When I was asked to do fall recipes for my buddy Adventures of a Military Family 8, I was thrilled! I have a ton of wintery recipes. Growing up the first part of my childhood in the snowy mountains, my family ate foods rich in gravy or stewed. I didn’t know it at the time but my grandmother was cooking for a large army. Every meal was at least ten hungry adults. My grandmother had a way of making cheap meals taste elegant. This happens to be right up her alley. The nice thing about this meal is the crackpot does most the work. You do a little prep. It cooks slowly all afternoon and then you pile it on some mashed potatoes and add a veggie.

Now my buddy Adventures of a Military Family 8 has never made a pot roast before so I’m going to take a little extra care on some of the details. Buy a pot roast (or two if you have an extra large family) when they go on sale. You don’t have to use it right away. I really like Chuck roast but this week Rump roast was on sale. Rump happens to be prettier but chuck has more flavor. Both do just fine. I find that one roast feeds about five. So that’s perfect for my family of four. If you have a larger family, buy two! And definitely wait until they go on sale to the price of hamburger. If you are still a little hesitant on the size, ask your butcher. The worst they will do is make you buy too big of a roast. And I promise you won’t mind that the next day! Pot roast sandwiches are fought over in my house.

Crock Pot Roast with Gravy
You will need the following ingredients for my pot roast. You probably have them all. If you use two roast, double the rest of the ingredients.

1 cup (at least) red wine
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 onion sliced
Salt, pepper and garlic powder
Oil (about 2 TB)

Season your roast up good with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Don’t be stingy! This is a thick piece of meat and you really can not over season it.

Brown in a very hot pan with a TB or two of oil on all sides. You could omit this step if you are short on time but trust me, it adds flavor to the gravy!

Toss that baby into your crock pot.

Add one onion, halved and sliced or if you are lucky enough to have some in your freezer, Pearl Onions are amazing in this! They are The Fireman’s absolute favorite! I just have way too much in my freezer right now to dig them out!

Now pour one cup of red wine in the pot…make sure it is something you would drink. If you dont drink red wine, ask the store for a recommendation. There are some pretty decent cheap wines out there right now. (That or I am just not that picky anymore!) I would pour myself a glass, but it is only 10:00am!!! I’m saving the rest of the bottle for dinner!

Now the easy part! Cook on low all day….
Remove the meat to a serving plate. Don’t worry if it is falling apart! That means it is PERFECT!
Skim off the grease from the juices. Or don’t but my spare tire is big enough…
Add one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (shhhh!!! Hide the can after-wards! My kids have an aversion to Cream of Anything soup)

It may not look pretty…Mix well! It will come together and make the most beautiful gravy!

You won’t even need to yell DINNER!