It happens every year around the same time. Late August, when fall teases us with cool morning air, I instantly crave comfort food. Recipes typically reserved for cold nights under the blankets, I can’t help but get anxious to cook them. And with me and food, it’s a hard battle to win – I almost always end up at the grocery store looking for ingredients for chili, potato soup, or my husband’s favorite – crock-pot beef pot roast.

I mean, who can really resist a good comfort food recipe? I hope not many of you. And who will let the date on the calendar determine the “right” meal to cook? Ok, I won’t get out the Christmas cookie cutters or anything crazy. So, on Sunday, I did as expected. Woke up early, went straight to the grocery store and bought an arm roast. And by noon, it was in the crock-pot simmering away.

The best part about this recipe – a theme in all the ones I share – is how simple and fast it can be thrown together. When I say 5 minutes, I am guaranteeing 5 minutes. Unless you have a malfunctioning can opener, I can’t imagine it taking any longer. Besides the roast itself, there are three ingredients that get mixed together, thrown on top and the crock-pot does the rest. The only thing is, make sure to plan ahead, because in order to get the beef to a juicy, fall-apart perfection, this baby cooks for 6-7 hours on low.

About 45 minutes before the roast reaches peak tastiness, I start the potatoes. Because who can have roast without butter-y, garlic mashed potatoes? Not me. Unfortunately, if I tried to give you a recipe for the mashed potatoes I make, they would probably taste awful due to the fact that I never measure anything when it comes to these. What I can tell is, I use Yukon gold potatoes, butter, milk, minced garlic, garlic salt, Italian seasoning and pepper. My add a little, taste a little and so-on works pretty well. Use the milk and butter to get the consistency and then season it from there. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a bad batch using this highly skilled method.

Serve the roast on top or on the side – whichever you prefer – and dinner is served.