Sunday’s story

I set the alarm again on Saturday night. Why? Because I have a nine hour slow cook time for my roast and, if I want to eat supper at a reasonable hour, I need to get it in early.

So, I picket out similar-sized baby redskin potatoes and put them in the slow cooker. I threw in four cloves of whole peeled garlic. Then I got to work on the onions.

Sidebar: Now, normally, I take a couple medium-sized onions, peel them and throw them in. They give a lot of flavor, but they ain’t pretty.

So, this time I bought some “boiler” onions. They are small and I thought, if they hold together, they would give the presentation a pop.

To peel them, you throw them in boiling water for a couple of minutes and then into cold water. You “supposedly” can then pop them out of their skin.

Sidebar: This worked for about half of them. The other half I had to struggle with. You are supposed to trim the root section off and, at first, I used a paring knife. But then I switched to the kitchen scissors with much better results.

I added them to the slow cooker with some trepidation: They smelled STRONG!

I peeled and cut carrots on the biase until I thought I had enough. I’m not really following a recipe, just remembering…

Next I dumped in 1/4 cup of beef broth (you could use water, as well) and 1/4 cup of a dry red wine. I used Pinot Noir, but that was just because I had some.

Finally, I took the Boneless English beef roast I got on sale yesterday out of the fridge. It didn’t have too much fat o it, but I did cut through the fat here and there.

I went out and got some herbs. I put some fresh thyme leaves in the broth/wine mix, just in case I decide to make gravy. Then I chopped about a tablespoon of fresh rosemary. I mixed that in a prep bowl with some Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Then I pressed it into the roast on the top and bottom.

The roast went on top of the veggies, the slow cooker top went on and I turned it on low. I noted the time (almost 7:00 a.m.) so I should be able to eat after 4:00 p.m.

All this food prep was making me hungry. I had found a baggie with two strips of cooked bacon in the freezer yesterday. So, I broke them up and put them in my small skillet, along with some red onions. When the onions had softened, I scrambled three eggs and made an omelet, with some American cheese. Some toasted Pepperidge Farm Sourdough bread and breakfast was ready.

It was excellent!

I did the usual Sunday morning chores while watching the morning new shows. I wasn’t in a big hurry, so it was almost noon before I finally shaved, showered and got dressed.

It was beautiful outside (we hit 65 degrees yesterday) but my work outside is done this year. So, I started back painting the cabinet doors. I got the first of two coats necessary done. I had cabinets and drawer faces drying everywhere!

It was almost 3:00 p.m. when I finished up. So, I started working on the Brussels sprouts.

Sidebar: This is an old, favorite Rachel Ray recipe, back from when she was just doing her 30-Minute Meals show, long before she became a superstar.

I chopped three thick cut slices of bacon and browned them in my big skillet while I trimmed the Brussels sprouts and cut them in half. Then I chopped up a shallot.

When the bacon was done, I removed it with a slotted spoon and put it on a paper towel. I added a bit of olive oil and then added the shallots. I sautéed those for a couple of minutes before adding the Brussels sprouts. I tossed them about to get them coated with the oil/bacon grease.

I seasoned them with salt and pepper and cooked them about three minutes, until they started to soften and began to brown. I added a cup of chicken broth and brought that to a boil. I covered the skillet and simmered them about 10 minutes.

I transferred the Brussels sprouts to a serving dish with my trusty slotted spoon and added the bacon bits back in.

I took out the roast (it fell apart, so no pretty pictures of perfectly sliced beef). And all the veggies. I poured the pot juices into the fat separator to get some great au jus. Then I plated my dish.

I ate too much as it was delicious and I went back for seconds. I ate it watching the Lions finally win one!!!

I didn’t have much to clean up, (I had been cleaning up as I went), but I did run the dishwasher.

I put the leftovers away when they cooled. Then I stripped the bed and did the last load of laundry for this weekend.

I watched a couple of taped TV shows, but went to bed at 9:00 p.m. It had been a long day.