Easy Crock-Pot Beef Roast

A tender beef roast is one of my favorite comfort foods.  I remember being SO excited when my mom would bring out a roast with carrots and potatoes!  My brother and I ate as many of the carrots as we could - my poor parents probably never got any.  I guess that's the plight of the parent...if your kids are excited about eating carrots...you let them eat all the carrots.

This past weekend, we made a roast while Travis' parents were in town.  Now that I'm involved in the cookin', it's important for the preparation to be quick (since we have Owen).  That's why the Crock-Pot is your best friend.

This roast takes about 10 minutes to prep (it's all "open and dump") and 5 hours to cook.  Can't get much easier than that!

Ingredients

Beef roast
1 pound baby carrots
18 ounces sliced mushrooms
Large onion, chopped
Large red pepper, chopped
2 pouches Lipton dry onion soup mix
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (10.5 ounces)
1 can Cream of Onion soup (10.5 ounces)
1-2 cans water (use empty soup cans), depending on how much you need
Salt & Pepper


Directions

Place beef roast in bottom of Crock-Pot.
Add carrots, sliced mushrooms, chopped onion, and chopped red pepper.
Add Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Onion Soups.
Sprinkle in 2 pouches of dry onion soup mix, salt and pepper.
Pour in 1-2 cans of water, depending on how much liquid you need.  (Start with one and see if more is needed later.)
Cook on high for 5 hours or until beef is cooked through.
If serving directly from Crock-Pot, cut beef into slices and return to pot.


We served ours with half a baked potato (it's yummy to spoon over the potato!) and broccoli!

Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

One of my favorite meals growing up was Beef Stroganoff.  I worked from home Friday so I could stay off the roads because Boston's big snow was on it's way (Nemo) and knew exactly what would make the perfect dinner to celebrate the beginning of our snow-pocalypse.  Chunks of beef, mushroom and onion in a creamy sauce - perfect!

We decided to invite our awesome next-door neighbors, Paul and Ali, over for dinner.  It's great to have friends who don't have to break the driving ban to come for dinner!  When they arrived, Ali told me Beef Stroganoff is Paul's FAVORITE food, and I was immediately nervous.  Could mine hold a candle to his mom's?  *nail biting* After inhaling the first few bites, the assured me this was certainly on par with mom's.

Ingredients

3 lbs cubed beef stew meat
1 large onion, chopped
16 oz mushrooms, sliced
26 oz Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
16 oz Sour Cream
2 cups beef bouillon
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Directions

Prepare your ingredients - lightly brown the beef on each size, and saute the onions and mushrooms in a little olive oil and salt.

Add beef, onions, mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup, half (8 oz) sour cream, beef bouillon, and Worcestershire sauce to the crock pot, stir, and turn on to start cooking!

Cook for 8 hours on low or 4-5 on high, until beef is very tender.  Just before serving, stir in remaining half (8 oz) of sour cream.

My favorite way to enjoy Beef Stroganoff is over egg noodles - it's just perfect!

Enjoy!