Week 13: Beef Pot Roast Sliders!

Whew!  All the Easter festivities are wrapped up, the baskets are put away, and Spring Break can now "officially" start!  We had an awesome weekend visiting with family and friends and getting in the Easter spirit.  We had a short 4 days of work, which of course was mixed with a full moon.  That always equates to some crazy kids at school.  But, it went by quickly and painlessly for the most part.

Thursday, I rushed to pick up the boys from daycare and took Sean to get his haircut.  In my rush, I didn't realize Sean had kicked off one of his shoes in the car, so he ended up getting his haircut in one shoe.  Glad I looked like I had it together...

We came back home, had dinner, played outside in the gorgeous Spring weather, and then dyed some eggs before bedtime.  I have to say...the whisk idea you see on Pinterest was an epic fail in this house.  Our whisk was too heavy and ended up spilling an entire cup of blue dye.  Lovely...

I don't think he seemed to care though.

Friday, we woke up and got ready for Sean's first dentist appointment.  We had been working with him on not chomping down on the dentist's fingers and I was definitely anxious about the appointment.  We were told the dentist would probably just count his teeth and make sure he didn't have any cavities the first visit; that most kids couldn't handle anything more than that for their first time.  And then there was Sean.  The kid who I thought would make a lasting impression on the dentist...or on his fingers.  Instead, he sat still the whole time, was never afraid, never bit, and even let them clean all of his teeth with the pick tool and the polish!  I was amazed!  He got to pick a prize out of the treasure chest and proudly walked out with his new toothbrush.  These kids never cease to amaze me...

A quick drive home where we picked up Scott and Evan and we were off to the zoo for a visit with the animals and a play date with Trisha and Reese.  It was a little cold at first, but it really turned out to be a nice day!  The animals were all out and playful, the crowds were manageable, and we even enjoyed a picnic lunch. No major meltdowns by either kid and no potty accidents either!

Saturday was the daycare Easter party at the Howell location.  It was still a half hour drive for us, but it was worth it. They had an Easter egg hunt, the Easter bunny came for a visit, a petting farm, arts and crafts, and snacks.  My only complaint was that they invited 5 centers to 1 to host the event.  So, you can imagine the crowds.  Good thing we didn't put Evan in a stroller or we would have never been able to go inside.  We waited 10 minutes in the cold until they let the Easter egg hunt start, but we chose a spot by a chair so I could sit down with Evan, and what do you know?  It was the chair for the Easter bunny!  Guess who was first in line?!  Us!!!  Jackpot.

Both kids were a fan of the bunny.  We've never taken Sean to the one at the mall before...too creepy in my opinion.  This one seemed somewhat normal looking.  No glasses or pocket watch or weird outfit.  Just a bunny.

Stranger danger?  Not my kid.  Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing...

After the party, we went back to our house where we had a mini family reunion on my side with appetizers and drinks.  My family from Kalamazoo was visiting and wanted to see our house for the first time.  We then headed back to Troy to have dinner at my parents' house with everyone, except my brother and sister-in-law.  Darn those Portlanders...

I absolutely loved how awesome my second cousins were with Sean.  I wish they lived closer so they could spend more time together.

Sunday, we woke up and got the family ready for church.  9am mass is a tough one to make it to, but it's nice to do that first and then have family time afterwards.  The kids both survived an hour and a half at church without any meltdowns.  In fact, Evan slept in my arms through most of it.  We came back to our house and hosted brunch and an Easter egg hunt with Scott's family.  I made a delicious strawberry yogurt cake that turned out great!

It truly was a wonderful weekend.  Exhausting, but worth it.  At least we have this whole week off to recover from it.  I have a whole week's worth of activities and chores planned for us.  Between a re-doing the kid's bathroom, painting the front door, and making a fire pit in the backyard, I think we have our hands full.

Last week, aside from the strawberry yogurt cake (which I took no pictures of since I made it from 8:30-10:30pm on Saturday night and was half asleep) and beer bread for my parents' Easter dinner, I made beef pot roast sliders with a recipe from Pinterest.  We've really not had good luck with pot roast recipes.  I'm not a huge fan of the traditional pot roast with carrots and potatoes and I've tried recipes with red wine in a dutch oven that weren't the greatest either.  So, I wasn't expecting much with this recipe, but it was really good!

• 3 to 5 pound beef chuck roast (or other braising roast)
• 1 cup of water
• One envelope of dry onion soup mix
• One envelope of dry Italian dressing mix
• One envelope of dry brown gravy mix
• 1 (8 ounce) jar of Pace Original Mild Picante Sauce

Whisk together the water with ingredients from all 3 of the envelopes. Pour about 1/4 cup of the liquid on the bottom of the crockpot, place the roast on top. Don't be tempted to season the roast. There is plenty of salt and other seasonings in these envelopes.

Pour the remaining liquid mixture all over the top and all around the roast. Pour the jar of picante sauce on top of the roast, cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high 4 to 5 hours.

To Make Sliders: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter the insides of dinner rolls and toast, butter side down, on a baking sheet in the oven just until warmed through and browned on the bottoms. Meanwhile in a skillet, caramelize a sliced onion in a tablespoon of canola oil and one tablespoon of butter. While onions are browning, use the lowest setting on the microwave to gently warm the leftover beef, just enough to take the chill off. Use a fork to shred the meat. Place a scoop of beef on the bottom half of dinner rolls, then top with caramelized onion, and some finely shredded Swiss cheese. If you like, stack all the sliders back on the baking sheet and cover the whole pan tightly with aluminum foil. Return to the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. Stack the sliders on a platter and serve with condiments at the table or with a nice sauce like a Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce.

The flavor was excellent, they were moist, and I think changing it up to sliders with onion rings and melted cheese really changed the whole pot roast experience for me.  If you let them sit too long on the bun before eating, the buns can get soggy because the meat really is very moist.  So, my advice would be to plop them on the bun and eat them immediately.  Don't feed your 7 month in between.  :)

Yum!