Sunday Recipe's - It's What's Cookin' at Liljeani's

I love Sundays! I especially love to cook on Sunday's. Great Smells from the kitchen make me never want to leave home!

Today's Specials in Liljeani's Kitchen:

- Carrot Currant Apple Muffins
- Beef Pot Roast

I admit, I haven't always been the greatest cook and I am certainly no Martha Stewart, but I do love it when my experiments come out not only edible but delicious!

I recently purchased a Jack Lalanne juicer. My favorite and easy juice is apple carrot. After I juice, the pulp is left over and being thrifty, I hate to waste, so I use the pulp to make muffins. Up until today, they were just edible, good for you sure, but not good enough to share the recipe. I have always started out with a tried and true recipe, usually from Better Homes, always something simple and quick. So I started out with Better Homes and Gardens recipe for Apple Raisin Muffins and made it my own.

Liljeani's Currant Apple Carrot Muffins

• 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour ( I use the natural white with no bleaching)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I like to use Raw sugar)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt (sea salt may be substituted)
  
• 1 beaten egg ( I use organic, free range, grain fed)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 cup of apple/carrot pulp from juicer
• 1/4 cup of concord grape juice (organic and 100% juice)
• 1/2 cup or more of currants
• 1/4 cup of nuts - (I was going to try hazelnuts but forgot them) :-(

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add egg, milk, oil, pulp, and juice. Stir just until moistened. Then fold in currants and nuts.

Grease and Flour Muffin Pans. Fill 3/4 way full with mix. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Yum!!

Liljeani's Crock Pot Beef Roast

O.K. again I started with the tried and true recipe, this time coming from the Rival Crock Pot's recipe book and made it my own.

• whole new potato's - enough to cover 1/3 or more of the bottom of the crock pot.
• fresh baby carrots - same as above
• pearl onions - same as above ( used frozen for convenience)
• beef stock (I used canned for convenience)
• beef roast - I like Angus - any size that will fit the crock pot or if you are just cooking for 2 like me you might want only a couple pounds.
• 1/4 cup of dry red wine
  
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (unless your beef stock is salted - then you can omit or you can you a seasoning substitute for salt)
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1 teaspoon basil

Add vegetables to bottom of crock pot. Mix spices together and season meat. Add meat on tip of vegetables. Mix together wine and beef stock and pour over and around beef. Cook on low 8-10 hours or on High 4-6 hours.

When the Pot Roast is done, you can make a simple gravy out of the left over stock. I like to use Gold Medal's Wondra - the recipes are on the can. Add some canned biscuits or my favorite crescent rolls for a wholesome easy dinner! Note: I don't like using any canned biscuits that have Hydrogenated Oils, and they are sometimes hard to find without it. For an easy alternative try drop biscuits - if you have a favorite recipe - or some tricks you've learned along the way - let's hear it!

My furry kids and husband

I can't ever take them for granted! Sitting curled up behind me, pleasantly warm, is my Min Pin Lily, self contorted and crammed into my desk drawer lies my one year old cat, Aniken, and last but not least at my feet is my best Pug pal, Lukei (pronounced Lucky), well, he was there a minute ago, hold on a minute...ok, I'm back, let me explain, Lukei is 14 and although my Vet assures me that old age is not a disease, it brings along some pretty common characteristics, for instance; his step falters, he's sometimes confused, and is VERY hard of hearing. To keep him safe, I keep a more watchful eye on him these days, which is why I had to go looking for him.

I checked his usual haunts, the roll away bed in the guest room, his wooly dog bed in the living room, and when he was nowhere to be found, began to panic. Had he gotten outside? Had he fallen or squeezed
himself into a place to small for his pudgy belly and now couldn't get free? He is not a barker, so I would never know if he was trapped, he was just hang out there till I found him. Or my worst fear, had he hid himself away to die?

I called down to my husband in a hopeful yet fretful voice, "Is Lukei with you?" "No, what, call him" was the reply. Call him, I thought, call him, is he crazy, the dog can't hear! Fear driving me, I checked every nook and cranny upstairs to no avail, so I began the descent into the basement, where my husband was sitting on the couch, right next to Lukei, playing a video game. I was flabbergasted! "Call him",  he said again. Husband's cant live with em, can't shoot em!

As usual, not paying attention!

Check out: My Sunday Morning Blog

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