Guinness Pot Roast

This is a fabulous recipe for anyone looking for a really quick and hearty family meal. It has only a few ingredients and the pot roast will melt in your mouth. Last night during my dinner I think my husband said ”this is SO good” at least 5 times in between mouthfuls : ) I just love it when a recipe is turns out to be a crowd pleaser.

What you need:

3-4 lb chuck roast

salt and pepper

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp brown sugar

1 small yellow onion

1 pint of Guinness stout beer

1 cup of peeled and chopped carrots

I made this in 45 minutes from start to finish in the instant pot but you could very easily do it in a a slow cooker if you wanted to let it cook during the day while you did other things : ) The first thing to do is make a rub with about 2 tsp salt and pepper, rosemary, thyme, parsley, and brown sugar. Rub it all over the roast and let sit while you prepare everything else. Add a drizzle of oil and butter to the instant pot set on the sauté setting and throw in your diced onion and chopped carrots. Stir around for a few minutes until they begin to wilt. Add about 1 tsp of salt and pepper to the mixture and let some color develop on the onions. Move them to the outer edges of the pot and add your chuck roast searing for a few minutes on each side. Next pour in the pint of beer until it covers the top of the meat, drink whatever is leftover : ) Set your instant pot to pressure cook for 40 minutes and then slow release.

*I served this with a vegetable mash of rutabaga, turnip, and yukon gold potato. What I made was reminiscent of a Colcannon. I like to put equal parts cabbage, leeks, rutabaga, turnip, and potato into a pot of boiling water and cook until everything is soft. Drain the water and add a few tbsp of butter and salt to taste, mashed to your desired consistency. Really good and fairly low in carbs.

Don’t forget to drizzle some of the pot roast pan juices on top of everything for a yummy gravy.

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

-1 cup flour (you can use a combination of all purpose, whole wheat, keto flour, or gluten free baking mix....it all works)

-1 tsp baking powder (if using a baking mix, not necessary)

-1/4 tsp salt

-3/4 cup milk

-1/4 cup Greek or Icelandic yogurt (I like to use Siggi’s Vanilla Yogurt, adds another layer of flavor, be careful not to use a yogurt with high sugar content because it will burn)

-1 egg

-Lemon zest from 1 lemon

-Squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 tbsp)

-Wild blueberries

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until there are no lumps. I almost always use frozen wild blueberries, in which case I add them to each individual pancake vs stirring them in to the batter. If you stir frozen blueberries into the batter it won’t affect the cooking but it will dye them purple. Let sit for a minute while warming up your pan.

A non-stick pan is best, warm to medium heat and spray with cooking spray (Pam) or wipe with a light coating of canola or vegetable oil. Ladle a scoop of batter onto your pan and let it cook until it has bubbled and puffed up, when the bubbles relax or start to go away its time to flip. Add your frozen blueberries just before flipping. Let cook for another minute on the reverse side and then remove with a spatula.

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled depending on how many pancakes you need.

*As far as flour goes, I have made this successfully with King Arthur Baking keto flour, Kodiak Cakes Whole Wheat baking mix, regular all purpose flour too. Just use what you have! In the past when I have used Kodiak cake mix I have omitted the egg, they have enough protein already.

Meatball and Orzo Soup

Last night’s meatballs became the most delicious soup for lunch today. I love when repurposing leftovers are so good the recipe is worthy of being shared on its own. I like to reinvent things when cooking for just the 4 of us because I like variety. I think this soup is good enough to share with a crowd and I can picture myself making it for the extended family when we are all together in the mountains for a long weekend. The meatball recipe was shared in my previous post. The simple soup comes together really quickly and has tons of flavor.

What you need:

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 large carrot peeled and chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup chopped fresh kale

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups marinara and mini turkey meatballs from last recipe

1/2-3/4 cup of orzo

In a soup pot, add a drizzle of olive oil and sauté onions and carrots over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Now pour in your chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, add your kale and leftover marinara and meatballs. Lastly, pour in your orzo and stir occasionally so they don’t stick to the bottom for approximately 8 minutes until the orzo is cooked through. I added only 1/2 cup so it would be brothy and soupy but you could probably add up to 1 cup if you want to stretch it a little further or thicken it into more of a stew. Enjoy.