Easy Chuck Roast takes the chill off

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A big thank you to everyone who has shared recipes in recent weeks. The response to my plea for your favorites was overwhelming. I’m still sorting through the letters, emails and faxes.

As winter continues to linger, many of us are still craving cozy and comforting dishes like pot roast. And Carole Hughson’s recipe is as easy as it gets.

Hughson doesn’t know where she got the recipe, but “it is delicious.”

Easy Roast

1 medium chuck roast

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix

1 package McCormick Au Jus mix

½ cup butter

5 pepperoncini

Place roast in a slow cooker. Sprinkle roast with ranch dressing mix. Add au jus mix, butter and pepperoncini. Do not add water.

Cook on low 7 to 8 hours.

Cheryl Files shares this sweet potato soup recipe.

“I am always looking for additional ways to get in more veggies. [And this soup] is wonderful,” Files writes.

Files adapted the recipe from The Food Network.

Quick Apple and Sweet Potato Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 ribs celery, diced

½ cup diced sweet onion such as Vidalia, or more to taste

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Salt, to taste

Red pepper flakes, to taste

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

4 to 6 cups vegetable broth

Heat oil in soup pot over medium heat. Add celery and onion and saute until softened. Stir in cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste, sweet potatoes and apples. Add broth and simmer until potatoes and apple are tender. Carefully blend with an immersion blender or regular blender to desired smoothness. Season to taste and serve hot or cold. Freezes well.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Files also shares this recipe for Tomato Grits.

Hot Tomato Grits

2 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces (see note)

2 (14 ½ -ounce) cans chicken broth

½ teaspoon salt or more to taste

1 cup quick-cooking grits

2 large tomatoes, chopped OR 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

2 tablespoons canned diced green chiles

Red pepper flakes, to taste

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook bacon in large heavy saucepan until crisp. Gradually add chicken broth and salt; bring to a boil. Stir in grits, tomatoes and chiles (and pepper flakes, if desired) and return to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Stir in cheese;

cover and let stand 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

Note: Files omits the bacon and cheese when she wants to make this with fewer calories.

REQUESTS

Spice cake like that served in the lunchroom at Greenway, Ark., during the 1950s and ’60s for Kay Gurley. “All of the ladies that did the cooking have passed away. I contacted most of their children but they didn’t have the recipe. It was more of a spice cake but the cooks called it gingerbread. It wasn’t as dense as gingerbread, more like a spice cake. They baked it in a jelly roll pan and then glazed it with a thin layer of powdered sugar frosting,” Gurley writes.

Spice mix like the kind that was sold at El Cocino in the White Hall area many years ago for Sonya Jones. The mixture was sold in a small paper sack, Jones writes.

Send recipe requests, contributions and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email: [email protected] Please include a daytime phone number.

Food, Pages 38 on 03/05/2014