We welcomed winter with Sherry Beef and Onions

First, make or buy a loaf of good white bread. I make mine in my bread-baking machine.

Cut a chuck roast into 2 to 3-inch pieces. Put it into a slow cooker, with or without a liner.* Cut a yellow onion into wedges and put them on top of the beef. Slip in a bay leaf or two. Pour 3/4 cup of inexpensive sherry, such as Taylor or Fairfield over all. Slow cook on low all day.

(I believe that in the future I will saute the onion first.)

At suppertime, remove the meat to a storage or serving bowl. Carefully transfer the liquid to a fat separator.

Make gravy: in a smallish skillet, melt 2 Tbsp margarine. Whisk in 2 Tbsp flour. Cook 2 minutes on low heat. Whisk in the juices, minus the beef fat. Allow it to boil and thicken. When it is done, pour gravy over beef.

To serve, break pieces of bread into a bowl, ladle beef&gravy on top. Delicious!

*Slow cooker liners are a great invention. They are like a Reynolds oven bag, and they save having to clean off baked-on food. They do make it tricky to pour out the juices, howeveer.

What do you do with the rest of the sherry? Make a pound cake and invite friends over for sherry and pound cake.