1-1.5 hours potatoes are done.
9. Break up with fork and serve! Put a little sour cream on top and veggies on the side
Delicious!
Forwarded email I received from Jamie Oliver – I direct linked to the petition – they seem to be using tracking software so I don’t want to mess up their stats too much…
Jamie and the Food Revolution Team need your help.
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
On 19 – 20 Sept 2011, policy leaders from around the world will come together in New York for the United Nations High-Level Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) – which encompass smoking, alcohol & diet-related illnesses.
• Jamie’s plea
Watch Jamie’s video message asking for people all across the world to join the Food Revolution & help countries & global leaders work together to reduce mortalities from NCDs & obesity related diseases.
• UN Webcasts
Find out how the UN Gen-Sec responded to Jamie’s question ‘Over 35 million people die of non communicable diseases every year, how can we reduce this?’ and what was discussed in yesterday’s press conference on NCDs
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Make a stand against obesity & NCDs. Email your UN representative in NY to urge them & your head of state to attend this UN Summit. Sign the Petition here!
Millions of people die across the globe each year from NCDs which could be prevented, it is so important that we act now.
Thank you,
The Food Revolution Team
Some stats:
•1.7 billion people are obese or overweight globally including 200 million children
•2.8 million people die every year as a result of being overweight or obese
All, here is my uber recipe for Mexican Style Carnitas, that I think even Jamie Oliver would love.
My version of Food Revolution Carnitas:
1 2-2.5lb pork butt or shoulder – cut into 1-2 inch cubes
1 16 oz Pepsi – the real thing – no diet or cherry or crap like that
1-2 C Peanut Oil or your favorite frying oil
2-4 tsp Cumin
1 small onion, chopped – I prefer white onion for this dish
1 bunch Cilantro, chopped
10-20 corn tortillas – the more spanish words on the label, the better
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
1 package or 2 cups of Mexican cheese – I prefer Oaxaca style or Queso Fresco. Jack cheese is also pretty good, but sometimes has a hard time melting
Guacamole
Sour Cream or Crema
Hot sauce or salsa
Process:
Heat the oil in Dutch Oven or large frying pan and fry pork cubes in it for 10-20 minutes. You want the sides to be a bit crispy. Stir, but not often, maybe 3 times total – if you smell burning, then stir
After about 10 min I add the chopped onion and 2 tsp or so of Cumin.
After the meat is charred/crisped, drain as much oil as you can.
Add Pepsi and cook for 30-60 minutes – usually my son can’t wait, so he only waits 30 min
Once the meat is easily forked apart, then you know it’s done.
The meat is the hard part, so now you can add it to whatever dish you want.
For the recipe here, I made Carnitas Quesadillas:
Pour some more oil into your frying pan
Place one tortilla down in the oil to start frying, top with cheese, and a healthy portion of your Carnitas meat.
Then place another tortilla on top, and flip when the bottom tortilla is as crisp as you like.
I let them cool for 5 min or so, then quarter with a pizza cutter.
Top with cilantro, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, and hot sauce, and you’ve got your self the best darn Carnitas Quesadilla you could ever want.
But, of course, feel free to put the meat into tacos, soft tacos, burritos, tostadas, enchiladas, or any other Mexican style dish that you like, or think Jamie Oliver would like!
Summertime is tomato time, and tomato time means Caprese Salad time! We are fortunate to live in an area with many farmers markets. In fact, I think there is one in every nearby city at least one day a week, if not two.
Nothing says summertime to me better than fresh tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and cheese. This is good, because that’s almost every ingredient in a Caprese Salad.
So this Saturday, we went to the farmers market and picked up a couple heirloom tomatoes, one yellow and one purple reddish color. A quick stop at Trader Joes for some reasonably priced Mozzarella Cheese, and a stop in the backyard herb garden for some fresh and homegrown basil. I think that Jamie Oliver and the Food Revolution would approve of this dish.
 Summertime Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Caprese Salad Caprese Salad
Serves 2-4 :
2 summertime ripe farmers market heirloom tomatoes – or your own garden tomatoes would be an acceptable substitute
5-10 of the largest basil leaves you can find – Trader Joes is great for this too
4-8 oz of the best Mozzarella you can find
splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Bonus points: Balsamic Vinegar
Optional additions:
Marinated and pitted Kalamata olives – usually comes in a jar – use as garnish and for color and zing
Minced fresh Oregano – sprinkle a bit over each slice
Method:
Slice tomatoes as thin or thick as you like. 1/8 to 1/4 inch is usually fine – I give mine a quick grind of sea salt while layering them in a ring – tomatoes and salt just go together so well
Slice fresh Mozzarella into the same thickness you sliced your tomatoes
You can either alternate the tomato, basil, and cheese slices in a straight line, or a ring around a plate works well too
You can also give a quick grind of pepper or two over your dish for a bit of extra zing!
If you want bonus points, now would be the time to drizzle your balsamic vinegar too, or instead of the olive oil – see what you like best!
Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil on your ring or line of summertime tomato goodness and then you’re done
Serve now, or refrigerate if you are having a picnic or need to take this dish somewhere
If it takes you 30 min to make, then you’ve been drinking or you’re not sure which end of the knife to hold :O
Spoiler alert –
The one ingredient you should never have
It’s white truffle oil – story above…
Show Gordon Ramsey who is really in charge – buy some white truffle oil here:
La Tourangelle Infused White Truffle Oil, 8.45-Ounce Tins (Pack of 2)
That’ll teach him!
Apparently though white truffle oil often has no truffle in it, so be careful what you buy!
The other day I had a hankering for some squash raviolis, but the weather here has been so bad recently that I didn’t want to go out and pay for something that I imagine is a pretty simple dish to make at home.
So, I went across the street to the store, picked up a couple of small acorn squash and a package of won ton wrappers.
Yes! Won Ton Wrappers! They rock if you want to make all kinds of pasta dishes but don’t want to hassle with all the rolling, mixing, and waiting.
I halved the acorn squash, put a pat of butter in all four halves, and baked them for about an hour at 375 F.
I let them cool for 20 min or so, then scooped out the insides and put them in my food processor, along with a couple cloves of roasted garlic, about a tsp of nutmeg, another 2 TBSP of butter, a couple dashes of cinnamon, about 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp white pepper.
Mix all that together and add whatever you think it’s missing. Mine tends to be light on salt, but that makes my doctor happy, though leaves a bit to be desired in the taste department.
To assemble the raviolis, I set out a dish of water and 2 stacks of won ton wrappers and the bowl of squash mix.
Then I put about 1 tsp of squash mix in the center of a ravioli/won ton wrapper, and kind of mush it around so that it’s in the shape of a square – sort of symmetrical.
I put a finger in the water and run it around the outside of the won ton wrapper.
Place the second won ton wrapper on top, and mush the two sides together – squeeze out as much air as you can, and try to avoid wrinkles. The wrinkles will tend to open up when boiling and you’ll be cooking your raviolis in squash water.
I boiled mine in about a quart or two of salted water, and in batches of about 3-4 at a time. I had a couple fall apart, and a couple cooked a bit longer than they should have and kind of fell apart while scooping them out of the water – but they were still delicious.
To keep them from sticking together once cooked, I put some more butter on them, though I think that olive oil would also work well.
For a sauce I used that melted butter and added some heavy cream to make an impromptu alfresco sauce.
So, it was pretty easy to make 20 or so acorn squash raviolis and boy were they great – tasted just like in the restaurant.
If you have access to won ton wrappers, I highly recommend that you give it a try yourself!
I was finally able to watch the second episode of Food Revolution Season 2, and while it started off slow, with Jamie and some volunteers dressed up as vegetables, it quickly progressed into Jamie getting a bit of access to one school.
This was clearly not the way that Jamie would prefer to work, but having worked in a school district myself, I can see how things will likely progress more slowly than anyone would like, let alone Jamie Oliver.
The part with the girl talking about her family having diabetes was touching, and the part where Jamie tried to take over the hamburger place was pretty funny, though again Jamie managed to prevail.
I also thought it was funny that one of his girls told him to try and not get arrested the day that the LAUSD threatened to have the police restrain him if he went back to the school that he started teaching at.
All in all, a great episode, and I look ever forward to finding out more about how things turn out!
Here’s my recipe for a high fiber breakfast:
1/3 C All Bran
1/2 C Greek Yogurt
1/2 C mixed frozen fruits like raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, or blueberries
2 TBSP nuts – walnuts, pecans or almonds are all good choices
1 tsp ground quinoa flour
Put all ingredients in a piece of your favorite travel container, take it to work and about and hour later the berries are all thawed and you have yourself a delicious and healthy breakfast!
From Jamie Oliver –
Dear Food Revolutionary,
Huge news! Last night on the Jimmy Kimmel show, Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District John Deasy announced to Jamie that he’s going to recommend that LA schools stop serving sugar-filled flavored milks in school!
Amazing! And it couldn’t have happened without your hard work and support.
This just shows that when thousands of us come together to demand for better for our kids, people WILL listen. When the TV cameras go away the Food Revolution will still be there as a powerful grassroots movement working for better school food across the country, but it takes lots of people joining in together to make it happen.
This is a huge moment to show all your friends what this movement is about. Will you take a quick moment to share Jamie’s petition with 2 friends and invite them to join us?
http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/sign-petition
From Jamie Oliver:
Dear Food Revolutionaries,
Too much sugar is threatening the health of our kids and we’ve got to do something about it.
Flavored milk, the chocolate and strawberry milk which is served for breakfast and lunch at school, is sweetened with sugar that kids don’t need and just adds extra calories to an otherwise healthy drink.
The facts deserve to be taken seriously. According to the National Dairy Council, flavored milk contains about 4 teaspoons of added sugar; plain white milk doesn’t have any added sugar. It also contains colors, flavors and artificial sweeteners that don’t add any nutritional value. Check out the label and you’ll be able to see for yourself.
Many parents don’t realize this, but chocolate milk has the same amount of sugar as a soft drink (that’s the added sugar plus the natural sugar contained in all milk). Just one additional soft drink per day increases a child’s obesity risk by 60% and is a major contributor to Type 2 diabetes.
But there is something we can do. Join me in asking schools to promote plain, white milk instead. Help spread the message that wholesome, plain milk is best and that sugary, flavored milk should only be enjoyed as an occasional treat.
Support the Food Revolution campaign to bring back plain milk in schools:
Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Sugary Milk Petition
Big Love,
Jamie and the Food Revolution team
Sources
1.The Harvard School of Public Health has shown that there’s strong evidence that sugar-sweetened drinks contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes.
2. The National Dairy Council says that on average, an 8 ounce serving of chocolate milk contains about 4 teaspoons of added sugar. You can read their Flavoured Milk in Perspective report here.
3. There’s been a 10-fold increase in childhood diabetes in the last 20 years; and one additional soft drink per day increases a child’s obesity risk by 60%, according to the Harvard Public Health Review.
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