Father's Day Breakfast

On Saturday I made breakfast that was delicious; pancakes, fruit and the best bacon ever! On Father's Day Brian requested Egg's Benedict, and I must say it was another fantastic meal. Brian said, "That was a great $30 breakfast, only at home!" The eggs are from my aunt Peggy, she has about 40 chickens and whenever I see her she gifts me the most delicious eggs. And thanks to this video, on how to poach the perfect egg I must say I was able to whip this all out rather quickly. I only took 30 minutes because the home fries take that long, untouched, in the oven! The strawberries are from our CSA, and maybe from our neighborhood foraging (there is a big strawberry patch planted in front of our neighborhood, that I am convinced no one picks but me! I have picked in the last two weeks 12 cups worth! I have even made a small batch of strawberry rhubarb jam in my bread maker from these free berries! That will come later in a post!) And the berries were dressed with honey from my CSA, a new feature this year that is just to die for!

Look at that egg!

When I was a little kid I thought this breakfast was so gross, of course that was only from afar I had never tried it. I would like to think that had I only tried it I would have fallen in love with this dish much sooner, but alas it wasn't until I was an adult that I truly understood that truly great qualities of this dish. Now my daughter on the other hand, doesn't have my hang ups, she dives right in with both hands, literally! Who says three old's are picky eaters!

**See previous posts on roasted potatoes for the recipe.

Crock Pot~ Pot Roast

I love pot roast, this version was fairly good but could have been cooked a little bit longer. I loved the combination of veggies from the pot and oven new potatoes!

Italian Pot-Roast

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 8 hours on LOW
2-3 pounds beef roast (some like chuck, I prefer even leaner roast so your choice)
freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion , finely chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots , peeled and sliced
1 cup red wine
1 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
 [1] Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or sauté pan with sides, over medium-heat. Add the meat and cook, turning for 10 minutes until browned on all sides.
[2] While meat is cooking add all veggies and wine into the slow cooker, once meat is finished add to slow cooker.
[3] Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours until the meat is tender. Garnish with parsley.

I make the potatoes on the plate all the time. Basically cut up potatoes put them on a cookie sheet, pour over some olive oil, liberally use salt and pepper over all potatoes then sprinkle about 1 tsp of garlic powder and chili powder over the potatoes. Using your hands toss the potatoes until they are all covered evenly with spices and oil and pop in the oven. About 350 for 25 minutes, and whatever you do don't touch them. Leave them be! Seriously, put them in the oven and walk away, once your timer goes off in 25 minutes pull them out of the oven and using a good spatula scrape them all off the pan. If you leave them alone they will develop a great crunchy golden brown crust on the one side that was on the pan and be butter smooth on the inside. Best potatoes EVER!