Portion distortion in a good way

We all know as Americans, we struggle with how much is on our plate as well as what is on our plate. The average American plate tends to be dominated by a meat-based entree, and smaller portions of side dishes. The side dishes are more often than no, starchy in nature and often slathered with butter. Changing the way I eat, has certainly changed the way my plate looks. Instead of being dominated by a huge slab of meat (no matter how healthfully prepared), it is now composed mainly of veggies with a small portion of protein. This is how our plates are supposed to look. Full of nutrients, color and visual appeal. We tend to get into a rut by making everything the same size and monchromatically themed (i.e. everything on the plate is white or brown), but what I like about this meal are the different colors and shapes. Having the veggies piled atop one another and them being different sizes makes them far more interesting. This would appeal to smaller children, because they could have fun trying to find all the carrots and sorting everything while consuming all the vitamins and minerals they to live healthy, happy lives.

Sunday pot roast (3 oz), steamed green beans and steamed baby carrots

Sunday eats

I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, Sundays were feasting days. There was usually chicken or pot roast and plenty of sides to please even the pickiest crowd. My mother made Sunday cooking look effortless. Somehow all of this amazing food appeared on the table with little to no effort. I now know that I was just not paying enough attention. Sunday meals take tons of planning, shopping and preparation. Last Sunday, my plans to go to church were thwarted by a flat tire, so I stayed home and treated my parents to a good ol' fashioned Sunday feast.

The menu:

Beef roast braised in red wine
Citrusy green beans topped with crunchy fried onion rings
Roasted garlic-herb potatoes


Since I hadn't been planning on making roast, I had to take one out of the freezer and toss it in the microwave to get it defrosting. While the microwave worked it's magic, I got a pan screaming hot and roughly chopped an onion and the rest of the garlic bulb left from the pizza. I took the meat out of the microwave, and cut it into about 5 large pieces. My pan was starting to smoke, so I quickly dredged the meat with flour and tossed them into the hot oil. I just wanted to get some color (and thus more flavor) on all sides of the meat. After everything was browned, I added about a cup of baby carrots, the onion and garlic. I took the briefest moment to listen to everything sizzle (I just love that sound!) before deglazing the pan with 3 cups of warm water (unfortunately I had no beef stock) and about that much red wine. I just wanted to cover the meat with liquid. A few seasonings (S/P, and about 2 Tbs of Mrs. Dash Southwest chipotle seasoning) went in, then I covered the dutch oven and put it in the 400 degree oven for 3 hours. When I checked on it, everything was bubbling nicely, so I lowered the temp to 375 for another hour.

During that last hour of cooking, I heated a pot of oil to 350, and very thinly sliced an onion. I did the typical egg dip/flour dredge routine then plunged the little darlings into the hot oil for a quick fry. I diced a few potatoes and tossed them with melted butter and garlic salt, then they went on a sheet pan and into the oven. Two cans of green beans, 1 Tbs of orange zest and the juice of the orange + a little s/p went into a casserole dish and then into the oven. I drained the fried onions on paper toweling, pulled out the roast and placed it in a bowl so that I could make a pan sauce with the cooking juices. Thanks to the flour from the original searing of the meat, the sauce thicken really well. The green beans came out of the oven first...they just needed to be warmed through. The potatoes were next once they started to get nice and brown. The fried onions were laid to rest atop the green beans. The gravy was poured on top of the meat, and the potatoes were dumped onto a serving platter.

Things moved very quickly at the end, but thanks to good planning, the timing was great...everything was ready at the same time! Woohoo! Sorry there are no pics of the potatoes, I didn't think they were that interesting looking...I mean, we all know what cut up potatoes look like.