Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes, Snap Peas, Wax Beans

I started on this meal yesterday by cooking the roast, letting it cool and slicing it with my food slicer.

I rubbed salt, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper onto my roast and then browned it in a little oil.  It was placed in a roasting pan, I put 1/2 cup water in the bottom of the pan.  When the roast was in the roaster, I spinkled more seasoning which included: onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and pepper, I didn't add anymore salt.

I put the roast without lid into a 350 oven.  I think it cooked for 2 1/2 hours, I forgot to look at the time.  Usually when I start to smell what is cooking in the oven it is about 3/4 cooked.  I checked the roast when I started to smell it and the internal temp. was only 140 (a bit rare, unless I was eating it right away, then I would have taken it out and let it sit - it would have cooked more and been  a perfect medium/rare). I put it in the oven for another 15 minutes and took it out when temp was 163; I then let it sit in the pan with a lid on the pot until it cooled.

I cut the roast in half after it cooled and proceeded to slice it all up with the meat slicer.  (A good investment if you make lots of sandwiches) Some beef was put into a container in the fridge to be used for making sandwiches for school lunches.

The beef used for supper was put into a casserole dish and the pan juices were poured over so the meat wouldn't dry out while in fridge over night.  When I was ready to serve today, I put the meat into the microwave for a few minutes at 70% power.  I did check the center of the meat to make sure it was warm throughout - for one minute I put it on high.

CHILI POWDER:  I guess you might be wondering WHY I put chili powder on the roast.  Well, I have discovered that the chili powder seems to give the gravy a fullnes/depth of flavour without giving it any spicy heat.  I acutally use chili powder on everything that produces gravy (roast chicken, pork, turkey).  When I make soup I add some cayene pepper hot sauce (like Tabassco) you don't taste any spicy heat, but it does add to the flavour. Try it sometime, you may be surprised at how well it works.

I cheated with the gravy; usually I make it from sratch, but I didn't have enough drippings (or time), so I used a pkg gravy mix (low sodium - brown gravy mix).  I did add about 3 Tbsp of drippings to the gravy mix to give it a bit more punch.

The mashed potatoes were next.  I peeled and boiled potatoes with some salt in the water.  When tender, but not mushy, I drained, mashed and added: unsalted butter, cream cheese,  a bit of milk, onion powder and black pepper.  I mashed all this together and sprinkled some paprika over the top for decoration only.

The wax beans were very difficult ...hehe, I opened a can and heated the beans in the microwave and served.  The snap peas were cooked in the microwave for 2 minutes. They were crisp/tender with a tsp of unsalted butter added before serving - very good.   ENJOY!