On Monday morning I pulled what I thought were sirloin steaks out of the freezer, only to discover that night that it was in fact a small top round roast. Our evening plans were dashed and instead we ate baked potatoes. The week only got busier from there and on Thursday night we were still being faced with the question of what to do with the defrosted roast as there wasn’t a good night to cook it until the weekend.
Then Mike remembered that years ago his mom (hi Sharon!) gave us a meat grinder attachment for the mixer she’d previously given me. We’d never managed to use it but I did know where it was, good intentions and all, and so we pulled it out and Mike set to work grinding down the roast into coarse burger.
We mined the cabinets some more and came up with two cans of organic beans, a can of fire roasted chiles, home grown diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Add a can of beer and some spices and there we had a quick weeknight chili.
Honestly, it was even better the second night and the perfect way to end a Friday when paired with a bit of cheddar and green onion and a local beer.
Sometimes, there are treasures in the cabinet if only you take the time to look.
It’s 11 in the morning and I want this. Yum!
yum! Cameron is adamant in his preference for non-tomato chili, and I miss the tomato-y sort sometimes.
Now that you excavated the grinder, you need to make some sausage. dead easy and so much better than store-bought (or even farmers market-bought).
Great job! Really, I think some sausage needs to be in your immediate future.
Great story and sounds like a delicious outcome too. We have so many roasts in the freezer that I’m sure we’ll never eat. Great idea to grind them down as we do seem to find more and more uses for ground beef. I remember my Mom using a meat grinder all the time growing up (sensing a theme here). I’ll have to see if that’s still around. And sausage, yes.
Jennifer :: It was every bit as good as it looks!
Anita :: What’s Cam got against tomato chili? Thanks for the push on making sausage - it was fun tonight and now we’ve got an extra 2 lbs in the freezer to use later.
Pam :: It should be, and was. Thanks!
Audrey :: I’ve also cut up roasts and used them for fajitas and stew meat. I refuse to feel like I have to cook them all as roasts. Hope you find your mom’s grinder!
I had a grinder attachment like the one you found (it died) and now use a hand cranked model (it will live forever but I feel like I just got done wrestling a 400 lb German guy every time I use it). Nothing like a homemade sausage, though there is some substantial evidence backing the freshly ground hamburger as well!