Pot Roast in a Crock Pot with Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Spinach

If you want to cook something really easy for dinner, use a crock pot.  It cuts down your time in the kitchen and you create less dishes to clean.

Pot Roast in a Crock Pot
1 - 3 pound grass fed rump roast
1-1/2 cups red wine
2 cups beef broth
2 bay leaves
Very small onion, finely chopped
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
Add roast to the crock pot, add all other ingredients.  Turn crock pot on high and let cook for several hours.  I cooked mine for about 6 hours.  About an hour or so before serving, flip meat over.  You can use a little bit of the juice to serve over your meat.
 
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
2 sweet potatoes - the one I had actually was the size of two so I used it instead
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup coconut milk
Peel and chop sweet potato.  Place chopped sweet potatoes into a sauce pan with water.  Place on stove and cook over high heat until sweet potatoes are tender (could take upwards of 15 minutes, depending on the potato).  Once cooked remove from heat and drain in a colander.  Place potatoes back into the saucepan and place back on the burner, without heat.  Add butter and mash using a potato masher.  Once all large pieces are mashed, add a little bit of coconut milk and mash.  Continue to add more coconut milk until you get the consistency you want.  Add a little bit of salt and pepper and serve.

Wilted Spinach
1 package of fresh baby spinach
1 garlic clove, minced
Little bit of olive oil, just a small amount
In a large skillet, add olive oil and heat over medium high heat.  Add garlic, stir, add spinach.  Toss spinach in pan so that the olive oil mixes with the spinach.  Continue to toss until spinach has lost its crispness.  Don't cook it too much or it will become mushy.  Serve with a little salt and pepper.

Serve dinner with a nice wine.  We served our meal with a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon from Hickory Hill Vineyards located in Moneta, Virginia.

White Turkey Chili

Thought about making something to eat while watching the superbowl, what is better then chili.  We had turkey (that was pulled from the bones) leftover from thanksgiving that we froze.  So I decided to thaw it out and put it into the chili.  I didn't decide to do chili until late this afternoon.  When I decided to do chili I wanted to find a recipe.  I couldn't find a recipe that I liked 100 percent so I decided to combine 2 of them and make it my own.

Here is the recipe for the chili:  

1/2 pound dried navy beans, picked over***

1 large onion, chopped

1 stick of butter

1/4 cup of flour

2-3/4 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1-1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin 

1/2 teaspoon salt*

1/2 teaspoon white pepper or to taste

2 -  4 ounce cans whole mild green chilies, drained and chopped

2 pounds of cooked turkey, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1-1/2 cups Monterrey jack cheese, grated

Creme Fraiche or sour cream

***Since I hadn't planned on making chili until late today I didn't have ant beans soaked.  I could have used canned beans but canned beans have a different taste.  I took the 1/2 pound of beans and rinsed them.  Add the rinsed beans to a pan and cover with water.  Sit on stove top and bring the beans to a boil. Once it boils, cover, remove from heat and let sit for 1 hour.  After 1 hour, rise beans in a colander and then add the beans back to the pan.  Add 6 cups of water and place on stove, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour.  After 1 hour taste a bean and see if it is tender.  If it isn't tender continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.  Once done rinse beans and you are ready for use in the chili.

In a large pan melt butter and add onion; cook onions until tender (don't let them brown), using a whisk add flour and continue to whisk.  Whisk in broth and whisk until the flour is mixed in and there are no lumps.  Bring mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until thickened.  Whisk in Tabasco, chili powder, cumin, salt and white pepper.  Add beans, chilies, turkey and cheese, cook over moderately low heat, stirring, cook for 20 minutes. 

Note:  It will look like there isn't enough broth when you go to add the turkey and beans but it will be enough.  As it cooks it will create more liquid.  

*if you are using commercial chicken broth, do not add the salt until it has cooked for a while and then taste and add salt accordingly. 

Serve chili with a dollop of sour cream.  Served the chili with a wine called Smith Mountain Lake Mist (a mix of Vidal Blanc and Chardonnay) from Hickory Hill Vineyards and Winery located in Moneta, Virginia.

This post was shared on the Heathly Home Economist Monday Mania 2/13/2012.