Oh yum.

Yesterday was my birthday.  The big 3-0.

In this house, when it's your birthday, you choose the dinner menu.  If you know me well at all, you know I just love food.  All kinds of food.  Sweet food, savory food, but most of all comfort food.  And nothing says comfort to me more than good old mashed potatoes!  So a few days before my birthday I started perusing cookbooks and foodie blogs to find the perfect accompaniment for my birthday spuds.  This is what I came up with and my my was it ever delicious.

Mushroom and Blueberry Balsamic Pot Roast

First I grabbed a pan and heated up a few lugs of olive oil.  Then threw in an onion and a few cloves of garlic to brown them up a bit before dumping them in the bottom of my crockpot.

Then I popped a nicely salted and peppered rolled brisket (in the same pan) to brown each side 

and lock in all the yummy juices. When I was done, it went right on top of that garlic and onion goodness in the crockpot.

Next was time for the sauce.  I combined some lovely balsamic vinegar, a bit of beef broth, a touch of good tomato paste and some fresh blueberries - same pan.  Yup, you read that right.  Blueberries.

That got dumped into the crockpot too -- with a sprinkle of thyme and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary from the garden.

We let this go all day... filling the house with an incredible aroma.

Later (same pan - no need to wash) I browned up some thick-sliced chestnut mushrooms.  These were dumped in the crockpot about 2 hours before we were ready to eat.

I made my mashed potatoes and mixed them with terrifying amounts of butter and cream cheese.  I made some lovely brown sugar and walnut coated brussels sprouts.  I put it all on a plate...

and ate savored every last bite.

You MUST try this.  It is absolutely divine.

The original recipe I found was from Mesiedy over at TheNoshery.  She did this in a dutch oven with some other veggies too.  You can find that post here.  I don't have a dutch oven (or a big enough oven to use one for that matter!) so altered it a bit for my crockpot and it still turned out incredible!

Then on to the cake.  My dear friend Katy has made this for me twice in the past and graciously passed the recipe along.  It's a moist, soft, perfectly spiced, luscious carrot cake topped with the best cream cheese icing.  So delicious it's ridiculous.

Happy birthday to me.   

PS - Special thanks to Ben for spending the day in the kitchen with me.  You are the best!  xoxo