It Must be Tuesday, Dinner's in the Slow-cooker!

Tuesdays.  I think I actually dislike Tuesdays more than Mondays.  Tuesdays around here are CRAZY!  My oldest has Science, my youngest has gymnastics, my middle has Karate.  We do school in the morning and run all afternoon and evening.  When I finally make it home from the craziness, I am both tired AND hungry.

Enter the slow-cooker.  I truly believe this was the invention that is even better than sliced bread.  A little work in the a.m., and the result is yummy, creamy, warm and cozy food in the evening.  And it's even nicer on days when it's 27 degrees outside, and the weather man is predicting snow in the next 24 hours.  The slow-cooker in my house gets a lot of use.  Especially on Tuesdays.  A couple years ago for Christmas, my mother bought me the Hamilton Beach Slow-Cooker that has one base and 3 different crock styles.  It has a 2 Quart, 4 Quart and a 6 Quart.  It's such a lifesaver.   I love this stupid piece of kitchen equipment nearly as much as my Kitchen-Aid Mixer.  Before I wax poetic about it, I'll move on.

The other invention I like a lot, Reynold's Crock Pot Liners - again, not an Aldi thing, but very cheap at Walmart and other stores....I do get them.  Anything to make my Tuesdays easier.

Well, today is Tuesday.  I confess that one of the ingredients in tonights dinner is NOT from Aldi.  I got a beautiful Eye of Round Roast from Costco the other day, and that's whats sitting there.  Aldi does very occasionally sell eye of round roast, but more frequently sells it's cousin, the Chuck Roast, which would also work in this recipe.  Chuck is also a slow-cooking friendly roast, it just tends to "shred" more than an eye of round.

You will notice that there is a lack of a normal pot roast ingredient in this dish.  Potatoes.  Yes, I did not include potatoes.  Hubby's diet demands that, however, if you choose to add potatoes, you may!


Tuesday Pot Roast

3-4 Lb Eye of Round or Chuck Roast
1 medium onion, large dice
1 stalk celery, cut thin
2 cloves garlic
4 carrots, peeled and cut in coins
1 10 oz package of Baby Bella Mushrooms, stems removed and quarter (reserve stems for the leftover dish from this recipe!)
1 can Fit & Active Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 package Chef's Cupboard Beefy Onion Soup & Dip Mix
1 Can Happy Harvest Diced Tomatoes, drained
1 Can Happy Harvest Tomato Sauce
2 Tbs Baker's Corner Corn Starch
2 bay Leaves.
Ground Black Pepper (fresh if you have a grinder)

Place ingredients in the crockpot in the following order:  onion, celery, garlic, carrots, mushrooms.  Trim outside fat from the roast (this is harder to do on a chuck than a eye round, so feel free to skip on the chuck unless there's a thick layer of fat on the outside).  Liberally pepper the outside of the roast on all sides and place in the slow-cooker on top of the vegetables.

In a medium bowl, mix together mushroom soup, onion soup mix, drained diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and corn starch.  Make sure the cornstarch is fully incorporated and not lumpy.  Pour over the roast and vegetables.  Tuck the two bay leaves inside the gravy.

Cook on low 8-10 hours.  I find that removing the lid the last half hour or so allows the gravy to thicken nicely.   Slice and serve with the gravy & vegetables.  Since we don't do potatoes, we usually serve over Fit & Active Brown Rice OR Mashed Cauliflower.