Photo by Deborah Kaplan

Snow again! I have some fond memories of sledding as a child as well as with my children. Growing up, prior to my hometown of Willingboro, NJ building a sledding hill at Mill Creek Park we would all travel to a natural hill in Moorestown, NJ which was about 30 minutes away by car. The hill was steep and close to the bottom was a dip which often became slushy and muddy and it ran across the entire bottom of the hill. My best friend's Mom took the Sneaks Gang, which she dubbed her daughters' group of friends over there often. I also went there with my parent's and sister. My friend's family had a toboggan which had a red padded liner tied to the edges and 5 of us could sled down together on it.. Many times we would fall off laughing until our sides hurt. One time when going there with my family, I used a metal saucer, and the problem with the metal saucers is wet wool mittens would stick to the saucer. And getting your hands in the mittens loose was difficult. My most memorable occasion at this hill was as I went down the hill on my saucer I wound up hitting the dip near the bottom, lost one of my boots in the slop, the saucer got stuck and I kept on going on my bum down the rest of the way, This time I was laughing hard, however, after walking back up to the dip to get my boot and saucer, and then up the rest of the hill, I was no longer in the mood for sledding. This pot roast recipe would be a great meal to come home to after working or playing in the snow.

Ingredients:

• 2 pound chuck roast
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions (large)
• 2 clove garlic (chopped)
• 2 red bell peppers
• 4 zucchini (1" in diameter x 8" approximate size)
• 15 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1/3 cup sherry
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt'

Directions:

1. In a skillet on medium high heat, brown the roast for 5 minutes on both sides, then turn heat off.
2. While roast is browning, peel and slice up onions.
3. Place onions in bottom of slow cooker, then garlic.
4. Then remove tops and seeds of bell peppers, dicing them up and placing them on top of the onions.
5. Slice up zucchini in 1/4" slices and place on top of the peppers.
6. Place just the roast on top of the zucchini leaving the drippings in the skillet.
7. Add sherry, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, basil, oregano and garlic salt.
8. Cook on low for 8 hours.
9. After 8 hours, remove roast from slow cooker and slice it up.
10. Add roast slices back to slow cooker and mix up.
11. Serve with crusty bread, on top of couscous or angel hair pasta.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 8 hours
Servings: 6-7