Lyons Leadership

Roast may seem like Sunday food but with your crock pot in hand you can make a delicious mid week meal from whatever type of roast you currently have sitting in your freezer. It may seem hard to pull off, but it can be quite easy. You don’t even have to defrost the roast, you can use pork, beef or even venison, it just gets easier and easier.

Cut your veggies into equal size pieces. This will make sure they all cook the same and you don’t have some that are not cooked and yet others that are total mush. You can put your potatoes on the bottom of the crock pot. You may even want to make a packet of gravy and add it over the bottom layer of potatoes. Carrots are the other veggies I usually use with a roast. I just scatter these around the edges of the roast. Onions are a must and to keep them from cooking away I just put them on the top of my roast. If you like green beans with your roast I recommend you add them during the last hour of cooking time.

How to season a roast is completely up to your personal taste. It can be as simple as adding a packet of onion soup mix. Another easy option is adding some cream of mushroom soup. If you prefer a more Italian flavored roast simply grab your Italian seasoning mix and sprinkle your roast liberally with it.

When you add spices you can just add in dry spices at the beginning. They will be fine to flavor throughout the cooking time. If you are using fresh herbs it’s better to wait until the last hour of cooking to add them. They will quickly infuse the roast with flavor.

So how long are you going to cook this roast? Generally you can count on at least 6 to 10 hours for your roast to cook. If you look at the cooking directions on your roast packaging you can easily convert the cooking time in the oven to the crock pot. If it recommends cooking it in the oven for 50 minutes to 3 hours you are looking at 4 to 6 hours on high in the crock pot or 8 to 18 hours on low in the crock pot.

This long cooking time for a roast makes it perfect to make during the week. You can easily add your meat and vegetables before your go to work. You can even throw in a frozen roast. This will take a little longer because it has to first use the heat to defrost the meat, but it works out perfectly when you are going to be gone the whole day. I find a 2 to 3 pound roast added frozen comes out perfectly after about 8 or 9 hours. If you have a programmable crock pot, even better. You can set it to switch to warm mode after the meat reaches the appropriate temperature.

Cooking roast in the crock pot has so many advantages. You can use cheaper cuts of meat and they will still be tender and delicious. It gives you a chance to have a family dinner. You know exactly what went into your food which is always better for your health. Roast used to be a Sunday food, but with your crock pot it can now be an easy Wednesday dinner.