Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

Sorry - this is going to be a boring all text posting. I hadn't made pot roast in ages and I was so anxious to dig in that I forgot to take a picture. Besides pot roast is not necessarily the most attractive photo - now is it? It's sort of all brown. I had some leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving sitting in the refrigerator and decided to put it to good use. Cranberry Pot Roast (Adapted from my refrigerator) 3lb chuck roast salt/pepper 1T canola oil 2 cinnamon sticks 5 whole cloves 1/4 c cranberry sauce 2 c red wine For Gravy: 2T butter 2T flour Dry roast with paper towels. Salt and pepper roast. Heat a dutch oven over high heat until it is really hot. Add canola oil and sear meat on all sides. Add cinnamon stick, cloves, cranberry sauce, and wine. You might need additional wine. You want to have it come about 3/4 of the way up the meat. Cover and simmer for about 3 hours or until tender, checking periodically that additional wine is not needed. Set asi...

So are you all ready for next week? Did you make your stock yet for basting the turkey? You still have time to make your cranberry sauce over the weekend. Make sure you have enough vege to use as a " bed " to cook that guy up on Thursday. Lastly make sure you have some recipes for the leftovers . OK - you can proceed now. Vege waiting to go into the stock - sitting in the pasta strainer insert All stocked up!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving can be daunting but there are many things that can be done ahead of time to make life easier and cranberry sauce is one of them. I usually make it up to a week before. It is really easy to make. Cranberry Sauce 24 oz fresh cranberries 1c brown sugar 1/2 c sugar juice and zest from 2 oranges 2 cinnamon stick 1 t fresh ginger grated 1 vanilla bean Split vanilla bean down the center with a sharp knife.  Rinse and discard any soft cranberries. All ingredients ready to go Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat until cranberries start to burst. Stirring occasionally. Stir occasionally Taste and add additional seasoning and sugar as necessary. Cranberries can be quite tart so it really depends on the batch how much sugar needs to be added. Ready to remove from heat Let cool. Scrape vanilla bean and stir scrapings into sauce. Return bean to sauce. Chill. Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon before serving.  You might wa...