Christmas Chores, Cooking a Pot Roast, and the Story of a Wooden Spoon

Good morning friends. I hope that you're having a great week! There simply doesn't seem to be enough time to get everything done that needs to be done.

In between...

...trimming the tree...

...decorating the house...

...and wrapping the gifts...

...I actually cooked a pot roast using my go-to simple

recipe from Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman).

Thanks, Ree!

Pardon my little notes.

I do not like watery sauces,

so I thickened this by adding a mixture of

equal parts of cornstarch and beef broth,

with a few drops of Gravy Master, 

shaken together and poured gradually

into the sauce until it thickened

into a nice gravy.

I have many recipes for Pot Roast, most more complicated than this one, but this is the one I use when I don't have a lot of prep time. It's great in cool weather, fills your house with a wonderful aroma, and it sure beats the stuff that you make with canned cream of mushroom soup, which I never use in ANYTHING!! (Sorry, just my opinion.)

 

Fortunately, in this area, rosemary and thyme

 grow all winter in my garden.

Here's what it looked like going into the oven...

...and then into our tummies!...

Oh, and if you're wondering about the tape on the wooden spoon, here's the story.

That was my mom's wooden spoon. I think that it's about 60 years old.

I don't remember my mom ever actually spanking either my brother or I.

But, she was a yeller. And a threatener.

"If you don't behave, I will come after you with my wooden spoon!"

And come after my brother she once did.

And missed.

She hit the wall.

And broke the spoon.

And taped it back together.

The original tape still holds.

They just don't make tape like that any more.

And they certainly don't make spoons like that any more.

I now have a collection of my own wooden spoons.

But this one is my favorite.

There is not a time that I use it where I don't think about my mom coming after my brother with that spoon.

Mom passed away in 2009, but I know that she is still wondering when she will get that spoon back.

Happy decorating!

And happy eating!