home grown

Before last night, I'd only ever prepared dinners consisting of "beef roast" twice.. in my life.

That is not to say that I haven't eaten my fair share of these hunks of meat over the years. 

When Chris & I first started dating, his 90 year old grandma invited us in for lunch. Chris had been raving about how good his grandmother's cooking was, so I was primed and ready for this meal. Well, that was until he said we were having a roast. The little kid voice inside my head wailed with disgust, "roooOassst.. NO!"

Chris could sense my disdain for the idea and promised I'd be pleasantly surprised. And I was. 

It was delicious. But I'd still need some major convincing before I ever decided to take the time to 

make one myself. 

This disgust for the meal stems from my childhood. I grew up with one grandma who could knock the socks off of anybody with her cooking and another who, by principal, believed that whenever meat was prepared (roasted, grilled, cooked up in a frying pan,..), any juice running out of that chunk of meat was the devil and we were all going to die from it. She was afraid of juicy meat like many children are afraid of the boogie man. No lie.. And by now you can probably guess which grandmother had us over for roast most often. I'd be chewing that first bit of meat for so long that it would resemble a hunk of wet sawdust before I was finally able to wash it down with some milk. Great for strengthening your jaw muscles, not so great in palatability.

However seldom my mother would make roast, it was the same old song and dance. After all, she'd learned from her mother (ya know, the juiciness hater, herself). 

 On another occasion, more recently in my life, I was involved in a heated exchange of words that involved an 11pm basketball game of H-O-R-S-E, a roast with homemade gravy, my husband and our friends. To this day, the word "roast" cannot be brought up in a sentence in that circle of friends without a reenactment of my "roast meltdown" being voiced.

So, as you can see, roast & me have had a long and tumultuous history.

Yesterday may have changed all of that for good. 

With our deep-freeze stocked to the gills with freshly processed, home-grown beef, I am determined not to let one ounce go to waste. And let me tell you, we've got some roasts in that freezer.

I was inspired to attempt "pot roast", after daydreaming about our honeymoon and the french restaurant that served up the best pot roast of MY LIFE.

photo from Pioneer Woman.. as I was too ravenous to snap a shot before we inhaled it

I knew if anybody's recipe could come close enough to touch that memory, it would have to be

  The Pioneer Woman's version of the dish.

I went out to the garden and dug up a couple hills of potatoes and set them aside for making up some mashed spuds. And let me tell ya, there's no comparison between store bought and home grown potatoes.. none what-so-ever. A lot of people ask us why we go to all of the work to plant our own potatoes when store bought potatoes are cheap to buy. I say that the taste and texture cannot be beat. They go from being dug out of the dirt, to sitting in a pretty serving bowl in an hour and you can taste the freshness. And I can't get enough of the earthy smell they still have after you wash all the dirt and mud away... gah! I'll get off of my potato high-horse now.

After the potato digging, I got out my battered, mint green roasting pan (an estate sale find) and got to work. The house started smelling delicious straight away. 

4 hours later, we had dinner and it was glorious. 

One of the things that made it all taste better was that most of the ingredients that made up that meal were home grown. Now that's what I call real "farm to table" cooking :)

Chris surprised me by walking through the door that evening with the biggest watermelon I've ever personally seen. Our neighbor had planted watermelons this year in an old, broken up concrete pad and he said it was the best year he could remember for his watermelons.. Chris claimed he had at least 40 of them, all huge and delicious looking. So we will dig into that "home/neighbor-grown" treat tonight.

So the verdict on this particular pot roast recipe is in.
It's fabulous and easy-peasy and it makes your house smell like heaven for 4 hours.
Go ahead and make it already. It will make you feel super domestic. Go ahead and throw on a cute apron for a little extra pizzazz, too. You'll feel all fancy and '50's-housewife-esque. I promise,

summer eats: hobo sandwiches

 Grilling season is in full swing at our house as I'm sure it is else where in America, so I thought I'd share one of our favorite summer time meals today.  I do not claim to be a "food blogger", in any way, but cooking is something I love to do and if something is worth sharing with you, I will :)  I've eaten more steaks, hamburgers, brats, and hotdogs in the past few weeks than I typically do all year. This must mean that summer has officially arrived. Foil meals are some of my favorite things to make on the grill. They remind me of growing up in a tiny town, my grandparents, and camping.

I was first introduced to the "hobo sandwich" at my Grandma & Grandpa Bodmer's house. We used to walk a few blocks down to their house in summer time to have supper with them. They would make these hobo sandwiches for us like they did for my dad when he was growing up. Dad used to make them for us on all of our camping trips, carrying on the tradition after grandma and grandpa passed away. Thinking about this meal makes me homesick. Its amazing what emotions can be tied to a plate of food.

This dish in  my opinion, one of the most flavorful and delicious grill meals I've had and its so simple to throw together. How much of each ingredient you need will depend on how many you are making. I will break down the ingredients you need to make 1 of them.

enough ingredients to make 2 hobo sandwiches above

Hobo Sandwich

• 1 medium sized, hand formed, hamburger patty (not sure how it will work with frozen patties)
• 1 thick slice of a vidalia onion
• 1 medium or large potato, sliced 1/4" thick
• 1 medium/large carrot, sliced 1/4" thick
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• butter
• tin foil

definitely forgot frozen peas at the store and tried using canned peas..
lets just say i highly recommend getting the frozen ones..

Directions:

Tear off a piece of tin foil about 2 feet wide and lay it flat on the counter. In the center, make a circle of sliced potatoes, layering them about 8" wide. Form the hamburger patty and place on top of the potatoes. You should be able to see the potatoes sticking out a couple inches from beneath the burger. Now you can place your carrot slices evenly around the burger, on top of the potatoes.

Fold up the top and bottom edges of the foil a little so the peas don't roll away. Now sprinkled the frozen peas around the burger, on top of the potatoes and carrots. Generously season with salt & pepper. Now place the onion slice on top of the burger. Cut 1/2" wide piece of butter and put it on top of the onion.

Next, you pull the top and bottom edges towards the middle, creasing the foil once it meets the edge of the potatoes. Once this is done, you grab the left edge and the right edge of the foil and pull them towards the center where their edges will meet. Start folding them down towards the ingredients until they are snug and you can no longer see any of the ingredients. Place on the grill at medium heat for 20 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink at the center. Carefully unfold, and enjoy :)