Roast

Here's a delicious way to make a roast in the crock pot. What I did different: used beef broth instead of the water, mixed the 3 packets with the beef broth and poured over the roast, shredded the roast a few hours before turning the crock pot off so the flavor could get to more of the meat. I found it here and have used this recipe twice now.

I also made these potatoes to go with it and we all LOVED them.

Roast
3 pound chuck roast, thawed

1 package dry ranch seasoning

1 package brown gravy mix

1 package dry italian dressing mix

3/4 cup water (if using a frozen roast, only use 1/2 cup water)

Combine all 3 packages of dry seasoning and cover all sides of roast with mixture. Place in a slow cooker and pour water over the top. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.

Italian Sloppy Joes

These are EASY! And...so yummy! Jereld and I bought a book called "Fix-It and Forget-It: 5-Ingredient Favorites--Comforting Slow-Cooker Recipes." It's my new favorite book.

I'm so busy with work and paperwork for our house and stuff that I need easy recipes or it's frozen food for us. This recipe was extremely simple and so GOOD! It's a keeper!

Italian Sloppy Joes (the book calls it Italian Barbecue Sandwiches...I like my title better)

Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cooking time: 2-6 hours
Ideal slow cooker size: 3-qt.

(I doubled this and used my 5 qt. crock pot which could have held a lot more!)

1 lb. ground beef (browned in a non-stick skillet first...which by-the-way is the hardest part)
1 cup tomato sace
half an envelope dry spaghetti sauce mix
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz. Velveeta or American Cheese cubed (I used Velveeta)

1. As it says above, brown ground beef in a skillet first.

2. Place meat in slow cooker. Stir in sauce and seasonings.

3. Cover and cook on Low for 2-6 hours.

4. One hour before serving (I didn't give it an hour...I gave it 20 minutes and it was delicious!), stir in cheese. I cubed the Velveeta so it would melt quickly.

5. Stir before serving.

Obviously we ate this on hamburger buns...but you can use whatever bun or bread you choose.

BBQ (Sloppy Joe)

Here's a recipe my friend gave me this summer. I finally got around to trying it today. I asked Mark which he liked better - "Manwich" or these - he likes them BOTH! (These aren't as "tomato-y" as Manwich.)
Cook together:
1 lb. hamburger -
chopped onion (or dry onions)
Add:
2 cans Chicken Gumbo Soup (Campbells)
1/2 c. ketchup
celery salt
dry mustard

Philly Cheesesteak

This recipe is one of our family favorites. Everyone cheers when I make this. It's even a hit with company. It's great with chips, pasta salad, etc. I've been making this for years. I got the recipe from a friend way long ago.

First, Make pizza dough, or buy refrigerated pizza dough. I use my mom's standard pizza dough recipe.
Then roll out, spread almost a pound of deli roast beef on top (sometimes I use ham, too, but we like roast beef best and somtimes I skimp to half a pound), Mozzarella cheese, onions and green bell peppers if you want.

Roll up the dough with the stuffings like it's a snake, or like you would for cinnamon rolls. Place on a buttered cookie sheet and baste with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with garlic salt, parmesan cheese and parsley flakes. You can even add sesame seeds, or whatever you want.
(I use whole wheat flour, that's why it's a little browner than you would think.)

Let the dough rise for about 45 minutes so it's a little fluffier.

Bake according to pizza dough instructions.

Slice up and enjoy! (The one below is ham)

Yummy Yummy Yummy Yummy Yummy Yummy Yummy . . . . . . Happy Family

Mushroom Steak and Gravy

I realize this picture might not look too appetizing, sorry! But I promise this meal is very tasty - the gravy this recipe makes is so yummy. When I told 2 of my sisters that's what I had made for dinner, they both wanted some too! It is a meal we all remember eating at Grandma Clouse's house from time to time, and our mom used to make it as well. This was the first time I had remembered to make it in about 5 years -- I'm not sure why I waited!

Mushroom Steak
steak - (the recipe doesn't say how much, but at least enough to cover the bottom of a 9x13, and maybe even a little more than that!)
1 large onion
shortening
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 1/2 cans water
flour, salt, pepper

Tenderize steak by beating with serrated edge knife, trim off the fat, and cut into small pieces. Salt and pepper well and dip into flour. Or mix your salt and pepper with the flour and dip pieces in. Put into hot shortening to quickly brown on both sides. Put in 9x13 pan (or a little larger pan because your 9x13 will be pretty full). Saute 1 chopped onion in same pan after meat is browned and put in 9x13 pan. Pour soup and water into the same pan you browned the meat in and heat thoroughly - pour over meat. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Serve over mashed potatoes or rice -- I've never tried rice because I love mashed potatoes with gravy!

Romantic Dinner

Last night I hosted a RS Mini-Enrichment at my home. We had "romantic" food. I am going to post all of the recipes for you. We had French Dip Sandwiches which Marsha posted about previously, so I won't repost that recipe, just go to the link. We also had Spinach Bacon salad with honey dressing, grape salad, chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake that I got from My Kitchen Cafe, and Lemonbar Cheesecake that Camilee posted about previously as well.

Dinner Ideas

Jen, Amy, and I have all tried this Bourbon Chicken. It is good! Only thing we did different was add cornstarch to the sauce to thicken it a little.

Jen tried this Slow Cooker Italian Beef and said it was great.

Enchiladas

I know we've all had these before, but I thought I would still post these. I first made them for Landon when we were dating, and I'm pretty sure this meal sealed the deal! He absolutely loves these and I make them quite often.

Meat mixture
1 lbs hamburger
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can re fried beans
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin

Cook hamburger and onion till done; drain. Stir in beans and spices.

Enchilada Style Sauce
4 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. chili powder
2 c. milk
1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese

Melt butter. Stir in flour. Add other ingredients. Cook to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute.

Place some meat mixture in a flour tortilla. Roll and place in a 9x13 inch pan. Pour sauce over filled burros. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

French Dip Sandwiches

Here is a delicious recipe Amy got from my sister-in-law a couple of years ago (and by the way, there is a similar one on My Kitchen Cafe.) I have been relying on my crock pot a lot lately because I have jury duty and was chosen to be on a jury for a 2 week trial -- almost done! By the way...THANKS to all my friends who have so generously offered to help watch the kids. Jen watched them one day last week, and they were so bad that she decided to have surgery just to have an excuse not to watch them anymore. (ha ha)

Back to food now - So I used a roast that wasn't London Broil and it worked just fine, although I had to cook it forever on low (Sunday night at 9 pm until Monday evening) and finally it was tender enough.

The recipe doesn't say how big of a roast, so you can experiment with how big, how much flavor (stick to one 1 oz. packet if you're scared or have a smaller roast!), etc. Here's the recipe, and what I did in purple.

French Dip Meat

London Broil (my roast was about 4 lbs)

1 can beef broth (I used two)

1 pkg. dry Au Jus seasoning (normal packets are 1 oz, I dumped a little over 2 oz. in out of a big packet. It was very flavorful, but luckily not too strong.)

1 pkg. dry Zesty Italian dressing

a little water (I didn't do any water)

Cook in crockpot until tender. Serve on rolls with mozzarella cheese and sauteed bell peppers and onions.