Marta On A Mission

Crock Pot Mania: Texas Style Brisket

You know how much I love a good crock pot recipe, so here's one I just had to make for New Year's Day. This is Texas Style Brisket from Taste of Home. I've made this one for a few years and it always gets rave reviews. I will say that this time my eyes were bigger than 10 or 12 people's stomachs. I went to the butcher to see if he had anything smaller than an eleven pound brisket. He offered to trim and cut one in half for me. Well after he cut all of the fat off it just looked naked and deflated so I took the eight pounds of brisket at the trimmed price, I am such a sucker some times I didn't want to hurt the brisket's feeling. Despite that, it really was so delicious and it travels and reheats very well. Mine is never quite as pretty as theirs, probably because I cook mine until it falls apart like a woman at a chick flick.

Texas-Style Beef Brisket Recipe photo by Taste of Home

I started by cutting it in half to fit the crock pot and marinating it in a 2 gallon food storage bag. I placed it in the refrigerator before going to bed, when the baby woke up for his middle of the night bottle I went into the kitchen and put it in the crock pot so it would be ready in the morning when we woke up.

I had to cut it once more to fit the three pieces side by side in the crock pot. I poured in the beef broth and put the lid on and cranked it on high and went back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning to find this glorious sight of brisket done and ready.

I placed it on my favorite bamboo carving board and shredded it with two forks; I chose not to cut it across the grain because it would have completely fallen apart.

Next I chopped the onions and measured my ingredients for the sauce.

I used my gravy separator to skim the fat off of the au jus from the brisket, to add that to the barbecue sauce. I love this gravy separator because it's over sized and has a strainer on the top. The recipe calls for one cup of au jus, with the remaining I measure 1 cup into freezer bags and freeze lying flat so I can make this sauce anytime I'd like.

I served this New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with the sauce on the side. I had enough leftovers to prepare another batch of barbecue sauce later in the week and we had barbecued beef sandwiches. I cut the leftovers across the grain and put back into the crock pot to warm with the sauce. I served it with toasted buns and potato salad.

Mmm-mm. I definitely recommend adding this one to your repertoire. Enjoy, and remember to share with a friend.

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's Back To Work I Go

Oh my goodness, can you believe we are 2 weeks into the New Year? I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday. The holidays came and went, I spent all kinds of time in the kitchen, my two boys got sick poor babies, and the house is still in one piece. I would imagine it is time to get back to sharing with you all again.

I received a lovely new camera from Santa Clause and I can’t wait to try out all the bell and whistles. Here is a shot of the wrapping paper carnage and the Christmas enthusiasm all over my living room floor.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed watching the boys open presents and playing together in what would any other day be the “formal” living room. Although there really isn't much "formal" in any part of our house.

I will be sharing some of the amazing food we turned out over the holidays. I have some projects planned this year and I am eager to get started. Please stop by to keep up with all the happenings in this new year.

Pumpkin Profiterole with Caramel Drizzle

Merry Almost Christmas y’all. This morning I woke up and whipped up some yummy goodness for a Christmas Party this afternoon. To be fair I didn’t have to be at work until 9:30, but I still think this puts me in the running for the coveted Supermom title.

This is a combination of several good recipes that I have modified to meet my needs. First I began with a profiterole recipe I learned years ago. Of course all of my favorite kitchen gadgets made this job go a lot quicker. You will need:

¾ cup water

¼ cup butter

¼ tsp. salt

¾ cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 375°. It is best to have everything measured and ready to go, this process goes fast.

In a saucepan mix the water, butter and salt, bring this to a boil. I slice my butter into pieces to prevent boiling off too much water while waiting for the butter to melt.

Take the pan off the heat and dump the flour in all at once, mix until this forms a dough ball.

Put the dough into a large batter bowl and whisk vigorously with the eggs. This will become glossy, and then come together to a smooth consistency.

Keep whisking until the dough comes together smoothly. I used my small PC scoop to portion into my mini muffin pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake for 25 minutes until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For the filling I began with a pumpkin spread recipe to which I added cool whip for a lighter and fluffier consistency. You will need:

8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

½ cup of canned pumpkin

¼ cup of sugar

¾ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup cool whip

I mixed all but the cool whip in the kitchen aid until they were smooth and even.

I decided it needed to be lighter which is when I mixed in the cool whip with the whisk attachment.

I placed this in a PC Easy Accent Decorator. I generously filled each cream puff, and place on parchment paper. A piping bag would do the trick here nicely.

Once they were all filled I drizzled with caramel topping. Yes I know I'm a cheater cheater pumpkin-eater so to speak, but I never could have pulled this off in the morning without a little help. Don’t be afraid to use what’s out there.