Herb-Crusted Sirloin Tip Roast and More than you Wanted to Know

With beef being one of the 

Midwest’s favorite meats, 

definitely mine, 

here’s an intensely flavored sirloin tip roast!  

A lean cut from the bottom sirloin, this economical choice is delicious when roasted with a rub and carved into thin slices to enjoy its rich, deep beefy flavor.  

Mother’s Day is a Twofer for Me

Dad reminded me every May 11^th ~ about the twin heifers born on our farm ~ the same morning I was born.  

I never did ask where he spent most of the day, in the hospital, or in the barn.  ☺

This May 11^th, it has happened 11 times during my lifetime…

My birthday falls on Mother’s Day.

That makes it easy for the family, it’s a twofer!

Here’s wishing all you moms a

Happy Mother’s Day

full of  

happiness, love and relaxation

doing what you like to do best

because it’s

YOUR day!

ENJOY!!!

And especially to you, Mom!

Happy Mother’s Day!

I miss you…

Beef & Potatoes with Rosemary and It’s a Small World!

In Valerie’s words, “this is just too weird!”

Here’s the story:

A couple of months ago, Valerie sent me an email introducing herself and telling me she was a new follower of my blog.   She explained that she stumbled over my blog while surfing the net and that she is from Reynoldsburg, Ohio and now lives in Louisville, Ky.  I thought “Wow!”  Reynoldsburg is the next town over from where our farm was located in Pickerington.  I later then moved to Louisville, KY.  What a coincidence!  We both lived in the same area in Ohio and then we both moved to Louisville.

I emailed her back and told her exactly where our farm was and my grandfather’s farm with their farm house just down the road from us.  I explained that it has all changed so much now.  Both farm houses are still there but there is a funeral home and a bank across the street from my grandparent’s house and a church by our house now.  Plus it is all built up with houses and stores now ~ not all fields as when we lived there.

She emailed back and said the house has an in-ground pool and is across from the funeral home and church with a shop near the house.  I told her yes, that was my grandparent’s house.  They built it many years ago and the pool was installed much later by Uncle Jake and Aunt Phyllis.  Her next email told me that her aunt bought my grandparent’s house years ago and the shop next door is her embroidery shop.  Her aunt lives in my grandparent’s house!  She said her aunt loved the old wallpaper in the dining room so much that it’s still there. 

Like she said, WOW!  This is just too weird!  This proves it is a small world in blogger land.  I’m so glad to have met Valerie and to see photos of the area as it looks now. 

Valerie has a great blog in which she talks about her life in Louisville with her husband and 3 cute kids.  This is Valerie’s recipe for pot roast @In His Image.  You may recall I just bought a slow cooker after many years of not having one and this is a perfect recipe for it!  It all turned out beautifully.  Cooked to perfection!  Bill really likes it when I make pot roast so check back next week to see what he does with it!  Yum!

Here’s her recipe:

Beef & Potatoes with Rosemary
This a great pot roast recipe w/ a bit of a twist. The Dijon mustard just makes it so different from your everyday roast.
1 lb medium red potatoes, quartered
baby carrots, or lg is fine too
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
salt & pepper
3 lb beef boneless chuck roast (I like shoulder)
1 small onion, chopped
2 cans beef broth

Arrange the potatoes & carrots around the edge of your slow cooker.
Mix mustard, rosemary, thyme, S&P, and spread evenly over the roast. Place beef in cooker, sprinkle onion on top, & pour in beef broth.
Cover & cook 6-8 hours.

Thanks so much Valerie for the great memories and the recipe also!

Be sure to enter my giveaway for Chef John Besh’s “My New Orleans” cookbook that was posted on October 29, 2010!

Check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway!

Loaded Chewy Oatmeal Cookies and Home on the Farm

Mom baked all the time as I was growing up on the farm and we had dessert every evening with supper.  To her way of thinking ~ a meal was not complete without dessert.  When we had company she went over the top with a sweet ending.  Mom baked a multitude of fruit pies, cream pies, tarts, cakes and cookies for us to enjoy.

Our farm house

Mom and I, circa 1950

On the farm, “dinner” was served at noon.  Especially during the summer, with many workers helping with the crops on our farm and my grandparents’ also, my mother and grandmother served huge meals for “dinner.”  Physical labor consumed many calories on the farm and a welcome “dinner” provided energy and a short rest. 

The table was laden with several varieties of meat, always fried or mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables from the garden, casseroles, homemade pickles, fresh bread or rolls, fried sweet corn (my favorite), most generally pies for dessert and sweet tea to wash it all down.  There was a LOT of food and Mom and Grandma definitely spent many hours in the kitchen during those days.

Then times changed ~ we moved to Louisville ~ Mom usually only made dessert when we had dinner guests.  Going back to the “dinner-supper” thing; I remember to this day when Dad informed me after moving to Louisville that “dinner” was now called “lunch” and “supper” was now called “dinner.”  Huh?????   But then I drank “pop” in Ohio, a “soft drink” in Louisville, a “soda” up here and don’t remember what it was called when Bill and I lived in Missouri and Germany (beer!)

I generally only make dessert when the “kids” or others are here.  There are always cookies in the cookie jar though and through the summer, they’re store bought.  But come this time of year, I love to bake cookies and enjoy one every morning with a cup of coffee and so does Bill.  There’s nothing like the aroma in the air as they’re baking and these cookies are loaded with good things for a nearly perfect cookie!  Hope you try them!

Loaded Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

½ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup chocolate chip chunks

1 cup flaked coconut

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until smooth and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Stir into butter and sugar mixture.

Add remaining ingredients and combine well.

Place cookies 2” apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 12 minutes until edges are golden.

Allow them to rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a rack for cooling. 

Makes 5 dozen

Pam’s note:  For a thicker cookie, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before baking cookies.  They make take a while longer to bake with the chilled dough.

Two questions for all you great folks out there:

Is it supper or dinner at your house?

Do you usually have dessert after the meal?

Be sure to enter the $65 CSN giveaway I posted on Sept. 15^th!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway.