Margret Sloan

Last night I made an unconventional pot roast. I was interested in something fast but when you cook a cheap cut of meat, like a chuck roast or brisket, you are better off cooking it a very long time at a low temperature. That makes the meat much more tender and flavorful. But I was in a hurry for comfort food last night, so here’s what I did.

I used a Reynolds oven cooking bag and placed a cut up onion inside. Then I took the chuck roast and cut it into smaller chunks so it would cook faster and also have all the sides exposed to the gravy for more flavor. Then I added a can of tomato soup and used the same can to fill with water and added that to the bag, too. Then I sprinkled some seasoned salt and some garlic pepper over the meat, sealed the bag and let it cook at 350 for about an hour and a half.

As it finished cooking, I took a can of store brand brown gravy and dumped it into a saucepan on top of the stove. When I took the meat out of the oven, I pierced the corner of the cooking bag and let about a half cup of the bag’s gravy pour into the saucepan with the brown gravy and stirred the two together. It was fantastic – not a drop of anything was left over.

I hope someone special in your life brings you candy or flowers today. It makes the good things so much better and the not so good things not so important anymore. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I will be busy cooking most of the day.We bought a turkey on Monday and it’s been in the refrigerator slowly thawing out. I considered getting a fresh turkey, but I have had good luck with the frozen Butterball turkeys, so I decided to stick with the tried and true. Along with the turkey will be plenty of vegetables and stuffing, and I’ll make two pies this afternoon to bake while the turkey is in the oven. Can’t wait for a great turkey dinner!

My carrot cake was so yummy that my sister asked me for the recipe and I gave it to her.  Her hubby loved it.

Today is America’s birthday and we’ll be celebrating in a traditional way. The kids are coming over around 3:00 and we’ll go have a nice picnic at the lake. The kids can swim and fish and then we’ll eat around 6:00. That will give us enough time to go home to change clothes and then drive downtown for the parade down Broadway and fireworks at 9:15 when it gets good and dark. As long as the weatherman holds up his end of the deal and keeps the rain away, we’ll have a lot of fun today.