Soon to be famous

This recipe was one of my first "Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I've ever had, can't live without it", non-soup crock-pot recipes. I got it from my friend Leslie (whom I must say that I love so much and miss getting to see every day, but I talk to her at least every day or two via some form of electronic communication). I have to give her props that all of her tweaking this recipe to make it fabulous paid off.

This is something I make at LEAST once a month, and never have enough left over to freeze because we eat every single solitary drop! One Sunday evening last summer, Patrick and Richard ate ALL of it. Yes, ALL of it, your heard me right. Anyway, even if there are no more chunks of meat or veggies, I will heat up the straggler remnants and have what I call pot roast soup ( just the juice and the tidbits of meat and veggies that remain). I urge you to try it and not adjust anything - she's right on the money with everything - even changing the seasoning packet seems to make a difference (the notes out to the side are all hers). So without further ado, here's...

Leslie's Famous Pot Roast

• 3 – 4 lb Roast
• Enough Veggies to fill up the Crock Pot with roast (I use baby carrots, new potatoes, mushrooms and sometimes celery)
• ½ Onion (sliced)

In a bowl mix the following ingredients:

• 1 can of Beef Broth
• ½ cup red cooking wine
• 1 tsp Paprika
• ½ tsp Basil
• ½ tsp Oregano
• ½ tsp Thyme
• 3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
• Pepper
• McCormick’s Pot Roast Seasoning (the seasoning that has the bag attached to it – I just like the flavor of this seasoning)
• ½ cup – cup of water

Mix all these ingredients and pour over the roast and veggies. Cook on Low 10 hours or on High 5 hours. I like to serve it with brown gravy.

...And did I mention that this is so way bad easy it's not even funny? Wow, how can I wait until Sunday to make this? Too bad chicken is already marinating for my Chicken Tikka Masala for tonight.

The Best Bean and Ham Soup EVER

This is sooo cheap to make and is delicious on a cold night. It's great served with garlic cheese biscuits. Yummmm...

Ingredients:

• 4 (15.5 ounce) cans great northern beans
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups of matchstick carrots (or chopped carrots, but I'm lazy sometimes)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2-3 cups chopped ham (my favorite is leftovers from a smoked ham, the smokey taste is FABULOUS)
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I use the organic, low sodium kind)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbs white pepper
• 2 tsp mustard powder
  

Directions:

Puree 2 cans of the beans in a food processor or blender. Put everything in the crockpot and cook all day on low. The longer it cooks, the better. I've left it cooking through the day and night and it just gets better and better the longer it's in there. Of course if you want a quicker version, just saute the onion and carrots,throw it in the crockpot and cook for a couple of hours on high. It is a totally different soup, but is still fabulous.