Meal of the Week: Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

I never liked french dip growing up (sorry mom, I didn't like a lot of things...). I still actually don't like roast beef- I'm a turkey sandwich kind of girl. But something about tantalizing pictures on Pinterest makes me want all kinds of food! Plus, since I'm gone 10 hours a day at school and work, a crock pot meal is the kind of meal for me. The only problem is that it's hard to find a variety of crock pot meals that actually cook for 10 hours. I tried a crock pot lasagna a few months back...it was supposed to cook for 4 hours....let's just say I didn't take any pictures of that charcoal mess.

(NOT my charcoal mess. The lovely picture I was attempting to copy)

But these sandwiches, amazing! It's different from your classic "roast and veggies" or "coke pulled pork," and I am constantly looking for new and different recipes! Actually, I could go on and on about how much I love this recipe. Another reason is that it doesn't have any of those "condensed cream" soups in it. Sure it has condensed french onion, but doesn't that sound healthier! It has the word onion in it! All around, this is a winner. Plus I found the buns on the day-old rack at the grocery store, so they were 75 cents for 8 rolls. And since we only used 3, that's like 1.666666666667 more meals! Yes, I can do math. Anyway, now that I've convinced you all that this meal should be eaten like, every day, let's get down to the good stuff.

The recipe is from Baking Bites, but really I just eyeballed it. Plus, I happened to be out of wine that day (and...every day) so I just added some water. My recipe looks something like this:

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches
(Recipe adapted from Baking Bites)


Some roast. (I used 1 lb. of chuck roast)
Salt and Pepper to season roast
Half a can of beef broth
Half a can of condensed french onion soup
Some garlic powder
1/4 cup water or something

Day-old bakery buns (or make your own if you are fancy. I might try that sometime)
Provolone cheese

Throw the meat and seasonings/soups into the crock pot. I didn't even trim the fat because my roast was frozen. But it might be better to trim the fat if you can, because it saves you the hassle of separating it later. Then cook all day on low. Take the roast out after about 6-10 hours and cut into slices (or basically shred if your roast was as tender as mine). Then put it back into the liquid for another fifteen minutes or so. Meanwhile, slice up some provolone and put it on the rolls under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and the rolls are toasted.

Then, serve! put the meat on the rolls, dish the remaining liquid from the slow cooker into a bowl, and dig in! Man, just writing this makes me want it again. Good thing we have leftovers in the fridge! Also, did you notice how handy my recipe is? You now have half cans of broth and onion soup leftover...whatever shall you do with them? How about freeze, then use later for more delicious french dip!

(picture from Baking Bites, so you can see her prettier version)