Shades of Beige

We had some good buddies over a couple of days before Thanksgiving and we had a Pot Roast.  Pretty yummy.  It took a weird turn, when I discovered the food that I had planned on, was all the same color.  Thus the "Shades of Beige" dinner was born.  Sounds bland and yucky I know, but it turned out not bad, it you could get past the color issue.
In the morning, I seared a pot roast in a pan with some olive oil.  Then I put the roast in the crock pot along with some beef stock, minced garlic, carrots, onions, and salt & pepper.  It cooked all day, until it was falling apart good.  We had a turnip & apple bake, roasted parsnips & carrots, popovers (that didn't quite "pop" because the oven was so full!) and some mushroom stovetop gravy.
For dessert another beige item, a Social Apple Betty with whipping cream.  Some of the recipes follow.  We didn't seem to miss the green veggies too much!

Turnips & Apples (The Rest of the Best, The Best of Bridge Series or the "Brown" book)

1 large turnip, peeled & diced
1 TBSP butter
2 apples
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon

Topping:
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP butter

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook turnip until tender.  Drain and mash turnip with butter.  Peel and slice apples.  Toss with brown sugar and cinnamon.  In a greased casserole, arrange turnips and apples in alternate layers, beginning and ending with turnips.  Mix topping ingredients until crumbly.  Pat on top of turnips and bake at 350 for one hour.

Mushroom Gravy (Canadian Living Magazine)

2 cups beef stock (approx)
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
1/4 tsp each salt, pepper and thyme
3 TBSP flour

Scrape roast beet juices into glass measure, add enough stock to make 2 cups.  If cooking roast beef in crock pot like I did this time, use 2 cups of stock.  Set aside.  In saucepan, heat oil, fry onion, mushrooms, salt & pepper and thyme.  Stir until softened and no liquid remains.  Stir in broth/ pan juices, bring to a boil.  In small bowl, whisk flour with 1/4 cup water.  Stir into gravy and simmer until thickened.

Social Apple Betty (The Best of the Best, The Best of Bridge Series or the "Yellow" book)

6 apples, peeled, sliced

cinnamon, to taste

Crust:

1/2 cup butter, room temp.

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

Fill a small casserole 2/3 full with sliced apples, adding the cinnamon to taste.  If the apples are tart, you may want to add some sugar.

To make crust:  cream butter and brown sugar.  Add flour and mix to a crumble mixture.  Sprinkle over apples and pat firmly into a crust.  Bake at 350 for 40 min.  Serve warm with whipping cream or ice cream.

Sending Love,
Twin A