Just came across this zombie thread. The mushroom soup Anita uses intrigued me. But one can has over half your daily sodium allowance, and MSG. Both of these probably make a very tasty roast. I think you could wing it with the ingredients of the soup, and use less salt and no additives. The ingredients I would keep match some of what earlier poster use: beef stock, water, mushrooms, tomato puree, flour, oil, a bit of wine, and then perhaps a little extra salt vs what you'd normally use (though I like to salt things to taste at the table - I find we use less salt overall that way.) My kids always like it when they go to dinner somewhere and campbell's soup has been used in the dish. It's all about the saltiness, I think. I think I'll put a chuck roast on the grocery list today. Yum.

lyra, sounds good! I love the idea of keeping peppermint schnapps in the freezer. I'm going to have to try it when the weather heats up again. I don't usually like frozen pizza, but you make me think I should try freezing one of my own partially prebaked crusts. Thanks for a good idea. kitchendetective, I personally haven't made a lot of pesto and frozen it. That would be a good question for the rest of the cooking forum! Start a new post, and you'll get some answers as I know there are a lot of pesto makers here. Here you go terri and dixiedog; I hope they turn out well for you. Note: I cook the broccoli part way as it finishes cooking in the oven. I'll use salted butter to cook the onions in, and because the bacon is also salty, I don't use any extra salt in the mixture. If I don't use peppered bacon, I'll throw in some Penzey's Creamy Peppercorn seasoning. Twice Baked Potatoes 5 lb. bag of russet potatoes (approximately 11 potatoes) 1 (16 oz.) carton sour cream 1 package sharp cheddar cheese (2 cups) 1 package Hormel Peppered Bacon ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter 2 large onions, diced 2 cartons frozen chopped broccoli Broccoli water for deglazing pan Bake potatoes at 380 degrees F on convection, about 35-40 minutes. Let potatoes cool for about 15 minutes, then slice in half. Scoop the pulp from the potato and reserve in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, chop the potato pulp until fluffy. Put the skins on a wire rack and return to the oven for 10 minutes (on convection) until dried and crispy. Put aside to cool. Add 2-3 Tablespoons water to each package of frozen chopped broccoli and cook broccoli in the microwave for 3 to 3-1/2 minutes. Add to the potato mixture, reserving the water for deglazing the pan that had the onions. Dice the onions and sauté in the butter until golden brown. Add these to the potato pulp. Deglaze the pan with the water from the broccoli, and add to the potato mixture. Add the sour cream, peppered bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, and a light sprinkling of salt to the mix, and stir together well. Stuff the cooled potato skins with potato mixture, until all has been used. Freeze the stuffed potatoes and vacuum seal. Preheat the oven to 380 degrees F, convection. Put the frozen potatoes into the oven and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes from frozen.

I pulled out the old NYTimes cookbook and chanced upon the beef roast recipes & procedures. The curious things was it gave a low-temp and a high temp procedure, but it never said what sort of cut to use. Did people just know it in those days? Beef is rather a mystery for me. Pot roast, yes, always chuck!

I agree, there's a difference in tender and falling apart. I've had brisket that comes apart in long shreds, but is still tough and chewy. Because I raise my own grass fed beef, there's no fat to speak of on the brisket, so I cook it in an enameled dutch oven for 6-8 hours or wrap it in foil and bake in a roasting pan for that time. My favorite brisket is actually a recipe from Carol/dishesdone, she posted it here years ago. I don't like beer, so I use root beer or gingerale, the kids like the sweetness anyway. Favorite Brisket 1 4-pound beef brisket kosher salt pepper 2 onions, thinly sliced into half moons (I use 3 large onions) 1/2 cup ketchup 1/2 cup prepared chile sauce (Heinz Chile Sauce - I use the whole bottle) 3 tablespoons brown sugar (I use a bit more) 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 12-ounce bottle beer Salt and pepper both sides of the meat. Place beef in a roasting pan. Cover with onion. Combine ketchup, chile sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and beer. Pour mixture over meat. Cover securely with foil. Bake at 300 degrees F for 4 hours or more until tender. Remove the meat from the pan, and puree the gravy with an immersion blender to thicken it up. Slice the meat against the grain, and return it to the gravy! Tastes even better the next day. Freezes well! I Sometimes I just puree half the onions because we like the onions. and most of the time I never even bother to puree it at all. It's great no matter how you do the gravy. Annie