crockpot italian beef

A while back, I went to a party hosted at my old boss's house. His wife had made an Italian beef. I had no idea what an Italian beef was. I had never heard of it before, and when I saw it sitting on the table, swimming in a crockpot full of beef broth and peppers, I casually slid on by. I'm not a big fan of peppers, and I'm definitely not a big fan of trying something new at the work Christmas party.

What if I didn't like it? Where could I hide a chunk of beef if I didn't eat it? Could I toss it in the trash without anybody seeing? Dump it on Ben's plate? Come on, you weenie, you're at your boss's house. It's like in the rule book. You have to eat his wife's food. Oh, the uncomfortable situations that us picky eaters face.

Ben got a heaping plate full of the beef and took one bite of it and told me I had to try it. I resisted firmly for a good 20 minutes, but I kept noticing people going back for seconds on the beef, so I decided to put my big girl panties on and give it a try.

Oh.

my.

gosh.

Let me stop here and say I am not, REPEAT-NOT-, a big fan of pot roast. I usually think it's too dry and boring. But this? This was out of this world. It was so juicy, and so flavorful, and just so stinkin' good.

I asked her to share the recipe, thinking it was some laborious dish that probably took 2 hours to prepare and 3 days to cook.

She laughed, and said it was one of the easiest dishes she makes. And apparently, its a pretty popular dish with lots of folks. I've been hiding under a rock for the last 25 years, obviously.

I've had this beef about 2818 times since that party. And every time, Ben and I almost lick the crockpot clean. It is just so easy and so good. It's versatile, too! You could eat it with some nice veggies, or slap it on some toast and add a little cheese. Either way, you can't go wrong with this baby.

And because you're my imaginary friends, I'm going to share this glorious recipe with you. And then, I'll come to your house and eat it all before you even have a chance to taste it. Deal? Ok, good.

Here's the recipe:

Crockpot Italian Beef

(1) 2-4 pound beef (I've used round roast, chuck roast, and really anything I can find on sale)
1 can of beef broth (or beer-I've not tried it with beer, but that's what my boss's wife used)
1 can of water (I just fill my beef broth can with water)
(1) 12 oz. jar of pepperoncini (p.s. I had no idea what this was before this recipe. It's a jar of peppers that's usually found in the grocery section near the olives and pickles and stuff like that)
1 package of dry italian dressing mix
Dash of pepper
Dash of garlic

In your crockpot, add 5-10 peppers (from the pepperoncini jar) to the bottom of the pot. Rinse your roast and sprinkle with pepper on both sides. Lay your roast on top of the peppers. Next, add the juice from the pepperoncini jar, beef broth, water, and package of dry italian dressing mix to a bowl and mix well. Pour this over the roast. The roast should not be completely covered with liquid (maybe about half covered). Top the roast off with a few more peppers and a dash or two of garlic. I cook this on low for at least 10 hours, and then let it sit on warm for several more hours.

Trust me on this one. If you like flavorful roast, this is good. It is a little spicy, so if you're not into that sorta thing, go easy on the pepperoncini juice.

Have a blessed weekend :)