Beer-Braised Beef with Onion, Carrot, and Turnips

I was so excited to cook some meat for my meat-and-potatoes-man, so I planned this hearty meal for last night. Some things came up at work, and I didn't get home until about 6 to start preparing for supper.
It helps to read the directions all the way through before starting anything. I learned this in 5th grade. My teacher gave each student a piece of paper with a list of 20 directions on it. She told us to read through the entire directions before starting. The first thing on the list was to write our name on the paper. Then it had directions to spell your name out loud and go write on the chalkboard, and all other crazy things. Some people were doing what the directions said (including me), and other people were just sitting there staring at us like we were schizophrenic or something. When I got to #20, the directions said to ignore #2-19. So all that talking out loud and writing on the chalkboard was for nothing. The quiet people were the ones that read the directions all the way through before starting.
And that's how I learned (the hard way) to read directions all the way through before starting anything.

There are exceptions to every rule. Since I was in a hurry last night, I didn't read the whole way through. The first thing I realized (after I put the meat in the pan) was how long it took to cook. Poor Aubrey ... I had to wake him up to eat supper at about 9PM. I felt so bad, but he did enjoy everything.
The 2nd mistake I made was that I wasn't really paying attention to the directions. Instead of cooking the meat inside of the preheated oven, I was thinking it was going to cook on top of the stove. I think I read it about 5 times before it hit me. After 45 minutes of cooking it on top of the stove, I realized something wasn't right. All of the liquid had boiled off, and I slowly read the directions again. Duh, I knew there was a reason I preheated the oven. So I had to add more liquid ingredients, and the rest of the story turned out just fine. The meat was fork tender, and the vegetables were just perfect.

I didn't follow all of the directions with draining the juice and throwing the fat away. It was already late enough. I also added some potatoes in because I like them with roast beef.

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 (1 pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed

1 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup fat-free, less-sodium beef broth

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 (12-ounce) dark beer

1 bay leaf

3 carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices

9 ounces small turnips, peeled and cut into wedges

1 medium onion, peeled and cut into wedges

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300.

Place flour in a shallow dish. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef evenly on all sides with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper; dredge in flour. Add beef to pan; cook 10 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Add broth and next 3 ingredients (through bay leaf), scraping pan to remove browned bits; bring to a boil. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Add carrots; cover and cook 25 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, turnips, and onion; cover and cook an additional 1 hour and 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender and beef is fork-tender.

Remove beef and vegetables from pan; discard bay leaf. Cover beef mixture; keep warm. Let cooking liquid stand 10 minutes. Place a zip-top plastic bag inside a 2-cup glass measure. Pour cooking liquid into bag; let stand 10 minutes (fat will rise to the top). Seal bag; carefully snip off 1 bottom corner of bag. Drain cooking liquid into a medium bowl, stopping before fat layer reaches opening; discard fat. Serve cooking liquid with beef and vegetables. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon parsley.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces of beef, 1 cup vegetables, and about 1/2 cup cooking liquid)

Nutritional Info (per serving): 383 calories; 19.7g fat; 24.4g protein; 21g carbs; 3.6g fiber; 70mg cholesterol; 2.9mg iron; 815mg sodium; 68mg calcium

Source: Cooking Light