BEEF: When I first learned to cook, 40 years ago, I used this recipe from a package of soup mix. Since then, whenever I was rushing around to put dinner on the table, this recipe was used over and over again. It basically cooks by itself with not much preparation, and one can use an economic cut of beef to achieve reasonably good result. Hope you will try it out.

POT ROAST WITH VEGETABLES:

3 to 4 lbs blade or cross-rib roast                                

4 medium potatoes, quartered

4 carrots cut into 1-inch pieces                                   

½ lb mushrooms

4 onions, quartered                                                     

1 cup chopped celery                                                 

2 envelope onion-soup mix                                        

½ cup water

2 tsp. cornstarch, mixed with ½ cup water 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a large baking pan with 2 pieces of heavy-duty aluminium foil large enough to hold all the ingredients. Sit beef in the middle. Scatter cut vegetables all round it. Mix onion-soup mix with water and pour it over the meat. Cook 2 to 2 ½ hours or until meat is tender.

To serve:  Carve beef and arrange slices on serving platter. Spoon vegetables out and arrange them around beef slices.  Remove the foil from pan. Bring liquid in pan to a boil and thicken the sauce with cornstarch solution