Hello everyone and welcome back. Less than two weeks left till Turkey time, can you taste the pumkin pie?:-) I am so excited about cooking my first Turkey for my family that I am going to give it a trial run this week (don't tell anyone). Here in Pa we are having the best Fall ever, the trees are a beautiful array of orange, brown and yellow and the leaves are slowly falling. My daughter Paige is just learning how to walk and she stepped on a leaf yesterday and the sound that it made reminded me of the days when my sister Karen and I would spend hours raking the leaves just to turn around and jump in them...Ahh to be a kid again. Well, this week I am going to share with you a recipe for Pot Roast, some Thanksgiving traditions in other countries (as promised) and a link to a website that I have fallen in love with for Christmas shopping. Hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing you next week.
Trim any excess fat from beef. Discard fat. Cut beef into serving-size pieces; season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Scrub potatoes. Cut scrubbed potatoes into quarters. Cut carrots and parsnip diagonally into 3/4 inch slices. Slice celery into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces.
Place potato, carrot, parsnip, celery, onion and bay leaves in slow cooker. Sprinkle roesmary and thyme over vegetables.
Arrange beef over vegetables in slow cooker. Pour broth over beef.
Cover slow cooker and cook pot roast on LOW about 81/2 to 9 hours or until beef is fork-tender.
Remove beef to large serving platter. Arrange vegetables around beef on platter. Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve pot roast with juices from slow cooker or with gravy, if desired.
For gravy that would make mom proud, ladle the juices from the slow cooker into a 2-cup measuring cup: place in a small saucepan and heat to a boil. For each cup of juice, mix 1/4 cup of cold water and 2 tablespoons of flour until smooth. Add to the boiling juices, stirring constantly: Cook 1 minute or until the juice is thickenend. *
As a side note mom always said that homemade gravy was much better than the canned gravy...guess what I think she was right.
The ancient Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses. Their goddess of corn (actually all grains) was Demeter who was honored at the festival of Thesmosphoria held each autumn.
On the first day of the festival married women (possibility connecting childbearing and the raising of crops) would build leafy shelters and furnish them with couches made with plants. On the second day they fasted. On the third day a feast was held and offereings to the goddess Demeter were made - gifts of seed corn, cakes, fruit and pigs. It was hoped that Demeter's gratitude would grant them a good harvest.
The Romans also celebrated a harvest festival called Cerelia, which honored Ceres their goddess of corn (from which the word cereal comes). The festival was held each year on October 4th and offerings of the first fruits of the harvest and pigs were offered to Ceres. Their celebration included music, parades, games and sports and a Thanksgiving feast.
Enjoy!