French Dips (Slow Cooker)

French Dips have always been one of my Hubby's favorite sandwiches, so when I saw this recipe that was so easy & delicious looking I just had to give it a go.

I even made fresh rolls with my French Bread recipe and the results were INCREDIBLE!  As I prepared things I tasted the meat & thought "Uh oh, bland." Then I tried the sauce and thought, "Uh oh, is that right?" Then we put them all together and it sang.

We ate it so fast we didn't even get a picture. : )


French Dips (Slow Cooker) - from blogchef.net

• 1 (4 pound) boneless beef roast
• ½ cup soy sauce (I used light, low sodium)
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 whole black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (crushed)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 onion, quartered, 2 handfuls baby carrots, 3 stalks celery
• Bread for serving - I used this recipe to make 8 buns

Cooking Instructions:

Remove any visible fat from the roast and discard the fat. Place the roast into a slow cooker. In a medium bowl combine soy sauce, beef bouillon cube, bay leaf, black peppers corns, rosemary, thyme, and garlic powder. Pour the mixture over the roast. Add enough water to almost over the roast. Add any vegetables if you desire. Cover and cook in the slow cooker for 10 hours* on low heat until the roast is very tender. (*Know your cooker! Mine was done in 8 hours, maybe less.)

Remove the roast from the broth (reserving the broth). Shred the roast with two forks.  Set aside.

Remove broth from slow cooker and strain - the finer mesh the better! I strained mine right into a sauce pan and let it simmer on low until time to serve. Discard veggies, or eat them as sides - I chopped my onion and put it back in with the meat to serve.  Put meat with a few ladles of liquid back in the slow cooker and keep it on warm until time to serve.  Stuff your bread with meat and serve with broth for dipping.

Orange BBQ Pulled Chicken

This recipe can be served over rice or in a bun.  It's not a favorite of mine, but it does add some variety from normal BBQ dishes.

Orange BBQ Pulled Chicken (adapted from Sparkrecipes)

• 5 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of gristle and fat
• 1 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 c. Orange Marmalade
• 1 c. favorite BBQ sauce
• 1/4 c. + 1 Tbs low-sodium soy sauce

Put chicken breasts in a bag or tupperware with the powdered ginger and shake until coated.  Put the chicken into your slow cooker.  Mix the remaining ingredients, then pour over chicken. Cook on low 4-6 hours, or until chicken is cooked.  Remove chicken from pot, use a fine strainer to clean sauce if desired. Shred chicken and return to slow cooker, mix with sauce.  Keep on warm setting until ready to serve.

Serve over rice or on buns.

Chicken Ranch BLAT

Moving to Texas has introduced me to a whole slew of new things. Davy Crockett, H-E-B, strange German and Spanish pronunciations of names, and the BLAT.

Step aside BLT, there’s a vowel in town and this A stands for AVACADO.  Yum!

But what I’ve never understood is why BLTs are so popular when they are so flat and slim.  I like sandwiches with some girth to them.  I like to pick my sandwich up and think, “Crud, how am I going to fit that into my mouth?”

So a combo of this and a combo of that and I give you; the Chicken Ranch BLAT.

What else is awesome about this sandwich?  Besides the taste, it’s the fact that you can make this as fatty or as light as you would prefer.  I went light and used turkey bacon, low-cal sour dough bread, and fat-free ranch dip, and still I wanted to do flips for the flavors of this sandwich.  Here’s the idea:

Chicken Ranch BLAT

• Chicken breasts, cut to bite size pieces (2 breasts = about 3 sandwiches)
• 3 slices of bacon, halved to fit sandwich size
• Ranch sauce (I used fat free sour cream mixed with a ranch flavor packet with great results)
• lettuce
• tomato, sliced
• avocado, sliced
• bread – rolls, slices, hoagie style, whatever you like.
• other condiments that you may prefer – Hubby liked a little mayo, I liked cucumbers

Cook bacon until crisp, set aside.  In same pan cook chicken pieces until no longer pink.  In a bowl combine cooked chicken with ranch sauce until coated.  Toast bread, then layer all ingredients as you like.
Happy Cooking!