Simply Simple

Tyler Duff made me my favorite meal that he makes me for Sunday dinner last Sunday (Sunday is a cooking day, in case you forgot!). Sunday dinner, I've come to realize, is different for everyone. My entire life growing up I thought everyone ate the same thing on Sundays! I didn't realize until high school that it wasn't a universal Sunday dinner. In my family every Sunday (with some rare exceptions) we had roast and rice and gravy. Some of the fixins (sides for you non-southern folk) varied, but always roast and rice and gravy. And what is Sunday dinner without rules?! Sunday lunch was at Mamaw's, but you only got to eat if you went to church. You better not show up if you didn't go to church and you better not sit in anyone else's chair! Oh, and Papaw's rules: You must eat your green beans and help with the dishes (well only the girls got the privilege of helping with the dishes).  Don't even think about eating one of Papaw's mini Snickers (always kept in a jar in the fridge) if you didn't eat your green beans and help with the dishes! Then the cousins would sit on the porch swing or climb on the hay bales while the grown ups watched football. And a nap was always included somewhere in there.

Sundays are different for me now, but I think fond memories of Sunday dinners may be why I choose for Sunday to be one of my cooking days. People change, life has its seasons, and we grow up whether we want to or not (even if we still wear pig tails, sleep with stuffed animals, and anticipate Camp Rock 2), but Sundays still involve family for me. They might not share my genes, but they are my family just the same. Every Sunday I get to see so many lovely faces of my church family. And some Sundays even involved Sunday lunch with them too! I wonder if the reason why Sunday naps feel better than all other naps is because they are mixed with a side of nostalgia and happy place? Hmm... Maybe. And maybe that's why roast and rice and gravy is such a comforting meal to me, that extra secret ingredient of nostalgia. Well Tyler Duff makes a killer roast! This isn't my Mamaw's recipe, but it's an incredibly easy and yummy one! I found it on my favorite site of course (food.com). It has 1,215 reviews! I had to try it. I've since shared it with many people who all say this is the only way they make roast now. It doesn't get much simpler than roast, and this recipe is the simplest of simple!

To Die For Crock Pot Roast (link)

1 beef roast, any kind
1 package brown gravy mix
1 package Italian dressing mix
1 package ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup water 

Place beef roast in crock pot. Mix the dried mixes together in a bowl and sprinkle over the roast. Pour the water around the roast. Cook on low for 7-9 hours.

That's it! I always put veggies in too, which taste so good with the flavors. I've done a different combination of new potatoes halved, regular potatoes quartered, baby carrots, pearl onions, regular onions quartered. This time I wanted rice and gravy so did whole carrots, celery, and onions. All of it's good. It makes it's on gravy too! I use it as is, but you could take the gravy and add flour to thicken when it's finished if you want. Don't use a little bitty roast, or it may be too salty (according to reviews).

You're Sunday nostalgia may be different than mine, but we all have it. Whether your Sunday dinner was roast and rice and gravy like me, fried chicken, classic spaghetti, chicken and dumplings, red beans and rice, or whatever, you will still love this roast! You can have it on Monday or Thursday too, it will still be just as yummy! Add some simple nostalgia to your life this week. It just makes you feel good. Make your Sunday dinner, take a Sunday nap, or sit on a porch swing (for 5 minutes since it's so stinking hot right now!).