Italian Style Pot Roast

I dread turning on the oven. The low temp of the week here is supposed to be 104. Did you read that?! 104 degrees is the LOW. Yesterday it was 112.
Therefore, the oven is off limits. I tried to get out of cooking all together, but the village people I live with said they were hungry. Boo. So, my crockpot has been out alot this summer! Here is a yummy crockpot recipe my family loves! Thought I would share it with you all. It will either motivate you to make it for yourself or make you very hungry and angry at me for sharing. Get off your butt and go make it...anger causes high blood pressure.

Italian Style Pot Roast

2 tsp. minced garlic (I used fresh but dry is fine)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried basil leaves

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 boneless beef bottm round rump or chuck shoulder roast (about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds)

1 large onion, queartered and thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups prepared tomato-basil or marinara pasta sauce

2 cans (16oz. each) Great Northern or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup shredded fresh basil or chopped Italian parsley (optional)

1. Combine garlic, salt, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes in small bowl, rub all over roast.

2. Place half of onion slices into slow cooker. Cut roast in half if needed. Place roast over onion slices, top with remaining onion slices. Pour pasta sauce over roast. Cover; cook on LOW 8-9 hours or until roast is fork tender.

3. Remove roast from cooking liquid; tent with foil. Let liquid in slow cooker stand 5 minutes to allow fat to rise. Skim off fat.

4. Stir beans into liquid. Cover, cook on HIGH 10-15 minutes or until beans are hot. Carve roast across the grain into thin slices. Serve with bean mixture and garnish with fresh basil, if desired. Yum-o!



Yum-o Snack

The kids are constantly hungry. And of course, they never want to eat what I suggest. Like typical kids, they want cookies, ice cream, sweets, etc. If it was up to Delaney she would survive completely on Nutella sandwiches. I guess there could be worse things...Then there is Riley, she would eat Macaroni and Cheese all day. Madison is the healthiest eater of them all, but she has these weird quirks about her food. It can't touch each other on her plate, she can only eat one item at a time, if there is too much fat on meat-she pokes at it and then refuses to eat it. She only likes cheese on pizza-NOTHING else. So,needless to say, coming up with somewhat healthy snacks is hard around here. Finally, I found something that makes everyone happy for the most part.

 Banana Nutella Grahams! Very low in fat and yummy! The kids get their sweet fix and I am satisfied knowing I got some fruit in their system. Win. Win.