As an alternative to turkey, a succulent roast beef is always a hit during the Holiday season. Cooked in a crock pot, an English cut beef is the best one for slow cooking.

English Cut Roast Beef With Vegetables
(Serves 4-6)

1-3lb.English cut roast beef
3-large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1-pkg carrots, peeled and sliced into halves and then fourths
1-pkg dried mushroom soup
1-Tlb. cooking oil
½-tsp salt
½-tsp pepper
½-tsp meat tenderizer

Directions: In a small bowl: combine the salt, the pepper, the meat tenderizer and the dried mushroom soup mix. Rub both sides of the beef with the seasoning mixture. In a large skillet: heat the cooking oil and sear both sides of the beef. Turn the crock pot to high and add one-half cup of water. Place the seared seasoned beef into the crock pot. Cook for two hours and then add the russet potato chunks. Cook for another hour and add the sliced carrots pre-cooked in a microwave for fifteen minutes. Cook for another hour and check to see if the meat is done and also the vegetables. Let the meat rest for fifteen minutes before slicing. Arrange the sliced roast beef and the vegetables on a platter for serving. Serve with a tossed salad and some dinner rolls.

Christmas Eve has always been celebrated with an early supper before opening the gifts or attending a late night church service. An eye-of-round roast beef has a pocket cut into it and stuffed with a French bread dressing.

Eye-Of-Round Stuffed Roast Beef

1-2-1/2-lb eye-of-round roast, (have the butcher cut a pocket into the beef)
French Bread Dressing:
1-loaf French bread, crusty style
½-cup green bell pepper, chopped
½-cup red bell pepper, chopped
½-cup onion, chopped
3-cloves garlic, chopped
2-Tlb fresh parsley, finely chopped
1-Tlb cooking oil
1cup chicken broth
1-cup water
Seasoning mixture:
½-tsp salt
½-tsp pepper
½-tsp cayenne pepper

Directions: In a large bowl: tear the French bread into small pieces. Heat the Cooking oil and sauté the vegetables until tender. Add the sautéed vegetables to the French bread pieces. Heat the chicken stock and the water. Add the seasoning mixture to the dried bread and sautéed vegetables. Ladle the warm chicken broth to the dressing mixture until it is well moistened. With a large spoon put the dressing mixture into the pocket of the roast and secure the roast with a string.

Season both sides of the beef with ½-tsp salt, ½-tsp pepper and ½-tsp meat tenderizer. Place the stuffed roast in a roasting pan and cook for at least 4 hours at three hundred and fifty degrees. Serve with steamed broccoli and lemon and wheat dinner rolls.

The perfect ending for a roast beef meal is an easy to make apple pie For the sugar restrictive a sugar-free product and a sugar-free brown sugar product is substituted. For the carb and cholesterol conscious, a light or a fat-free butter product is substituted.

Apple Pie

1-9-inch prepared pie shell, 2 per package, unbaked.
4-golden delicious apples, peeled and chopped
2-Tlbs butter, sliced
½-cup sugar
½-tsp cinnamon
½-tlb brown sugar
1-Tlb milk, regular, fat-free or skim

Directions: In a saucepan: Combine the sliced apples, the sugar, the cinnamon, and the butter until the apples are tender. Put the apple mixture into the bottom of the prepared pie shell. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the apple mixture. Cover the top of the pie with the other pie shell. Cut slits into the top and press the edges of the pie shell with a fork to seal it. Brush the top of the pie shell with the milk and sprinkle some sugar on the milk. Bake at three hundred and fifty degrees until the pie crust is a golden brown about forty minutes.