I’ve “talked” to some of my blog friends about my Friday post which will be a weight loss/personal choice challenge – whether it be to lose weight, exercise more, or simply drink more water every day.   It will be posted on January 2nd, along with my first of the month giveaway (so stay tuned!).  That being said, I stopped at our local beef stand on the way home for lunch today.  I texted Tony and said “beef or hot dog?”  I didn’t get a response, and as it got closer to my turn I ended up getting one of each with a side of small fries.  Oh, and hot peppers for me!

So this was my combo plate.  I will say that I ate all of my half of hot dog, 3/4 of my fries and half of my beef sandwich.  Needless to say, Ed was very happy to get out leftovers in his bowl!

I'm from Chicago, so I LOVE a juicy beef that makes the bread all soggy!
I'm from Chicago, so I LOVE a juicy beef that makes the bread all soggy! And the cheese counts as one dairy serving, right?

 The good thing about coming home at lunch is that I was able to throw dinner together in the crock pot.  It doesn’t matter how much we spend on a crockpot, but it always heats up too much!  I could put something on 10 hours at 8:00 in the morning, and Hannah will come home at 3:00 and say that the juices are boiling.  What?  That’s not supposed to happen!

Today’s crock pot recipe turned out great – I took out our 2.5 pound roast from the freezer this morning and put it on the counter – so maybe 4 hours of thaw time?  I then sprayed my crock pot, but the roast in with quartered white potatoes (no peeling required!) and baby carrots. 

My “sauce” was 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a pan, to which I added 2 tablespoons of garlic.  I cooked the garlic until just about when they started to turn brown.  To that I added 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon beef bouillon, 1 bottle Sam Adams lager beer, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.  I just stirred this with a whisk until the beef bouillon and brown sugar dissolved.  Then I just poured it over the beef.  Here’s what it looked like before cooking:

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Here’s what the veggies look like after they are cooked – love cooked carrots!

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I strained the remaining juices and got out as much fat as I could.  Then I mixed together about a tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of water and mixed well.  I added the juices to a pan on my stove, added the flour mixture until it was thickened – about 5 minutes.  I added salt and pepper to taste.  Finished plate;

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I liked the fact that while the meat was tender, it wasn’t so tender that it fell apart – still had a nice bite to it!  And gravy, who doesn’t love that?

All kidding aside, I know its time to pay more attention to what I eat and to start exercising again – its been probably 3 weeks since I went to the fitness center?  And I belong to two gyms!  It’s crazy. 

So bookmark my site for my January 2 giveaway and “personal goal” challenge. 

See you tomorrow for New Years Eve!