Not the Same Old Pot Roast

Pot Roast, roast beef, or crockpot beef, three names for a basic down home way to prepare a hearty meal. With time at such a premium these days, families are needing more easy fuss free ways to prepare dinner. I have used these recipes on a variety of cuts of beef. Shoulder blade roasts, chuck, round, flank steak, what ever you have or decide to use. The large cuts allow for great tastiing leftovers for sandwiches, or stretching a small amount of leftovers of beef into a full meal, such as fajitas, or chinese pepper steak. The best part of these recipes is that you can use virtually any kind of meat. Pork, chicken, turkey all are fabulous fixed these ways. Since it is a long cook, fish does not work as it will dissapear after a few hours. I have even cleaned my freezer and thrown in chops, chicken and beef all in the same pot. Delicious!

1. Beefy Onion: 1 Sliced Onion, 1 Onion Soup Mix, Beef, Water: Layer a few onion slices on the bottom of your crockpot or roasting pan. Add your meat. Add the rest of the sliced onions around. Sprinkle the package of onion soup mix. Add enough water to just come to the top of the beef. Heat on high for an hour, or so, then turn to medium for at least 6 hours. The longer it can cook the better. In an oven roast at 350 for the full time. Add water as necessary. Towards the end, add salt a pepper to taste.

Options: If time allows, brown all sides of the beef in a fry pan before putting in the crockpot. I do not add salt at this time as it can make the meat tougher. In the last couple of hours, you can also add the salt to taste then fill the pot with cut up potatoes, carrots. My mother-in-law often would cook spaghetti noodles in the broth and serve these along with the beef as a side dish. The broth can also be reduced to make a thicker gravy.

2. Italian Beef: 2 packages Zesty Italian dressing mix, (the kind you make for salads) 3-4 pound shoulder roast. This recipe makes a sensational pulled beef or pork meat for sandwiches. Place your roast in your crockpot, or oven roaster (see Beefy Onion), add water to 3/4 of the way up the sides of the meat. Sprinkle on the two packages of Italian dressinig mix, cover and cook for a minimum of 8 hours. After the meat has cooled a bit, you can pull it or shred it for sandwiches. Thicken the broth if it needs and use for French Dip. C'est Magnifique!

3. Chex Mix Roast: Have you ever seen those free packages of dry Chex Mix that come out around the holidays? They are mostly yellow, and about the size of a Kool-Aid pack. Two of these will nicely season a 3-4 pound roast. Use one package if you have a smaller roast. You can prebrown the meat or just put it in your crockpot. Cover with water and add your seasoning packs and cook for the day.

4. Pickapeppa Flanksteak: This is an old recipe from Tulsa. It works great in a slowcooker, or the best way is to cook this on a barbeque. The secret to this recipe is the sauce. Pickapeppa is a sauce that can be found around the A-1 or Heinz 57. It is a small brown bottle, with a parrot on the label. To me it looks like a microbrew beer bottle. Place your flanksteak in the crockpot and cover with one bottle of the Pickapeppa sauce and a few slices of onions. Cover and cook for 6 hours. For the barbeque, lay your flanksteack on a double thickness of heavyduty foil. Layer a sliced onion over the meat, then pour on the sauce. Pull the sides of the foil up over the center and roll down rolling the sides as well, Keep the seams to the top, to prevent leaking. Cook over the low side of your grill until done. Again long and low is best.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and try them with a variety of cuts and meats. Add your favorite sides, or toss in some vegetables to cook along with the meats. It's all good.