Chuck [Roast] Meet Opportunity

Henry David Thoreau once said, “It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants.  The question is: What are we busy about?”

I love this quote.  I mean, I LOVE this quote.  Ask anyone you know and, at some point, they’ll tell you just how busy they are.  But really, what are they – okay, we – busy doing?  Do you ever feel like you are in a rush only to suddenly ask what it was you were doing?  Are we so busy as a society that we are loosing touch with the civility we should all share and embrace in each other?  But I get it, sometimes things we should love doing turn into headaches, chores and tasks to check off some sort of to-do list.  The Payaso and I moved from California to Minnesota to find more balance in our life.  We wanted to appreciate the small things in life; to stop and literally smell the roses.  Have we?  I’d hate to give ourselves a grade after living in Minnesota for three years.  Our progress towards successfully balancing life lies in the tiniest of moments that provide lessons and guidance in our beautiful mistakes.  Ever had a bad hair day?  Ever burned dinner?  Ever really late to picking up your kiddo?  Look closely; there are lessons in each of those moments.   Change your “oh, s#%t” for “I’ll do better next time.”  Seriously, give it a try.  I’ll be right here waiting to hear your success stories.

So maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “What the heck, Gringo!?  I thought this post was about a chuck roast and some kind of opportunity.”  To which I say, you are right.  Fact: We’re never too busy to cook a gorgeous dinner for those we love.  Again, I get it…long commutes, bosses and/or coworkers that suck the life right outta ya, and maybe even your friends and/or family can all leave you wanting to pick up something simple from a drive through window come dinner time.  Never fear, my dears; I’m here to help, but first a story about a little recipe that could.

In the 1990’s, a friend of Robin Chapman added her pot roast  recipe to a local church cookbook.  A food blogger picked up the recipe, and eventually the New York Times featured the recipe in their publication.  Type “Mississippi Roast” into Google and you’ll get 16,600,000 results in 0.45 seconds.  “The Roast That Owns the Internet” is also known as the Mississippi Roast.  Really think about this…a simple recipe touched so many people and left them with happy bellies.  And now you can have happy bellies by making this for your loved ones.  This wannabe homesteader, me – the Gringo, can only hope to impact people’s lives like that in the future.

Trust me, and get out your stopwatch if you don’t believe me, but putting these ingredients into a slow cooker/crock pot will take you less than five minutes.  Five minutes before you head out the door means you come home to a crock pot full of meat with never ending opportunities – okay, fine…possibilities.  I made this recipe over this past weekend for me and the Payaso.  The pepperoncini peppers are “to taste,” but let me tell y’all, I took a 16 ounce jar of sliced pepperoncini peppers and added them, juice and all, to the crock pot.  I also threw in a sliced onion and two red bell peppers just for kicks.  The result?  Pure genius that the Payaso and I have been eating on for two days.   After the meat had cooked in the crock pot for a little over 8 hours, I drained the broth and the Payaso shredded it up for me.  Here’s what it looked like:

Ready?  Serve the roast with mashed potatoes or over noodles as the original recipe suggests.  OR, here’s one opportunity for this glorious meat to get used…roast beef sandwiches.  I took hoagie buns and toasted them in the oven.  I added some of the shredded beef on the top side of the bun and then I added some slices of Swiss cheese.  Back under the broiler until the cheese was nice and bubbly, added some mayo to the bottom bun and BOOM dinner was ready.  A side of store bought coleslaw was the perfect accompaniment.   Potatoes chips, a green side salad would work, too.  Get crazy creative and use what you need out of your fridge.  For lunch, I used American cheese in my sandwich and the Payaso used pepper jack; both were delicious.  I mean, c’mon, look at that meat, that cheese, and just imagine how good it would taste bite after bite.

Tonight the Payaso used up the shredded beef by making tostadas.  Pre-packaged tostadas, a layer of canned refried beans, shredded beef, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, queso fresco, sour cream and some of the Payaso’s weeknight guacamole made for a dinner that took less than 20 minutes to make.  I guarantee this is not only healthier for you than something coming out of a paper or plastic bag handed to you through the window of your car, but also way tastier.  I know with my whole heart that the Payaso’s parents, rest in peace, would have loved this easy peasy meal.  Here’s the link to Payaso’s weeknight guacamole:  https://livinglavidagringo.com/2018/03/17/payasos-weeknight-guacamole/

One last story.  Years, I mean probably two decades ago, I would spend time at a certain Zen center in San Francisco.  One night I was tasked with cutting the vegetables for the dinner for the monks and volunteers.  I was beyond excited to be able to help in the kitchen rather than cleaning around the center.  “Easy enough,” I thought.  I was given a knife, and what appeared to be a never ending leaning tower of vegetables to cut up.   I was given a short instructional on how to cut the vegetables, and then another direction to “cut the vegetables.”  So I start cutting the vegetables.

Within a minute, I’m being told to “cut the vegetables.”

Confused, I say “ok,” shrug my shoulders and get back to cutting the vegetables.

“No, no, no!  Cut the vegetables,” the returning monk says.

“I am,” I say back with a small tone citation.  My frustration is growing and no doubt observable on my face.  In all honesty, it wasn’t a very zen moment for me.

“No, ONLY cut the vegetables,” I’m told by the smiling monk.

At this point, I’m beyond confused and aggravated.  I’ve been cutting the vegetables, but clearly I have no idea what I’m doing.  At any minute, the monks are going to kick me and my frustration out of the Zen center.   “Stop smiling at me like that,” I remember thinking to myself and wondering if he ever got upset over anything.

“Your task is to cut the vegetables and ONLY cut the vegetables.  Do not think about later tonight; do not think about anything, but simply cutting the vegetables.  Clear your mind and remember that the vegetables are your only task right now.”

Awe, a lesson in a tiny experience as simple as cutting the vegetables.  The lesson here is to be present and in the moment…to slow down, if you will.  I remember telling this story to the Payaso, and to this day he’ll tell me, “corta los vegetales,” which means “cut the vegetables” in Spanish.  It’s his way to remind me to be in the moment and slow down.   Only you can define what that means to slow down or live in the moment.  For me it means to focus on the present, which I’m not always so good at, but I try and I remind myself of the progress I’ve made.  It’s like the lemon tree in our home office.  I see it every time I come into the room, and it’s almost always in my way as I try to sit down to the computer.  Tonight, I took a few minutes to appreciate the fact that it’s blooming.  Not only are the blooms beautiful, but they are also so fragrant.  I spent a few minutes looking at the blooms and found a small lemon developing.  The first of many, I hope…