I'm lazy and buy the pearl onions in the bottle. lol

I always brown my pot roasts. I will definitely have to try your recipe. I love my simple recipe (ummm... brown the pot roast, put in slow cooker with whatever veggies sound good - usually carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, salt, pepper, italian herbs, and a can of diet coke...) but have to admit it gets old after so many times.

Some people cube the roast into 1 1/2 inch pieces and put a piece of garlic in each. This lets them brown the meat before putting it into the slow cooker. This offers even more flavor, but requires more work.

Mine has a faster setup time, but if you're willing to put in the legwork, I'd say go for it. I might try that myself next time.

One more thing....if you have high blood pressure or just don't like salt, you can back up a bit on the Italian dressing to reduce the sodium content. Personally I like to put in a little extra water so I have more juice.

This has about 6 decent sized servings.

I just brown the meat as one large roast. Its gets a little difficult to get it to flip and stay on the short ends, but still takes less time than cutting it up. lol

You can also buy them frozen, already peeled.

I had a cookbook that was all slow cooker recipes, even desserts! I need to find that bugger. I tried a few of the recipes and they were very good.

I actually have a document that has over a hundred crock-pot recipes. I have yet to try any of them because I didn't get the crock-pot as planned. If you want it, send me a PM with your email address and I will send it along.

PS - They are all Weight Watchers recipes, but you can just use regular ingredients instead of the low-fat/fat-free stuff.

Please see this thread from last July. I mention a book in post #10 that I very highly recommend, though you'd probably have to convert everything...

Peeling pearl onions: parboil, let cool, cut off the very ends with a chefs' knife, squeeze onions out of their skins into a bowl. IIRC.

Early in the Recipe Thread there's a crockpot recipe for baked beans. Sounds like you'd make a single batch with your small cooker, which might be just about right if you're cooking for just one or aren't absolutely mad for beans all week.

I don't use my crock pot as much as I'd like to. Mostly this is because the crock pot is usually buried in back of a floor level cabinet in the kitchen. Anyone who knows old-time radio may have heard of Fibber McGee's Closet. This is what I usually experience getting to it.

I did buy a 6qt cast iron dutch oven for the grill. The heavy lid will probably allow more pressure to build than the light lid of a crock pot. I am also considering adding smoke chips on the grill in the hope that some of the flavor might make it into the pot even if I have the grill lid open.

I've asked Bbro for the recipe document. I am on Weight Watchers, so this would be good for me.

Found that post about pearl onions. You also shallowly slit the skins so the body of the onion comes right out -- poit! -- when you squeeze.

I made scrumptous pot roast this weekend. I did my usual - brown the roast, put in pot with chopped potatoes, carrots, onions, celery... then I added 2 packets of Ranch dressing and 1 packet of Pesto sauce.

My stepson said it was better than Dinty Moore. That from him is a huge compliment. Probably the best compliment I've ever received from him.

I've never actually had Dinty Moore stew.

Trust me, if you do the whole recipe, he'll go crazy. It's the best pot roast I've ever had.

That's a good tip. Blanch them, cut the root side off, and squeeze 'em out.

ok, you've all done it!- "Beef, its whats for dinner" well tomorrow anyway. I'm gonna do a nice slow simmer with lots o' veggies including some wild mushrooms from last fall!
Damn you, all of you, you got me cooking again. Now she'll expect it all the time!

Over the years I've found that some women are turned on by a guy who can cook. Hope it works out for you.