I started thinking about what I was going to make for dinner at about noon- and felt like it was definitely a crock pot, pot roast kind of a day. I fully intended on going home, starting dinner and doing some serious cleaning and packing for the big move next week (that's for another blog though...).
So I go to the grocery store and get the staples:*2.5lb chuck roast
*a small bag of baby carrots
*garlic
*6 white chef potatoes
*1 large yellow onion
... and my secret ingredient to anything in the crock pot- red wine (for the meal, not for me!)
I go home thinking I'm set to go and start by browning up the meat on the stove top... while that's browning itself up, I discover that we have no wine key- how is that even real?? Pretty sure we broke it a few weeks ago. Okay, so I'm not fretting yet, I'll just use some beef stock for my pot roast to stew in... only, there's no beef stock either. So after digging through the cabinets, I discover one lone package of Lipton's Vegetable Soup mix (you know the kind, mix it w water and noodles for soup, or sour cream for a yummy dip)- well it seems like a fair substitute.
So all of the ingredients plus 3 cups of water and a few tablespoons of worchester sauce get tossed into the crock pot to hang out together and make nice. Three hours later, the house smells of a childhood wintertime favorite of mine... and I'm ready to dish it out.
Outcome: SUCCESS! The vegetable mix marinated the meat well and the vegetables kept their flavor, and a bit of crunch!
