When I first met my husband I was a single working mom. He bought me a crock pot. I told him not to. I’d never use it. and I didn’t. Now this man, this man loves his slow cooker. He insists on having two of them upstairs (that doesn’t even tell you how many are stashed in the basement). Now that we have the twins, I see their wonder. I can make a beautiful dinner on my way to and from the bathroom though out the day. But this dinner. This is worth talking about, because you can make a second dinner from it. and you don’t need to clean up the first night. Lets face it, no one likes cleaning.

STEP 1

The night before, get out a pot roast that is just a little too big for your family. Get a bottle of wine. Drink a glass. And then pour it in a bowl with the meat. Add some seasoning. I used alpine, but most places don’t have that. So onion, garlic, salt pepper. If it started frozen leave it out of the fridge. If you have cats they won’t eat the meat because it’s sitting in wine.

cook times

When to prepare it? Now what time you prepare it is going to depend on how hot you cook it. I love smelling it all day. It’s my “food candle”. If you do it first thing cook it for 8 hours on low. If you do it at lunch cook it 4 hours on high and switch to low until you are ready to eat.

STEP2

So take the roast out of the wine. Searing it is optional, but it does help. To sear it cover in salt and pepper and place it on a hot skillet until you get dark brown lines on each side (turning it). Throw some onions in the hot skillet, saute, throw in the crock pot. Toss the pot roast in the slow cooker. Add half your wine. Add two cups of water and two bullion cubes. If you have chicken and tomato bullion add that along with the beef bullion. So we are at 4 bullion cubes. NOTE: YOU DON’T NEED TO ADD SALT BECAUSE OF THE BULLION.

STEP 3

Get one cup of cold water, 3 teaspoons corn starch. Whip in cup. put in the the slow cooker..

STEP 4

Get two bags of stew veggies and throw those in with it. (I love frozen veggies they make every thing so easy) if you don’t have frozen stew veggies use two potatoes, three carrots, and two celery stalks. Toss in.

STEP 5

8 or 4 hours later, depending on your cook time. Taste it. add seasoning. Pepper, onion, garlic, italian are safe bets.

Pull out pot roast, cut or pull apart. Serve with gravy and veggies. Reserve 1/4 of the roast. and 1/4 of the gravy and veggies.

Now. Don’t clean up. Throw the crock pot into the fridge, or live dangerously and leave it on the counter (please don’t sue me if that makes you sick)

Next day. 4 hours before dinner. Throw 2 cups of water. 1 cup of brown rice. 1 bullion cube into the pot and cook on high 4 hours.

You now have stew.