Crock Pot Sunday! Italian Beef.

 Tonight's Crock Pot Sunday is a delicious Italian Beef sandwich. 

The original recipe called for a 3-4lb. lean rump roast but a 2.5lb. roast cost me $11, so stopped there and edited the recipe. 

I started with a mixture of 2T chopped garlic, 2t salt, 2T Parmesan Cheese. 

Cut slits in top of roast and fill with a teaspoon of the mixture.  I cut 5 slits. 

I had to use my thumb to press it in the slit.  If you have a garlic clove, you can just put a garlic clove in the slit with salt and cheese, but I buy my garlic chopped and in a jar most of the time. 

Pour 12oz of beef broth over the meat.  Since I had less meat, I used 8oz of broth.

Sprinkle with 1t oregano.  Ok, I'll be honest, I didn't measure the oregano because you can never have too much oregano.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.  The recipe called for 10-12 hours for the 3-4lb. roast, but with the smaller roast I thought 8 hours would be good.  Looks like 8 hours was too much.  That's why this recipe is so great!  As overcooked as it was, it was full of flavor and tender when shredded.

Remove meat and shred (or slice) and serve on a bun with au juice. 

Although there wasn't a ketchup test... This is another keeper! The boy already ate too much at the picnic that day and was saving room for ice cream.  I can say it was hard to save some for leftovers... I had to edit my Meal Planner for tonight's dinner. 

Crock Pot Sunday- Sauerkraut, Potatoes and Polish Sausage EDITED (with pictures)

Here's what I did...  I have note at the end of how I'd totally make this recipe different if I make it again... which I might to see if my ideas is a good one.

Cut 3 strips of bacon in small pieces and fry until crisp.  (Why so few strips?)  I used 4 and I would again. 

Drain bacon pieces, reserving drippings, and put to side.
Can't go wrong with fried bacon.

Sprinkle 2 T flour in bacon dripping (politically correct word for bacon grease, I suppose.) and blend well with a whisk.

Stir in 1- 32oz jar of sauerkraut, and return bacon.  Transfer to slow cooker. 
I wasn't sure if I should drain it or not.  I've never cooked with sauerkraut before.  Hmmm.  Any suggestions?

Add remaining ingredients.  Stir in  3 small potatoes- cubed, 2 small apples- cubed, 3T brown sugar, 1 1/2 t caraway seeds, 2.5 lbs. Polish sausage- cut into 3 in. pieces, 1/2 c water.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

So, if I were to make this again, I would...

1. Ditch the potatoes and add more apples.  The potatoes were VERY SALTY!
2. Rinse and drain the sauerkraut to avoid more saltiness.
3. Use a pork/blend sausage.  I picked an all beef sausage and it was very heavy. 
4. Heat a cooked sausage in a pan.  The sausage was too soft and mushy by the time it was all cooked.  It doesn't take long to heat sausage in a pan.  I can do it in the 15 minutes it takes to  cook the rice.
5. Just put the sauerkraut, bacon and apples in the crock pot and serve as a side to the Polish sausage and steamed rice.
6. I totally forgot about a green vegetable... green beans or peas should have gone nicely.  Suggestions?

Crock Pot Sunday: Orange Chicken EDITED (with pictures.)

This week I am excited to try another Crock Pot recipe, Orange Chicken using the dark meat.   I forgot about a Philoptochos luncheon and community play after church, which makes me very happy to know dinner will be cooking while I am gone and a good meal will be waiting for me when I get home.  Well at least a cooked meal.  A few minutes to make rice and thicken the sauce and then dinner is ready!   Woohoo! 

The recipe reads:


Place 8-10 pieces of dark meat in the slow cooker.  I removed the skins. 

Add 1 c of strips of green and red peppers.  I sliced them thin because I'm not a big fan of the pepper... but it turned out great because the pieces disintegrated. 

Here's a tip I learned from watching Simply Ming, on late night PBS...

Cut around the pepper and leave the seed in a core.  It's easier to clean up the mess. 

Combine: 1/2 c chicken broth, 1/2 c orange juice, 1/2 c ketchup, 2 T soy sauce, 1T light molasses, 1 T prepared mustard (I suppose this is opposed to mustard seed or dried mustard) 1/2 t garlic salt.  I used more chopped garlic, and should have added more salt. 

Pour over the chicken, cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. 

I didn't realize the musical was 3 hours long... here's what I found when I got home.

Remove chicken and vegetables and keep warm.

Measure 1 c of cooking sauce. I measured more... and I strained it.

  Put in saucepan and bring to a boil.

Drain 11 oz mandarin oranges and dilute 2 t cornstarch into 1 T reserved juice.  I added more of each of these since I was using more of the cooking sauce.

To make sure it diluted well, I used a small container with a lid, and shook the liquid/cornstarch until it dissolved.

Add to boiling sauce in pan.

Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens.  Stir in oranges. The orange pieces broke apart in the sauce.  It was nice, but I might use a marmalade next time for a stronger flavor. 

Arrange chicken pieces on a platter of cooked rice. The rice didn't turn out so good... cheap rice.   Pour sauce over chicken and top with sliced green onions

We might try this again with white meat and better rice.  We all decided that the recipe is a keeper and it passed my son's ketchup test... no ketchup needed.