Rememeber how I’ve been on that red blend kick lately? Well when was walking down the wine aisle at the grocery store and saw the label on this wine, I had to try it…I’m a total sucker for cute packaging, always have been and will probably always be.

Since I first purchased this wine it has quickly become a permenant fixture in the wines I keep around the house. It also helps that my local grocery store seems to have it on sale for $8.99 on a constant basis.

I was surprised when I discovered there is not a hint of Cabernet Sauvignon in this bottle of Primal Roots Red Blend, but rather it is a mixture of Zinfandel, Merlot and Syrah.

Because I have now had several bottles of this blend, I have determined that it definitely gets better the longer it is open, so I highly recommend giving it some time to breath if at all possible. It’s not a necessity but I can definitley tell a difference even in just 30 minutes of letting this bottle breath.

I’m sure that no one wants their wine to be known as a great 2nd bottle of wine.  But this truly is a great example of a good bottle to have around for those times you finish a bottle (with a friend of course), and still want a little more.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I currently have a bottle of this red blend at my house.  Though this will probably not be the wine I have tonight, because I will not be home.  But I do have it often.  In fact it is the wine that will appear in my photo on Friday’s blog for the day I posted a “Drink” photo.

What will be in your glass this Wine Wednesday?

I got this pot roast recipe from my friend, the beautiful woman behind the camera at Sugar Photography, and as soon as Red Wine was mentioned as an ingredient…I was sold, of course!  Plus the pot roast recipe was super simple, here is all I used:

Well, minus the broccoli, that was just a side.  I did toy with the idea of putting the broccoli in the crockpot but decided it would probably get too soggy after a day in red wine.

My cousin Chase keeps cooking pot roast in his crockpot down in H-town, and he let me in on a little secret….you can buy potatoes in a can!  Who knew!  Definitely makes throwing ingredients in the crockpot in the am much easier.  Chase also suggested that I get a Sirloin pot roast, but I couldn’t even find a regular pot roast without going to multiple grocery stores, so I had to settle for a chuck roast.

Here is the recipe:

1 Cup any red wine, I used my left over BR Cohn wine I’d opened over the weekend, poured it in the cropckpot.

Next I salt & pepper both sides of the pot roast and put it in the crockpot.

Potatoes, this was a big pot roast so I did two cans.

Carrots, I just put as many as would fit

Lipton Soup mix, this sould be poured on top of everything, I however poured it in the wine, so luckily my sis could help me out and poured most of a 2nd pack on top.

Doesn’t it look pretty?

I let it all cook in there for about 9 hours, because that was as fast as I could get home.  And let me just tell you….my house smelled AMAZING!  The meat was so tender and delicious!

Though I do have to say, I wish I had found a less fatty meat.  You can see in the pictures from before the pot roast was cooked how much fat there is.  When I ate it I could pull it off, but the left overs…let’s just say that was a bit more than I could handle.

I brought it for lunch the next day to reheat and couldn’t quite get over how the liquid had coagulated.  So for me this was definitely not a “leftovers” type meal.  I’ll have to get a sirlion pot roast next time and see if the end result is the same.

To keep my mom happy and have a green vegetable, I steamed the broccoli.

I can’t wait to try this again and see how it turns out with a different cut of meat.  Thanks for all the recipe suggestion Jenn & some Chase for all the helpful hints!

My sister was actually loaned In the Woods  by Tana French by our cousin Chase, but I stole it and read it first…oops!

Let me just say, after reading books on my Kindle, it was kind of weird to switch back to a real book!  I found myself annoyed that I had to leave the light on while I read in bed and actually had to turn the page.  I know…you’re rolling your eyes at me right now and I totally understand.  I’m rolling my eyes too!

Going from “Mockingjay” to “In the Woods” was quite a change.  The writing was at a much more mature level and because this story takes place in Ireland there are quite a few colloquialisms that you have to get used to.

From the beginning the action in this story takes off.  As I first started reading this book, I couldn’t help but think of the Lovely Bones.  Because of the fact that this book starts off with two children who vanish under rather peculiar circumstances and the lack of answers surrounding their disappearance is a constant presence in this story.

One of the things I liked the most about this book , was I didn’t figure out “who done it.”  It seems like in most mysteries at some point I figure it out, and then I’m just reading to see how the author gets to the end.  But with this book, French does a great job with twists and turns to keep you guessing and interested in the story, so she definitely gets two thumbs up from me!

I can’t wait to read the next book and see what happens with the main characters, Cassie and Rob and to find out if the author ever reveals what happened to those two children who went missing in the woods…

This week’s Instagram, photo a day challenge:

Feb 11th – Day 42

Day 11 – makes you happy – today I spent a chunk of my day under my blanket (that I love because I successfully sewed it), with a cup of coffee and a great book!

Feb 12th – Day 43

Day 12 – is supposed to be inside your closet, but I cheated….I finally got to meet cute little Eliza! She is not quite 2 months old and I hadn’t met her yet. Eliza is the daughter of one of my sister’s best friends Rebekah.

Feb 13th – Day 44

Day 13 – I couldn’t decide which “blue” thing was the most like me, maybe because none of them are? But we still had some fun at Charming Charlie’s. Man I wish I’d painted my finger nails…

Feb 14th – Day 45

Day 14 – heart – this is my Valentine’s cookie from Westly (he may or may not have had a little help from Grandmom)

Feb 15th – Day 46

Day 15 – phone – this phone has barely stopped ringing since early November…busy season means, the phone is a torture device, complete with headphones!

Feb 16th – Day 47

Day 16 – something new – started this book today, couldn’t resist. I’ve heard it’s entertaining, plus it’s going to be a new TV series!

Feb 17th – Day 48

Day 17 – time – this my favorite time of the day because I’m free! And since today is Friday I’m looking forward to this time more than most days!

Sunday I went to The Original Pancake House, not for the first time, but for the first time in a while. If you’re in the mood for pancakes…look NO further…they have 13 different “pancake” items under that category on their menu.

This weekend I went out to breakfast twice, which is very unusual because I’m allergic to eggs…which means breakfast is a tricky meal for me and more often than not my only choices are either the pancakes, waffles or a combination of sides. Though at brunch, typically I have better luck because I have some lunch options…weird, I know!

I went with the Bacon Pancakes…how could I not…this was a brilliant combination. The saltiness of the bacon was the perfect balance for the sweetness of the pancakes. They might not be pretty, but they were very tasty!

Rebekah got the Potato Pancakes…we were both picturing potato latkes but they were way different. They were so thin and had been cooked in butter, they looked more like the batter on French Toast, but Rebekah still enjoyed them.

Of course the ladies of Life is a Run went with one of the healthy options The Original Pancake House offers, the Lifestyle Omelete, a vegetarian egg white omelet. But this omelete was served with 3 Buckwheat pancakes that tasted “wheaty.” 

While The Original Pancake House’s apple pancake and dutch boy looked interesting, they looked entirely too sweet for me. I do like that they offer more than just blueberry pancakes in the way of fruit pancakes, you can also choose from banana or strawberry. They’ve even got a gluten free pancake option.

I also recommend the hash brown potatoes, they make them right!

Another BIG perk about The Original Pancake House is they keep the coffee flowing!  There was constantly at least one person walking around with freshly brewed coffee.  I wanna say I got about 5 refills in the hour and half we were there and that’s rare!