Slow Cooker Beef Pot Roast

I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted in nearly a month!  I'll try to make this blog more interesting in 2010, starting with this classic favorite.

Beef pot roast is one of my go-to dinners during the cold winter months.  The best part: I make it in a slow cooker, so you get it started in the morning, then when you come home at the end of the day, it's ready to eat - no waiting around for dinner to cook!  You can even wash and cut up the veggies the night before to save you some time in the morning (however, I don't recommend doing this with the potatoes - they turn kind of gray in the fridge over night).  Let me tell you, there is nothing better than coming home to a house that smells like delicious pot roast, and all you have to do is serve and eat!  You don't even need to heat it up!!  Plus it's so filling, it will make at least 4 meals, so you get at least a couple nights off from cooking.

INGREDIENTS:

1 beef roast
1 large or 2 small onions, coarsely chopped
Potatoes, scrubbed or pealed and coarsely chopped
Carrots, scrubbed or pealed and coarsely chopped

1 packet of dry onion soup mix
Water

Ok, so you see I didn't list quantities.  That's because it really depends on the size of your crock pot and your personal preferences.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Generally speaking, I like to find a cut of meat that will cover the bottom of my crock pot.  I prefer to trim the fat off before cooking, but you don't have to.   

2. Then I throw in the whole onion, and as many potatoes and carrots as I can fit. 

3. Dissolve the dry onion soup mix in at least 1.5 cups of warm water, and add that to the pot too.  I personally prefer to add a lot of water because I think it cooks better that way.  But if you do this, it will turn out more like a stew, so if that's not your thing stick with just the 1.5 cups of water.  Just be careful to leave at least an inch between your water level and the top of the crock pot (a little more if you're cooking it on high), otherwise it will spill over and make a mess. 

4. Turn your crock pot on.  If you set your crock pot to high, it should be ready in 4-5 hours.  If you put it on low, it will take 6-8 hours.  There's no real harm in over cooking it, so if you're in between times, I say go high just to be safe.  Then just put the lid on and walk away!  No need to stir or do anything until dinner time. :)