Crock Pot Roast Beef

Hi everyone!

It's been a busy few weeks at the homestead. We have tackled a few projects over the past week.

We pulled the rug up in our bedroom to reveal beautiful oak hardwoods. I am beyond thrilled. It was a full day of pulling up nails and moving furniture and cleaning the floor (which was in almost perfect condition!) but the everything is back in place now and the room looks beautiful.

Our breezeway (the room that connects our garage to our house for those of you who don't know what a breezeway is) has been in a constant stage of being upgraded for the past year. A tile floor went in, all the walls were painted and now we are moving on to the last stage.....all new windows and a new storm door. That should be happening sometimes next week.

The week after that we are on vacation! I'll have a girls-day out to Ikea, we'll be taking some friends to Salem MA., and hopefully enjoying the gorgeous foliage here in Rhode Island.

We'll also be squeezing in apple picking this weekend, so get ready for some new apple recipes. I love apples. I love Fall. I love fall in New England. Can you tell?

Since Fall officially arrived last Saturday, I think it's time to break out your crock pots and Dutch ovens and cook up some delicious fall foods don't you?

I know I'm ready.

I found this recipe on Deep South Dish. Yes it uses 3 little envelopes. That doesn't bother me. What I love about this recipe is you can prep everything the night before, and when I say prep I mean take 2 minutes to get everything ready, and then just let it cook the next day.

We got two meals from this. The first night we had roast beef sandwiches on little slider buns with cheddar cheese and the second night we used the shredded beef to make tacos.

Two for the price of one, you can't beat that.

This roast had just the right amount of seasoning and boy did my guys love it smothered in gravy. Everything tastes better smothered in gravy right?




Crock Pot Roast Beef
adapted from a recipe at Deep South Dish
3 to 4 pound beef chuck roast (or other braising roast) I used a 4.5 pound chuck roast
1/2 cup of water
One envelope of dry onion soup mix
One envelope of dry Italian dressing mix
One envelope of dry brown gravy mix
1 (8 ounce) jar of salsa or picante sauce


Whisk together the water with ingredients from all 3 of the envelopes. Pour a little of the liquid on the bottom of the crock pot, place the roast on top. Don't be tempted to season the roast. There is plenty of salt and other seasonings in these envelopes.

Pour the remaining liquid mixture all over the top and all around the roast. Pour the jar of salsa or  picante sauce on top of the roast, cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high 4 to 5 hours.

To thicken gravy, remove the roast and tent with foil to keep warm. Carefully transfer the contents of the crock pot to a saucepan and stir in a slurry of one tablespoon of cornstarch with just enough water to loosen. Stir into the sauce, bring up to a boil, reduce and simmer until thickened.

Note: Can use any appropriate braising beef roast including eye or bottom round steak (not top round), rump, shoulder, arm or blade pot roast.