Pot Roast & Popovers

Husband loves pot roast. So does his mother who made a roast nearly every week for Sunday supper when he was growing up. It’s been a while since my mother-in-law made a pot roast herself, but I know she enjoys savoring the memories as well as the flavors of her favorite meal, so we made plans to bring her over for an early Sunday supper.

I put the roast in the Crock Pot before we left for church and we were all set for a five-o’clock supper.

Until the electricity went out. Truly. It was 72 degrees in Austin last Sunday and the whole block lost power. Crazy.

The roast was fine, but delayed a couple of hours. Supper at 7:30 pm on a Sunday night isn’t ideal for my mother-in-law or our four school aged Littles. Or Husband. It was time for Plan B. I left the roast to finish cooking in the Crock Pot, we gathered our flock and enjoyed dinner at a new neighborhood Tex-Mex restaurant.

At first I was a little bummed out. I’m not fond of plans going awry, but I quickly realized this brief electrical outage would produce a silver lining. A Sunday supper twofer! We enjoyed the new restaurant (and NO DISHES to clean!) and the pot roast provided an extra special dinner for a Monday night. When we returned home from the restaurant, I put the cooked roast, still it the crock, straight into the refrigerator and simply re-heated it (on WARM for 2-3 hours) on Monday.

I made Susie’s delicious popovers before carpool and surprised the Littles with warm goodness straight from the oven as an after school snack. The general rule of thumb is that popovers are best served immediately after baking, but I kept the popovers (minus the four) in a warm oven until supper and they were light, fluffy and still fully popped over. I used a mini popover pan, but you can use a regular muffin tin. And, because she is all kinds of awesome, Susie conducted a popover baking experiment just to make sure you had options!

We definitely made new memories this week! I won’t quickly forget how the electricity went out or our Sunday supper twofer.

What are some of your favorite Sunday supper memories?

Come share a favorite family supper story with Susie & me on our 52 Sunday Suppers Facebook page. We love hearing from you!

Week Four Menu

Sunday Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker

Susie’s Popovers

Happy Sunday, friends!

Sunday Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker

Print Recipe

5 from 1 review

Delicious homestyle pot roast made easy in the slow cooker.

• Author: Kristin Schell
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 8 hours
• Total Time: 8 hours 10 mins
• Yield: 6-8 1x
• Category: Sunday supper

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 1/2 lb chuck roast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 (14.5 oz) can Fire-Roasted tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup red wine (or beef broth)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

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Instructions

1. Season the roast with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Brown the roast on all sides.
2. Transfer roast to the slow cooker. Add carrots, onion, celery, garlic and mushrooms. In a small bowl stir together tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, brown sugar, Worcestershire Sauce and seasonings. Pour over the roast and vegetables.
3. Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours, until roast is fork tender.