Slow Cooker Pot Roast

I am a pot roast virgin. I've never made it before and it isn't something my mother made often but I have eaten it and I've wanted to make it for a long time. I decided that this fall I'm going to try to use my slow cooker more often. It's so nice to come home from work to a kitchen that smells like I've been there cooking all day without having to do any watching or stirring. So this morning I prepared my crock pot for some pot roast. In hindsight, I can laugh at what I must have looked like rushing to get dinner started and get dressed and ready for work at the same time. It resulted in a cut finger and the smoke alarm blaring which means I'll need to do some preparing the night before the next time I make this. I may have rushed around but when I came home I was nice and relaxed and ready to enjoy my dinner. I have only one complaint and it's not with the recipe but just something that comes with using a slow cooker....I could not make the gravy in the crock. I took all the meat out and the potatoes, added my thickeners (tried three different methods) and it just did not thicken up to a gravy like consistency. I took out the juice and added it to a small pot and put the heat up, within minutes I had a delicious thick gravy (Dad, you would approve!) I assume that the crock pot does not get hot enough for the liquid to boil and that's why it didn't thicken. If anyone has any tips for this I would love to hear them!

I found the recipe just by searching for healthy slow cooker pot roast recipes. This recipe was found at about.com I searched for healthy recipes because most of the ones I found contained canned gravy or condensed soup. Although I'm sure those would taste equally delicious it's just not what I was going for.

Give this recipe a try, it's definitely a keeper in our house!

Crock Pot Pot Roast Dinner

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1-1/2 lb. boneless beef top round, cut into 6 pieces
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks
16 oz. pkg. baby carrots
14 oz. can ready to serve beef broth
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Preparation:

Combine flour, salt, pepper, and thyme in small bowl and coat beef with this mixture. Cook beef pieces in olive oil in a nonstick skillet for 2-3 minutes on each side to brown. Set aside.

Combine potatoes, carrots and onion in 3-4 quart slow cooker. Place meat on vegetables. Pour beef broth and Worcestershire sauce over meat. Cover crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours until beef is tender.

Remove meat and vegetables from crock pot and place on serving platter. Cover with foil to keep warm and place in slow oven.

Combine rest of broth and the cornstarch in a small bowl and mix well with wire whisk. Add to liquid in crock pot, turn to high and cook for 10-15 minutes until gravy is thickened.

Serve with beef and vegetables. 6 servings