Friday: Slow Cooker Night: Pot Roast.

Friday night we often go out to a friend's house for cards, games or just company.  This means that we often eat out on Fridays, just because there is no time to cook.  So Friday is going to be Slow Cooker night.  I currently have two pots for this- A Rival Cock-Pot (this model) and a Hamilton Beach Stay or Go. The Rival Crock-Pot is a 6qt, and came with two crocks.  A large oval, and one that had two wells for separate cooking of side dishes. It's "programmable" which means it has a button that you use to select cook time.  This is also its down side, because if it gets unplugged for any reason, you have to re-set it, unlike a traditional pot with a knob that will just go right back to cooking when plugged back in.  The Hamilton Beach is a smaller crock- I'm pretty sure it's a 4 qt. It has a knob, which I like better, and a seal-able lid for transport- Also a life saver.  It was a gift- If I had bought it for myself, I'd have gotten the 6qt version.

On to tonight's feature: Pot Roast


Let's see- making two 3 lb chuck roasts, split between my two crocks.
so I need 1 lb of red potatoes cut into bite size pieces.,
1 lb of baby cut carrots
1 large sweet onion, cut into large chunks
Celery, if desired
canned mushrooms
Lipton Onion soup mix, or Hidden Valley Ranch  dressing mix AND Good Seasons Italian dressing mix

I am going rub one of the roasts down with the onion soup mix, the other with the dressing mix (I'll end up using about half of the combined packets) . The big crock has the potatoes, onions and carrots layered in the bottom. That one gets the dressing covered meat.  The small crock will just be meat, for Sunday night. It gets the soup mix, meat, and that roast gets more heavily trimmed of fat and connective tissue.  We'll be having bbq pulled beef sandwiches. I'll add a little water, no more than 1/2 cup per crock.  I'll be setting the pots on low, on separate circuits, as my kitchen wiring is not new, and I don't want to blow a breaker.