The Dark Days Challenge has 120+ participants from all over the U.S. doing the best we can to eat local during the winter months. Our challenge is to prepare at least one meal a week using only Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical (SOLE) ingredients, and then blog about it. Weekly recaps of the participant’s meals will be hosted by the fine folks at Not Dabbling In Normal every Sunday.
Last week I was hungry for a beef roast, so I cooked a lovely, lean 3 pound arm roast from Fischer Farms in nearby Jasper, IN. I roasted it in the oven for about two and a half hours, until it was fork tender. Then I served it up along with some of our Lacinato kale and turnips – two of our fall crops that have kept on trucking here in early January.
Beef roast, kale and turnips (click on any image to enlarge)
We got two meals from that beef roast, but that wasn’t all I had in mind for it. I took the meat off the bone, then simmered the bone in a stock pot along with some aromatic vegetables to make stock. I used the homemade stock to make vegetable beef soup. The frozen vegetables for the soup all came from our 2011 garden, including squash, cabbage, green beans, tomatoes and okra. I added the rest of the beef roast to the soup before serving.
vegetable beef soup
We got two more meals from the soup, plus we froze enough for two more servings. And that is why I call it the roast that kept on giving!
This looks great! I am regretting not planting turnips or parsnips this year. They seemed so dull when i was planning and planting in autumn but they sound so good now.
I”ve been thinking of making a roast but am a bit nervous. I was vegetarian for 15 years and in the last year I’ve learned how to cook chicken and bacon. I’m to learn more about cooking meat. Something about slow cooked meats just seems really appealing to me in the winter months this year.
Thanks for sharing the recipe(s)!
There’s nothing better then getting several meals from one piece of meat! The roast beef and soup look wonderful! Great meals for the winter!
Dave that is what I call using all but the MOOOO. Isn’t frugal just so easy on the pocketbook. I have one on my blog all but the cluck.
So delicious looking! To bad my computer can’t capture the smell!
I love a good roast. Your two meals look delicious!
I could swear that I left a comment yesterday! Oh well….your roast and soup look wonderful! These are perfect meals for a cold winter day!
Great meals from very local sources and very frugal too! It can be a fun challenge to see just how much we can do with what we have on hand.
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