Ready for your close-up?

I was about a paragraph into what will be my next entry and realized that there was a post that needed written before any more food items go up. We all know, and love, Sebastien, my French Blue KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer.

That being said, let's just say that Boy way outdid himself this Christmas. I was unknowingly upgraded from the 325-watt, 5-quart Artisan to a whopper 575-watt, 6-quart bowl Professional 600 Series. For my fellow cooking nerds out there - pretty exciting, I know. For my not-so-nerdy cooking friends, I am a dork, I know.

He doesn't photograph well because he is just so shiny!
Nothing like some hard work to wear that shine away.

I now have the power to make 13 dozen cookies in one bowl versus the measly 8 dozen I had before. I can crank out 8 loaves of bread at one time instead of the pathetic 4 I was able to do before. It is amazing I could even cook before this mixer - I mean, only 8 dozen cookies at once?

Weak.

So kidding! Seb and I had a long, amazing life planned together, but, unfortunately for him, Boy has spoiled me rotten. Have yet to name the new guy, but always open to suggestions!

Here's to a future of more cookies and bread than any one person should or could eat! (Personally, I see it as a challenge...)

Winter Vegetable Pot Roast

Another one of my go-to bang-for-your-buck winter meals is a good pot roast. Talk about a fantastic way to take an inexpensive, otherwise terrible cut of meat and transform it into something absolutely amazing. I have always followed my mom's tried and true recipe that involves topping the seared meat with a Lipton French Onion soup packet and adding some water. A never-fail method I must say, but, being who I am I decided to play with it a little bit.

Winter Vegetable Pot Roast
4-5 lb. chuck roast
1 packet Lipton French Onion Soup
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, pressed
3/4 c. red wine (never cook with wine you wouldn't drink by itself!)
3/4 c. water
2 T. balsamic vinegar

Vegetables: (coarsely chopped)
carrots
brussel sprouts
new potatoes
parsnips

Preheat oven to 300F. Saute onion and garlic together in olive oil, sea salt, and fresh pepper until softened, about 5 minutes. Spread onions and garlic along the bottom of your dutch oven and set aside. Lightly salt and pepper the meat. Over high heat, sear all sides of roast until brown. Place seared meat on bed of onions and garlic in dutch oven. Pour wine, water, and balsamic vinegar over meat and sprinkle dry onion soup on top. Cover and place in oven. Let roast for 4 hours or until meat starts to fall apart.

After 4 hours add vegetables to dutch oven and roast until they are fork tender. Should take between 40 - 60 minutes. 

Admittedly, this is a meal that takes some patience, but is totally worth it (and the leftovers!) in the end. A note on the vegetables I listed above. Take it as a suggestion. In the past I have used celery root, sweet potatoes, and onions to name a few. It all depends on what you are in the mood for, what is in season, and what will hold up to roasting. (I have also been known to make a mean blended soup from the leftover veggies...) Go nuts!

Enjoy!

Holiday Chocolate Frenzy

Oh, hey there, guys. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and is adjusting to full weeks at the office again. (Don't worry, MLK Day is less than a week away!)

FACT: I am probably a person you want to know during the holidays.

As someone who looks for excuses to continually cook yummy things and pawn them off on other people, I feel that my life has most purpose November through January. Normally I rotate between cranberry-pistachio biscotti and homemade bourbon hot fudge as hand-outs for Boy's and my officemates and friends, but I made hot fudge for a second year in a row this year. It's not that the biscotti isn't life-changing in its own right, but the hot fudge seems to put people in a straight up frenzy. And let's not kid ourselves people, I love it. (I have always found people's chocolate addictions hilariously intriguing.)

This operation normally involves me destroying the kitchen and a handful of tea towels on a Sunday afternoon, but is all quickly forgotten over a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with fresh hot fudge that evening. This year, however, Boy had a much longer list of folks that he wanted to thank due to a recent project at the office (an additional 18 people to be exact). Any normal person would have let him go buy the case and a half of wine that he had planned as gifts. Pas moi. No, for some reason, I convinced Boy that it would be a great idea to set aside an evening to make the 32 jars of hot fudge necessary to thank our colleagues for a great 2010.

We did it. I felt like a Keebler Elf in Scrooge's workshop, but we did it. It only took us four hours and we were still speaking by the end of it. I have to say though, it could have taken 24 hours and it still would have been worth the effort to hear all the ways people enjoy this stuff. I hereby promise I do not put crack in it, though you might think it from some of the stories that made it back to Boy and me.

"WOW. My wife sat with your hot fudge on her lap while watching TV last night. I at least put it on ice cream."

"I took it to my sisters house for a holiday dinner. There was pie and ice cream, but we ended up just passing the jar around with a spoon until it was gone. No one ate pie."

I know there are quite a few people that did not get fudge this year because I either did not see you this holiday season or was grossly unaware of your chocolate addiction. In either case, if I missed you and you can't live without some bourbon hot fudge (non-bourbon is also an option!) this season, drop me a note. I am trading hot fudge for Chardonnay.