Pot Roast and Pasta? "Yes, Please!"

Well...I'd never heard of cooking a Pot Roast in a Marinara Sauce until several years ago when my mom told me how Wanda and Johnny Lovoy have their children and grandchildren over EVERY Sunday after church for a yummy roast that she cooks all day in a marinara sauce and also had homemade meatballs that they "snack" on while they are waiting for the real meal!! WOW! Can you imagine doing that every Sunday? I certainly cannot but I love thinking about it!!!
So....when I woke up this morning still not feeling great from an ear infection I knew I needed something very simple to make for dinner...on top of that, Miller's basketball schedule is so sporadic this week that I need something I can dish up at any given time and not have to do alot of work....which lead my mind to thinking about what I had in the freezer! I asked Jim to check for chicken...that was a "No"...I said, "get the roast out and leave it in the sink to thaw...." then it hit me....Pot Roast and Pasta....it doesn't get much better or much easier than that!!! And it was oh so yummy!!! Try it sometime!!! I promise it will be a "keeper" recipe for sure!!!!

Italian Pot Roast and Pasta

• 1 (8-oz.) package sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 large sweet onion, cut in half and sliced
• 1 (3- to 4-lb.) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (1-oz.) envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1 (14-oz.) can beef broth
• 1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Preparation

• 1. Place mushrooms and onion in a lightly greased 5-to 6-qt. slow cooker.
• 2. Sprinkle roast with pepper. Cook roast in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until browned.
• 3. Place roast on top of mushrooms and onion in slow cooker. Sprinkle onion soup mix over roast; pour beef broth and tomato sauce over roast. Cover and cook on LOW 8 to 10 hours or until meat shreds easily with a fork.
• 4. Transfer roast to a cutting board; cut into large chunks, removing any large pieces of fat. Keep roast warm.
• 5. Skim fat from juices in slow cooker; stir in tomato paste and Italian seasoning. Stir together cornstarch and 2 Tbsp. water in a small bowl until smooth; add to juices in slow cooker, stirring until blended. Increase slow cooker heat to HIGH. Cover and cook 40 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Stir in roast.

ok....can we now have "True Confessions"? I was way too sick to really make this version that I've made before...and it was divine...trust me on this one!!!  BUT....hopefully this will make you happy to know that all I did was trim my roast of all fat....place in my slow cooker....pour a bottle of store bought Marinara Sauce and 1 C red wine mixed together over the entire roast....cooked on low for 7 hours...it could have cooked a couple of more if needed....sliced it into chunks and served it over hot, angel hair pasta and put shaved parmesan cheese on top! It was incredible!!! Not a morsel was left!!!!

Sometimes the best kept secrets are just that......the BEST!!!!!! Hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!!!!

Thanks for reading this blog...and thank you so much for your friendship!!! I promise to get better at writing and especially better at recipes!!! It's just been the way life is these days!!! All normal....just living life out day to day.....the way it was intended to be!
God Bless!