bbq beef

• I borrowed this recipe from HERE,
• But I have made my own changes to some of the ingredients based on what I had in my kitchen. The lemon juice has been swapped out for vinegar and the amount of onions have been changed. Also, instead of ketchup I have swapped it for leftover spaghetti sauce from dinner last night. Always remember that as long as you have the basic flavors you can really make a recipe your own based on what you have, don't be too hasty to run out to the store to buy things you don't need!
  
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• oil to coat the bottom of the pot
• 1 (3-4 lb) boneless beef chuck roast
• seasoning salt or white salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp white or cider vinegar
  
• 1/2 cup left over spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• dash red pepper flakes

1. Set oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a bowl combine all the sauce ingredients together until smooth and well combined
3. Heat oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat (use enough oil to cover the bottom of your Dutch oven).
4. Season the roast liberally with seasoned salt and fresh ground black pepper; add to the pot and brown well on all sides, then remove to a plate or bowl.
5. Add in onions and bell pepper; saute for about 3-4 minutes or until softened).
6. Add in the sauce; bring to a medium simmer.
7. Add the roast back to the pot and turn a few times to coat in the sauce.
8. Cover with a lid then transfer to oven.
9. Cook for about 3 to 3-1/2 hours turning the roast over every hour of cooking or you may turn halfway through cooking (cooking times will vary depending on the size of your roast).
10. Remove the roast to a cutting board and slice thinly, transfer to a serving platter.
11. Remove any fat the has accumulated on top of the sauce, then drizzle some on top of the beef slices.
12. Serve remaining sauce on the side.

Growing Garden

Here are some pictures of the progress of our garden. The zucchini is looking best so far, right along with the cabbage. The lima beans are growing a second set of new leaves, but the watermelon and cantaloupe are taking awhile to grow, possibly due to the cooler weather. Hopefully it will warm up soon and the plants will continue to grow instead of being stunted.

Cheap night at the movies

We are all looking for ways to save money. Im sure most of you know this tip as they have been doing it for awhile but Carmike Cinemas has what they call "recession Tuesdays". You can go to any movie during the day (go to a matinee to save extra bucks) and get a $1 small popcorn and $1 small drink. The small popcorn is just enough to share with my hubby and the small drink is actually a good size! While most Carmike theatres are not the best theaters they do present their movies digitally which makes the picture MUCH clearer than other nicer theaters. So, get your kids or husband or friends together and go see a movie on Tuesdays!!

"Real Leaves"

No pictures from this week...yet. But lots of things have been happening in the garden! The zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantaloupe are getting their "real" leaves! Pumpkins and butternut squash were planted yesterday! Don't worry, the pumpkins were placed well away from the rest of the garden!! The carrots are also starting to get their frilly leaves and the tomatoes are trying their best to break out their grown up leaves!! It is really starting to look like a garden out there. We did not till up our garden in a large section but rather turned over individual rows. While it took me awhile to get used to the look, I now LOVE the rustic look of our rows with our rock signs. Had there been more grass in the yard we probably would have had to till a large section to keep the weeds out, but Im glad there wasn't!

Garden day

Since the weather was so nice today we decided today would be our garden day. Our day started early, at a bit after eight. We headed out to Lowes and picked up 8 bags of organic compost and a bag of sand. We mixed our soil, and used the sand for our melon rows(watermelon and canteloupe) and carrot bin so they would have good drainage and the proper soil. After a long day(about seven hours) of composting, mounding, and mulching here is what we have as a start to our garden!!

Some garden tips learned: for melons and other hot weather plants place a black ground cover over your mounds then cut slits and plant your plants, on top of the ground cover place a nice layer of mulch to help keep in heat and moisture.

Give beans or cucumbers something to grow up! Place dowels at each end of the row and one in the middle, string garden twine across the bottom, middle, and top of the dowels giving your plants a good structure to vine up. Also, place some twine diagonally so they can grow up to the next level of string easily. You dont want to try this for heavier vegi's such as squash or melons because they will break off!!

Need a simple gardening website? There are plenty out there but this one I like because it is so simple and straightforward.

ever had one of those

I currently have the worst teacher I have ever had in my whole education "career". This is the third college I have attended and I have completed my BA so I have had my share of college teachers. This teacher will not answer students questions, help them with difficult questions on the study guide, let them leave class early without harassing them, cannot pronounce two words correctly in the same sentence, uses terrible grammar, constantly brags about how qualified she is because she taught in georgia public schools, yells at students when they raise their hands while she is talking, yells at students who are quietly whispering (not bothering people around them) because they are interrupting class, and is the most disorganized teacher I have ever had. Our mid term is tomorrow and part of me just doesn't care. I would almost rather take the class over again just so I can actually learn something than do well on the test tomorrow. It is too late to drop the class because it is a mini mester session. I simply cannot wait to tear this teacher apart when the evaluations come around at the end of next month. I hope to god they get rid of her, it is a waste of my money to have someone like this in the class room.

Leaves and Garden expansion

Did I just say "garden expansion"??
Why, Yes I did!!
I know you are thinking, "didn't they just plan out their garden and start digging?"
Yes, but that familiar itch to plant a good variety of veggi's in our garden hit both of us this week.
Amanda was tempted to buy cabbage and I was tempted a bit further and bought pumpkin, green pepper, and butternut squash seeds. The pumpkin, green pepper and squash seeds cannot be planted outdoors until it is slightly warmer so I have started them in their own indoor "greenhouse" where they will stay for a few weeks.
On another note, I came home today to find that seedlings grow very fast in just three days! Jake and I left for the weekend to go visit my parents and by the time we got back today my sprouts had grown three times the size they were when I left! As of now at least two of each plant has sprouted and many of them have leaves. These plants we are hoping will be ready to plant outside by friday. Here are the pictures of the new plants, can you believe this all happened three days since the last pictures and one week exactly since planting?!