Making food in a slow cooker is a convenient way of starting dinner in the morning and having it ready in the evening. Certain meals lend themselves to this type of cooking, and a Crock-Pot® pot roast with vegetables is one of these. Like a traditional pot roast, this meal is made with relatively few ingredients including meat and a variety of vegetables. Some recipes may call for the addition of herbs and spices as well as broth or other liquid to aid in cooking and flavor.
In addition to the advantage of being able to cook a meal while doing other things, making Crock-Pot® pot roast with vegetables has other pluses as well. Many people like the fact that using a slow cooker allows for the use of just about any kind of roast. Inexpensive cuts of meat that may be too tough to eat when cooked using other methods come out delicious when cooked in a Crock-Pot®. The long hours of cooking at a very low temperature allows the meat to become extremely tender.
When making Crock-Pot® pot roast with vegetables, it is important to give some thought to the types of vegetables that are included. Technically, any kind of vegetables can be added to the mix when making Crock-Pot® pot roast with vegetables, but in reality some types work better in such a recipe than do others. Vegetables commonly used include onions, mushrooms, carrots and potatoes. Others end up becoming soft and mushy if left to cook in the cooker all day.
Even so, it is possible to add a variety of vegetables to the Crock-Pot® without them getting too soft if they are added late in the cooking process. For many people, this means adding them after work but a couple of hours before dinner. Although corn and peas, among others, can be added to the meal this way, as a general rule people just use those foods that can be cooked all day along with the meat.
When making a Crock-Pot® pot roast with vegetables in a slow cooker, it is important to always add liquid. A certain amount of water will cook out of the food, but covering the food with water or broth is an important aspect of making slow cooking work. When the food is placed in the pot, it also is often layered, so vegetables are put in, then the meat, then more vegetables, then seasoning, and then everything is covered with liquid. The end result is tender food that has all of the flavors blended together and is ready with a minimum of trouble at the end of the day.
