Roast! Finally!

So - finally made the roast last night (well yesterday afternoon so it would be ready when Bryan left for work). I cut up about 4 Maine potatoes and 4 carrots to act as an edible rack for the roast (the store had a coupon for free 5 lb bag of Maine potatoes, 2 lb bag of onions and 1 lb bag of carrots when you bought a roast weighing 3 lbs or more). Then I sprinkled the veggies with "Sarah's Special Seasoning Blend" which I made as an all-purpose blend of spices for my sister who's allergic to onions. Also rubbed that all over the round tip roast, placed the rubbed roast on top of the carrots and potatoes, gave it a little extra sprinkle on the top of the roast and then stuck it in a 350 oven till it was about 148 or so internal temp. Took it out, let it rest and sent my husband to work with one potato worth of potato chunks, two carrots and a good half pound of sliced roast. The container came back empty so I think it was a success! I also had a little bit of the roast and veggies after I came back from a party I went to and before I went to watch Bryan play hockey at 10:40 at night.

On a parallel note of sorts, my 'admission' to the party was a dessert. So I made some golden butter cupcakes (that batter was so thick and creamy it looked like heaven) and then topped them with what I'm calling a coconut-blue agave ganache. I used coconut milk (I had refrigerated a partial can and drained off the excess watery stuff that separated from the creamier parts) and 72% dark chocolate. Then I mixed in some Blue Agave sweetener, some 1% milk and some almond extract. I like the little extra sweetness and richness the real milk added and the almond just puts ganache over the top.

The cupcakes literally came out of the oven about 1 minute before I needed to leave (was catching a ride with neighbors to the party) and I just took the bowl of ganache with me along with the container of cupcakes. Dipped them during the party and put them out to rave reviews from the guys that pounced on them as soon as they were on the table. When we got back from the party, one of my neighbors hadn't had a cupcake so I had her come in and dunked two more cupcakes (one for her and one for her daughter) and she loved the ganache she sampled off the top of her cupcake before she walked out of the house! I finished dunking the last 7 on the counter and brought three to hockey. One for the rink guy who's been known to save me a Coke and some chips (the rink only sells pepsi products and I'm a Coke girl) and one for a friend who was supposed to be there. I'm not used to there being many people watching mens' league games so I was surprised to walk into a full room of guys all ogling the cupcakes. Then my friend didn't show up.... so after a couple attempts at being bribed to trade cupcakes for liquor or beer I set the cupcakes on another table and said they were up for grabs. They went over well to say the least. One guy said they looked so perfect he never would have thought they were real and everyone who tried them were amazed I made them. So it's all happy in the end. :)

working up an appetite

Just finished working up an appetite playing Rock Band. It all started when we found a guitar for the ps3 for $5... yes, that's FIVE US Dollars! So we did what any reasonable person would do. We bought two. Don't have rock band or guitar hero at this point, but for 5 bucks (well a total of 10) it's worth starting the investing now. Then we waltz into another store that has a mis-tagged (though we didn't know it at the time) Rock Band set for PS3 with the game, guitar, drums, mic, cords and usb hub for 100... rather than the 140-190 that it's supposed to go for. Then we did a little modifying by buying a few additional songs off the ps3 store. Found out I'm way better on drums than guitar. So I worked up an appetite then dug into some leftover chilli and cornbread which tasted (as with all stews) better than it did last night.

So I'm off to run some errands and then back home to cook. I think it's going to be a beef roast. I have a round tip roast that I think I'm going to season and cook almost like a prime rib. Maybe... Could do a pot roast with it too. Thinking more along the lines of a bed of potatoes, carrots and onions holding the roast off the bottom of the pan (and to absorb any yummy juices) and then stick a well-seasoned chunk of meat on top and roast away till we're at a medium-doneness in the center since I like mine a tiny bit more than medium (and I like the crusty edges) and Bry likes his medium from the center. Till then be warned - once you start with Rock Band and I'm sure Guitar Hero is the same, you won't want to stop... unless you're hungry.