What's Cooking at the Sorenson's

Let me just take this time to tell you how much I L-O-V-E my crockpot!  It has spared many an argument in my marriage over "what's for dinner" and "when will it be ready" and "why do I have to cook AND clean up?!"  Well, you still have to clean up a crock pot and there's usually prep work involved, BUT there's nothing like coming home from work tired and drained and not having to cook anything because it's ready!

*Side note: crock-potting can also have it's pit falls.  These are what I call crock pot catastrophes, and I've had a couple in my young marriage...here's hoping this new recipe does not apply to the catastrophe category!!

In case you were not already aware (which you probably are because I think this is predominantly a family read blog) I have a wheat intolerance and am also sensitive to MSG.  Crockpotting is more difficult with these limitations since EVERY seasoning packet that really simplifies the crock pot contains one or both ingredients.  Which is why I love the blogosphere, and I subscribe to a gluten-free crockpot blog.  Life. Saver. 

Getting to the point, my mom makes a delicious gluteny/MSG filled roast with cream of mushroom soup and sliced onions.  Trust me, it's good.  If you don't have allergy problems, try it!!  Randall's recently had a sale on their Rancher's Reserve roast meat, so the hubs authorizes roast purchases during these times.  I've been wanting to try something different, since I always do a traditional roast from the cookbook I have using beef broth, seasonings, potatoes/carrots/onion, and a little soy sauce.  It's good, but gets a little ho hum with constant repetition.  The cream of mushroom soup sounded like a great idea and I just knew there had to be a modified recipe that I could use to make it my self.  I found one and made it last night.  I also saw on my GF crockpot blog that adding Lipton's onion soup was a lovely additive and it's wheat free!  (Warning: it does contain barley, so beware if you're totally GF, AND it does contain MSG, which is a bummer but I decided to use it anyway!)  It was fairly simple makng the cream of mushroom, except it was a little tedious having to pull out the food processor and grind everything up...I like having minimal clean up because I'm lazy.  I sliced up an onion and put both in the fridge so I would just have to dump it all in the pot this morning and press on. 

So, around 6pm this evening, I will know if my adventure in making my own mushroom soup pays off and the roast is a success.  If it's a winner I will be making it again.  However, I will be making my own onion soup mix so I can cut out the MSG. 

Stay tuned...