French Dip Crescents with Au Jus

These were brought to our freezer exchange, too, in a gallon freezer bag, the Au Jus in a quart freezer bag. These are the perfect lunch for kids or even as appetizers for a party!

2 packages crescent rolls, 8 count
1 pound deli roast beef, thinly sliced
4 ounces Swiss or provolone cheese, cut in 16 equal sized pieces
*Unroll crescents onto a large cookie sheet.
*Spread a small dab of horseradish on each crescent, then place a slice of roast beef and a piece of cheese on each crescent.
*Roll crescents starting from the wide end and ending at the narrow end. (Freeze at this point if you are freezing, then when ready to serve, bake, frozen, at 375 for 11-13 min)
*Bake at 375 degrees for 11 to 13 minutes, until crescents are a golden color.
*Serve with Au Jus and enjoy! 

Au Jus Sauce
Olive oil, just enough to sautee
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced (I use jarred)
1/8 cup white wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon flour

*Caramelize the onions in a small amount of olive oil. Add garlic and cook for a minute or two more.
Deglaze the pot with white wine, then add Worcestershire sauce and cook for another minute, stirring constantly.
*Add beef broth and bring to a light boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Strain broth and then return it to pot. Add flour and simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Crockpot Stew Meat

This recipe is from Becoming Betty and we LOVED it! It is a great Sunday dinner over potatoes and you'll have lots of leftovers! This is an excellent freezer meal, too; just leave out the water and add that before cooking!

1-1/2 pounds stew meat
1 envelope brown gravy mix
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
2 cups water
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots

*Put in crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Mix well before serving over mashed potatoes.

Slow Cooker Easy French Dip Sandwiches

 I also made this recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff into a freezer meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2-3 pound roast (either beef or pork- we use whatever is on sale that week!)
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) beef consomme (I can always find this mixed in with the soups)
6-8 buns (we love hoagie buns, but any kind will work)

Directions:
Place roast in greased slow-cooker. Pour consomme over the top of the roast. Cook on low 8-11 hours or on high for 5-7 hours. Remove roast and save extra juice for dipping! With 2 forks, pull apart roast (when it is done, it should pull apart easily . . . almost fall apart). Serve meat on buns and use extra juice to dip sandwiches in.

Best Ever Crock Pot Roast

Photo courtesy of Marie's Cooking Adventures

Okay seriously, this is the best roast I've had, hands-down. I love doing crock pot meals during church because the troops come home famished and I don't have to scramble to fix something. I am pleased and a little embarrassed to say that this whole meal only lasted my family of 4 one meal...My husband ate over half of the roast by himself. We've been married 6 years and I feel like that whole time I've been looking for the perfect roast recipe....he agreed I had finally found it. Anyway, give it a try! Thanks, Marie!

2-5 pound pot roast (any kind)--I used a 3-lb beef rib roast, bone-in, frozen
1 envelope ranch dressing (dried)
1 envelope Italian dressing
1 envelope brown gravy mix
Potatoes and Carrots
1 to 1-1/2 cup water (I actually added about 4 cups of water, just enough to cover the potatoes and carrots)

* If you wanted carrots and potatoes, cut them to your liking and put in the bottom of your CrockPot. Put Roast on top of vegetables. Sprinkle all 3 spice envelopes on top. Add the water. Cook on LOW for 6-10 hours until tender and veggies cooked through. (I cooked on high for about 5 hours, starting with a frozen roast).

Hearty Beef Stew

This recipe was not hard at all but you do have to leave lots of time to do it--it cooks for a total of 2 hours and 15 mins so start this one early. I did begin to follow a recipe for this, but made several changes...here's my version:

Pam cooking spray

1 lb. beef for stew, cut into 1" pieces (just get a cheap steak)

Beef broth (1 3/4 cups)

1/8 tsp. pepper

3 med carrots, cut into slices

2 med potatoes, cut into quarters (I used 4 small golden Idaho potatoes)

1/2 tomato, finely chopped

2 Tbsp. flour

1/4 cup water

2 Tbsp. Ranch dressing

1/4 tsp. parsley

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

*Spray 6-qt. saucepan w/ cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 min. Add beef and garlic and cook until well browned, stirring often.

*Stir broth, pepper, and parsley into saucepot. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 1 hr. 30 mins.

*Add carrots and potatoes. Cover and cook 30 mins more, or until vegetables are tender.

*Add tomatoes and Ranch (this is my little secret; I add Ranch to flavor ANYTHING, plus it helps moisten the meats). Stir flour and water in cup and stir into saucepot. Cook and stir until mixture boils and thickens. ENJOY!! This is a manly soup that my husband loves, but has the veggies that I like. The nice thing about soups is that you can EXPERIMENT--add anything you that sounds good to you! You could substitute the carrots for green beans, add jalapenos or peppers, use sausage instead of beef, just try it out!