Cook's Country Italian Sunday Gravy

I've been wanting to try this recipe for Nonna's Sunday Sauce which I saw in my Cook's Country magazine a year or two ago. I see they must have made it on their tv show recently, as now it is posted under "Italian Sunday Gravy" on their tv show site. The recipes are the same even if the titles are different. I must say I was extremely disappointed in this sauce recipe. The flavor was flat, and there was way way way too much meat, even for a gravy. I am on the eternal quest to find some kind of recipe similar to one I had the pleasure of eating sometimes growing up- it was my aunt's italian mother-in-law's sauce and was by far the best sauce I've ever had in my life. I've never tried a recipe that's even come close to it. So for now, I continue the quest to find a similar recipe!

My Pot Roast Recipe

I finally have a consistent recipe for making pot roast. Here is what I do:

Preheat oven to 350.

Take a chuck roast and sprinkle it heavily with garlic salt, onion powder and fresh ground pepper. Then brown it well in a little oil in a dutch oven, or roasting pan (I use my Rachael Ray Enameled Cast Iron dutch oven).

Then add one can Campbell's french onion soup. Fill the can with water and add that to the pan. Add in splashes of soy sauce, worcestershire, and italian salad dressing. Add one bay leaf. Cover tightly and bake for 2 hours in the oven.

Remove from oven and add potatoes cut into chunks (you can peel them or not, it doesn't matter, I recommend red or yukon gold potatoes as they hold up better in this recipe), baby carrots that have been cut in half, 2 sliced onions, and a few peeled garlic cloves that have been cut in half. Add a little more water if necessary so that veggies are nearly submerged. Cover again and bake approximately one hour.

When you remove this from the oven it will seem like there is too much liquid. But as it cools slightly a lot of the juices will be absorbed into the meat and veggies. Serve it with the pan juices.

Blue Cheese Dressing

Yesterday I made a new recipe for blue cheese dressing. I didn't measure the ingredients- I just dumped it all together and kind of mashed it up, but it came out great.

sour cream
milk
mayonnaise
blue cheese crumbles (Danish Blue)
white wine vinegar
sugar
garlic powder
black pepper

The original recipe called for buttermilk but it said you could substitute milk and that's what I did. It was really great and I think the Danish blue crumbles were a big reason it was so good.

I have been on a mission to recreate the Royal Pheasant's blue cheese dressing ever since it closed years ago. This is the closest I've come so far.

Pork Sausage w/ Potatoes & Carrots

Tonight I made another recipe from Mary Ann Esposito's Ciao Italia Slow and Easy cookbook. I must say I was not impressed. It was very blah and I would not make it again. I'm not going to bother to post the recipe but it was basically cook some italian sausage with potatoes, onions and carrots and bake it. It did not have much flavor at all.

Blue Cheese Butter

I've been wanting to try this recipe for Blue Cheese Butter awhile and finally did. This was awesome. You have to like blue cheese to like it but it was incredible! I would honestly like to try this on baked potatoes too! I will definitely make this again.

T-Bones for Two

Tonight I tried this steak rub recipe from Taste of Home called "T-bones for Two". I used it on bone-in rib-eye instead of t-bones but that shouldn't matter. I thought it was a little too sweet and needed salt. I might like to try this on grilled chicken instead. Probably a lot of people would like this but it just wasn't my favorite.

Fancy Peanut Butter Cookies

Yesterday we made this recipe for Fancy Peanut Butter Cookies which came in the last issue of Taste of Home Holiday. These were really good. I did skip the chocolate icing part but these were incredible with out that. I didn't want anything getting in the way of the peanut butter flavor. I will definitely be making these again!