Recipe Mutiny steals recipes from food blogs and recipe sites. Then we publish them. With credit (Naturally).
Pot roast is such a comforting, all-American dish; you almost don’t want to mess with it.
Almost.
When you add North African ingredients such as turmeric, ginger, cumin and coriander, along with pomegranate juice (for a little sweetness), you end up with something new, a bit exotic, and altogether fantastic!
Continue reading "Moroccan Pot Roast" »
Welcome to 2018! Our contributor Summer Miller is back to share her meal plans for the month of January. To start us off on the right foot, she has a few thoughts to share on New Year’s resolutions, healthy eating, and what this all means to her.
A few years ago, I found the remnants of a New Year’s Resolution list tucked into the folds of an old notebook stashed in the bottom drawer of an even older desk. The list was written nearly a decade prior, and I realized I’d been trying to lose the same 10 pounds for years.
From that moment on, I changed the way I looked at resolutions. Rather than jotting down a list of goals I’d hope to accomplish, lose 10 lbs., be on Oprah etc., I wrote down a list of words or phrases that represent who I wanted to become.
Continue reading "Meal Plan for January Week 1" »
New year, new me. It’s a popular mantra that we all tell ourselves going into a new year—vowing that this will finally be the year we’ll actually stick to our resolutions.
80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail by the second week of February. While that number may seem daunting, it’s simply a sign that we’re not going about it in the right way. It’s also no surprise that a large majority of these resolutions fall within the healthy eating category—43% of Americans say they plan to lose weight and make healthier food decisions.
So if you fall into this percentage of people looking to eat better and live a healthier lifestyle, here’s some advice on how to make 2018 your success story:
Set realistic goals
“I think we have to sit back and say what is realistic in your lifestyle?” says Dr. Joan Salge Blake, author of Nutrition & You and a Clinical Associate Professor at Boston University.
If you’re not already an avid gym-goer, setting a goal to go to the gym five times a week is likely not going to stick, says Salge Blake. Instead, you should tell yourself, “I’m going to make subtle changes that are obtainable and doable in my lifestyle,” she adds.
One subtle change, Blake notes, is to avoid eating late in the day—a habit that’s proven to lead to rapid weight gain. “Many of us consume the majority of our calories later on in the afternoon and evening,” says Blake. “But when you think about this logically, when you need energy the most is when you first get up until 5 p.m.”
Seek some assistance
“Talking to a registered dietitian is important,” says Sandra J. Arevalo, an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Spokesperson. “People try to make changes all the time, but if you don’t succeed you need to know why, and a registered dietitian can help you figure out where the problem is, and offer solutions and ways to achieve your resolutions this time.”
Think long-term
Temporary actions don’t usually yield permanent results. Since the word “diet” tends to carry an expiration date, many choose to call their process a habit or lifestyle change instead.
“If you follow one of the [dieting] fads you could possibly lose a lot of weight real fast but you will regain it once you go back to your old eating habits,” says Arevalo.
Make some plans
Of course when we’re on the go, it’s easy to resort to the convenience of fast food. But Salge Blake offers another solution to fast-paced lives—one that still saves time without compromising healthy eating: pre-planning meals for the week in advance.
“It’s interesting because people will often say planning takes time—it does take time, but it takes little time compared to the amount of time that is being wasted standing on line getting food on the go,” says Salge Blake.
But Salge Blake is also realistic: “I’m not saying all of them but most of them—your breakfast and your lunch and most of your dinners. I know with dinners you want to have some spontaneity but it can’t be spontaneous every night.”
Give it time
Arevalo remembers a patient of hers who was looking to lose weight. At first, the patient quickly gave up because she felt she wasn’t seeing enough results for the time she was putting in. The second time around, she set a different goal: “She made her resolution to be a different woman, to achieve her goal weight regardless of length of time and she came to see me for help.”
“We worked for a couple of months, setting smart goals at each bi-weekly visit, doing weekly weight checks and keeping a food diary. Time wasn’t her goal this time, just the weight,” says Arevalo.
“Choose to go slow but safe,” she added.
It’s your turn to make Sunday Supper and you’re all set to spend the afternoon making an aromatic and delicious pot roast. But what exactly is a pot roast?
A chuck roast is any cut of meat that comes from the chuck, or the shoulder part of the steer. A pot roast isn’t a specific cut of meat—it’s just a method of preparing a cut of meat by slowly braising it with liquid (like stock or wine) until it’s juicy and tender. Pot roast can be made with many cuts of meat, and there are many other nicknames for pot roast, including arm roast and clod roast (check out this great roast roster from Epicurious for a full explanation).
Pot roasts (made from a chuck cut!) are easy to cook in a single pot, and can take any amount of time from an hour to almost an entire afternoon. You can use a slow cooker, an instant pot, a Dutch oven—they’re very easy to adapt for a large crowd and range in weight from two to around five pounds. Chuck roasts are also referred to as chuck eye roasts, chuck pot roasts, and chuck roll roasts. Since you’re always braising a pot roast, the meat will be tender and rich in flavor.
Check out these seven recipes for pot roast (many of which call for a chuck roast!) here and you’ll be on your way to a delicious dinner in no time.
Garlicky Pot Roast
Make sure that you read this recipe right: It says eight heads of garlic, not cloves. This seriously garlicky pot roast starts off with roasting whole heads of garlic and makes enough to stock up and save for upcoming dinners. Get our Garlicky Pot Roast recipe.
Easy Beef Stew
A great winter stew that freezes well, this recipe calls for a three-pound boneless chuck roast. You can substitute any winter root vegetables for the carrots and Yukon Gold potatoes to change it up and be sure to freeze any leftovers. Get our Easy Beef Stew recipe.
Swedish Pot Roast
Hummingbird Thyme
This comforting dish is made with a fou- pound chuck roast and seasoned with ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, garlic, brown sugar, vinegar, and salt. You can use a pressure cooker or a Dutch oven, depending on what’s most convenient and how much time you have. Get the recipe.
Cajun Pot Roast with Tomato Gravy
Life’s Ambrosia
Creole seasoning gives this tender chuck roast recipe a Cajun twist. The tomato gravy is an excellent accompaniment to mashed potatoes or some creamy polenta. Get the recipe.
Instant Pot Pot Roast
Civilized Caveman Cooking
This two-ingredient recipe is hardly a recipe at all—simply add the chuck roast (cubed) with a full jar of marinara sauce to your instant pot and you’re set. Get the recipe.
Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Easy Gravy
Pale OMG
A number of vegetables make this a balanced meal—you can easily add in a batch of cauliflower puree as well make to make the gravy a bit thicker. Get the recipe.
Vegetarian Pot Roast
Gimme Some Oven
If you’re trying to create the flavors of a traditional pot roast for a vegetarian crowd, this recipe made with Yukon gold potatoes and baby bella mushrooms is the perfect match served over egg noodles. Get the recipe.
No really, hear me out. If you’re like me, the term “pot roast” revives memories of sulking at a dinner table, unable to be excused until you choked through some grayish beef of questionable texture where even the usually fail-safe potatoes had been cruelly adulterated by having been cooked in the same pot. Did the adults even like this stuff? Or was this some sort of harrowing rite of passage for the kids and they were totally going to bust out the pizza and chicken nuggets after we sulked our way through until bedtime?
As an adult, I begrudgingly admit that I kind of get it now. When handled lovingly, pot roast takes the humblest, and often least-expensive of ingredients and transforms them into a rustic, hearty meal with minimal effort, capable of dancing with all of the taste buds while triangulating soundly among richness, brightness, and starchiness. A good pot roast is the very embodiment of “cozy,” which is definitely what we will be craving during those blustery January days.
Being no longer bound solely by the encrusted pages of our mothers’ most reliable cookbooks now, pot roast also need not be limited to one flavor profile. So let us shelve those mysterious “sauce packets,” inaugurate the newly acquired Airpot or Dutch oven, and usher in a new year with a renewed commitment to semi-nostalgic Sunday suppers replete with pot roast, hold the sulking.
Why not roast your way through 2018 with these 12 pot roasts for each month:
January: Garlicky Pot Roast
Chowhound
We’re not taking any chances with starting off the year right, so we’ll ward off the evil eye and all the other devils right out of the gate with this aromatic preparation featuring no fewer than eight heads of garlic, plus beer and gingersnap cookies because we want 2018 to know what we’re about. Get our Garlicky Pot Roast recipe.
February: Slow-Cooker Chinese Pot Roast
Your Home-Based Mom
Invite your friends over for a “Year of the Monkey” celebration! Watch “12 Monkeys,” listen to The Monkees, choose a Monkey-themed beer for the occasion like Victory Golden Monkey, and serve up this Chinese-inspired pot roast with root vegetables and Chinese five spice powder. (No monkeys were harmed in the making of this recipe.) Get the recipe.
March: Grandma Flanigan’s Pot Roast in Guinness Gravy
The Spice House
Because we are outgrowing the need to bar-crawl our way through St. Patrick’s Day, but we still like to nod to the occasion and corned beef is so everyone’s-doing-it. Get the recipe.
April: Moroccan Pot Roast with Ras el Hanout
Serious Eats
We resolved in January to be more adventurous and to cook with new ingredients, and this spicy-sweet Moroccan dish featuring the underutilized spice blend Ras el hanout is just the thing to prove you are no April Fool. Get the recipe.
May: Pot Roast Tacos
Hispanic Kitchen
Pot. Roast. Tacos. Cinco de yes, please. Get the recipe.
June: Slow Roasted Oven BBQ Beef Brisket
House of Nash Eats
The only difference between what we think of as brisket and that which we think of as pot roast is the particular cut of meat, but the process is otherwise identical, and who wouldn’t rather spend their backyard barbecue chilling on patio chair with a brisket sandwich rather than schvitzing over a hot grill? Get the recipe.
July: Shiitake Ginger Pot Roast
Otaku Food
Because not every summer evening needs to be about hamburgers and hotdogs, and this Japanese-inspired pot roast is the perfect dish with which to sip cold sake on the patio. Get the recipe.
August: Jamaican Pot Roast
Genius Kitchen
As if you need another reason to host a summer party, Jamaican Independence Day is Aug. 6 and is a perfect opportunity to weed out those of your friends who are unable to handle scotch bonnets. Get the recipe.
September: Italian Pot Roast
The Pioneer Woman
Throw your own San Gennaro festival by throwing roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, and sun-dried tomatoes into the pot, then pass the cannoli and await the goodness. Get the recipe.
October: German Style Pot Roast (Sauerbraten)
TSG Cookin
Because, Oktoberfest. Get the recipe.
November: Slow Cooker Korean Beef
Dinner Then Dessert
Once the palate fatigue from all of those starchy-savory Thanksgiving leftovers sets in, you’ll be ripe to switch things up. This gingery, spicy Korean pot roast will be just the thing to rejuvenate your taste buds for the continuation of holiday eating in December. Get the recipe.
December: Pot Roast with Porcini and Beer
Chowhound
Forget the ham and close out the year with this elegant umami-explosion pot roast as a symbol of your commitment to a year of thematic eating. Get our Pot Roast with Porcini and Beer recipe.
The holidays are a time of indulgence but they can also be a time of reflection and self-care where intentions are set to lay the foundation for a vibrant and dynamic new year. After too many weeks of rich food, imbibing, and late nights, there’s nothing better than dialing back the debauchery in order to keep that promise you made to yourself to make the year ahead an epic one.
Whether you’ve decided to party into the wee hours as the clock ticks down to 2018 or plan to duck out early for a good night’s sleep, marking the new year with a healthy lunch is a way to restore balance following an indulgent month, reminding your mind, spirit, and body that it actually likes healthy eating, calm moments, and libations that don’t include alcohol.
Here’s a plan to help you execute a spa lunch that’s as restorative as it is healthful.
Oatmeal Protein Energy Balls
The Healthy Maven
This easy no-bake energy ball recipe is as tasty as it is healthy. Prepare them to serve in a bowl at your spa lunch or pack them up to send home with your guests as a parting gift. For an extra dose of nutrition, add a tablespoon of flax seeds or finely chopped pumpkin seeds. Get the recipe.
Quick Pickled Vegetables
Feasting at Home
Quick pickled vegetables are fantastic for a spa lunch for myriad reasons: They’re colorful, invigorating, and can be prepared ahead of time. Serve them right in the jars arranged throughout your spa spread for splashes of color; make extra jars to send home with your guests if you’re so inclined. Get the recipe.
Chilled Cucumber, Avocado, and Mint Soup
The Feed Feed
There are so many things to love about this soup recipe. Let’s start with the way the avocado and yogurt makes it creamy without the cream. The cucumber’s detoxing power aligns so well with a spa lunch and the mint infuses the soup with an energizing flavor. Get the recipe.
Thai Chicken Peanut Lettuce Wraps
Skinny Taste
These lettuce wraps feel filling and substantial without weighing you down. The ginger is excellent for detoxing and the Sriracha adds a hint of heat. Swap the chicken for firm tofu for a vegetarian option and feel free to substitute the peanut butter for your nut butter of choice. Don’t forget to serve with a bowl of limes alongside. Get the recipe.
Classic Green Juice
With Food and Love
This juice recipe is loaded with healthful ingredients that are as detoxing as they are invigorating. Blend the juice right before your guests arrive so it’s at its freshest and most flavorful and vibrant. Get the recipe.
Three-Ingredient Honey Berry Sorbet
Sweet and Savory By Shinee
You can’t go wrong with a colorful dessert that includes only three ingredients but tastes so much more substantial and satisfying. The honey sweetens the berries and the lemon adds an lively zing. The sorbet is made ahead of time so requires nothing but serving on the day of your spa lunch. Get the recipe.
Like food, spices go through trends in cooking as well. They might not be as popularized as the unicorn fad or black ice cream, but spices quite often go in and out of style. Za’atar, for instance, has been having its time in the spotlight recently. While it can traditionally be found sprinkled on pita bread, it’s becoming more ubiquitous, popping up on menus and even landing on top of the innocuous avocado toast. With all its popularity lately, you’ve probably been curious about what exactly za’atar is.
Simply, it’s the name for a Middle Eastern spice blend featuring oregano, sumac, cumin, sesame seeds, black pepper, and salt. The blend tends to change depending on what part of the world it’s being made; in Palestine, caraway seeds are added, while in Lebanon sumac berries are thrown in, giving it a distinctly dark red color. Either way, the spice is most commonly eaten with pita bread: Just dip the pita in olive oil, then in za’atar, and eat. Often times, za’atar is also used as a seasoning for meats and roasted vegetables, sprinkled on top of hummus and labneh, and it is even used to make herbal tea.
The blend is quite easy to make yourself—just use a mortar and pestle to crush all the ingredients together into a powder —but you can also buy it pre-made and put it on pretty much everything for an added nutty and herby flavor.
Whisk Affair
This easy recipe walks you through the process of making the spice blend. It calls for sumac, dried thyme, sesame seeds, dried oregano, sea salt, and marjoram, which get mixed together in a blender. Get the recipe.
Three Pepper Shakshuka Pita with Feta and Za’atar
Smitten Kitchen
These portable, hand-held pita pockets get stuffed with baked tomatoes, eggs, sauteed peppers, feta, and finally garnished with za’atar. If you’re looking for something different to make for brunch, these are a real crowd-pleaser. Get the recipe.
Za’atar Roasted Cauliflower with Dates, Pine Nuts, and Thyme
Downshiftology
Roasted cauliflower gets an upgrade when it’s roasted with za’atar, along with the usual salt, pepper, and olive oil. Finish it off with toasted pine nuts, chopped dates, and sprigs of thyme. Get the recipe.
Grilled Eggplant with Za’atar and Herby Lentil Salad
Happy Hearted Kitchen
Thick rounds of eggplant get coated in za’atar and olive oil before being grilled, which are then piled on top of warm lentils mixed with pine nuts, golden raisins, mint, parsley, and lemon zest. Get the recipe.
The Sugar Hit
Dreams of warm bread topped with za’atar can be a reality at home and not just in your neighborhood Middle Eastern restaurant. Making the dough for the flatbread is easy—it’s waiting for it to come out of the oven, hot and coated with za’atar, that’s the hard part. Get the recipe.
Gather at Table
Instead of dressing salmon with mustard, or just plain old salt and pepper (again), opt for za’atar to spice it up. Just rub the blend on as you’d normally do with any kind of seasoning for fish, then bake for 12-15 minutes. Get the recipe.
Za’atar Roasted Chicken Breast
The Mediterranean Dish
The intense earthy flavor from za’atar levels up your classic chicken breast from basic to impressive. Get the recipe.
Homemade Hummus with Za’atar and Sweet Paprika
Killing Thyme
Let’s be honest: Store-bought hummus never lives up to when you make it from scratch. This version amps it up through the garnish: a sprinkling of za’atar, paprika, parsley, and extra chickpeas. There’s no way you’d find that in the grocery store. Get the recipe.
