Jung SuWon preparedness: no stress dinner – Italian Pot Roast

Here is the ultimate “be ready for dinner” recipe. One of the things Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim teaches her students is to be ready any time, any place.  So, whether you come home after a Jung SuWon class by yourself, or if you have some friends drop in, or you have to go to a meeting and won’t have time to cook when you come home, here is something you might want to try.  It’s healthy, simple, and easy, and something fool proof for even the most beginners of cooks.  You start this, of course, before you go to class, for example or to a meeting, and when you get home after a couple hours, dinner is all ready!

When I cook, I like to visualize the finished product while I cook.  And here is a favorite quote from Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, from her book “Seven Steps to Inner Power“:

“Creative visualization is not idle day dreaming or wishful thinking.  Yes, you could say that it’s like dreaming, but it’s more than that.  It is focused imagining, with the power of your  will and persistence behind it.  It is an immaterial activity that takes form first as a mental image, then as a material image.”

So, here is the result of some creative imagery:

Prepare a good sized beef pot roast, by rolling it in a mixture of regular flour that you mixed with some salt, black pepper and ground garlic.  I prefer a rolled chuck roast encased in a net since it holds its shape very nicely.  Quickly fry the roast on high heat from all sides, a couple minutes each side, preferably in the same pan you are going to put it into the oven with.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Cut up tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, olives, parsley and fresh basil leaves.  You can also add green peppers, carrots, zucchini if you like.

When the roast is browned on all sides, add the onions around the meat, tomatoes, mushrooms and rest of ingredients.  Add about a cup of red wine and enough water to make it come about half-way up the height of the roast.   Cover tightly, and put into the oven.

Now walk away and do whatever you need to do for the next  2 – 3 hours and this will depend on the size of the roast.  With this style of preparing the roast, you really can’t go wrong.  It tastes great rare, but if you leave it in longer, it won’t be bad either, it just seems to get more tender.

If you really want to do yourself a favor, get your rice pot going at the same time you put the roast into the oven.  When you come home, smile and prepare to eat a most delicious dinner!

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Jung SuWon Style healthy appetizer

 

Sometimes, like right now, the weather is really really hot, and you don’t feel like cooking – especially after a hard Jung SuWon sparring class.  You are too hot, still sweating, but you want something substantial to eat. 

Devoted Martial Artists, such as Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, take care of body, mind and spirit.  She teaches that you need to keep your body healthy and happy, so that your soul is excited to live in it! 

So, here is something she taught me how to make, a food that is well balanced and will make you feel good inside and out.

As for quantities, well, I’ll have to follow the directions of a funny, cute old Jewish cook book I ran across recently:  “you want a lot – you make a lot.  You don’t want so much, you don’t make so much.”

With this in mind, have the following ready:

1. Thin slices of a beef roast (any leftovers will do, but in a pinch you can use the stuff you get at the store
2. a good brand spicy mustard
3. avocado
4. kosher dill pickles, or any pickles to your liking
5. cheese, cut into thin strips (this will depend on what you have at home, or what you prefer and come to think of it, usually you only have at home what you want anyhow.. 🙂  )
6. leaf lettuce

Spread the mustard generously onto the beef slices, add avocado and cheese “sticks”, add thinly cut pickly strips, sprinkle a little vinegar, roll up and serve on a bed of lettuce, and with some (homemade) bread.

You can, of course, vary this quite a bit.  Instead of, or in addition to, the avocado, you can also put in refried beans.  You can cut olives into slices and add, or slices of tomatoes. 

This was just the basic recipe, which in itself is very good and very satisfying.  It will restore and rebuild your muscles, and get your body machine going again.  If you like this, go ahead and start experimenting wtih your favorite ingredients.  I hear it’s really really good with Kim chi…….

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