Snake Bite Pot Roast

What's up with this title? Well, it has to do with my day, but we really didn't combine them. :^D

Our Wounded Injun

The first topic has to do with Abrial. On Wednesday, she went out in the morning with the other "girls" and when Morgan went to call them in, she tells me, "Abrial is hurt. She's limping." She comes in holding up her front paw, not bearing any weight on it. I feel all down her leg and on her foot, thinking perhaps she had a burr between one of her toes. I notice that one of her toes is swelling and I look at the paw pad and see a puncture mark. Ah ha! An insect sting! I call the vet and they said to give her Benadryl. I kept watching the paw and it wasn't getting any worse, but no better. There was no change on Thursday.

This morning, however, the toe was grossly swollen and I saw a hole on the top part of the toe. So I brought her immediately to the vet. The vet found TWO holes - puncture marks - snake bite! She was put on anti-inflammatories and antibiotics. I was given wound care instructions and we came home.

You can see one of the punctures on her toe. (Yes, that is pale green nail polish on her nails from her grooming last week - it matched her pale green bows with little froggies on them. They need to be redone, but nail polish remover would definitely NOT feel good right now.)

When we came home and I told my father-in-law, we had a joint effort of trimming the very large azalea bush where Morgan saw Abrial standing with her foot up. My nephew called it "The Salem Snake Hunt." :^D We gave that azalea bush quite the haircut, but found no snakes. We have killed young copperheads in our yard before, but have seen none this year. The vet also seemed to think it was most likely the bite of a young copperhead.

This is a picture from the internet of a juvenile copperhead - notice the carpenter ant next to him - he's a pretty small guy, but can still be nasty.


Abrial has been a real trooper, sweetly allowing us to look at her injured paw, wash and care for it, and she takes her medicine nicely and doesn't put up a fight.



Now after discussing such a fun topic and posting such a lovely picture, tonight's dinner was Creole Roast and Gravy, Brown Rice, Steamed Carrots, Grilled Red, White, and Blue Potatoes, and a cucumber, tomato, bell pepper salad. Dinner was a joint effort between my SIL, Susie, and me. I made the roast and brown rice. The grilled potatoes were leftovers from Susie's grilling last night, and she steamed the carrots and made the salad this afternoon. The whole family went next door to my in-laws to eat.

Daub Creole Roast

1 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons parsley
1 1/2 crushed bay leaves (or I just put two whole ones in when I add the broth)
1 1/2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon cloves (this is the secret ingredient)
6 1/2 pound boneless beef round roast
2 tablespoons oil
1 quart of beef broth
1 cup sherry (tonight it was the rest of the bottle of Shiraz in the fridge - more than a cup I'm sure, but it needed to be used)

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Mix the onion and the seasonings together. Wipe roast with damp paper towels. Make slits in the roast, going almost to the bottom, but not through the bottom of the roast, every 2" or so. Make sure the slits are large enough for your finger to fit - you'll need to stuff the onion mixture down into each slit. Push about 1/2 teaspoon of the onion mixture into each slit, pushing it down into the meat. I sprinkle the roast all over with a small amount of Kosher salt before browning to give it a nice crust - not too much salt because of the broth, though.

In hot oil in Dutch oven, brown roast on all sides. Add remaining onion mixture, broth, and sherry/wine. Roast, covered, for about 1 hour (I had two huge roasts and left it in there, covered, for about 3 hours.) Uncover and roast, basting every 30 minutes or so, for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until roast is tender.

Remove roast to platter and let rest before slicing. Thicken broth with a few tablespoons of cornstarch that has been stirred into cold water (or whatever preferred method of thickening a gravy you like) and cook on medium heat on the stove until thickened. Pour over roast.

Sorry. No pictures. The vultures descended too rapidly. :^D