My Family's Favorite Meal

I have to say that, hands down, this roast is my family's most favorite meal.  If you were to ask them, what is your favorite thing for your mom to cook...they would respond with this roast.  I have been preparing this meal for about 23 years now.  Mostly during the cooler months as it gets pretty hot in the kitchen during the summer.  :)

Years ago, a sweet girl, Angela Mosley, and I were talking about cooking.  She said her favorite thing to cook was a roast.  I responded saying I had no idea how to cook a roast.  She convinced me it was the easiest thing ever!  She would put it in the oven, go to church, and when she got home the roast was done!  So she convinced me to try it and I have been cooking a roast like this for years.  Thank you Angela!!!

It really is very easy.  The steps are so few you will say, I can do that!

 I am often asked what piece of meat do I use.  My response is whatever looks good at the market.  On Saturday I chose a beef chuck roast that was minimally processed so it was a little pricey at $19.99.  However, when you break down the cost of this meal to feed nine people, with some left overs, the cost is really low.

I cook the roast in a Magnalite Cast-Aluminum pot that I have had for many years.  Here's a set at Wal-Mart.

These pots are my go-to pots.  We have a set of Cutco Cookware that we like, but in most cases, the Magnalite trumps Cutco.

The first thing I do is pierce the roast with a fork.  The reason I do this is so the soy sauce will penetrate down into the roast.

And here are the secret ingredients....yep...that's it!

Lite soy sauce (if you like more of a salty taste go with the regular)

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Back pepper

After piercing the roast, I season it with the spices, followed by pouring 1/2 half of the bottle of soy sauce slowly over the roast so it will seep down into the roast.

I flip the roast over and repeat the steps, pouring the rest of the soy sauce over the roast.

This is what it looks like.  I pour the rest of the soy sauce around the roast.

I preheat the oven to 300 degrees, place the lid on the pot and bake it for 90 minutes.

After 1 1/2 hours (90 minutes) I remove the roast from the oven.  

I flip the roast over so the other half can soak in the sauce.  I return it to the oven for another 1 1/2 hours (90 minutes).  After the roast is done cooking, remove it and slice it up.  It is so tender you do not need an electric knife.  It literally falls apart.  I wish I had a photo of it sliced for you.

To thicken the gravy, I dissolve two tablespoons of corn starch in cold water.  Once the gravy comes to a rolling boil I add the corn starch and water and stir constantly until it is completely dissolved.  It gives a good consistency to the gravy.

I make the mashed potatoes from scratch.  So easy.  Peel the potatoes and boil them until they are really soft.

I use my hand mixer to mash up the potatoes.  It goes really fast.  I add butter, milk, and season to taste with black pepper.

I cook the rice in the rice cooker (5-6 cups) and heat up the beans on the stove.

The hubs requested brownies so I baked two boxes.  We forgot to buy pecans so these are plain.

The only down side of cooking this during the summer is the heat the oven puts off in the kitchen.  It's great in the winter.

I'd love to hear from you about any special recipes your family loves for you to cook.

Hope you are having a great week!

Take care,

Debbie