Friday, September 25, 2009

Beef Pot Roast with Maple Sweet Potatoes

This week's recipe for the Beef. It's What's For Dinner Wednesdays challenge was Beef Pot Roast with Maple Sweet Potatoes.



I think that Pot Roast is a tough recipe to recommend to anyone. Most people already have a pot roast recipe that they love, and prefer over all others. I am that way. It was not easy for me to take a lovely little pot roast and put it into a new recipe when I knew perfectly well that I had a roast recipe that my family already loved.

This roast did turn out great though. Here's what we liked about it:
  • The fresh thyme - loved the flavor. Nothing beats fresh herbs.
  • The addition of apple cider to the cooking liquids (which then later becomes gravy.)
  • The quick gravy prep at the end. (I would label it as no-fail gravy, but as soon as I do that then I'll get an angry email from someone who failed at the gravy.)
From the start I had a gut feeling that the Maple Sweet Potatoes would not be a hit, so I had a back up plan ready to go. It added to my time spent in the kitchen, but in the end I was glad I had the regular mashed potatoes ready and warm on the stove. (Do you ever do that? Try out a new recipe and have a culinary contingency plan? I confess, I occasionally do that.)

Next time I make this pot roast (yes, there will be a next time) I'll skip the Maple Sweet Potatoes and just roast some sweet potato chunks in the oven with some salt, pepper and a little olive oil- mouth-watering and so very fall-esque.

Before I end my post, I just have to say that I laughed when I uploaded the photo. Mr. Dinner's on Me plated this up for me while I fed the toddler. Hello plate-o-starch! Just look at that meat to potatoes ratio!

If you participated in this week's challenge and tried out the recipe, don't forget to either leave a comment on the Facebook fan page or go and review the recipe to be eligible for the Beef Grilling Gift Bag giveaway!

Have a great weekend everyone, and be sure to check out what some other bloggers have done with this recipe.

Eat at Home
Family, Friends & Food
Cooking During Stolen Moments
Tried-and-True Cooking With Heidi

3 comments:

Tiffany @ Eat at Home said...

I thought the sweet potatoes looked good, but I skipped them too. I knew they wouldn't go over with the kids.

Unknown said...

Looks great to me! I love sweet potatoes:) I would love for you to post your Crock Pot favorites on Crock Pot Wednesday at diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com. Mister Linky is already up and waiting for you. Come check it out. Thanks. Debbie

Cynthia said...

i always have a back up plan if the kids hate my new recipe. it's called breakfast the next day. :)