A good lean roast
1 package dry onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Potatoes
Pre-cut baby carrots
chopped garlic
onion
salt pepper
1 pint fresh whole mushrooms
1 package of frozen bread
Read the instructions on the frozen bread the night before. Set it to rise when you get up in the morning. If you forget, play rock-paper-scissors to see who will have to go to the supermarket to get fresh french bread at supper time.
Sometime before lunch, chop the roast up into 4ths or 5ths. Rub it down with salt and pepper. Leave it to one side. Put the dry onion soup and the can of cream of mushroom soup and one soup can of water in the crockpot. Stir it all up, drop the roast into the crockpot. Put the crockpot on high.
Put in about 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. Drop in a package of baby carrots. Cut up potatoes into large hunks (peel if you want or don't) until the crockpot is 3/4ths full. Chop the onion into large wedges.
Stir it all up and let it cook on high, stirring once every couple of hours.
About two hours before you are ready to serve the stew/roast, drop in your mushrooms. Do not chop them up or you will have tasteless little pieces of mushroom shaped paper adhering to other things in your pot. At around this time, start baking the bread. (Unless you forgot, then send the designee to go buy some hot fresh bread. Alternately, Pepperidge Farm has some yummy cheesy pre-prepared french breads that only take about 15 minutes.)
Set the table, uncock a bottle of Rioja and wait.
When everyone is there and ready, dig in. Give the dogs some gravy to keep them from whining.
Leftovers the next day are even better than the first night, but your dinner guests don't need to know that!