Best Meal Ever! aka Slow Cooker Roast

Oh my gosh is there any meal ever that got FIVE STARS???

The original recipe is here. I don't drink beer but beer in recipes is ok, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Five Star Roast Beef

Ingredients
1 2-3 lb chuck roast
1 bottle dark beer
1-2 cups beef broth
1 yellow onion, sliced/chopped
salt and pepper
hoagie rolls
cheese and whatever other toppings you like

Instructions
1. The night before cooking day, coat the roast with salt and pepper. Sear all the sides of the roast in  a very hot pan. Place all ingredients in the slow cooker and refrigerate.
2. Cooking day - set cooker on low and cook for 8-9 hours
3. Butter and toast the rolls.
4. Shred the roast, it will fall apart with every touch.

Why we love it
Warm, tender, crusty rolls... All five of us loved it so much!! We each had our own version, topped with different kinds of cheese, and a couple of us even put french onion dip on the rolls.

Next time I'm going to try using something other than beer (the beer was fine, but I think we can do better). I'll cook only one 3 pound roast instead of two (lots of leftovers!). And I'll try some other seasonings. But seriously. This is the first time we've EVER had a 5 star meal. And it was so easy. Can't wait to do this again!!

                                      

Crock Pot Chicken Gnocchi

I'm desperately trying to be a little more functional this year. Some people have New Year's Resolutions that start on January 1. I have School Year Resolutions that start on September 1. So I'm trying to get my act together and feed my family home cooked meals a little more often than the once-a-month schedule I fell into last year. Too many crackers and ramen noodles for us last year. Shelly helped me put together a meal plan for the school year, and now I'm trying to plan ahead a bit and cook a few times a week.

Enter: Tuesday Crock Pot Meals

First Tuesday was awful, the soup was tasteless, and although the chicken was cooked, the potatoes were not. None of us could eat it.

Don't give up, try again, etc.

Second Tuesday I picked something just a bit more familiar (chicken gnocchi! guaranteed to be a hit!), and it was pretty good. We'll make a few adjustments next time to improve it, but this is definitely a keeper.

Crock Pot Chicken Gnocchi 

originally from Pinch of Yum

Ingredients
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts,
2 cups chopped onions, celery, carrots
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp pepper
4 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp cold water
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
2 1 lb packages mini potato gnocchi

Instructions
1. In a skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat, cook onions, celery, carrots and garlic until almost softened.
2. Place veggies, chicken, seasonings, and broth into crock pot. Cook on low for approximately 6-8 hours.
3. Shred the chicken directly in the pot.
4. Add cornstarch mixture, milk, cream and gnocchi to crock pot, stir and cover. Cook another 45-60 minutes, until gnocchi is cooked through.
5. If desired, add more chicken broth as soup thickens. Salt and pepper to taste, enjoy!

Although this involves a bit of prep work, I can do that the night before, then just start up the crock pot on Tuesday morning before I leave for work. I don't really like having to add the gnocchi at the very end and then wait another hour (this makes dinner a little late for us), but maybe I'll explore another way to handle that in the future. (Can I put the gnocchi in the crock pot in the morning? Can I pre-cook it and then add it at the end, but just warm it up instead of waiting for it to cook?)

Why we love it
It's close enough to my tried and true Chicken Gnocchi that all four of us Soup Eaters liked it.