Old-Fashioned Sunday Supper (Recipe)

Who doesn't remember grandmother's beautiful platter heaped with potatoes vegetables, and meat-all covered with a rich brown gravy.  With today's slow cookers, this one-dish meal is a cinch to make.

Ingredients

1 (2.2 ounce) box beefy onion soup mix (2 envelopes)

1 (3 1/2 pound) beef rump roast, trimmed of fat

2 pounds small red potatoes, scrubbed and halved

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 celery ribs, sliced

7 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper

2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups zinfandel or other fruity red wine

1 (14 1/2 ounce) can beef broth

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Steps

1.  Place the contents of both of the dry soup mix envelopes in a small baking dish.  Place the roast in the dish and rub or pat the dry soup mix all over it.

2.  In a 5 quart electric slow cooker, place half each of the potatoes, carrots, celery, and garlic.  Season with half each of the garlic pepper and thyme.  Tuck the bay leaf into the vegetables.  Mix together 1 cup of the wine and the broth.  Pour into the slow cooker.  Add the roast and scrape any dry soup mix left in the baking dish on top.  Cover the meat with the remaining vegetables, garlic, garlic pepper, and thyme.

3.  Cover and cook on the low heat setting 9 to 10 hours, or until the meat is tender.

4.  Remove the meat to a warm serving platter.  Remove and discard the bay leaf.  Scoop out the vegetables with a slotted spoon and scatter them over and around the roast.  Cover with foil to keep warm.  Pour the juices from the slow cooker into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil on top of the stove over medium-high heat.  Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup wine and the flour until well blended.  Stir into the juices in the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until the gravy is thickened and the flour has lost its raw taste, 3 to 5 minutes.  Pour the gravy over the meat and serve