Today was Kylie’s first day of her senior year.  Twelve years ago, when she entered kindergarten my Dad said to me “Today will be Kylie’s last ever first day of school.”  I always remembered this.  My Dad was so clever in his words.  He said things that made us think and things we would always remember.  She had many first days of school after that first one, of course. But kindergarten would be the last time she would ever have a truly first day of school. This morning, Kylie had her last ever first day of school.  Next year when she goes off to college, she will have many firsts.  Of these, I am so very excited for her, but also very nervous for myself and Dennis.  My goodness, what will we do? Actually, I know we’ll keep busy and have lots of fun, but these 12 years from kindergarten until now have gone by way too fast. I wish I could slow the clock, but we all know that can’t happen.  Our family of three is very tight.  You can find us all together most times.  It is a rare occasion when we aren’t all together for most of a day.  Of course, Kylie keeps busy with her friends and does things with them, but she also enjoys spending time with us, which is nice.

I asked Kylie what she’d like for dinner after her first day of school. She requested a pot roast which really surprised me.  I was expecting a teen’s delicacy, such as chicken tenders … or mac and cheese.  Who knew, pot roast?  OK!  Her wish would be my command.

Today I made a pot roast with cremini mushrooms.  The mushrooms gave such a wonderful, earthly flavor to this roast.  It was melt in youth mouth good.

Dennis said to me “I have to tell you, I used to never be a fan of pot roast until I had yours.”  Thank you, Lovey!  I’m glad you like it.  My Mom used to make pot roast, it was always a wonderful, comforting dinner.  I thank her for making this growing up, so I could grow up to appreciate this fabulous supper.  We always called dinner “supper” which I miss.  It makes the dinner hour seem like a cozy, family gathering when it’s called “supper”.  I don’t know why I feel this way, but I do. I hope if you make this pot roast, it brings back comforting memories of your childhood as it does for me.

To go with the pot roast, I made black pepper and rosemary biscuits. These biscuits tasted so fresh with the fresh ground pepper. It really gave a wonderful flavor.

I also made a simple salad with butter lettuce, cherry tomatoes, blue cheese chunks and a simple dressing of nothing but a drizzle of olive oil, the zest of a lemon and the juice of half the lemon.

Ingredients for Pot Roast

• 3 pound beef roast

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 large garlic cloves

• all purpose flour

• 1 1-lb. package carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks

• 10 stalks of celery, leaves included, cut into 2 inch chunks

• 1 large onion, sliced in quarter rounds

• 2 16-ounce packages of whole cremini mushrooms, stems removed

• 1-1/2 cups merlot wine

• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

• 3 cups chicken stock

• red potatoes, about 7, quartered

• 3 sprigs rosemary

• 3 sprigs thyme

• kosher salt

• pepper

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Liberally sprinkle kosher salt and pepper on both sides of roast. Dredge in flour. Melt butter and oil together in a Dutch oven. Place roast in Dutch oven and brown all sides.  I browned the first side for about 4 minutes for a really nice crust.  I browned the second side for about 2-1/2 minutes and then browned the edges. Remove roast from Dutch oven and set on a plate.

Add carrots, celery and onion to Dutch oven and cook until tender, about 6 minutes. Add merlot and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Tie the rosemary and thyme together in a bundle and add to Dutch oven. Add garlic and mushrooms to the pot.  Pour chicken stock into the Dutch oven and place meat back in.  Lay your quartered potatoes around the meat and sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper onto the potatoes. Sprinkle Italian seasoning over everything and put the lid on.

Place in your preheated oven for 3 hours. After one hour, turn the temperature down to 275 degrees. Enjoy!

Ingredients for Black Pepper and Rosemary Biscuits

I used the Bisquick Heart Healthy Mix

• 1-1/2 cups mix

• 3/4 cup milk (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup milk, but the mix seemed a little dry, so I added more)

• 1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix all together and lay by spoonful onto a baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris