Gruver Style Pot Roast

I love using my slow cooker! So here is my twist on slow cooker pot roast!

1 can cream of mushroom
1 envelope of dry onion soup
1 can of coke zero or coke
Water
Carrots
Red potatoes
2-3 lb. roast of choice

Easy clean-up is best so I never use my cooker without a liner. They might be one of the best inventions ever, especially for a busy mom! Add carrots and potatoes as the bottom layer, set roast on top. In a separate bowl add cream of mushroom, refill with water and add, dry onion soup, and coke. Mix together. Pour over roast and veggies.

Low - 8 hours
High - 4 hours

Once it's time to eat, make the gravy! Take 1-2 cups of roast broth, stir in little amounts of corn starch until thick on medium heat. Turn down to simmer for about 1 minute. Remove from heat. It will thicken as it stands.

Serve it up and Enjoy!!

Weekend Recap

I totally missed writing about Fridays at The Gruver's but this weekend was crazy busy. So instead of just one day, I am going to write about the last three days. 

Friday - 

- Taran went to Nana & Pa's house for the weekend

- Christmas party for my work at Stone Creek (YUM) 

- Late night movie - End of Watch (Collin definitely owes me one) 

Saturday - 

- Long's Doughnuts - If you haven't tried these you are missing out. 

- Grocery shopping - signed up for the mperks program at Meijer. You don't have to print and cut coupons! Just go to their website clip the ones you want and it's sent directly to your cell phone and when you pay -  type your number in and the savings start racking up!

- I was on the Worship Team at church this week. It was a powerful service and you could feel the Holy Spirit's presence.  If you didn't have a chance to hear the sermon check it out!!   

- Finished up the night at a friends house for another Christmas party. I haven't laughed that much in a long time! If you haven't heard of the game Quelf, I highly suggest it.  

Sunday - 

- Finished up the last two services at church. Again, it was amazing and powerful! 

- Picked up Taran and watched the Colt's game at my in-laws. 

- Finally made it home, with enough time to start laundry and get the kitchen cleaned up! Oh Joy! 

Hope you had a great weekend!! 

Decorating your mantel for Christmas on a budget!

Ever get tired of the same decorations year after year? Well, I do. So I thought I would spruce things up this year. It definitely needed to be cheap and I had to be resourceful. Overall I am really happy with the way it turned out!

Green and Gold are my colors for Christmas. One of the main walls in the family room is green and then another is blue. Then in my kitchen, I have an orange wall. Needless to say, I am limited on what colors I can use to decorate with.  

A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of ribbon on clearance at Sam's Club after Christmas. I have used some of it on my tree but that was it. I grabbed some of the ribbon and wrapped it around a short string of white lights and laid it across the mantel.

I needed height and it was just missing something eye catching. Where did I go?? Hobby Lobby! I found the big box paper letters and decided on the word NOEL. Bought a can of spray paint and I was set. The great thing was that both were on sale. Each letter cost me $1.80 and then the can of spray paint was $4.10.

Then while I was in the Christmas section I found some gold glitter twigs, wasn't sure how I was going to use them but I loved them and they were only $1.59 each. I got two. After I got it all home, I wasn't happy with any of the vases I had at the house but on a random trip into Kirkland's I found a beautiful vase for $6.99. Sold!

After everything I spent $21.50 and my mantel turned out great!!

Disregard the ugly black speaker...it can't be moved.