My first attempt at Pot Roast

Occaisionally my parents will unload unwanted food and give it to me. Many times I ask for the venison my Dad acquires through hunting because it's really healthy and really good. Thus far I discovered that venison cutlets are awesome (almost the best steak I've ever had), and that ground venison is fabulous in chili. I still have yet to attempt the ribs, but I'm going to wait till at least Spring for that since I'm sure they will need to be grilled (assuming they fit on my 'old style' cheapo grill). After getting all this food from my parents I made a list of what I could make with it. Some of what they gave me makes meals, other stuff I needed to purchase 'the extras' that are important to go with it.

So tonight I'm making a macaroni and cheese 'casserole' of chicken (because I have way too much frozen chicken now), broccoli, and Kraft Cheese Delux. It was pretty good. In the meantime though, I remembered I had the ingredients to make pot roast. My parents gave me 2 venison pot roasts; I thought I would start with the smaller one. After looking at several recipies online, I made up my own. This is the first time I ever have written down a recipie since usually I just make it up as I go along, and what I make usually comes out very yummy. It's all about experimenting. So here's the recipie, I'll let you know how it tastes tommorow.

Venison Pot Roast (Slow Cooker)

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs Venison (or Beef) Pot Roast
1/2 bag of Baby Carrots (you can add more if you want)
5 Potatoes Sliced and Cut in Half (I'm sure any kind is fine)
5 Celery Stalks Chopped (I had lots of celery and I like it)
1 T. Minced Garlic
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Thyme
1 tsp. Basil
Salt/ Pepper to Taste
1 tsp. Worchestershire Sauce
1 tsp. Parsley
2 Beef Bullion Cubes
2 T. Balsamic Vinegar (I normally wouldn't add this, but it was a few other recipies so what the hey)
1 Pkg of Lipton Onion Recipie Secrets (Tastes good in other stuff, why not try Pot Roast?)
6-7 cups of water, just enough to cover up the meat

1. Take the Pot Roast (should be wrapped up with twine from the butcher), season with salt and pepper, and then sear all sides in a Tablespoon of Olive Oil until brown (I guess this is for looks, not sure yet. I read this in a bunch of recipies so I figured it was necessary).

2.While waiting for the meat to brown, I added all the spices etc to the large crock pot, just to keep track of what I was adding. I'm sure you could do this after number 3; normally that's what I would do.

3. Add the roast to the crock pot. Add the water, and bullion cubes (and stir up the spices.)

4. Place the potatoes, carrots, celery (you can use onions too, but A. I didn't have any B. I'd used the Recipie Secrets instead for color and added flavor. It also has small dried onions) evenly around the roast.

5. Cook on low for about 10 hours OR high for about 4.5 hours. (I'm doing high just because I'm paranoid about leaving stuff on at home.)

6. You can also make a gravy by taking some of the juices from the pot, adding some carnstarch (proportional to the amount of juices), and boiling it. I'm not used to having gravy for pot roast, so I won't be making any.

Wish me luck!