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!
Sunday Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker
Happy Sunday, friends!
PrintSunday Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker
Delicious homestyle pot roast made easy in the slow cooker.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Total Time: 8 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Sunday supper
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- Season the roast with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Brown the roast on all sides.
- 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.
- Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours, until roast is fork tender.
Amanda says
I love the honesty, about how plans are made and life interrupts. But sister, all we can do is raise our glass to change, and recalibrate. Which you did so beautifully well! And honestly -the refrigerator resting probably blended the flavors and made the meat even more tender the next day, so WIN WIN. Thanks for the great recipe.
Kristin says
Amanda – YES! The pot roast was much better the next day. Gotta love those silver linings. Love it when you stop by my table, friend. 🙂
Maggie Tate says
Love that! Our standard first day of school recipe growing up was always pot roast – a tradition we’ve carried over to my kids. I make popovers too and rice flour works great in the recipe. LOVE the Sunday Suppers recipes!
Kristin says
Maggie – I’m glad to know there are good gluten-free options for popovers! Our favorite popovers are with bleu cheese, but I’ve never tried to un-gluten them. Thanks for the tip.