Perfect Crock Pot Roast

Pot roast is a great make ahead meal in the crock pot. Everything you need for dinner is ready when you get home. Perfect for weeknight company. Here's the recipe.

4-5 lb. chuck roast (get the cheapest cut you can find)
1 bag mini carrots
4-5 peeled potatoes cut in thirds or quarters
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup

Line crock pot with a bag (for easy cleaning). Place a layer of carrots and top with a layer of potatoes. Put roast on top of veggies. Cover top of roast with soup and pour one can of water over the meat. Top with package of onion soup mix. Cook on low 6-8 hours or until you are home from work.

Best Travel Deals

I don't think my husband had any idea how much planning I put into our travels. That is until he spent a couple of hours looking over my shoulder as I relentlessly sought out the best deal for an upcoming trip he was taking.

Getting the best deal is a time investment. It is, however, an investment that pays big dividends.

Here's an example of a NYC trip that I took:

Expenditure                 Regular Price                    My Price

Lodging (7 nts.)

Fruit Cordials

Making my own fruit cordials is probably a natural outgrowth of my recent wine making efforts. After a little research I found the process was simple. Basically if you have fruit, vodka and sugar, you can make a cordial.

Berry Cordial

My first effort was a berry cordial. Here's what I did:

Wash and hull 1 qt. fresh strawberries, 1 qt. raspberries and 1 pt. of blackberries.

 Lightly mash fruit to release juices.

2 c. sugar

1.75 Liter bottle of vodka (being from Texas I prefer Tito's Vodka) or approx. 7 cups


Put Fruit in a sterilized jar add sugar and vodka and shake vigorously.

Place in a cool dark place and shake every week for at least 4 weeks (long makes for a smoother liqueur.

Strain fruit from liquid using a strainer and a coffee filter to get out all the fruit.

Serve over ice or mix with half and half or my favorite, vanilla, sugar-free creamer for a sweet, after dinner drink.

Some recipes I considered have you make a simple syrup. This one did not call for making the syrup and the sugar seemed to mix just fine.

Pear Cordial

My second cordial effort was with pears. We received a couple of Harry and David fruit boxes for Christmas and had a lot of pears. Our choices were to eat the pears or make cordials. As you can imagine, drinking the pears won out.

The pear recipe called for making simple syrup.

3 c. sugar

2 c. water

5-6 medium pears, washed, peeled, cored and sliced

zest of one lemon

3 c. vodka (again, Tito's was my choice)

1 Tbs. Fruit Fresh (or ascorbic acid)

Boil water and sugar until sugar is dissolved and solution is clear. Cool.

Combine pears with Fruit Fresh, simple syrup, lemon zest and vodka in a sterilized jar. Close jar with lid and shake. Place in a dark place and shake weekly for 4-6 weeks (longer for a smoother cordial)

Enjoy!