Pinterest Win: Crockpot Italian Beef Sandwiches

I first experienced this incredible sandwich when I was home on the farm visiting my Mom, sister and her family for a weekend, and ya know what? Enjoying THIS sandwich was what made me finally say, "Okay, maybe I need to make the jump to Pinterest".

It's not so much that Pinterest came up with this recipe or anything, it's that it helps you find recipes and ideas that you would never have thought of before. Like this one.

My mouth is literally watering right now just thinking about this sandwich, and it is one of those meals that Mark gets a little excited about too. But truth be told, he gets nowhere NEAR as excited about food as I do. But then again, I actually blog about what I eat, so I think that was a given haha :)

So let's talk about how much you need to make it really soon, okay? :)

It is seriously THE easiest recipe to get going. You throw a hunk of seasoned beef in the crockpot, pour in the rest of the ingredients and walk out the door.

I've found that for just the two (sometimes 3, if I didn't add too many pepperocinis and my toddler will eat it) of us, I always do the toasting/melting cheese part in the toaster oven as opposed to the oven: It's way faster.

I discovered this recipe off this link from MommySavers.com, and it is an instant classic for my family. It makes a ton, so it would easily feed a family of 4 or maybe even 6 if you had something as a side. We can make 3 or 4 meals out of it for the 2 of us, depending on how hungry we are, and it freezes and reheats awesome!

Italian Beef Sandwiches

Ingredients

For the crockpot:

• Beef bottom roast, 4-5 lb.
• One packet onion soup mix
• 2 tsp. basil leaves
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 jar sliced pepperoncini with their juices
• 3 C. water

For the sandwiches:

• Hoagie rolls or buns***
• 1/2 stick butter or margarine, softened
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Provolone cheese

***We have tried with both, and hamburger buns are nice for a smaller sandwich, but not as easy to dip as the hoagie rolls. Both taste about the same.

Directions

Rub the beef roast with dry ingredients and place in crock pot. Add water and pepperoncini, along with their juices. Cook on low all day 8-10 hours in the crock pot, until beef falls apart.

To assemble the sandwiches, combine softened butter or margarine with garlic powder. (Note: I have accidentally skipped the butter/garlic spread, and the sandwiches were delicious even without) Spread on hoagie rolls and bake at 350 degrees until the rolls have browned. Remove from oven.

Place Italian Beef on one side of each roll and top with Provolone cheese. Put sandwiches back in the oven to melt the cheese. Serve with juices from the crock pot to dip sandwiches.

Pinterest Win: Lasagna Soup

I tell ya what - Pinterest has been one of the best things that happened to my kitchen. Our meals went from fairly bland to majorly kicked up seemingly overnight.

This soup is incredible! It's so perfect for Winter 2013/2014 because it has been so freaking cold! I will always have fond memories of curling up with a cup of this soup on my maternity leave with Kendrick snuggled in my arms watching Christmas movies all day: It was idyllic.

Cashel LOVES it (especially the cheesy "YUM").

I'll start by posting the link to this incredible recipe I found from the blog A Farmgirl's Dabbles, which she adapted from the stuff below:

Source: Adapted from 300 Sensational Soups by Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds, as seen in the February-April 2011 edition of At Home with Kowalski's magazine from Kowalski’s Markets.

Her photo is way better than mine too, but I can guarantee that the soup probably tastes just as good from my kitchen as it does in hers. Granted, I added WAY more cheesy yum lol

So here's how this recipe went down:

Lasagna Soup

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

For the soup:

• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage
• 3 c. chopped onions
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 T. tomato paste
• 1 28-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 c. chicken stock
• 8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta
• 1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the cheesy yum:

• 8 oz. ricotta
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• pinch of freshly ground pepper

Additional cheesy yum:

• 2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the soup broth. You may even want to consider cooking the noodles separately, and then adding some to individual bowls before ladling the soup over them. This would be an especially smart move if you are anticipating any leftovers. Right before serving, stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

Make this soup. Tonight. It is SO good! I've tried it in the crockpot (just add the noodles the last 20 minutes or something), and also made it up in the pot and stuffed it in the fridge overnight and just put it on the stove for 30 minutes before supper, and both ways have turned out great. I would imagine that the base (sans cheesy yum) would freeze great too, but I haven't tried it.

Getting to Know Me

I thought I'd do a little survey so you can get to know me in the kitchen :)

Earliest memory in the kitchen: Making cookies with my Mom.
Proudest creation in the kitchen: I'd definitely have to say the Beef Wellingtons I made for Valentine's Day last year. They weren't THAT incredible, but they were completely out of my comfort zone, and they turned out great!
Favorite recipe: It's definitely a tie between Spicy Sausage Pasta and Italian Beef Sandwiches (both discovered in 2013!)
Favorite dessert: Brownies
Toddler favorites: He LOVES the Country Chicken Chowder as well as pretty much anything with noodles. He also LOVES Guacamole. Why we don't make that more often, I don't know. He also loves taco salad.
Favorite recipe to make: I really really enjoy making seasonal foods, and I'd have to say that while I really hate clean up, recipes that take a good deal of preparation are my favorites. I love chopping veggies and creating from scratch. It's tough to really find the time for that with two little ones under foot right now, but when I do get the time uninterrupted, it's really a very calming feeling. It helps me unwind. I also LOVE baking pies and making my crusts from scratch. I don't mind peeling the apples or chopping and dicing pears for my favorite pie: Apple Pear Spice.
Grocery Shopping: Yay or Nay? YAY! I actually enjoy grocery shopping. I think a big part of it is that growing up, our family didn't have a lot of money, so going to the grocery store was always one of those, "I hope we can afford everything in the cart" types of experiences. Having the financial security to be able to afford the items in our cart gets me every time I check out. Literally, every time I check out at the grocery store, I say a silent prayer to thank the Lord for having this be one area of our lives where we don't have to stress about.
Let's talk meal planning: Well, that's a whole post for another day, but since we started doing this in 2014, it has totally revolutionized our eating experience. It has been HUGE! I have way more time to spend with my family, and our grocery bill has gone down significantly.
Favorite memory in the kitchen: To be honest, I'm not a big fan of cooking WITH anyone else. My favorite memories have to do with baking for sure, and usually around the holidays with a big cup of coffee. But I really love just being in my own space by myself, creating something delicious in a kitchen that started clean.
Worst part about being in the kitchen: Unloading dishes from the dishwasher!!!! I actually don't mind loading the dishwasher at all, but I despise unloading it.
Biggest kitchen flop: The first meal I ever made Mark was spinach lasagna. It was horrendous, and one of only two meals ever that I have just flat out thrown in the garbage and ordered pizza. The other one was butternut squash ravioli.
One thing you've never made but want to: Lemon meringue pie. It is one of those things that is so scary to me! I'm not really sure why, but I think the meringue part scares me. I hope to try it this year, but knowing full well that I will have to eat the entire thing myself because Mark is not a big fan of lemon.
How have things changed since kids? I wouldn't say I cook less (actually, I cook more!), but I try to do all my prep in the evenings instead of after work. Before I started meal planning in 2014, I found myself spending a good 2 hours of my evenings prepping, cooking and cleaning up instead of focusing on my time with my kids. Now, I do my prep work in the evenings after they go to bed, and I typically spend between 5-30 minutes getting supper on the table instead of an hour or more. My meals have changed drastically, since I now have to think about incorporating some part of the meal to be something that my toddler will eat (i.e. not just a big hunk of steak, baked potato and veggie). We have really broadened our horizons on our menu this year and discovered some truly great new recipes!

I'm Coming Back!

It has been a LOONNNGGG time since I have regularly updated this blog, and I apologize! Life has just gotten to be pretty busy for us, what with having 2 under 2 up until a month ago. While I haven't stopped creating (or taking pictures of) some pretty great meals, I have struggled to find the time to upload those pics to anywhere except Instagram and blog about them. Well worry no more: I've got a good 14 recipe recaps coming your way in the near future, with everything from Strawberry Napoleons to beef and barley soup.

Stay tuned!