Coach Kirstin

There is just something about pot roast.  It so many things.  It smells amazing the second you walk through the door.  It tastes even better than it smells.  And its that stick to your ribs kind of filling food that you love.   And all the ingredients you cook it with end up tasting just as good as the roast you cook it with.  I'm not sure which part I like better. Except the part that has every recipe saying sear in a pan and then put it in your crock pot.  Thats why I use a crock pot, so I don't do any other work.  Or dirty any other dishes. So here is what I started with celery, chicken stock, sweet yellow onion, 2 lbs beef rump roast, 16 oz baby bella mushrooms, carrots, potatoes and garlic.  I forgot to put the red wine in the picture.  I used a bottle the at I had sitting around that had gone bad and we were waiting to use in cooking.  I try to use all organic veggies and meats and with the exception of the mushrooms I thi...

I have been experimenting with a lot of foods lately but I have not been good about posting on them.  This week I was checking in with a client and said I would give her a recipe for the brisket I had just made that I thought she might like.  I am a huge brisket fan.  I think it also is nostalgic for me as it was what we had every year at the FFA banquet in high school.  Yes I was in Future Farmers of America, even an officer.  But the way they cooked it was very savory and smokey.  I have been trying to make my own but all the recipes I found were sweet using brown sugar and ketchup.  I finally paired together somethings I thought would be the right combo and it came out perfectly.  Of course I was experimenting and didn't measure.  I intended to recreate it this week but when I searched the freezer all I had was London broil, so its been ordered from the farmer for next week!  On to the recipe! I dry rubbed the brisket the night befo...

So dinner tonight came about because one night I had chicken and I really didn't have a very good plan.  I decided to scan my cabinets and see what I had.  Diced tomatoes and tomato paste it was.  Here is what I ended up using 3 cans diced tomatoes (I'm a nerd and had organic) 1 can tomato sauce (because I'm paranoid its going to burn while I'm gone) 1 small can tomato paste 4 cloves garlic ~ 1 tbsp basil ~1  tbsp oregano few dash's of salt, I prefer to add this after I tossed it all in the crock pot the night before and went to bed.  Not pretty but this was my masterpiece. Plugged it in and went to work.  Of course the can of tomato sauce was completely unnecessary but I'm paranoid.  Came home and all I had to do was cook a veggie.  I was really craving Kale with Bacon and with my boyfriend out of town, I can cook it with even more apple cider vinegar than usual.  Its my favorite side to cook because its easy and quick. ...

So I have a recent affair to confess to...my crockpot. It has made my life exponentially simpler. I come home and he has a hot meal prepared and waiting, what's not to love? Except every recipe I google is cook this and that and then put it in the crock pot....I'm using the crock pot so I can just dump it in an forget it, why would I want to cook anything before I put it in the crock pot. I get it, you can make some pretty amazing stuff. But lets think about my life...its planned out in 15 minute increments still and I'm not even fighting anymore, the prep work involved in that is not my style. Sooo I am working on a new section of my blog of no prep crock pot recipes. I am sure to have a few fails. So this was my first experiment. We were short on time and had a lot of chicken thighs in the freezer. So into the bottom of the crock pot went 6 chicken thighs On top of that I added: 2, 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes 6 oz can tomato paste 1/2 onion coarsely chopped ...