Slow cooker pot roast and lots of fun activities

Whelp, it's been a while since I've posted anything...sorry to my two dedicated readers. :)  Things have been pretty busy in our neck of the woods.  Since I last posted, I took a trip to DC for a dear friend's wedding:

 Packed up C and the hub and visited the Golisano Children's Museum of Naples:

Went to a family friend's wedding in St. Pete with D, my parents and brothers:

 

And took a trip to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa.  C was SO excited to see the elephants.  It was like she spotted the Beatles.  She was a little more timid when it came to feeding the giraffes (clinging to her Daddy for dear life):

 

 

But she liked hanging out with the zebras. 

With all these fun activities, I haven't had much time (or desire) to cook.  For that reason, I'm really glad that I took the time a few weeks ago to prep a pot roast for the slow cooker. 

The art of slow cooking has been a work in progress for me.  We never had a slow cooker when I grew up.  My Mom thought it just made everything taste like mush, and so it wasn't worth the waste of food to make something that no one enjoyed eating.  I have tried my fair share of slow cooker recipes that left me with bland mush, so I know where she's coming from. 

I have learned the key, for me anyway, is to sear my meat in advance.  It adds so much flavor and structure to the dish that it doesn't taste like you slow-cooked it; it tastes like you braised it, which is essentially what you're doing.  Of course, if you have the time to sear meat in the morning, you probably don't need a slow cooker because you have all the time in the world to cook and relax and drink wine and play jazz and luxuriate in a bubble bath while watching the Today Show.  This is what I imagine retirement will be. 

I know, however, that the chances of me waking up early to sauté meat and chop veggies to throw in the slow cooker are about as good as the chances of me waking up early to work out (ha!), so I need to find another way.  So, one Saturday when I didn't have a lot going on and Greenwise roasts were on sale, I decided to experiment with pre-searing and sautéing my ingredients, then freezing them all to use in my slow cooker on a less-relaxed day.

So I seasoned the meat, added some olive oil to a pan, and seared it on both sides.

 

Then I added a little more oil, and added some chopped onion, celery and carrots.

Once those were done, I figured I'd throw in some sweet potatoes, just because I had some and I like them.

 

Then I rinsed and tied up some fresh rosemary and thyme:

 

Then I let everything cool down, stuffed it all into a freezer bag, and stuck it in my freezer until I was ready for it.  Then, one frantic morning, I dumped the entire frozen contents into my slow cooker (note - I did NOT thaw first), added about a cup of beef broth and maybe another one-half to one cup of red wine, set it on low for 8 hours, and came home to perfectly braised, perfectly delicious pot roast.

I know the lighting is weird and makes the sauce look really greasy, but I promise, it was not.  The whole family scarfed it down, and I was a hero.  I usually like to eat my pot roast with mashed potatoes, but because I had thrown in the sweet potatoes, we didn't need them.  Since this recipe was so successful, I think that I'm going to try the pre-searing then freezing then slow-cooking technique with some other recipes.  I'm sure beef stew would turn out great, and probably plenty of chicken dishes would too.  You could also skip the freezing step if you make this early and want to eat it right away.  I usually make pot roasts on a winter weekend day, and I don't really use a recipe anymore.  I think my recipe is based on this one from The Pioneer Woman though. 

Slow-Cooker Pot Roast

Ingredients
1 3-4 lb chuck roast
1/2 to 1 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic (or, if you really like garlic like me, 4-5 cloves), minced
3-4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3-4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1-2 sweet potatoes, well scrubbed and chopped (optional)
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 bunch fresh rosemary
salt
pepper
1 cup beef broth
1/2 to 1 cup dry red wine (I typically use cabernet)

Directions
Prep
1.  Heat a pan on medium-high heat. While the pan is heating, season the chuck roast with salt and pepper.  Once the pan is hot, add about 2 tablespoons olive oil.

2.  Wait for the olive oil to get really hot, then add the roast and let it sear, undisturbed for maybe 3 -5  minutes on each side.  The length of time it takes to sear will really depend on how hot your pan is.  You want it really  hot, but you also don't want your roast to turn completely black and burnt.  Just check it and use your best judgment.

3.  While the roast is searing, I chop up my veggies.  Once the roast is done, remove it to a plate and let it cool down.  Then add another 2 tablespoons or so of oil to the pan, and add the onion, carrots and celery.  Let them cook down for a few minutes, and add the garlic.  I probably sauté them all for a total of about 7 minutes, but again, just watch them and don't overcook.  They're going to spend a lot of time cooking in the slow-cooker, so you just want them to develop a good flavor.   

4.  Once the carrots, celery, onion and garlic are done cooking, remove them to a plate and set aside.  Then add another 2 tablespoons or so of oil, and sauté the sweet potatoes. You could probably even skip this step altogether...I don't know if it really added much or helped the potatoes stay together any better.

5.  Rinse and dry the thyme and rosemary, then tie them together into one big bunch.

6.  Once your meat and veggies have cooled down, dump the herbs, veggies, and meat (in that order)all together into a big freezer bag.  If the bag is still pretty warm, stick it in the fridge for a few hours to cool down, then flatten everything out as best you can, and stick it in the freezer.

Day of
1.  Dump contents of bag into a slow cooker.  If it's frozen too solid to get the lid closed, leave it alone for 15-30 minutes and go blow dry your hair.  Then take a wooden spoon and bang the frozen mass into submission.

2.  Add the broth and wine.  You want it to come up about half way in the pot.  If it's too low, add some more broth.

3.  Cover and cook on low 8 hours (or longer), or high for 4 hours.  Remove the bunch of herbs, and enjoy!