Pot roast is a great way to use chuck roast or another large lean cut. You can toss all the ingredients into a slow cooker and have something good, or you can take these extra steps and make it great. It’s a flexible recipe, just the way we like it! Potatoes can be added, different herbs and spices, make it your own!
It’s confirmed, tallow makes the best pie crust. It’s so unlike the store stuff, and the difference in taste (as well as health- did you know this stuff is healthier for you than most oils?) makes it worth the from-scratch time. Give it a try!
Tallow is a wonder substance! Use in candles, soap, as a healthy butter substitute, it’s all good! Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to leave the explanation of soap making to my friend Jill over at The Prairie Homestead as I’ve found this to be a simple pure tallow recipe for soap. You’ll want to have dedicated soap making tools (i.e. you’ll be using lye and it’s not recommended to then cook with the same materials that you’ve made soap with). An old crockpot and immersion blender are the big things you’ll need. A half-gallon mason jar, safety glasses, gloves and some rubber spatulas are also helpful. I don’t use fancy soap molds, but quart-sized milk cartons and paper cups work well to contain the soap while it goes through the saponification process.
Long story short, soap may seem like an up-front commitment, but once you’ve learned the ropes, it’s a great skill to have. Having an inexpensive, local and pure tallow source goes a long way. Once you’ve done it a few times, it’ll make you wonder why you haven’t been making your own soap all along! Plus, home made soap mades a great gift come holiday season!
