Fitness Tip of the Day: Sunday's Recipe Share -- Pot Roasted Beef with Butternut Squash

As much as I love grilling in the summer, there's nothing quite like the aroma that fills the house when something wonderful is baking or roasting in the oven.

Pot roast was one of my favorite Sunday dinners growing up--the tender beef was so good!  YUM!

So, when I saw a recipe for pot-roasted beef with pumpkin in the Mariano's sales flyer this week I knew I had to try it.  I just tweaked it a bit to fit my tastes and my pantry and the results were delicious.

Here's what I came up with:

Pot-roasted beef with butternut squash

2-1/2 - 3 lb.chuck roast (I used a blade roast--that's what was in my freezer)

salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

2 Tbls. butter

1-1/2 tsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, halved and sliced thin

3 peeled carrots, 1 chopped and 2 quartered (I actually only had 1 reg. carrot--I used baby carrots for the chopped and halved a few for the rest)

1-2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped

I tsp fresh thyme

1 tsp chopped fresh basil

1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

1 12oz beer (I used 312 because that's what was in the fridge--would have preferred Octoberfest--the original recipe called for 1-1/2 cups beef broth)

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (original recipe called for white potatoes)

2 cups of butternut squash peeled and cut into chunks--I used the neck part of a good sized squash

Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Sprinkle the salt, pepper and garlic powder over the roast.  

Heat 1 Tbsp. of the butter and half the oil in a oven proof dutch oven.  Brown the meat on all sides.  Remove meat to a platter.

Add the remaining butter and oil to the pot, add in the onion, cook for 1 minute.  Add the celery, chopped carrot and tomato to the pot, cook for 3 minutes.Sprinkle in the herbs and add the beer.  Heat to boiling.  Add the meat back to the pot nestling it into the vegetables and beer sauce.  Bake covered 2-1/2 hours until the meat is not quite tender.  Add the remaining vegetables, recover  and cook for an additional 45 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  At this point, I did add a little bit of leftover coffee probably about 1/2 cup--I didn't want to add plain water or more beer, but it needed a bit more moisture.

You can serve it all on one platter or separate the larger vegetables from the meat in a separate bowl.

I served a green salad along side.  This one is definitely a keeper!