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!

Sneaking Veggies into Dinner - Healthier Tacos

Everyone loves a quick and easy weeknight dinner.  One of our simplest (and most fun) has become known as Taco Tuesday.  Travis and I love tacos, but I've gotta tell ya...I don't love the idea of 75% of a meal being  meat and shell.  Sure you can add veggies to the top, but lettuce and tomatoes can only do so much.  In an effort to remove some of the guilt from the meal, I add a secret ingredient that helps dilute the meat/carb factor (making them healthier)...and no one will ever know.

The secret ingredient - mushrooms!

You just need three things from the store:

1-1.5 pound package ground beef (90% lean)
8 ounces mushrooms
A "Taco Dinner Kit" (that contains the shells, seasoning, and sauce)

Directions

Finely dice the mushrooms so they are about the same size of a "crumble" of the cooked ground beef so they'll blend in nicely.  I would think this one time a "slap-chop" would come in handy, but since I don't have one, I just chop away on a cutting board!

Brown and strain your ground beef.  Return ground beef to the pan and add the mushrooms.

Then prepare as you would normally - add water and seasoning packet and simmer until combined.  By the time it's done, you'll have to look pretty hard to tell the difference between the ground beef and mushrooms.

Such a sly way to sneak veggies into dinner - your family will be non the wiser.  ;)

What are your favorite ways to make everyday dinners healthier?