Saturday, September 3, 2011

Crock Pot Beef Roast




All in favor of crock pots, say *I*!!! Me, too. I just love the darn thing. As a matter of fact, I recently entered a giveaway on the Fix-It and Forget-It blog and, out of almost 1,800 entries, I was the lucky winner of all 7 of the cookbooks in their collection and a beeeeeeautiful, shiney, new fancy-schmancy All-Clad 6.5 quart crock pot! It just came & I am so giddy to pull the big guy out & put it to work! It's gonna give all my other kitchen appliances a inferior complex. This meal was not made in the new cooker - but it's definitely worthy of a spot in it! I've made this exact roast probably 100 times in my life. However, this time I added one simple ingredient that has never been in it before - and it changed the flavor quite a bit! Liquid smoke. Ever cooked with it? I bought a bottle a while back & it's been patiently waiting on my shelf for it's chance to shine - and it finally came. The roast was as delicious as it usually is with an added depth of smokey flavor - very similar to the warmth you get in a bite of beef jerky. It was really yummy! And Hubby approved.

You'll need:


A chunk of beef, carrots, celery, potatoes, onion - all the good root veggies! Plus a packet of onion soup mix, liquid smoke & water.

First step, of course, would be to prep your produce. Peel the potatoes & carrots - and I suppose you'd 'peel' the onion, too! And, did you know you can also peel celery!? It's true. Run the peeler down the back edge & it'll take off that layer of strings that sometimes make it a tricky snack. I wouldn't bother doing that with cooked celery - it gets soft. But maybe something to consider next time you go for raw sticks!

Sorry - I got distracted.... now chunk up your veggies. Leave them fairly large - about 1-inch cubes on the onion, potato & celery, nice sticks on the carrots.

Load them into the crock pot first.


Now mix together the water & liquid smoke.


Place the roast on top of the veggies, sprinkle the soup mix on top of that & then pour the liquid smoke mixture over that.


Now just cover it, set it to low & find something else to do for 8 hours!

Come back & remove the roast & let it rest for maybe 5 minutes on the cutting board before you cut it. If you don't the juices will run out & you'll have less-juicy meat!


Now just serve it up with some scrumptious sides & you're done!


That's my Cranberry Pineapple Jell-o Stuff sitting beside it (yes, that is it's real name! LOL).

Can I be honest with you guys real quick? As much as I love a good roast, the veggies that result from a day of cooking alongside a roast are probably my *favorite* part of this whole thing! Sorry - it's the German in me - I LOVE potatoes!

Give it a shot - add a smidge of liquid smoke to your next roast & see what a difference it makes. I promise - you'll love it!


Crock Pot Beef Roast:

2-pound beef roast
2 ribs of celery, cut in 1-inch pieces
2 potatoes, peeled & cut into 1-inch cubes
2 onions - cut in half, then quartered
3 carrots, peeled & cut into strips
1 packet dry onion soup mix
1 TBsp liquid smoke
1 1/2 cups water

Put your veggies into the slow cooker. Place roast on top of veggies. Sprinkle roast with dry soup mix. In a bowl, combine water & liquid smoke. Pour over the top of roast.

Cover & cook on low for 7-8 hours. Let roast rest on cutting board for about 5 minutes before slicing.

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