New Recipe: Beef with Wine Sauce

Growing up, my mom and dad felt strongly that Sunday's were a day to spend in church worshiping the Lord, away from work and our normal routine, and just resting. I remember getting all dressed up for church in the morning and going to Sunday School and "Preaching" as we called it down south, which most people call the Worship Service.  Then we would come home, eat lunch and take naps, or just play outside.  I was annoyed by this philosophy as a teenager mostly because all of my swim meets were Saturday-Sunday and I always missed the Sunday events.  It meant I would never be the best ranked swimmer because I never attended the Sunday portion of the swim meets.  

Now as an adult, I am SO very thankful to them for imparting these values to me.  I watched the movie "Chariots of Fire" the other day and realized how far our society is turning from these values.  In "Chariot's of Fire", for those who haven't seen it, an Olympian actually backs out of his Olympic heat because it is on a Sunday and he does not believe in competing on the Lord's Day.  Wow! 

Some of you may think this is archaic, but even God rested on Sunday when creating the world, and I personally would like my life to be lived as close to His example as possible.  Granted, I feel like I rarely achieve this and am always falling short, but I know God can see my heart and I trust that my motivation and genuineness counts more than my successes or failures.  Whether you believe in God or not, I think we could all agree that taking a day for relaxation and family time is so important in our fast paced world.

Because I try to make Sunday's a relaxed, laid back day at our house, I try to put something in the crock pot on Saturday night to have it ready for dinner the next day.  Why do I do this?  Well, cooking meals is part of my 'work' everyday, so if I am to apply this philosophy to myself, I can't be scuttling around the house trying to put dinner together like I do every day.  

This week I tried a new recipe...

"Beef with Wine Sauce"

Ingredients

• 3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1 medium onion, sliced 
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, halved
• 1 (1.61-ounce) package brown gravy mix
• 1 (10 1/2-ounce) can beef broth
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 
• 1 bay leaf
• Hot cooked egg noodles or rice 
• Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Place first 3 ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Whisk together gravy mix and next 3 ingredients; pour evenly over beef and vegetables. Add bay leaf.
3. Cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles. Garnish, if desired.

REVIEW OF RECIPE

BRYON: 8/10 My hubby is a beef lover and he likes anytime I put beef over egg noodles.  He really liked the flavor of the sauce.  I may add a little Worcester Sauce next time.  Plus the yummy biscuits didn't hurt, lol

HALEY: 6/10  I am not a beef lover.  I would be happy being vegetarian, minus the occasional Chick fila nuggets of course.  I made this more for my husband tho so his opinion counts more in this case :)