Slow Cooker Mediterranean Pot Roast

Slow Cooker Mediterranean Pot Roast

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 8hrs 25min
Serving size: 8

Need an easy solution to a busy night? This recipe you can throw together in the morning before you head off to work. A tender and delicious dinner will be ready when you walk in the door.

Ingredients:
-1 boneless beef chuck roast (3 lb)

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning

-1 large garlic clove finely chopped

-1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

-1/2 cup sliced pitted Kalamata or ripe olives

-1/2 cup beef broth

-1/2 cup small whole onions (or pearl onions)

Directions:

1. Spray 12 inch skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. In skillet, cook beef about 5 minutes, turning once, until brown. Sprinkle with salt, Italian seasoning and garlic, remove from heat.

2. Spray 4 to 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place beef, seasoned side up in cooker. Spread tomatoesand olives over beef. Add broth and onions.

3. Cover, cook on LOW heat setting for 8-10 hours.

4. Remove beef from cooker; cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Slice beef; serve with beef juice and onions from cooker.

Fun Tips:

To add to the Mediterranean theme sprinkle feta cheese before serving. Pita bread triangles can add as a yummy side.

3 step Egg Drop Soup

Now that I'm not working, I'll have more time to entertain in my blog. I've scrubbed the floors and cleaned the bedroom, but that'll about all my pregnant body will allow me to do today.

I'll be making dinner today!! This is probably the easiest thing ever!

Egg Drop Soup


-2 1/2 Quarts of chicken broth (preferably homemade broth)
-1 (2 inch) piece of ginger, sliced and smashed
-1 tablespoon soy sauce
-2 garlic cloves, smashed with flat part of knife
-2 tablespoons of cornstarch
-2 tablespoons of water
-2 scallions, sliced thin
-2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
-4 large eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper

This simple and delicious soup will not hold once the egg has been beaten, so careful timing is essential
Directions:
1 Bring the broth, ginger, soy sauce, and garlic to a simmer in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook for ten minutes

2. Strain the broth. Return the broth to the pot and bring to a simmer. Whisk the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the broth and cook until thickened (about 1 minute). Stir in the scallions and cilantro.

3. Stir the soup gently so that it is moving in a circle. Take the beaten eggs in a slow, steady stream. Remove the soup from the heat and let stand for 2 minutes. Break up the eggs using a fork. Season with Salt and pepper to taste.

Sharts

After a weekend of traveling then a stressful week at work I ended up with one of the worst migraines in my life. For those of you that know me well, I've had migraines all my life. This migraine in particular made me so ill that I could not hold any food down (for more than 24hrs), didn't want to talk to anyone and the light of day made me wanna die. I went to the chiropractor hoping for my usual relief. This time I stressed myself out so badly, I had a pinched nerve in the back of my neck which we cannot cure with one session. I ended up in the E.R. because I became severely dehydrated and couldn't even hold down ice chips or sips of water.

After treating me at the E.R. for my nausea and dehydration I felt much better and my headache even seem to calm down. They didn't mention that the medication for my nausea may cause diarrhea....

I woke up the next morning to head to the doctor, still hoping for relief of my migraine. On the way there I get this very sudden urge to go to the bathroom. I announced "Nat I need to go to the bathroom now!! I need to poop! Hurry!!" He swerves over to the nearest gas station. As I set foot on the ground... SHART!!

I guess you can say this is the beginning of dirty underpants. To bad I was the first encounter. :(

Save the Tortillas and save my JOB

Sooo... update on this week at work.

La Bonita Ole' is a local tortilla making factory in Tampa, FL. They make delicious tortilla's and chips make with extra virgin olive oil rather than butter, no preservatives, no artificial stuff, blah blah (it's healthy).

They have about 100 employees and they operate 24hours. It's pretty impressive really... it's like watching Discovery Channel's, "How it's Made" on chips and tortilla's. Anyway, I stop in this week saying hello like I normally do and noticed that nothing was operating. Apparently they've declared bankruptcy. I asked, "why is nothing operating and a bunch of people are here?" basically his answer was that the owner is still trying to keep the business open, but they had so many tortilla's made and no one is buying............so they were just cleaning all the machines.

But that was just one less sale for me. If you're really interested, Tammy, the owner of La Bonita Ole' has a website to save the company and keeping people employed. www.savethetortillas.com

Please go to http://www.savethetortillas.com and electronically sign the petition. Save this company, and help keep up my sales. More importantly you're saving a lot of peoples jobs and damn good tortillas.
______________________________________________________________________________
Keira's the winner apparently... I'm not sold personally.

Month 5

Week 20

It's a girl... Good heart beat, and just the right size :) everything is going well.

and I'm still stuck on Sofia Rashell Linden

We are registered at Baby's R Us. We'll be doing a safari theme with the Lions, Giraffes, elephants, and monkeys. We're keeping all decor neutral colors for the anticipation of the second linden baby. Personalized items will be PINK of course!! :)

We are also registered at Target

Month 4

Week 18

We finally felt the baby kick in week 18. We can feel the baby mostly right before bed when laying still and quiet. Nathaniel has been watching his Rays games with remote in one hand and the other is on the belly waiting for a kick.

June 16th
Had a Kickoff to the Summer Cookout. It was a blast. About 20+ people showed up. About a handful of pets came and enjoyed the spacious backyard. We had cornhole, bocce ball, and ladder golf games. Femal, a co-worker of Nathaniel's managed to get the ladder golf balls stuck in the tree. About 4-5 tried many different ways to get them down. Quite humorous to see how the men after a few beers conjured up a rake, a hose, and throwing footballs at the branch to try and get them down. Needless to say they all failed.

Then as these guys gave up. Tony, my cousins boyfriend, climbed the tree and hung from the branches like a monkey. Still could not managed to get the balls down. We were all amazed at his high climbing skills.

Blah....

So this is how I feel, take it or leave it.

I feel like this economy is going to shit. As a sales rep for janitorial supplies (toilet paper, paper towels, chemicals, trash can liners etc...) I would think that my job is pretty recession proof, everyone has to wipe their ass right?!?!? Well here's what I've been noticing throughout this past year. More and more businesses are laying off, and I see it first and foremost. I walk into my clients offices and I ask them, "ready to make your next order?", many of their responses are, "I'm sorry Shantel, but we've laid off 30% of our workforce for the second time and we're completely stocked." The on peoples faces that I see everyday are getting more and more depressing. About 3 of our company's major buyers closed down. Havatampa, which is a local cigar shop that had over 600+ employees, is to close in a month. Spring Air distribution center had closed, with no warning, 800 employees let go.

Here's also what's hurting my sales... kinda funny but not really. More and more people are putting locks on their janitorial closets. Employees are #1 thieves. But now that everyone is watching that bottom line, businesses have finally invested in a $5 lock to keep employees from taking toilet paper and other toiletries home. So more sales numbers are down.

Anyway...... mAny financial analysts are predicting that we're going to head straight into a Great Depression. I'm not talking about the dumb financial analysts that you hear on Fox News or CNN, but real people. I don't know if there right, and I'm not educated enough in politics and finance to really make a educated blurb on this.

But here's what I am doing to prepare for some hardships. I'm gardening, I'm talking real vegetables and stuff. When time are tough, gotta grow your own shit. Plus its fun, a nice hobby, and much better than store bought BS. (plus i don't have to pay the organic price) Cucumbers cost $1.00 for 50 seeds. You do the math.

Nathaniel has also started a compost bin. The next time you are at Starbucks, look at the little buckets they have on the floor. You'll see "FREE USED COFFEE GROUNDS!!" Why? Because it's there for your compost bin, it's very nutritional for your garden.

Also, I've finally sunk in and started hang drying clothes. What's nice about florida is my clothes dry in 20 minutes. BUT here's what I did find so my yard doesn't look like the slums with clothes lines hanging everywhere in my backyard. You can go to Lowes and find retractable clothes lines. So during the week when you're not laundering up your clothes, you can easily put everything away so no one see's you're the next hill billy.

Italy Day 3

Italy Day Three
May 21 - Sight Seeing in Rome

We wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day. After 2 days of travelling it has been nothing but dissapointments and bad news so we're looking for something to get this vacation going in the right direction. This is nothing that a little Michelangelo can't cure. We take the Metro to the Vatican City. If you were approaching the Vatican Museum (which holds some amazing paintings, of which the crown jewel is the ceiling of the Sisteen Chapel) entrance on that day you probably would have heard me say things like "Man, this is awesome, there's usually a line around the corner to get in the museum!!" and "Wow! I guess you can beat the tour groups by getting here before 9:00".
We reach the door and a nice gentleman in uniform informs us the museum is closed...it's Ascension Thursday and they'll be closed all day...OF COURSE it's ascension Thursday, why didn't I think of that? Excluding Sundays, the museum is closed 13 days a year and lucky for us we hit one of them right on the nose. We are leaving for Florence tonight so it's obvious we're going to have to catch this during our next trip to Italy (5 years from now, maybe??)

We get lunch at a great pizzeria and finish our stay in Rome cruising around the Forum and Colliseum. Shantel does not have walking shoes, since they were in her bag that is still lost, and I carry her half of the afternoon after she develops some blisters. On a side note, I HIGHLY reccomend taking the tour given by the study abroad students. We wish we had a longer stay in Rome, but we've got big plans, and it's time to head to the train station.

We get on the train and arrive in Florence around 7:00 pm. We go to a great Trattoria by 8:00 and Shantel has her favorite meal of the entire trip. Pasta Fagioli...it's so good in fact that she doesn't mind so much when it's coming back up around 8:30. Poor Shanny Poo was having a bout with pregancy, and it kicked her ass this time, making her vomit in the bathroom. My appetite remains undeterred so I wolf down a portion of Lasagna for first and roasted baby pig for second. Nice!

A funny thing happens when we get the bill. It comes to 37 euro, I give our waitress 40 euro and wait for the change...and wait, and wait, and wait. I finally make a point to check the bill, the waitress notices this and sheepishly brings me the change. For those of you that do not know, there is absolutely no tipping in Italy, it's always included in your bill. It was an obvious attempt by our waitress to "keep the change"...which in all honesty I wouldn't have minded except that it was a pretty big insult to assume I didn't know any better. Especially after the waitress asked earlier how it was that my italian was so good and I explained the whole Vicenza thing.

End of day 3, Shanny's bag has still not arrived.

Italy Day 2

Italy Day Two

May 20th - Arrival in Rome

Due to the delay out of Philly, we miss our flight from Venice to Rome...no big deal though, this happens all the time. Alitalia re-books us on a later flight. Unfortuately they failed to rebook all of our luggage, which means Shantel is SOL as they try to track down her bag.
After about 30 hours of travel we finally reach the hotel around 6:00 PM. We're exhausted but head out on the town to check out the Spanish Steps and get some dinner. The Steps are cool and we grab dinner at a nearby Restaurant. As we walk in we were discussing the misfortunes already accumulated on our trip: So far we've lost one piece of baggage, 1/2 day of sight seeing in Rome, and Shantel is getting a migraine...... I end the conversation saying "Well things can only go up from here". On cue, Shantel hands me her camera after trying to take a picture of our first restaurant in Italy...the batteries are dead, and the charger doesn't work with European outlets.

The guide book said this restaurant was decent...and while the food is actually o.k. the atmosphere is definately not. ALL tourists and the waiter trys to offer me a salad buffet. A salad buffet?? This may not be a big deal to most of you, but I lived in Italy for 18+ years and had never even heard of a salad buffet up to that point. Anyway, unlike most Italians, our waiter seems a little upset when he quickly realizes we speak impeccable Italian and aren't really tourists. It was pretty confusing at the time, more on this later.

The day uneventfully winds down from there, we head back to the hotel, catch a nap and wake back up around 11 for a stroll around the city, some more food, and talk to some american architectural students who have spent 6 days in a convent and are looking to make up for lost time.

End of day two, Shanny's bag has still not arrived.

Italy Day 1

Italy Day One
May 19th - Air Travel
Our first flight departs from Tampa headed for Philadelphia around 2:00 P.M. After a delay in Philly and a tidy 12 hours later we arrive in Venice. The fun is about to begin, which brings us to day 2.
We've got all our bags.

Second Trimester!! And ITaly!

So we heard the babies heartbeat for the first time. I am also officially past my first trimester. :-)

I've starting getting a little morning sick. I just can't eat breakfast until 10:00-11:00 otherwise breakfast was a waste of money. Coffee makes me want to gag. I hate even the smell of it now.

I've been pretty emotional lately. I feel like if I watch a sad commercial it makes me wanna cry. As a matter of fact, i miss my old car- my Mazda3- and starting crying over that. I'm forgetting everything lately. I sometimes forget where I'm going, forget to turn in a customers order and I've even forgot appointments i set.

We're finally going on our honeymoon March 19th-March 29th.. .I'm so excited to see where Nathaniel grew up and where he played ball. More importantly i just cant wait to spend time with my hubby and not have to worry about anything except for what we're dong next.
Fetal Development:

As our baby continues to develop, the vocal cords begin to form. The face is looking more and more human each day as the eyes begin to move closer together instead of being on the sides of the head and the ears move to a normal position. It would be possible now to determine the baby's sex by looking at the genitals if we could only get close enough. (We usually can't "guess" via ultrasound until around the 16th week.) The intestines move farther into the baby's body; the liver begins to secrete bile and the pancreas begins to produce insulin. A very busy week indeed!

Maternal Changes:

Welcome to the second trimester! This is the most comfortable and enjoyable stage of pregnancy. Most of the difficult early symptoms are over (or soon will be), and your tummy isn't getting in the way yet. If you're still feeling tired, listen to your body and REST. It's working hard right now! As your uterus stretches, you may feel some abdominal achiness. The ligaments that hold up your uterus stretch to accommodate your growing uterus. This is called "round ligament pain".

Busy Busy!

The past few weekends have been pretty hectic. We've gone to Arkansas over Easter weekend to see Shantel's brother, Shane. Shane has recently just had his second child, Sady. We went canoeing up in the mountains and had a wonderful time enjoying the scenery. The canoe ride was about 3 hours with a fast current and some good dips to overcome. We also did a little shopping and bought little Sady a Build-A-Bear lamb. Kaelyn, Shane first daughter has an imaginary friend "Maydell". The ironic thing is there is no one that they know named Maydell. Quite a name to make up for a 18month old! While we were playing a good game of Cranium, Kaylen was very helpful in cleaning up around the house. She had decided that some of the game pieces were trash. Shane spent about 20 minutes trying to find one of the game peices that got thrown away.

...Of course Nathaniel and I won the Cranium game!! What a pair we are!

This past weekend Nathaniel and Shantel enjoyed their 8 hour drive to Pensacola. Katie Ronan-Fox, who works with Nat had her wedding right near the coast, it was stunning. Wonderful food and appetizers. While driving Shantel got car sick :-( BLAH

We're looking forward to a weekend of nothing this upcoming week.

Week 9

Last week :
Shantel had her first visit to the OBGYN. He confirmed again that she's very pregnant. He suggested a exercise plan that consists of no more than 20 minutes, no sweating, and no rapid heart beats. She can start to horseback ride again after our next sonogram if everything checks out well. Dr. Sporn was very thorough in all his recommendations and and explained everything step by step. Shanny will be delivering at St. Joseph's Womens Hospital.

The fun stuff:
Shanny has been experiencing an increase in migraines, which was discussed with the doctor. He suggested waiting another week or two, to see if they go away as my hormones levels start to balance back out. If they persist, then she can take a prescription medication that is safe during the pregnancy. Shantel also is getting acne and is very irritable. YAY!!! PLUS acid reflux (she's loving life right now but appreciative of no morning sickness)


Sleeping is pretty much Shanny's best friend.

This week
Shantel will be going to their third ultrasound/sonogram. This will also be Nathaniels first real visit to doctor to see the sonogram in person. We should be able to see a little more than just an embryo and the baby should start looking more like a fetus. Once we hit the 12th week we are in a "green zone" which means we're in the clear of a possible miscarriage.

Nathaniel is very excited about the next doctors visit and seeing the sonogram. He is more anxious to see the sex of the baby- crossing his fingers for a boy. He's been juggling home improvement projects, baby planning, vacation planning, and putting up with Shanny's migraines. He soon will be taking on some judo classes as well.

We're also planning a two week trip to Italy . Tickets are really cheap at the moment- only $600 a person. Finally we get to take our honeymoon!!!

Names: Girl-Gabrielle Boy-Ebin
Fetal Development:

Cartilage and bones begin to form. The basic structure of the eye is well underway and the tongue begins to develop. The intestines start to move out of the umbilical cord and into the abdomen as the body grows and makes room. The fingers and thumb have appeared but are short and webbed.

Maternal Changes:

You're missing your second period this week. Your breasts may be fuller now than ever before and may feel very sensitive. Wearing a supportive bra can ease some of the tenderness. Your waistline may be growing and you may experience some heartburn and indigestion as your body adjusts to pregnancy hormones.

Thump Thump, Thump Thump

Week 7

This week has been quite an adventure. Nathaniel and I had a little scare on Wednesday evening so I went to the doctor immediately on Thursday. Everything turned out allright, the little linden sea urchin has a heart beat. On the sonogram the biggest part of the little Linden was it's heart beating. I immediately said, "aww our baby has a big ole' heart" :).

I'm so excited to meet the little one. I've been looking on-line for different themes we could use for when we decorate the baby room. We've decided to change the computer room into the baby room. This would allow me to work from home and be a mommy. Nathaniel & I like Jungle Book- which incorporates a bunch of wild animals. We have a long ways to go. I would like to find out othe sex of the baby before we did any shopping.

Work has been going well for Nat and I. We've been very thankful to have steady jobs. My job has been very supportive and told me that as soon as I break even I can work from home all the time. :) Which is be an awesome opportunity. So I need to jump on the bandwagon and make sure I hit those numbers.

Female Name: Sophia (i've changed my mind)
Male Name: Adrian

Nothing unusual

This weekend we worked on the house. We put in a new front door, new lighting fixture, and a pineapple doorbell. All of it ties together pretty well. We worked together, which was nice to see the finished project. It's times like these when a marriage couple can feel like a team. We ran into a few bumps and overcame them quickly.

Shantel was pretty tired most of the weekend. She took a nap, and when she woke up she felt like she could fall right back asleep. No morning sickness yet.

Shalon, Shantel's cousin came over this Sunday for dinner. She just had a baby boy, Keelan. It's nice to know some family is close by that can relate to our situation.

We're pregnant, It's a miracle!

We can't believe it!

After years of doctors appointments, tests, surgeries etc, we did not think it could happen. We had an HSG done, were they insert a liquid filled balloon to see if there is any blockage in the fallopian tubes.

The last visit to the doctor in February, we had looked at the X-rays and were told we had a slim chance of having children naturally. The HSG test showed that I have one blocked fallopian tube and the other was cystic. The actual HSG test does cause tubes to open up for a short period of time, increasing our chances.

On the fifth day of having a late period we decided to take a walk with Ceasar and Lolah to CVS. There we picked up the largest package of pregnancy tests. We had dinner together and then peed on the stick. As we watch the test we stared at each other in shock. We honestly couldn't believe it. We laughed hugged, kissed, and teared, and took another one. YES again!

What a miracle! We called and text all the family and friends to tell them the news.

So Shantel is hoping for a girl, named Tatiana. Nathaniel is hoping for a boy, named Brett.

According to my calculations I'm at week 5. So at the bottom of each post I'm going to copy/paste a clipping of the week by week pregnancy calander.

The developing embryo has three layers. In the top layer (ectoderm), the neural tube will form which will further develop into the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, skin and hair). In the middle layer (mesoderm), the heart and circulatory system, bones, muscles, kidneys and reproductive organs will develop - eventually. At this stage, however, the heart and primitive circulatory system will rapidly form. In fact, the circulatory system is the first organ system to function. In the inner layer (endoderm), a simple tube will develop into the intestines, liver, pancreas and bladder.