We Interrupt this Dinner....

I found a beef chuck roast in the freezer of beef, at least that is what the package said. I am becoming more convinced every day that Farmer Brown mistakenly took Babe the Big, Blue Ox to the butchers. Look at that bad boy. It barely fit into my extra large skillet to braise.

I am a die-hard crock pot girl because I usually don't have the time to slowly simmer a roast in the oven all day. But since it was a snow day, it was time to try something new.

I Googled a recipe for beef chuck roast and this came up on several different sites. So if it is yours to claim, all the credit is yours.

I glanced at the recipe, glanced in the fridge, and assumed it was all systems go.

Pot Roast
Beef chuck roast

2 large onions

Salt, pepper
2 lbs. potatoes, cut up
1 lb. carrots, cut up
1 bottle (8 oz) Kraft Catalina Dressing, divided

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of roast. Brown meat in large heavy pot on high heat in 1/4 c. of the Catalina dressing (I also used a smidge of olive oil), turning to brown all sides. Add onions; stir to brown. The recipe said to then do a bunch of stuff and let it simmer on the stove. But I was worried that the hunk of meat squeezed in that pan wouldn't cook properly, so I plopped that bad boy in a 9 x 13 roasting pan. I added water to the rest of the dressing bottle and poured it about a quarter-inch around the roast and onions.

(See, Farmer Brown forgets to tell me when he uses something almost to the bottom so that the rest of us can't enjoy it. It's like a game - how much can he get away with without having to replace it or add it to the shopping list. This is everything - two sheets of toilet paper, one swig of juice, one ounce of gas. When I found the recipe, I glanced in the fridge, saw the Catalina. During the recipe, I noticed that there was only about a 1/4 of cup in the bottle. I was stretching to get enough to brown the roast.)

Then I forgot to add the vegetables.

Cover the pan tightly with foil. The goal was to simmer for about 4 hours.

After 2 1/2 hours, Farmer Brown called and got me all flustered about the impending snow storm. I had to go to the store. The forecasters were calling for 6 - 12 inches, which where we live, can leave you stranded for a few days. Because I'm a paranoid freak, I turned the oven off because I had visions of the grease bubbling out and over and starting a fire. When I returned 1 1/2 hours later, I turned the oven back on to 350 degrees to bake the rolls, so it cooked for another twenty minutes.

The roast was tender and had a tang from that 1/4 c. of dressing that I added. I can't imagine the flavor if I had used a whole bottle - would have been fabulous.

Vegetables would have been nice.