Farewell Oregon, Hello Utah!

For the past seven months, I've been living in Oregon with my parents trying to figure out what I wanted to do next with my life.  I'm really excited for the next step in my life.  I've decided to go back to school to study Culinary Arts.  My mom wanted us to have a little farewell dinner party for some of our friends here, but there just wasn't enough time.  One of our friends from California was visiting this weekend, so I decided I would make us a nice dinner and that could serve as my farewell dinner.  


I wanted to do something kind of simple since most of my cooking tools were going to be packed.  I decided to give my new dutch oven a test run and make a pot roast.  I've done a pot roast before, many times in fact, but I usually do it in a crock pot.  I started out with sautéing some onions, fresh garlic, carrots, celery, and mushrooms in the pot with some olive oil.  I removed the vegetables and then browned the roast.  I placed the vegetables and roast back in the pot and then poured in some beef broth and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme.  With the cover on the pot, I placed it in a 300º oven for 3-4 hours until fork tender.  The key to a great pot roast is cooking it low and slow.  

I served the roast with some mashed potatoes.  I used the drippings from the roast to make a gravy by thickening it with a little flour.  I've found the best way to make a flavorful and smooth gravy is reserve a few tablespoons of the drippings and mix it with the flour or cornstarch first and then add that mixture to the rest of your drippings.


For dessert, I had some leftover homemade cream cheese frosting, so I figured the best thing to make would be a cake.  I made a white cake and I added a box of coconut cream pudding and shredded coconut to.  I frosted it with the cream cheese frosting.  I toasted some shredded coconut and sprinkled it on top of the cake for a little garnish.

This was a great, classic, simple meal and a great way to say farewell to Oregon.  My current plan is to maintain my blog while I'm in school.  There should be plenty of new things for me to experiment with and to learn how perfect.  Keep following if you'd like to see me embark on this next great adventure of culinary school.  Happy cooking and there's more fun with food to come!