Pot Roast V2.0

Okay, so if you scroll down toward the bottom of the page you'll see my first attempt at pot roast.  It was okay.  I never really liked pot roast until I went to Maine to stay with friends of our family, Nancy and Doug.  For dinner one night, Nancy made pot roast and for the first time in my life I actually enjoyed it so I asked Nancy a few months ago how she made hers and this is what she told me, "Put potatoes, carrots, onions and meat in a crock pot with a little water and onion soup mix and cook it all day."  That is basically what I do.

Seriously, nicest cut of meat I've gotten here yet.






And now, what you need:

• 1/4 cup water
• 4 medium red potatoes (or the eqivalent of another kind of potato)
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 1 (16 oz.) package of baby carrots
• 1-2 stalks of celery, cut
• 1 envelope onion soup mix (separate 1 tbsp)
• 2 1/2 - 3 lb boneless beef chuck pot roast
• salt, pepper, and I use onion powder to season the roast

The recipe I use says to put the water and 3/4 of your vegetables in the crock pot, cover with onion soup mix (minus the 1 tbsp), then put your seasoned beef on top of the veggies.  Put the rest of the veggies around the meat and sprinkle with the rest of the onion soup mix.  This is fine and dandy if you have a nice big crock pot, but I do not so I tend to put all of the veggies and soup mix underneath the meat.  Time ranges vary for cooking.  My crock pot isn't great so I usually have to cook this on high for about 7-8 hours, even though the recipe says cook on low for 8-9 and on high for 5-6.  It all depends on the quality of your slow cooker, so feel free to play around with the times. 

If you, like me, sometimes forget to buy parts of your meal because you think you have them at home, don't be scared to try different things.  I usually always have the Lipton onion soup mix in my cabinet so I didn't buy any this last time, and didn't realize it until the morning when I was putting my roast together.  So I improvised and used some of my Tastefully Simple Onion-Onion seasoning and it did just about the same thing, but created a little less gravy so if I use it again I will put about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of water in the slow cooker.

I made a pot roast with my mom's crock pot at home with a fresh cut of meat from the IGA and it literally fell apart when I was trying to pick it up out of the crock pot; that's how amazing the meat was.  However, we are not so lucky with our commisary and I have yet to be brave enough to buy meat on the Italian economy.  Anyway, its never as good here as it was at home (I'm also thinking the quality of slow cookers has a lot to do with it... anyway) but its still good so try it. 

I don't know wh my picture turned out so strangely colored, but the meal turned out pretty well.  I am still working on perfecting my ability to make one of these up to my standards in the crock pot I have, but we'll get there.  It may be in March of 2012 (just before we leave), but that's okay!  I am determined.




I am addicted to my crock pot.  I love it.  My mom always used hers and it just makes things so much better, but it was always a bummer when it came time to clean it.  One day, someone really smart decided to make these awesome plastic bags to line slow cookers with.  I beg you, for your sanity, if you use a crockpot - USE THESE LINERS!  You can find them in any grocery store near plastic wrap and that sort of thing.  There is close to no cleanup with these liners.  At best, I usually wipe down the inside of my crock pot with a damn paper towel and thats it.

The liners also come with this handy group of recipes, that as you can see live happily on my fridge.  The two recipes that are uncovered are the ones we use most often, pot roast and vegetable soup.