Cooking a pot roast was one of those things which just seemed so grown up to me.  Whenever I heard anyone talk about pot roasts all I could think was how grown up and responsible and culinary geniusish the person was.  I was completely intimidated.  I never ever ever thought I could cook a pot roast.  Brea has been telling me for a while to just do it and how easy it is.  I didn’t listen.  I thought she was crazy and yes, a culinary genius in the kitchen.

Then when I posted a little while ago about looking for easy, good recipes, my friend Marcie sent me an whole email full of easy, good meals and there sat the Mississippi Pot Roast recipe just taunting me.  I decided it was time I take on the challenge.

The first problem I encountered was figuring out how to buy a pot roast.  Yep.  I’m grocery store challenged as well apparently.  I was so intimidated.  I couldn’t figure out what to buy and finally found a roast chuck or something like that, and asked the meat guy if that was in fact a pot roast…he smiled and said yes.  That’s when I rambled to him about how I had never cooked one before and how I was feeling pretty grown up that day and accomplished because I was actually going to cook a pot roast.  He smiled and wished me good luck.

The next problem was finding this au jus sauce packet.  What the what is au jus????  I wandered and looked and wandered and looked.  Then text Marcie.  Then I found it.  I may have given Hudson and Solomon a high-five.

Next on the problem list was realizing as I’m trying to stick this almost 3 lb pot roast in my broken crock pot that my crock pot is on the tad small side.  Then I proceeded to try and fold the pot roast in half and squish it down to the bottom of my small broken crock pot.  Later Susan asked if I just cut it in half…well, that would have been a much better idea.  It, however, never even occurred to me to just cut the sucker in half.  But I got it all in there, threw in the toppings and turned it on low.

Then like any normal person I got on Target.com and bought this beautiful guy solving all my crock pot problems with a few clicks of my mouse and my Target red card.  Let me take a moment and say, “God bless the Target Red Card and all it’s perks including the 5% discount and free shipping.”

Then I waited.  I felt so accomplished.  So grown up.  I may have text multiple friends to brag on my folded little pot roast.  I felt like I needed to do something else really grown up as well like refinance or get fitted for bra by an old woman at Macys.  I felt like I had arrived.

I even made sides.  I am completely a one pan dinner person.  I rarely make a meal that has sides…other than a salad.  But I went all cooking crazy and made these Oven Baked Parmesan Seasoned Fries and cooked broccoli.  Things got weird.  The house smelled all yummy.  I kept checking on my pot roast all day long like a newborn baby.  I just loved her.

Then came dinner time.  I was so proud.  Pretty sure I was beaming.  Josh started getting everyone’s plates ready and I started pulling out the pot roast.  It was breaking into pieces because it was so tender.  I was shredding each section in a separate bowl.  And that’s when I pulled out a section now entwined in 8 hour long cooked plastic.  Apparently I did not remove a section of the plastic covering.  Hmmmmm.  Would it kill us all to eat pot roast roasted in plastic?!?!?  I started thinking about how some people claim reheating food in plastic containers in your microwave is going to give you cancer and I had just marinated and cooked our pot roast in plastic for 8 hours.

I weighed our options and  then we totally ate it.  Not cancer caused by plastic or a pot roast cooked in some plastic was going to stand in my way of enjoying my first pot roast.  And it was delicious.  I may be bold enough to say the best pot roast I’ve ever eaten.  Maybe a little bit of plastic should be added to the recipe.

I sent Marcie a text asking her, hypothetically speaking, if she thought a family would die from plastic poisoning after consuming a pot roast that has been cooked with some plastic.  She laughed and said to eat it.  And we’re all still alive and there are zero leftovers in the fridge.  They were all consumed the next day on little rolls.  Pot roast sandwich?  Yes, please.

And that’s the tale of me and my first pot roast.

Happy Wednesday.