First off, I forgot to mention that my friend Robin of Big Red Kitchen gave me some loot at our meet up – I feel bad that I didn’t give her some jars of salsa, but then realized she couldn’t have taken them on the plane anyway.

She gave me several Big Red Kitchen grocery bags – love them!  Now if I can just remember to put them damn things in the car, I’ll be cooking with gas.  Over the summer she had a cooking salon at a nearby farmers market – I told her if I lived anywhere near her, I would have been there every Saturday to find out how to use up my farmers market produce.

And she brought me a can of Virginia peanuts.  People, if you have never had a Virginia peanut you are missing out – they are super crunchy, flavorful – I’ll have to be really careful because I really could eat this who can all by myself.  Thanks again Robin!

And has been the most recent tradition here at My Bizzy Kitchen . . . Tony made me yet another delicious breakfast!  He made me french toast from a crusty loaf of bread we bought (even though I said I would make bread and never got around to it!) with some cinnamon apple sauce on the side.

When I asked him if this was all for me, he was like “I’ve seen you eat!”  And while I most definitely could have eaten the whole plate, I ate 3 and half the apple sauce and saved the rest for another breakfast this week.  The french toast was perfectly cooked – a bit crunchy on the outside, yet tender on the inside. 😀

Since my Mom and SIL were coming over for dinner I decided to make a pot roast in my dutch oven so it would cook while were out at Goodwill.  Check out my score on this pan!

My pot roast is really “throw everything in a pot” kind of dish, but I wrote the recipe down for you.

Simple Dutch Oven Pot Roast

  • 1 pot roast 3-4 pounds (I used a boneless pot roast that was tied)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1.5 cups beef broth (you could use red wine)
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 4 large potatoes
  • 5 large carrots
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary

Heat oven to 300 degrees.  In a dutch oven, heat about 1 tablespoon olive oil to medium high heat.  Make sure your pot roast has sat at room temperature for at least an hour – I salt and pepper my roast for that whole hour it comes to room temperature.

Put flour on a large plate and coat the roast with flour.  Brown on all sides – about 8-10 minutes total.  While the meat browns, that’s when I peel and cut my potatoes and carrots.

Once the meat has seared, I add everything to the pot, put a lid on the dutch oven and cook for 3-4 hours, depending on the size of your roast.  Mine was 3.5 pounds and I cooked it for 3.5 hours.

Take the meat out and pull apart or gently slice.  Remove carrots and potatoes.  You can either strain the broth that is in the stock pot, but I strain it, put it back in the pot and add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water and cook that with the stock to make a thicker gravy – takes about 3-4 minutes.

Here is how the meat look after its seared:

Everyone in the pool:

After 3.5 hours – the smell of the rosemary is wonderful!

My mom and I both remarked how much we loved cooked carrots, but don’t make them nearly often enough as we would like.  It was the perfect amount for Sunday dinner, plus my Mom and SIL each had a serving to take home.

I love Sunday dinners because usually the kitchen is cleaned up by 5:00 and it makes Sunday nights all the more relaxing and I don’t feel like I have to rush to get things done before the work week.  And I get to eat at my dining room table that I love – we usually only use it when company comes over. 🙁

My plate – the meat was so tender!

Again another weekend has gone by and I didn’t exercise or count points – but I have a good plan this week and I WILL make it to WW on Saturday – that’s going to be my mantra this week. 😀

Hope you have a great Monday – what was the highlight of your weekend?