best roast ever

I only buy roast when it's on sale. Guess what was on sale this week! Here's an easy, no fail crock pot recipe. You can even leave it in the crock pot a little longer than intended and it still turns out great.

Crock Pot Roast

1 roast
4 cups water
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can soda

Place roast in crock pot. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Mix all other ingredients together and pour over the roast. Set your crock pot to low for 6-8 hours.

That's it! With this roast, I make mashed potatoes & gravy and some sort of vegetable.

Usually the roast cooks for longer than 8 hours and just falls apart as I'm taking it out. Yesterday it was still intact because it only cooked for 8 hours. You can add more water if you think it will cook longer than 8 hours because some of the liquid does cook off.

You said soda? Yes, any kind will work. I have used Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Coke, ginger ale, and even Mtn. Dew. Whatever you have in the house will be fine. I wouldn't use diet, though.

Put down that jar of gravy! Gravy from scratch is easier than you think.

Roast Gravy

2-3 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons flour
2-3 cups roast juice

If you want a smaller amount, use 2 of everything. For more, use 3 of everything. Just be sure the amount of butter and flour are the same.

When I start to peel my potatoes I pull out more roast juice than I think I will need. I have this handy measuring cup that allows the fat and broth to separate & the broth enters the pour spout from the bottom so less fat gets in the gravy. If you don't have that, just put it in a measuring cup and skim off the fat after it floats to the top.

Melt butter in a pan over medium high heat. Whisk in flour. Let the starch cook off the flour a little about a minute. Keep whisking. Slowly pour in some broth while you are whisking. At this point do not stop whisking or it will be lumpy. Once that is incorporated, pour in some more. Keep going, but go slow with the liquid. You can always pour more in to loosen up the gravy, but you can't thicken it more. Once the gravy bubbles, give it a little more of a stir then turn off the heat. The gravy may thicken a little more as it sits. Again, if it's too thick add a little more broth.

Leftovers? Well, you could just have this meal again. OR you can make a completely different meal.

Sometimes the roasts are on sale in a two-pack. I cook both of them (increase liquids if necessary). I shred the second one while it's still warm and mix in some green chile salsa. After it has cooled, refrigerate for a couple of days. The meat marinates in the salsa and is ready for shredded beef enchiladas, tacos, or taco salad. I only made one roast last night, but I did save the left over in the green salsa. We will have shredded beef quesadillas in a couple of days.

Go cook something good for dinner!