2 for Tuesday, Round 2

Tuesday Menu: Lunch: Pizza (Pepperoni, Buffalo Chicken, Ham, and Supreme)
Dinner: Roast Beef, Garlic Cheese Potatoes, Veggie and Rolls

Is it nap time? After all the rush and confusion of the past couple weeks, a regular old Tuesday seems a little sleepy. Or maybe I’m just a little sleepy. I don’t need to put the roast in until 2… Sadly, I don’t think a nap will be possible. I could just imagine the guys coming down to get pizza, poking their head in the kitchen and seeming me snoring away… Yeah, probably not a good idea. Besides, this chair (I stole it from the dining area) is not all that comfortable. I’m probably giving myself scoliosis as we speak (type? blog? whatever)

So, as a nap is out of the question (well… mostly out of the question, we’ll see how the next couple hours go) I’ve been perusing the internet, checking out my favorite food blogs, facebook stalking and trying to decide what seasoning I want to rub onto tonight’s roast. So, why not share with you all a few of my favorite sites. Now, this doesn’t mean you can stop coming back here… I’m just giving you options for a sleepy Tuesday afternoon, when you’re done reading my blog of course.

www.ThePioneerWoman.com : This is probably one of my favorite blogs, it’s got it all. A love story, excellent recipes, beautiful photography (and hints on how to make yours pretty too!), funny dogs, and give aways. I haven’t won anything yet… but I’m going to continue to try. I’m really hoping for one of those Le Creuset sets.

www.cookingforengineers.com: I just thought this one was funny. I cook for engineers (it’s GA tech, most of them are going to be engineers of one form or another) and this site is a breakdown of cooking and recipes for people with analytical minds (not me necessarily but I still like it)

www.threemanycooks.com: this one is mostly just about the recipes, although the stories are interesting. I feel like a lot of it could be part of a conversation between my sister, my mom and I (minus the fact that none of us are exactly published cooking professionals)

www.mylifeisaverage.com : Wait… did I put that there… I mean… no uh this doesn’t belong here, I don’t know how it got there… (guilty pleasure?)

**** Some time later****

Alright… I think I’ve discovered the formula for seasoning my roasts:

Roast Beef ala Kristen

20 lbs Sirloin Tip Roast (the ones with the strings around them)
Olive Oil
Salt
Coarse Ground Pepper
Rosemary
Thyme
Approx 32 whole cloves of garlic

(ok… so there aren’t exact measurements, but they really aren’t needed for this recipe)
Bring roast(s) to room temperature 1 hour before cooking. Preheat oven to 375. Cut small slits in roast, just big enough to stick your finger down. Shove a garlic in each little slit so there are approx 8 in each roast (depending on how big the roast is… etc). Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over roast, sprinkle with salt, rosemary, thyme and a generous sprinkle of pepper. Rub evenly over top of roast. Turn roast over and drizzle bottom with olive oil and salt and pepper and herbs. Put the beef in a roasting pan with a rack. Cook for 30 minutes. Lower temp to 275 and cook until internal temperature comes to: 130 rare, 145 medium rare, 160 medium, 170 well done (approx 1 ½-2 hours more). Allow the roast to sit for 15 minutes under a foil tent. Slice and serve with gravy.

So as I promised, today is 2 for Tuesday… this next recipe isn’t on tonight’s menu, but I’ve made it before and absolutely love it. It’s super easy and makes an excellent side dish for Russian Chicken (see previous post) or for just about anything. Try it sometime instead of going for the Lipton noodles or Rice-A-Roni.

Buttered Noodles
Serves 28

5 lbs Egg noodles, cooked according to package instructions (the good kind of egg noodles that are thick and opaque white)
2 cups Melted butter
2 tbs Garlic Powder (or more depending on taste)
¼ cup Dried Parsley
Salt and Pepper
Combine and serve hot.