Earl Cooks Perfect Portion Pot Roast & Riced Veggies

One of my favorite stops for Groceries is a local chain called Macey's. They have some of the nicest people I have ever met in retail and will go out of their way to help you. They also have a GREAT butcher section and their meat has never failed me. When I stopped by for a few things the other night they had a good deal on what I call the perfect portion for the two of us. It was a small roast, only 2-3 lbs., and I grabbed it up! Usually, I put potatoes and carrots with the pot roasts, but I felt like a weeknight meal should be a bit lighter. I had some frozen riced veggies I could use that would be perfect.

I started by grabbing my Magnalite cast aluminum roaster, add a bit of bacon grease and Lawry's Season Salt to the pan for browning. I set the heat to medium-high. When browning it is important to get all sides of the roast brown. This is an important step to make certain you get the depth of flavor you deserve. It takes 4-5 minutes per side, depending on the size of the roast, so plan on at least 15-20 minutes for browning unless you choose to cook with higher heat. It may also vary on the heat source. I have electric but I know my daughters gas cooks must faster.
After the browning, I add one 15 oz. can of beef stock and then a package of generic onion soup mix, which is much like the Lipton Recipe Secrets. Now the flavor components are all in place for the roast, and I cover it, and lower the temperature to medium.

Once the roast is MOSTLY cooked through, remove cover and allow the juices to cook down and thicken.

While doing this, prepare your side dish(s). As I mentioned, I was going to use some riced vegetables as our only side dish making it a nice light meal. The one I pulled out of the freezer was Green Giant Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Riced Veggies. They are quick and easy, but next time I need to season them more!

RESULTS:
It is hard to go wrong with a nice hunk of beef on your plate. It was tender and juicy. I will need to work on the riced veggies to perk them up a bit. Cheese is good and some bolder seasoning would make them much tastier.

Earl Cooks Riced Cauliflower & Pulled Pork

In an effort to add more veggies to our diet that are good for weeknight meals, I discovered frozen riced veggies awhile back. The three I see most often are cauliflower, broccoli, and sweet potatoes. These are more expensive than their non-riced counterparts but are great for a quick side dish. But tonight, I am going to turn the lowly cauliflower into the main event! I found in my deep freeze the last of the smoked pork I saved from Captain Len's, and inspiration began.

First I took riced cauliflower, from Boulder Creek, and microwaved per package instructions.

Riced Cauliflower, Diced Yellow Onion, Pulled Pork,
Seasoned Pepper,  Fresh Ground Black Pepper & Butter

While that cooked, I diced a yellow onion and prepared the pork. I seasoned the onions with seasoned pepper and added butter to sauté. To the onions, I added the smoked pork to warm through. I then added the riced cauliflower. (You may want to DRAIN for quicker cooking). Combine onions, pork, and cauliflower together and let any liquid cook away. Shave some Parmesan and cover. The cheese should melt right into the other ingredients, and you can serve it up! I topped our servings with a nice bit of butter. This would also be good topped with parsley or with some Cajun/Creole seasoning. It needs a lot of seasoning because cauliflower seems to be a black hole for salt & pepper.

Earl Cooks Mediterranean Crusted Salmon with Spinach/Artichoke Riced Caulifower

Salmon has become the go-to seafood in our house. I originally started serving it because of it's health benefits, but now it is for it's versatility and flavor. It seems to be readily available year-round, and while not cheap, it is rather reasonable. I try to have it once a week, so I am always looking for new ways to season and serve it. While shopping a my local fishmonger (the seafood area in the butcher section at the chain grocery store), I spotted some salmon fillets that were pre-seasoned with a Mediterranean herb crust, so home they came! Now all I had to do was find a side that wouldn't negate the health benefits of the salmon, so I created Spinach/Artichoke Riced Cauliflower...what a MOUTHFUL. And yes it was a mouthful, but easy and per my wife's instructions, cleared a bit of cupboard space! The details follow...
Ingredients
̶  for the Spinach/Artichoke Riced Cauliflower

• 1 pkg Riced Cauliflower (frozen)
• 1 can Artichoke Bottoms
• 1 can chopped spinach
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Salt & pepper
• 1 TBL real butter

 ̶  for the fish

• 2 Mediterranean Herb crusted Salmon Fillets (5 oz). I bought mine at my local Smith's, a Kroger grocery subsidiary, but have seen them elsewhere and even in the frozen food section. You can also find crust recipes all over the internet
• Salt & Pepper
• Lemon
• 1 tsp real butter 

Instructions

̶  for the Spinach/Artichoke Riced Cauliflower

• Drain canned spinach and artichokes and rinse thoroughly
• Chop Artichokes
• Cook Riced Cauliflower per package instructions and drain any excess liquid
• Combine all and heat through
• Add butter, salt pepper and lemon juice to taste

 ̶  for the fish

• Cook per recipe instructions. If you are cooking fresh salmon, I recommend a skillet to give the skin the necessary crispness, but I cooked mine in the oven because the skin had been removed

Results/Conclusions

The salmon was good, though not as good as I have made before. I love artichokes, but the canned variety lacked the savory goodness of fresh. My wife likes canned spinach, or spinach in any form, so it was fine and we have come to enjoy riced veggies of all kinds. All-in-all it was a satisfying  weeknight meal, though next time, I will make a few changes.