Comfort Food: Slow Cooker Beef Roast

I offer my apologies for the missed post last week and the lateness of this post. You see, I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, but I have forgotten to take pictures. That means we've missed out on some great stuff, but never fear. I will make them a second time, just for all of your benefit. Especially now that I've learned, thanks to Thanksgiving, that people are actually reading this. [I'm still trying to figure out the comments section. I'll let you know when I have that sorted out.]

So without further adieu, a childhood favorite and a good meal for very lazy days: The Slow Cook Beef Roast.

The best thing about this meal is not even the ease of it. It's the smell. Coming home to the smell of this delightful meal simmering away is heavenly. Even more so on freezing winter days like the past few have been.

All it takes is a few vegetables, beef stock, and a beef roast (Just about any cut will do. It will be cooking so long that it will be plenty tender. I assure you.)

Slow Cooker Beef Roast

via (to the best of my knowledge) mi madre

[What you need]

Cut of Beef

Salt

Pepper

Carrots

Potatoes

Onions

Beef Stock or Broth (enough to pretty much cover the roast)

A slow cooker

[What to do]

1. Season the Beef with salt and pepper then add to slow cooker

2. Chop up the various vegetables and add them around the roast.

3. Cover this in stock/broth

4. Cook on low for about 8 hours

5. (and don't forget this step, it's crucial) At some point in that 8 hour period, leave and then come home so you can enjoy that smell.

See? Wasn't that easy?

Comfort Food: Fried Squash

Apples and pumpkins aren't the only perfect fall ingredients. There's another beautiful vegetable that has been popular lately and is my own personal favorite food of fall: butternut squash.

There are many ways to prepare butternut squash. Countless recipes abound. A personal favorite of mine is probably the least healthy, not going to lie, but that's way we call it comfort food, right?

One fall weekend afternoon, a few years back, my mother and aunt brought by a squash and started a tradition. We fried up the squash together and probably ate it all before it got anywhere near the table. It became something we did together and now whenever I make this dish, I think of my mother and aunt and I standing around the stove in the kitchen, sneaking way too hot discs of squash directly from the pan.

Fried Butternut Squash

As far as I know: via Madre and Zia Leslie

[Ingredients] - Amounts vary depending on desired yield

Butternut Squash

Italian Breadcrumbs

Eggs

Milk

Olive oil

[What to do]

1. Peel squash and cut into discs (the thinner the better)
2. Mix egg and milk into a bowl (you need less than you think)
3. Dip each disc into milk/egg mixture and then into breadcrumbs (Bisnonna would say that you have to use separate hands for this task. getting milk/egg into the breadcrumbs or vis-versa is a huge no-no).
4. Fry discs in a flat pan with about a 1/2 inch of olive oil.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

It’s getting cold. Can you feel it? Soon it will be Autumn and my favorite time of year: Soup season!

I could wax rhapsodic about my love for soup for many an age. I love soup of all kinds (so long as the amount of celery that ends up floating in the stock is limited -- but that’s an argument for another day). The one I'm about to present to you is one of my all time favorites.

I have a special relationship with stuffed pepper soup (and definitely more memories surrounding this little number than actual stuffed peppers). Many a chilly fall / winter day has been warmed by this soup, but there is one fall day in particular:

It was my junior year of college and having lived in a dorm on a meal plan for the past two years, my cooking skills left something to be desired. Not to mention the fact that college was a rough one emotionally. So, one fall day when things had been particularly rough (though this was still before the time of the bats), my mother showed up with several bags full of ingredients and we got down to making stuffed pepper soup.

Since then, stuffed pepper soup has been on of "our things". Whenever I come home during the fall or winter holidays, we tend to make it at least once. Just last week, she came up to attend a Michigan football game and we made yet another batch.

[ignore the beans; we also made chili]

And so, since this is one of my most requested recipes (especially by my dear friend Jill), I've decided to share its wonderment with you.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

[via mi madre]

[Ingredients]

2 lb ground beef

1 green bell pepper

1 can tomato sauce

1 diced tomato

2 cubes beef bouillon

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 T soy sauce

2 cups cooked rice

[What to do]

1. Brown beef over medium heat
2. Add peppers and saute for 3 minutes
3. Stir in rest of ingredients (sans rice). Reduce heat to love, cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes
4. Stir in rice and heat through
5. Be sure to add some Parmesan  and romano cheese to the top when you serve.