Comfort Food

There is one thing, and probably only this one thing, that I enjoy about winter: Comfort Food.  I am more of a warm weather kind of gal!  This week I went to our new Whole Foods and they were running a special on roasts!  I thought about the mashed potatoes and I could already taste them!  I bought the roast!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures-don't be like me!  I will walk you through it:

Roast
onions
carrots
parsnips
mushrooms
celery
thyme
bay
salt
pepper
oil
water

Preheat the oven to 275 F (low and slow is the name of the game here)

Step 1: Rinse the roast and pat dry.
2. Salt and pepper both sides of the roast.
3. Heat a cast iron pot on the stove, then add a touch of oil.
4. Put the roast in the pan and leave it alone!  Don't pick it up to take a peek, I know it is tempting.  After about 5 min go ahead and take a peek; if it has some nice color on it, go ahead and turn it over and brown the other side.
5. After both sides are brown place the roast on a plate.
6. Add the onions and carrots, and brown them lightly.
7. Add the parsnips, mushrooms, and celery and stir.
8. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and water. (I think I added about 4 cups)
9. Cover the pan and place it in the oven.  Our roast was about 3 pounds and I baked it for about 3-3 1/2 hours.

I had also made mashed potatoes!  I had peeled and boiled the potatoes, then drained off the water.  Then mash them and add cream, sour cream, butter, and salt and pepper.

Once the roast was cooked I removed the roast and veggies from the pan then skimmed any fat from the pan drippings.  Normally, I would use the dripping to make a gravy; but this time I was running out of time and just served the pan drippings over the top.  And you know what?  It was pretty good!  It may not have been super healthy, but for the most part, we have been pretty good with our food choices and I felt like we had earned the splurge!