Chef Kardea Brown is out with a new cookbook, "Make Do with What You Have," that serves up old-school favorite recipes with fresh, crowd-pleasing updates.
Brown, who is also a judge on Food Network's "Holiday Baking Championship," joined "Good Morning America" on Thursday to share a few recipes from her new book.
Check out the full recipes below, plus shop kitchen essentials to recreate these dishes at home.
Serves 6
Ingredients
3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Miss Brown's House Seasoning
2 tablespoons neutral oil, plus more if needed
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
15-ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 1/4 cups beef broth, divided
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery ribs, washed and chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Mashed potatoes or rice, for serving
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Dry the roast with paper towels, rub the yellow mustard on both sides, then generously season both sides with the House Seasoning. Place a Dutch oven on the stove over medium-high heat and add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pot, about 2 tablespoons. Once the oil is hot, carefully place the chuck roast into the oil and sear for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the roast has a good, brown crust. Flip with tongs and repeat on the other side, then remove the roast and place onto a plate.
Melt the butter in the Dutch oven, using a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits on the bottom. Add the onions, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir well. Cook for 3 minutes. Your house should smell amazing at this point.
Slowly add 2 cups of the beef broth and whisk. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture comes to a slight boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
Carefully add the roast, carrots, and celery to the pot. Put the lid on and cook in the preheated oven for 3 hours.
Take the pot out of the oven, place it on the stove, and remove the roast.
Using 2 forks, shred the meat on a plate. Cover with foil and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup broth and the flour to make a slurry. Pour it into the pot and whisk over medium-high heat until a gravy forms.
Turn the stove off. Top the roast with the gravy and serve over mashed potatoes or rice.
Tips for Lowcountry Low n' Slow Roast
Opt for a chuck roast, which comes from the shoulder. This cut is perfect for slow cooking because it has a lot of fat and connective tissue that break down over time, resulting in ultra-tender meat.
Before slow-cooking, generously season your roast and brown all sides in a hot, heavy-bottomed pot, like a Dutch oven. Searing creates a dark, flavorful crust that is crucial for building deep, rich flavor.
Not only does the mustard add a bit of acidity but it also helps tenderize the meat.
After removing the seared meat, use the same pot to sauté your aromatics, like chopped onions and tomatoes, until they are browned and fragrant. Don't just throw them in the pot with the liquid. Allow them to really become fragrant.
Serves 8 to 12
Ingredients
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large eggs, divided
2 deep-dish refrigerated pie crusts
1 tablespoon water
2 pounds fresh sweet potatoes, boiled with skin on until fork-tender
1/2 cup orange juice without pulp
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 cups sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Remove the peel from the potatoes and cut them up into large chunks. Place them in a food processor with the orange juice and process until smooth.
You may need to do this step in two batches, depending on the size of your processor. The end result should be a smooth sweet potato puree -- no clumps or strings! In a large bowl, combine the sweet potato puree, melted butter, sugar, vanilla, heavy cream, pumpkin spice and salt.
Mix until fully incorporated. In a small bowl, whisk 4 of the eggs and fold them into the sweet potato mixture. Set aside. Poke holes into the bottom of each piecrust. In the small bowl, whisk together the remaining egg with the water to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash on the edges of the pie crusts. Evenly divide the filling among the piecrusts. Bake for 50 minutes or until set. If the crusts start to brown before the center is set, loosely cover with foil. The filling will be slightly jiggly, but it is ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean. Let the pies cool to room temperature on a wire rack before slicing.
Tips for Sweet Potato Pie
Remove the fibrous "strings." To get the silkiest filling possible, be sure to remove the fibrous strands that can appear after mashing the cooked potatoes.
Purée the potatoes in a food processor. For the smoothest consistency, use a food processor or blender to get a perfectly creamy filling. An electric mixer also works well.
Use room-temperature ingredients. Eggs, butter, and milk should all be at room temperature before being added to the mashed sweet potatoes. This allows for a smoother, well-mixed custard.
The acidity from the orange really helps to brighten up the pie filling!
Recipes reprinted with permission from "Make Do with What You Have" by Kardea Brown from Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 2025.
Later, brown returned for "GMA3" with two more recipes, a pot pie that can be made in a skillet, along with her super simple berry dump cake, in which the all the ingredients combine and bake up without much technical skill or effort.
Serves 8
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
Kosher salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup whole milk
Freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
8 refrigerated biscuits (or 8 frozen biscuits, thawed)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Heat the oil and 6 tablespoons of the butter in a large oven-safe pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onion, and a heavy pinch of salt, and cook until the vegetables are soft and the onions turn translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute, then stir in the peas and carrots.
Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken broth and milk, whisking to remove any flour lumps. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Top with the biscuits. In a small bowl, beat together the egg and water, then brush the egg wash over the biscuits.
Bake until the biscuits are a deep golden brown and the filling is bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter right before serving.
Tips for Country Skillet Pot Pie
Don't be afraid to experiment with different vegetables. While carrots, peas, and celery are classic, don't be afraid to try other vegetables that hold their shape well, such as potatoes, butternut squash, mushrooms, or leeks, or whatever you have on hand.
Use an egg wash: Whisk a beaten egg with a tablespoon of milk or water and brush it over the biscuits before baking for a crispy and golden crust.
Make your biscuits ahead of time and freeze. I always keep a batch of biscuits in the freezer just in case!
You can also make individual servings of this in small ramekins with one biscuit on top!
Serves 6
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
4 cups fresh or frozen mixed berries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
15.25-ounce box vanilla cake mix
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch square baking dish with the nonstick cooking spray.
Combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Toss to coat the berries. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish, then spread the cake mix over the top in an even layer. Scatter the butter cubes over the top. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake until the top is puffed and golden and the fruit is bubbling, about 40 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for 5 minutes more.
Let the cake cool slightly before scooping and serving with vanilla ice cream.
Tips for Berry Dump Cake
Don't mix the ingredients. The distinct layers of gooey fruit filling and a crunchy, cake-like top are what define a dump cake. Mixing the ingredients will result in a soggy, half-baked cake.
Use cold, thinly sliced butter. Rather than melting the butter and drizzling it on top, use cold butter cut into thin pats or slices. This provides much more even coverage and prevents dry spots in the topping. For even better coverage, use a cheese grater to grate frozen butter over the dry cake mix.
Layer the ingredients correctly. The order is simple: Start with the wet filling (canned fruit, pie filling, or crushed pineapple), then top with the dry cake mix, and finally, arrange the cold butter slices or grated butter over the top.
You can also add warm spices: Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, or pumpkin pie spice over the dry cake mix for extra flavor. You can even add chocolate chips!
Recipes reprinted with permission from "Make Do with What You Have" by Kardea Brown, from Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 2025.
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