Pot Roast To Die For

Working at an after-school program (yay for summer break) means I don't come home until 6pm. The last thing I want to do is cook dinner. My new best friend is the crock pot (slow cooker to some). It's so easy to throw a bunch of ingredients in the crock pot, turn the dial on low and leave it for 8 hours. The best part is walking in the door and smelling the wondrous aroma of whatever you're cooking and get to eat it immediately! Another good reason to use the crock pot, especially during the summer months, is because it doesn't heat your whole house up to a boiling 85 degrees! Did you know it costs only cents to run a crock pot for 8 hours! It's a win win situation!

My all time favorite meal is pot roast. Growing up, my mom always asked the kids what we wanted our birthday dinner to be. Mine was always pot roast...my birthday is July 4th. It's okay to eat hearty in the summer. I just tried a new recipe thanks to allrecipes.com and I wanted to share it with you because it's pretty damn close to tasting like my mother's pot roast!

Three Packet Pot Roast (feeds 6)
Ingredients:

• 1 cup water (or beef broth)
• 1 (.7oz) package of dry italian salad dressing mix
• 1 (1oz) package of dry ranch dressing mix
• 1 (.75oz) package of brown gravy
• 1 (3lbs) boneless beef chuck roast (or whatever's on sale)

Directions:

Rinse off chuck roast and place it in crock pot. ***Optional & Recommended, throw in half a bag of baby carrots, 4 peeled and sliced potatoes, and half an onion***In a small bowl, combine water, italian, ranch, and gravy mixes. Mix until smooth. Pour the sauce over the top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I usually make this for 3 people, so I cut everything in half.