Eats this week

My favorite meal that my mom made while I was growing up was roast beef and gravy, carrots, and potatoes.  It was actually a very scientific meal.  First, I mashed up my potatoes and carrots and mixed them together.  Then I chopped up some roast beef and forked in on top and smothered the whole mess with gravy.  And usually had seconds.  And my brother added ketchup to his mess.  Quite often my folks would be done eating before my brother and I even made a dent in our plates.

Roast beef was on sale this week at Meijer for $3.49/lb.  Kind of expensive for meat, but we hadn't had any roast beef in awhile and the $12 roast I bought will make at least 3 meals, if not 4.  I tried a recipe similar to this one and my husband immediately detected the 3/4 cup of cola in it (he doesn't like sweet in his savory dishes).  So next time I will just use beef broth.  I like this recipe because it makes an abundance of gravy and I made the whole meal in the crockpot.  I mixed the soups and gravy mix all together in the crockpot and then added carrots and potatoes with the roast layered on top.  It cooked on low for about 5-6 hrs and on high for 2-3 (it was a very large roast).  Delicious and reminiscent of my childhood.

Tonight we had this delicious recipe for spaghetti and meatballs, except I made mine in the crockpot and omitted the water.  I doubled the recipe for the sauce and  quickly realized that I would not be able to fit the meatballs in later, so I simmered the sauce on high for about 5 hours and removed half of it to freezer containers.  I then added half of the meatballs I had made (and froze the other half) and dropped them into the sauce and simmered on high for about 2 1/2 more hours.  The result was delicious, tender meatballs.  I also have a bunch of leftovers, sauce for our pizza tomorrow, and 3 more meals which will likely result in more leftovers.  Love it when that happens!

We noticed at dinner that Andrew really enjoyed his spaghetti.  I wonder what our first clue was??  (He wasn't thrilled to get his pic taken.)

In honor of Chris' 37th birthday, I made a Boston cream poke cake.  Quite decadent-tasting and quite simple.