How to Make the Perfect Gluten Free Pot Roast--Never Underestimate the Power of a Stranger

Yesterday was Sunday, and I really had a hankering for a good Sunday Roast. Lucky for me there's complete strangers out there who know how to make them! I can remember the first time I had really great roast: I was about 10 years old and an older couple in our neighborhood invited my mom and I over for dinner one Sunday after church. She presented a lovely roast, and even in my tender years I was dying to know how she made the meat taste so yummy. She said, "You just cook it in the oven and it tastes like that." Of course I didn't believe a word of it, and continued the rest of my life believing she had a secret she just couldn't bear to share with me. So a few Saturdays ago, I was perusing the meat selection at the local grocery store and happened to see another mom with a cart piled almost as high as mine, and I took the chance of being the crazy woman who talks to complete strangers in a store. "I never know what cut of meat to get for Sunday Roast," I said loudly in her direction. She smiled and asked if I wanted a tender fall-apart roast or a slicing roast. I knew I'd reeled in an expert. So here's what she taught me in the meat aisle:

1. For a tender, melt in your mouth roast, buy a rump roast. They are a little more expensive, but worth it.

2. Slice an onion and place it on the bottom of the pan and then lay the meat over the onions, so it keeps the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan. (Genius!)

3. Mix together a can of cream of mushroom soup (I use Progresso Creamy Mushroom, only available in Utah at Smith's Grocery stores, which is now labeled gluten free on the front!) and a packet of Onion Soup Mix (I use the Western Family brand) and dump over the meat to keep it nice and moist and make a delicious no-work gravy.
4. Here's the trick that makes it all work: Cover the pan and bake the roast for 1 hour at 350 degrees, then turn the heat down to 250 degrees and bake for 5 hours.

Seriously, the lady speaks truth. And the older lady in my neighborhood also speaks truth: Just bake it in the oven and it will taste that way. This was one of the best roasts I've ever eaten. We had it when my brother in law and his two teen sons were visiting us and the whole platter was eaten and the compliments just kept on coming. So when you're in the mood for a great Sunday hunk of beef, try cooking it this way and see if you don't love it so much you could marry it.

Happy eating!