Pot roast with black eyed peas

Yesterday I made a pot roast in the crock pot - one of my favorite meals.  A couple of weeks ago I had made black eyed peas with tomatoes in the crock pot and froze it, and thought that sounded good with the pot roast, so I thawed that out.  The pot roast was fairly simple - I browned the roast on all sides in a skillet first (this took only 5 minutes, make sure you dry it off first with paper towels).  Then I put sliced onions, carrots and potatoes in the crock pot, put the roast on top, then added some chicken stock and red wine.  You can use a variety of liquids, I just happened to have some chicken stock left from other recipes, and I always like red wine.  I set the crock pot on low and let it cook all day while I was at work.  I sliced the veggies the night before to make it quicker to assemble in the morning before work.

When I got home from work, I removed the meat and veggies, then poured the broth into a saucepan.  I mixed in some cornstarch (works a little better than flour for thickening) and simmered it while stirring while it thickened up.  Then I put the whole thing back in the crock pot on high for 15-20 minutes.

For the black eyed peas, I sauteed an onion and some garlic and put it into the crock pot.  Then I added 2 pieces of cooked bacon, a couple of diced tomatoes, the shelled black eyed peas (not sure how much it was, it was all that I received in 2 weeks of CSA bags) and 2-3 cups of chicken stock.  This was cooked on high in the crock pot for 4-5 hours.  To reheat it yesterday I thawed it for 2 days in the fridge, then put it in a large pan on low heat while I was preparing the rest of the meal.   It came out as more of a soup, though you can strain out the broth and thicken it up if you prefer it that way.  We ended up spooning it over the pot roast and it was really good.

 
To add some green to this meal I made my usual mixed green salad with homemade salad dressing.  It tasted even better with the addition of some gorgonzola cheese leftover from the lasagna.  Yum!

To serve the roast, I put the meat and veggies on a platter, with the onions on top of the roast, and added a fresh sprig of parsley on top to brighten it up.  The gravy went into a gravy boat, and I didn't grab a pic of that.

It was a LOT of food!  I definitely have some leftovers to eat over the next few days.  Pot roast is almost as good leftover as when it's first made.  To store it, I shredded up the meat, added it to a container, and poured the gravy and the black eyed peas all in the container.  Lunches should be good this week!