Day 5: Recipes

For Day 5, I was supposed to share some favorite recipes.

GAH! I’m not about to share super-secret family recipes! :P Actually, I don’t think any of my family’s recipes are secret. Rather……neither my mother nor I use recipes all that much when we cook!

Here’s one though…….get out your crock pot (since it’s still cold out and it seems I only use my crock pot in the winter)

Good Ol’ Pot Roast (with a little flair):
1 2lb-ish chuck roast
1 envelope of Onion Soup Mix
~ 1c Italian dressing (like I said, I don’t measure a thing, so I’m ballparking this)
Kitchen bouquet (~ 1 tablespoon)
Garlic powder (uhm……about a tablespoon? Gosh I really should measure huh?)
Italian seasoning (*sigh*…..heck if I know…just throw some in there….a couple good shakes!)
About 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
About 4-5 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
About ½ onion, sliced into rings and then sliced in half…or just leave ‘em as rings…who cares!
Salt/pepper
2 c hot water (that I DO measure, hehehehehe)

Put the meat in the bottom of your crock pot. Dissolve the soup mix in the water and let it set while you toss everything else in there. I put the onions on top of the meat and then put the carrots/potatoes around the meat……..then pour the soup mixture over the meat…..dump in the dressing and add the spices….put the kitchen bouquet into the liquid (don’t put it on the meat or the veggies directly, just pour it down the side)…….add any remaining carrots/potatoes on top of the meat…..salt/pepper the whole thing…..make sure there’s at least an inch of liquid in the bottom of the crockpot…if there’s not, add some more water. Set the crockpot on low and go to work! :D

I usually let this sit for 11-12 hours and it always turns out well. When it’s done, you can make gravy out of the juices if you want. Love this pot roast…..the kids won’t eat it, but karl and I will eat it for days! :D

Pot roast was the “Sunday Dinner” when I was growing up, and I tend to make this for potlucks a lot (since the kids won’t eat it and all, I know my congregation will appreciate it!).

Another favorite recipe? Lemme think…….oh, there’s this:

Lemon Jello cake:

I love lemon stuff. This is lemon-flavored to the MAX.
1 lemon cake mix
1 box lemon Jello
2 c. powdered sugar
Lemon juice (drat……uhm…….it doesn’t take much….uhm……1/2 cup? I have no idea, just stick with me here)

Add the Jello to the cake mix and mix/bake the cake according to the directions (I recommend doing this as a 9x13 size) and let it cool for a few minutes (not completely, you want it to be slightly warm when you do this next part).

Once it’s cooler, poke it full of holes with a fork. Add the lemon juice to the powdered sugar until it’s pretty thin (thin enough to pour)….then pour that over the cake……..mix up some more powdered sugar/lemon juice if you want, I always ‘wing’ this part. you should end up with a nice glaze on the cake, and when it cools (or even before, I’ve been known to burn my tongue on this), you’ve got a big yummy cake of lemon-ness. Yum-o.

I’m not a good person to be sharing recipes since I’m so bad at measuring stuff……if any of this turns out badly……it’s your own darned fault, not mine! :P