a go-to fall recipe

It is a beautiful chilly (56 degrees), overcast fall day here at the farmhouse!  As you can see from the photo I took this morning from the front porch everything is still very green and the leave are juuuust starting to turn color.  

There are so many amazing foodie blogs and sites with great recipes that I only rarely post my go-to recipes for you.  When I do, please know that these are my ride or die/delicious/can't live without/simple recipes that I've been making forever!  In fact, I've been making this pot roast recipe for 13 years!  I found it on a cooking site years ago and it has never disappointed!  I am a make-it-from-scratch kind of cook, but this recipe (with it's processed soups... oh the horrors :O) still has me coming back over and over each season! :)

This was a casual Sunday night dinner with a friend joining us, so we were eating in the kitchen with the fireplace lit.  White mini-pumpkins grown and sold at a local farm stand line the kitchen mantel. 

Table set with: 

antique hotel silver forks/ antique sterling and mother-of-pearl knives/ napkins are actually dishtowels from Ikea in my favorite split-pea green/ wicker chargers from Walmart years ago/ green dinner plates from Crate and Barrel years ago/ antique wood column base as candle holder/ dried mung beans, again in my favorite split-pea green, hold the candle,  large unscented candle from Pier 1/ dirty martini from Stoli and my favorite, and only brand I like of jalapeno stuffed olives, Pearls ;)

I served the pot roast with mashed red potatoes (actually I whip the potatoes using my Kitchen Aid hand mixer) with gravy, and roasted carrots with fresh lemon-thyme from the cutting garden.

This simple recipe can be made either in a slow cooker or the oven- your choice.  I will list cooking times for both.   I generally make it in the oven.  "Fair Warning":) .... either way you decide to cook it the smell is intoxicating and will have you salivating the whole time.  It will seriously make you crazy and hungry all day!! :)  When done, the meat just falls apart and the gravy that the meat makes is fabulous!

Here's the recipe: 

for the love of a house fabulous POT ROAST:

Place a 3 - 4 pound Beef Round Eye Roast or boneless Chuck Roast or Beef Bottom Round Roast (I use the Beef Round Eye Roast which I find at Costco) in a slow cooker or dutch oven.

Add a can of undiluted Campbells Cream of Chicken with Herbs (yes, chicken ;) over the top of the roast and spread it over the top and sides.  

Empty one package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix over the cream soup but do not mix.  

Drizzle 3/4 cup of white wine (you can use red) down the sides of the slow cooker pot or 

That's it!  You don't add any additional water.  

In slow cooker-  cook on LOW for 9 -10 hours

In oven-  cook at 275 degrees for 5 hours or

325 for 4 hours

Note...

-You can also add 2 quartered red onions at the start and 5 large-sliced carrots 1-1/2 hour into cooking.  

-If you can't find the Cream of Chicken with Herbs, you can substitute the regular Cream of Chicken.

-You can substitute red wine for the white, or chicken/beef broth.  I have always used red/white wine.

Bon Appetit !

xxojoan