A Valentines Feast

I know Valentine's Day is a made up, capitalistic holiday where corporations make people go and spend their hard earned money on their loved ones - but I love a day where you're suppose to make that special effort for the one you love.  I'm a girl that grew up on Disney Princesses and 90s Rom-Coms, so I'll take any excuse to get some extra attention and romance.  This year we aren't spending any money on gifts or expensive dinners that aren't really worth.  Valentines dinners are such a pain with the big crowds and bad service.  Instead, we're making dinner for each other and having a nice quiet night in.

Sunday night, he made a great dinner for me which included steak, salmon, lobster-tails, and his unique broccoli recipe (the only way I'll actually eat it, mainly because veggies are gross).  Now this wasn't a cheap dinner, but it was significantly less expensive then getting flowers delivered or going out.  I loved it because we work well together in the kitchen and got to spend so quality time making food.

Pot Roast

On Tuesday I'm going to be making him a roast in the crockpot.

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 lb. red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 cup tomato sauce
1 garlic clove, crushed (pretty much the same as mincing, slightly larger)
3 fresh thyme sprigs (run your finger along the thyme branch-thing to take off the leaves)
1 bay leaf
1 beef rump roast, 3 to 4 lb.
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
The night before I'm going to chop my onions, carrots, potatoes, and garlic and set them aside.

The morning of I'll put the chopped ingredients into the crockpot along with the thyme, bay leaf, beef stock, and tomato sauce.  Season the roast with salt and pepper and coat with flour.  Heat olive oil in a saute pan and brown on all sides (about 4 minutes total), and add to the crockpot.  Turn the crockpot on low and head off to work (cook for about 10 hours).