Monday, October 26, 2015

Praying for Miracles with the Secret Recipe Club

This month for SRC I am assigned to my friend, Rebekah of Making Miracles.  I was thrilled because I love Rebekah's blog.  She shares her family and her life so openly.  She has tons of great recipes and she truly does "Make Miracles" as she is a surrogate for those couples who cannot carry children of their own.  Rebekah decided to become a surrogate after suffering a miscarriage of her own and realizing how devastating it is for people who want so badly to have a child but are unable to conceive or carry to full term. She has had 4 surrogate pregnancies, including one earlier this year which unfortunately did not go full term.  Rebekah has blessed three couples with 4 baby girls though since one of the pregnancies resulted in twins.  How selfless is it to carry a life within you for nearly a year and then give that precious gift to a stranger?  God bless you Rebekah.


Now Rebekah is in need of her own miracle.  You see, last week, her 16 year old son, Kent, had a stroke while doing PT during his JROTC class.  It was touch and go for a few days and now, praise God, Kent seems to be on the upswing.  He is off all life support. He is alert and coherent.  Kent has a great attitude which he will need because he has a long road in front of him.  Kent has very limited movement on his right side and is not able to speak yet.  But...he has sat up.  He is participating in his therapy sessions.  He smiles and gives big thumbs up when he is happy.  God is good and so is Rebekah and her family.  Please include them in your thoughts and prayers.


Thanks...now back to Secret Recipe Club.  My favorite club in blogland filled with wonderful people and talented cooks like my friend, Rebekah.  I belong to group D of the Secret Recipe Club.  We are a big club with over 100 participants so we are broken down into 4 subsets.  Each month we are assigned a blogger in our group and secretly look around their blog posts to find a recipe that we want to recreate.  Then on the same day, we all reveal who we had and what dish we made.  It is fun and if you would like to join us you can find out more on the Join SRC page.

Rebekah has a serious recipe page, broken down into categories to make browsing easy for you. Since I am very familiar with Rebekah's blog and recipes and since I had just gotten a side of beef put away in my freezer, I went directly to the beef section.  Rebekah does something in her recipe file that I have not seen any other blogger do.  She marks the recipes that are her family's favorites and that she makes time and again.  So when I saw this recipe for Pot Roast was marked as a favorite, I knew that I wanted to make it.  After all, you can never have too many pot roast recipes as you never know what ingredients you are going to have in your pantry.

I made only one change to this recipe.  I did not have a ranch dip packet but I did have an onion soup packet so I substituted that.  This recipe, as Rebekah's name for it promised, is perfect and oh so easy.  Thanks Rebekah. We are praying for you daily and anxiously awaiting your return.


This roast was perfect. I made gravy with the juice. Just strain into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Mix a little cornstarch with water and whisk it in. Cook and stir until thickened. It did not require any extra seasoning.  I served roasted potatoes, carrots and brussels sprouts along with it.  There were plenty of leftovers which will become Beef Pot Pie later in the week.  Thank you Rebekah.


Rebekah's Perfect Pot Roast
slightly adapted from Making Miracles

1 (2-3 lb) beef roast, I used Sirloin Tip
1 large onion cut into eight pieces
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix
1 packet onion soup mix
1 (15 oz) can beef broth

Place beef roast in crock of slow cooker.  Scatter the onion around the roast.  Sprinkle the roast will all three mix packets.  Pour broth over all.  Cook on low for 8-10 hrs or high for 4-6 hrs, until fork tender.  Print Recipe

Let's take a look at what the others found to make this month






This post contains affiliate links.  Should you buy a product using this link, your price remains the same but I receive a small stipend to help offset the costs of this blog.




27 comments:

  1. what a wonderful post, I am so glad you got her blog and said what I am sure is in the mind of many of bloggers from our group

    Beautiful tribute....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sally. Since I wrote this post, Kent is now speaking and moved from the hospital to rehab. God is good.

      Delete
  2. I'm so glad you had Rebekah this month. Thank you for sharing Kent's story and it's so good to see he's improving daily.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my goodness! I am both amazed at Rebekah's selflessness and also am pained for her hearing about her son. They will definitely be in my thoughts. I think this slow cooker recipe is a great comfort food for times like this. Easy to make and feeds the soul.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My thoughts are with Rebekah & her family. This meal, made in a slow cooker, is a good way to not have to worry about dinner.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was such a touching post Wendy. I've been keeping up on FB, and glad to hear he is improving. Your tribute and the pot roast are lovely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Karen, he has greatly improved even since I wrote this post.

      Delete
  6. What a wonderful write-up for Rebekah and her family. I had her blog a while back and was totally hooked -- both by her recipes, and by her amazing selfless nature. You did great justice to both her food and her spirit in this post! Sending lots of love her way. And we also made pot roast for dinner last night - it really is a perfect family meal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it is Amy. Thanks for keeping Rebekah in your thoughts.

      Delete
  7. I cannot imagine being a surrogate mother. I am glad there are women like Rebekah out there for childless couples. I hated pregnancy with such a passion that I cannot imagine doing it and then giving the baby up!! Many thoughts and prayers to Kent as he continues to improve. This roast recipe sounds delicious!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your prayers Paula. I didn't mind being pregnant but I can't imagine giving that child away then. I think I would claim ownership LOL

      Delete
  8. Love a good slow cooker roast beef! Yum.

    ReplyDelete
  9. <3 Thank you for this sweet post Wendy - I was so excited when I initially got my assignment this month because it was YOU... and then everything changed early in the month and I didn't know when I was going to be home to cook, much less blog - I will get to feature you soon enough though, hopefully and in the mean time thank you so much for all the kind words and the continued love, prayers, and positive thoughts for my boy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was happy to have you as well and I am thrilled that Kent is improving so much each day. Prayers really do work. Hang in there Rebekah.

      Delete
  10. It's hard to beat a good slow cooker pot roast! This looks super tasty! Great SRC pick!

    ReplyDelete
  11. My thoughts are with Rebekah and her family. You did a wonderful job of showcasing her delicious recipe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Asiya. Rebekah is back to work now and able to check in on the blogs. She appreciates everyone's thoughts and prayers.

      Delete
  12. Touching post. I hope there are continued improvements and those nearby are showering the family with wonderful meals like this pot roast.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Such a beautiful post. Thoughts and prayers are with Rebekah and Kent.

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy getting comments and feedback from my audience. Please let me know what you think, keeping in mind that we are all entitled to our own beliefs and opinions. I am happy to hear yours as long as they are stated nicely.