Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Most of us don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen when we get home from work, or if we are occupied keeping kids at bay. One of the best ways to get a delicious dinner on the table is to utilize a slow cooker - one of my favorite methods of cooking (or anti-cooking!) This is my favorite slow cooker recipe for pot roast. It has received rave reviews at work, potlucks, from family, and it has even won a little money in a contest I submitted it for. Not bad! You definitely can't complain when this dinner basically cooks itself. You simply pile all the ingredients into the pot, put the lid on it - and walk away. 8 Hours later, you have a home cooked meal that will soothe away your woes. An excellent comfort food, pot roast is a great meal to enjoy at the table with your family or plop it into a bowl and curl up with it on the couch (if you're into that sort of thing!) Anyway - onto the delicious components, and the secret ingredients that will help you conjure a real slow cooked pot roast masterpiece.

2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) packaged dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water (or fill both the cans of soup with water)
5 1/2 pounds pot roast
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
2 cups small red potatoes, quartered
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots

First, mix the cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix, and water inside the slow cooker. Put the hunk of roast into the slow cooker and cover it with the soup mixture. You don't have to submerge it completely. Add your vegetables and potatoes, and put the lid on! Cook on low setting for 8 to 9 hours. I have cooked it as long as 10 hours, and it was just as fabulous. If you don't have 8 or 9 hours, you can cook it on high for 3 or 4 hours, but it won't have the same quality as it will when cooked low and slow. Please keep in mind the ratio of vegetables and potatoes to meat is a variable that can be adjusted to your personal preference, as well as the thickness of how you cut them. You can also add pearl onions, toss in a bag of frozen peas toward the end, or add some canned corn to sweeten the stew up. Enjoy this feast with a nice glass of Merlot or some chilly iced tea. Just writing this is making me hungry!