thanks molly (and alton)

I've been cooking with polenta for a while now (and have even posted recipes using polenta as a base for a casserole) but whenever I tried to make it from scratch myself, I hated the grittiness of it. D always said it was fine, but I wasn't a fan. So I've been buying the tubes, which work. But then I read this, which lead me to this, and so a few weeks ago I gave it a go.

I had asked my sister-in-law and her hubby to be our guinea pigs, um, er, guests when I tried making pot roast for the first time. I've never been a great roast cook and my former recipe for pot roastish type meat involved a can of mushroom soup and a package of onion soup mix sprinkled on the top. Delicious in its own way but the last time I made it both D and I woke up in the middle of the night and stuck our mouths under the running water because there was soooooo much salt in the dish. So in one of my crazier moments I decided to make pot roast for the first time and a new polenta recipe. I made blueberry cinnamon dumplings

for dessert (based on this)because I knew whatever else happened, these would provide sustenance.

Here are the browned onions for the pot roast,

And the browned carrots. Then I got so busy cooking I forgot to take pictures.

The pot roast was delicious although next time I would beef it up with more seasonings - salt, pepper, garlic, some red wine and possibly serve with browned garlicy mushrooms. The polenta turned out really well - creamy and smooth and the perfect base for the meat and juices. And the dumplings were a hit as well. And D had seconds when he was cleaning up the kitchen.

After supper, when I was up tucking T into bed, he could hear D talking to our guests so he said "what are they still doing here?" I guess as he had left the party, he couldn't understand why everyone hadn't gone home....