A recurring question amongst moms seems to be “What are you making for dinner?”  Seriously, this question is asked in the lounge at work, on play dates, on Facebook, and via text.  It became such a hot topic in one of my mothers of multiples groups, I started a pin board for the group.  Members of the group pin their favorite go-to meals for their families.  The rules are 1. It must be a meal you served to your family before.  2. Your kids actually ate it.  It’s also best if recipes are relatively simple to prepare and clean up, because who has time for that?   I certainly don’t have spare time for difficult meal prep or clean up.  Since contributors are moms of multiples, meals are generally well suited for large families as well.

Last week when we hosted a play date with the Bell quads, I had just the go-to meal to prepare: Melt in Your Mouth Pot Roast.  My mom introduced me to Mississippi Pot Roast a while back, and I embellished that recipe by adding our favorite root vegetables.   It is the ideal meal for a dreary winter day (or any other time you want some comfort food!)

Ingredients:

• 1 chuck roast
• 2-3 large baking potatoes OR 5-6 small potatoes scrubbed well
• 2-3 medium onions
• 1 package of baby carrots
• 1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing powder OR 3 tbs (if you buy the large container like me)
• 1 package of Au Jus Gravy
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 5-6 peperoncini peppers

Start by spraying your slow cooker with cooking spray or using a liner.  Then, cube the potatoes and chop the onions (keep the onions relatively large).  Line the bottom of your slow cooker with the potatos, carrots, and onions.

 

Next, cover your roast with the Au Jus and Ranch powder so that it is fully covered.  Then, nestle it on top of the vegetables.

 

 

Lay the stick over butter on top of the roast and put the peppers on top of the butter.  You can add more vegetables around the roast if there’s room.  Since my kids love carrots I added several more handfuls.

 

 

Cook on low about seven hours (or high if your roast is partially frozen like mine was).  I promise, you’ll enjoy the aroma filling your home all. day. long.  It taunts our poor dogs as the scent lingers.  When I finally  open the lid I have two dogs with waging tails drooling at my feet.  If you are having guests over, their mouths will be watering when they reach the front door.  It’s that good.

 

I put our roast on by about 10:00 am before the play date, and it was ready to serve by the time our guests arrived for dinner.  Since we were serving a meal for 12, I paired the roast with a green salad and garlic bread, just to make sure we didn’t run out of food.  However, it works as a stand alone meal beautifully.  I forgot to snap a photo of the roast when it was done in the Crock Pot, but here are the children’s plates.

 

With the added vegetables, the roast comes out a bit like a stew with a nice gravy perfect for dipping your bread into.

We brought the picnic table indoors for the kids since it was rainy and cold, and clearly our table doesn’t seat 12.  That meant the begging, food snatching dogs were banished to our bedroom for a while.  I mean, eight toddlers eating pot roast would be easy pickings for two dogs.

Following our meal, the quads romped around upstairs before we put everyone into jammies.  When someone heard Lily barking on the other side of our door, all eight decided to take a peek.

 

We never captured all eight at once, but we got close.  That’s a lot of little people crammed together.

What is your favorite go-to family meal?  Have any we should try?  If you’re interested in expanding your family’s meal repertoire, please visit my MoM and Kid Approved Meals board.  Better, yet, follow along.

Hugs,

Amber

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