Kitchen Purgatory Pot Roast

Aaaaahhhhhh!!! I'm having kitchen withdrawls! Look at my poor oven. 

How could I not have seen this coming? Of course a kitchen remodel sounds glamorous, but as you can see from this picture, the process is far from glamour of any sort! I hate to sound like such a whiney baby considering Jimmy has done most of the hard manual labor, but it has taken a toll on both of us and it's looking like we will need to endure it for another week or so. Thankfully, we really don't argue much in general, but this project really has me pushing his buttons just as effortlessly as I type this posting. I'm not trying to aggravate him, but sometimes I'm just so darn good at it! Plus, it's easy to get sassy when everything is covered in dust, it's over 100 degrees outside and you can't turn on the AC and especially when you can't access the fridge for a drink or snack. Hopefully this madness will get wrapped up soon because I'm looking forward to whipping up something scrumptious for my hard-working hubby in my upgraded kitchen!

The first night this whole remodel debacle started, we had committed to taking dinner over to a friends house as they had just moved into a new home and had their first baby. With so much to celebrate, I really wanted to take them something comforting and delicious, yet low maintenance considering the circumstances in the kitchen. So I opted for a pot roast. It has a pretty broad appeal and is easy to transport. Dessert was also a must, so I also baked up some of my Brownie Cookies to go along with dinner. Although it was a bit of a hassle running back and forth to the guest room to grab cookware & ingredients, it was definitely worth it to support our friends at such an exciting time in their lives. So if you get brave and decide to undergo a kitchen remodel...well, you're probably just gonna wanna go out to eat! ;) But if you have a good dutch oven (or Crock Pot), you can still turn out some delicious low hassle meals to share with people you love.

Beef, carrots & potatoes is a hard combination to beat, although I guess it coulda used something green. Ha! The plate! ;)

This is what was left of that delicious dinner all cooked right in my fun red dutch oven.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (about 3 lb) boneless chuck roast or shoulder roast
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 white or yellow onion, roughly sliced
3 garlic cloves, smashed

1 cup red wine (and the rest of the bottle to drink!)
1 1/2 cups low sodium beef stock
2 bay leaves
1 cup baby carrots
2 pounds (about 8-10) small red potatoes, quartered
Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350º.
Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chuck roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan; cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Add onion to pan; sauté 3-5 minutes or until tender. Add the red wine, thyme sprigs, smashed garlic cloves, beef stock and bay leaves to pan; bring to a simmer. Cover pot and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until the roast is almost tender.
Add carrots and potatoes to pan. Cover and bake an additional 1-2 hours or until vegetables are tender. If you're pressed for time, boil the potatoes & carrots in another pan for about 10 minutes so that they are partially cooked before tossing them in the dutch oven with the meat. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf from pan & discard before serving. Serve roast with vegetable mixture and cooking liquid. Cheers!