2 A Deadly Beef by Jessica Beck Read Free Book Online Page A

veggies are
tender delights.  This is a great recipe year round, but we especially
enjoy it on a cool autumn evening or a chilly winter afternoon.  An added
bonus is the house smells delightful as this meal is cooking, and by the time
it’s complete, I’m always ready to eat!
Ingredients
    1 boneless beef chuck roast (2 1/2 to 3
pounds)
2  teaspoons seasoning (I like Montreal Steak)
3 Tablespoons Flour, All Purpose
1/4 cup Canola Oil, or enough to cover the bottom of your skillet
1 can Low Sodium Fat-Free Beef Broth (14.5 oz)
1 can Low Sodium condensed Cream of Mushroom soup (10 3/4-ounce)
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced (10 oz)
6-10 New Potatoes (they are small, and we like gold)
1 package Baby Carrots (16 oz)

Directions
    Rub the roast on all sides with the flour
mixed with seasoning.
Over medium high heat, sear the roast on both sides until it’s brown in
enough Canola Oil to cover the bottom of your skillet.
Place roast in the bottom of your slow cooker.
Add the beef broth to the hot pan and deglaze.
Pour the broth onto the meat in the slow cooker.  Do not add any water!
In the skillet, melt the butter and sauté half the coarsely chopped
onion until it browns slightly.
Spoon out the Cream of Mushroom Soup on top of the roast.
Spoon the sautéed onion on top of the soup, and then add the rest of the
onion, coarsely chopped.
Add half the mushrooms, sliced, to the mix.
Add two bay leaves to the mix.
Cook three hours on High.
After three hours, add baby carrots, new potatoes, and the remainder of the
mushrooms (sliced) to the mix.  An alternative is to add the potatoes
after three hours, and the carrots and mushrooms after two, but either way is
fine.
Continue cooking for three hours on High, and then enjoy!
One option is to make gravy by adding cornstarch to the juices after cooking
and reducing the result  to half on the stovetop by simmering it.

 
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    As we
neared Trudy’s Grocery, Moose and I must have spotted the sheriff’s
cruiser at the same time.  He drove past without slowing down, but I
wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do.
    "Maybe
he’s just in there shopping instead of talking to Dave," I
said.  "It might be perfectly innocent."
    "Let’s
say you’re right, though I doubt it.  Even if Sheriff Croft is in
the grocery store on some other business entirely, how’s he going to take
it if we show up and start grilling Dave?  No matter why he’s
inside, we’re going to have to come back later."
    "That’s
a good point.  I hadn’t even thought of that," I said, though
I wasn’t happy about pushing our investigation until even later into the
evening.  I’d worked a full day, and I needed my rest, but our
search had to take precedence over a little lost rest on my part.
    As we
rounded the corner for the third time, I glanced back and saw the sheriff
getting into his patrol car.  It looked as though he was finally
leaving. 
    "Circle
the block one more time," I told Moose.
    "We
can’t keep doing this all night," my grandfather said.
    "We
won’t have to.  I just saw the sheriff leaving."
    We
made an even wider loop around town to be sure to give Sheriff Croft enough
time to leave, and sure enough, by the time we pulled back up in front of the
grocery store, he was gone.
    But
then again, so was everyone else.  In our caution to miss the sheriff,
we’d also overshot Dave’s regular hours of operation.  It
appeared that we’d have to come back again tomorrow. 
    "I
guess we just missed him," I said, though Moose pulled up in front of the
store and stopped anyway.
    "The
doors may be locked and the lights seem to all be turned off, but trust me,
Dave is still in here," Moose said as he shut off the engine.
    "How
could you say that?  The place is empty."
    "Not
completely.  If you look closely, you’ll see that there’s
still a light on in Dave’s office, and I doubt that he keeps it on all night
when he’s