A blog by Cameron and Shannon

As a list making type of gal, I like to categorize all things about life into lists. Just as I firmly believe there is a list of basic wardrobe items every girl (and guy) should have, I believe there is a list of basic food items every girl (and guy) should be able to make. It doesn’t matter if you’re the cooking type or not, you should have a few items in your recipe arsenal that are always easy to make, always turn out right, and are fairly impressive taste-wise, you know, in case you should have to cook a decent dinner for someone.

That said, I like to think of pot roast as the “little black dress” of main dish food items. It’s never too fancy. Never too casual. Lots of room for creativity. Sure, everyone’s had pot roast before, but pot roast done right can be really impressive.

Interestingly, pot roast is one of the few dishes my mother and I both make where I’ve deviated from her recipe (I know, I know, mom’s food is supposed to be the best…) She prefers to make it in the oven; I prefer to make it in the crockpot. While a roast can turn out quite nicely in the oven, I prefer the crockpot (on LOW! for EIGHT! HOURS!), because it’s never too well done for anyone, never too rare for anyone, and it always, always gets to that delicious fall-aparty stage.

For about a year, I’d been using a recipe that involved a roast, a packet of onion soup mix, a can of beef broth, and a can of cream of mushroom soup, which worked out fine and all that. But I wanted something…a little more.

So I found this great recipe from Paula Deen, which I slightly modified, because I am cheap and did not want to buy a whole bottle of chardonnay just to make a roast. I’ve also modified the directions a little based on my experience:

• 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons House seasoning (to make “House Seasoning,” you just mix 1 tablespoon salt and 1/4 tablespoon each of pepper and garlic powder. You can save what you don’t use.)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 or 4 beef bouillon cubes, crushed
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup beef broth

Sprinkle the house seasoning on all sides of the roast. Heat oil in a skillet on high and brown roast on all sides. Put roast in a slow cooker, then put onions, bay leaves, crushed buillon cubes and garlic on top. In a small bowl, whisk together soup and beef broth, then pour over roast. Add enough water to cover all ingredients & cook on low for 8 hours.

And that’s it! I’d suggest serving it with mashed potatoes, green peas and your choice of rolls (yes, this situation calls for double starches). And this is so yummy. Seriously.

A couple of notes - you’ll notice a couple of things if you click on the link. First, the roast in the picture has these beautiful cooked sliced onions over the top. If you want this to happen with your roast, it is very important to mix the cream of mushroom soup with the beef broth before you pour it into the crock pot - I didn’t do this, and the cream of mushroom soup didn’t “melt” all the way into the rest of the gravy. When I tried to mix it at the end to make it smooth, I ended up also mixing in my lovely onions. * tear. *

Secondly, you will notice Paula Deen asks you to make approximately eleventy billion cups of House Seasoning. In my revision, I’ve reduced the amount while keeping the same ratio. You will thank me later.