Slow Cooker (Crockpot) Beef Round Roast with Baby Carrots and Red Potatoes

Well, we got hit with another snow storm yesterday, that added 12" to the 33" that were already on the ground here in Northern Virginia.  Good thing we all shlepped to Costco for a few hours on Tuesday, mostly to get out of the house - but we also stocked up on some goodies.  Wine.  Goat Cheese.  Fresh Mozzarella...you know, the essentials!  ;)

Let me say that Costco Goat Cheese and Mozzarella are awesome.  And for 2 lbs...and just under 4 dollars each...that's an amazing deal.  We pay 7-10 dollars for a half pound at our local grocery chain. 

I digress...  Being stuck inside, and wanting something comforting and hearty, I checked my fridge.  I had a 2.7 lb Beef Round Roast that was looking pretty good.  So I looked up recipes on All Recipes and found one called "Erica's Delicious Slow Cooker Beef Roast"...and modified from there.

After reading some of the reviews, I made more than a few modifications...

Slow Cooker Beef Round Roast

Here's what I used:

1 2.7 lb Beef Round Roast (other roasts will work, too)
20-30 baby carrots (enough to cover bottom of Slow Cooker)
1 medium onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
6-8 red potatoes, quartered
1 cup chicken broth
1 can condensed golden mushroom soup
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
2-3 tbsp AP Flour
2-2 tbsp Worchestershire Sauce

Here's what I did:

Add all vegetables to bottom of Slow Cooker, except for the potatoes.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet (I used nonstick) with 3-4 tbsp of vegetable oil, and set to medium/high.  Season the roast with salt, pepper, and dredge lightly with AP Flour.  Add roast to pan, and sear for 15 minutes, browning all sides of the roast.

Place roast on top of vegetables in the Slow Cooker, and pour broth, soup and worchestershire sauce over roast.  Set to LOW for 6-8 hours.

During the final 1.5 hours, add potatoes, and make sure they're covered in gravy so that they heat evenly.

I sliced the roast in 1/2" pieces, and then placed them back in the slow cooker during the last 20-30 minutes, and served the vegetables and roast in soup bowls.  This was an easy, hearty meal for a blustery day.

Seriously Good Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Red Potatoes & Onions

As with most of my cooking decisions, I got a good price on a 3 lb pork tenderloin.  I was able to find two recipes that I combined to create possibly the most tender and moist pork tenderloin I have ever eaten.  No joke.  Even days later, I'm eating slices of the pork loin cold as a snack - an activity I usually reserve for leftover filet mignon, still scrumptious cold.

My recipe is an adaptation of a Giada de Laurentiis recipe "Roasted Pork Loin with Fig Sauce" but without the Fig Sauce, using the leftover seasoning that I had from the Fiorientina recipe that I posted last Monday.

Here's what I used:

3 lb pork tenderloin
6-8 red potatoes, halved
2 small onions, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken broth

Fiorientina Rub:

1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp dried sage
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp black pepper

Here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cover roasting pan in foil to save cleaning time.

In a small mixing bowl, combine Fiorientina Rub with olive oil and blend.  Place pork loin in roasting pan, and coat with rub and oil mixture.  If tenderloin is in more than one piece, wrap with cooking bands (as seen in picture below).  Add potatoes and onion to remaining rub mixture and stir to coat.  Add vegetables to pan around pork.

Roast for 45 minutes, turning pork every 15 minutes to evenly brown the meat.  At end of cooking time, meat should register 145 degrees.  Once removed from oven, place pork on a cutting board and tent with foil to keep warm and allow to rest another 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, add chicken broth to pan with vegetables and meat drippings and stir to remove browned bits into the broth.

I plated this with some quick cook brown rice, and drizzled the sauce over the plate.  This was seriously good pork.