Here's the Beef

OK, ok. So I lost my momentum. Big deal. Hopefully this recipe will make up for it.

We don't eat a lot of red meat in our house. I am convinced that it really isn't good for us, so I'll cook it maybe once a month on "special-occasion red-meat-night." (No, we don't really call it that.) The truth is, I haven't found much that you can do with ground beef that doesn't work well with ground turkey. Don't get me wrong- I can appreciate a really good steak every now and again, but my tastes run to the more expensive cuts and I don't trust myself cooking an expensive steak. So that's the kind of thing I'll order out when the mood strikes me.

Anyway, this is pretty much a fool-proof recipe for Shredded Beef Sandwiches. I couldn't resist the deal someone was running on whole boneless eye round a while back. I think it was 1.39 per pound. The catch is that they were all HUGE. Well, now I know that I CAN cram a 6 pound roast into my crock pot. I don't recommend making a roast that big though- I couldn't fit all of the liquid I wanted to, so there went my plans to make French Onion Soup with the left-over broth. I am reducing the recipe to 4 pounds. Trust me- you'll still have lots left over which you can use in other things... like tacos!
Or, you can do what I did and invite the fam for dinner! Mom and Dad came over and Sabrina even made it out on a work night for this one! :) We played UNO after dinner and ate Twizzlers. Good times!

Shredded Beef Sandwiches
4 pounds boneless eye round
2 tablespoon minced garlic (Go for the jar 'o garlic!! You'll thank me!)
1 tablespoon dried rosemary (Crush it up in your fingers a bit.)
3 bay leaves
2 medium onions, diced (optional)
1 cup soy sauce (shh...don't tell my dad)
2 cans low-sodium beef broth (or you can substitute water)
3 cups water (If you can't fit this much, it is OK. Don't overfill your crock pot.)

Most recipes will tell you to brown the roast in a pan before tossing it in the crock pot. NOT THIS ONE!

1. Place the onions (if using) and garlic in the bottom of the crock pot.
2. Place the roast on top of the onions and garlic.
3. Place bay leaves and rosemary in crock pot.
4. Pour soy sauce, water and broth over roast.
5. Cook on low for at least 10 hours or up to 12 hours. (Maybe you can leave it even longer, but I have not tried that.)
6. Remove roast from crock pot and scrape off fat and gross stuff. Once it is clean, shred the roast with a fork.
7. Now- you have some options here. The "gravy" is going to be pretty oily and the easiest way to remove the fat is to stick it in the fridge overnight and let it harden. Then you can just spoon it off. If you are looking to eat right away, I recommend using a gravy separator or a ladle to skim the fat off the top of the gravy. You have to have a little patience to do this, but at least you get to eat right away.
8. Place the shredded beef on sturdy rolls (brush the insides with garlic and olive oil and toast lightly-yum!) and top with muenster or provolone cheese (yay cheese!) or any other cheese you like. They are all good in my book! (Well, except for those really stinky ones.)
9. Dig in.

I currently have a 9 pound boneless pork loin in my fridge, so if anyone has a recipe they want to share, I'll probably need three or four. This sucker is *not* going to fit in my crock pot. Come to think of it, it may not even fit in my oven...