Remember that old Clairol commercial “Only your hair dresser knows for sure?” Well turns out this is not false advertising.

Not only does my hair dresser, Kellie Eaker, owner of Hair For Today (530-582-9050), remember my original hair color (I’m glad one of us does) but she also really does have the best, the easiest ever, pot roast recipe.

She has been telling me about it for years but I just refused to believe such a simple recipe could produce superior results. However, now that I am smack in the middle of the holiday season, simple sounds good. I don’t want to stuff it, use a pastry bag, puree it — well, you get the idea. I am tired.

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So I gave it a shot and voila! Great pot roast and zero fussing. I call it the “One, Two, Three Pot Roast” because you only use three bags of packaged spices. Actually, two packages of salad dressing mix and one package of gravy mix, but packaged spices just sounds a little more elegant. Hey, it’s pot roast. Who am I fooling?

Give yourself a break and a treat between your seven course meals and try this one-pot dish. Happy holidays.

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Ingredients:

1 3-pound chuck roast

1 package Italian salad dressing mix

1 package Ranch salad dressing mix

1 package brown gravy mix

2 cups water

1 crock pot or slow cooker

Preparation:

In a heavy skillet brown meat on high heat on all sides to seal in juices. Place roast in crock pot. Mix all packaged spices in the two cups water, blending well. Pour this over meat in crock pot.

Cook on high for four hours, then reduce to low and cook for an additional eight hours. Serve with roasted potatoes, roasted root vegetables or mashed potatoes.

Simone Grandmain is an internationally published travel and food writer who currently calls Truckee-Tahoe home. She welcomes your recipes, kitchen “must-haves” and food news at simonegrandmain@gmail.com.