French Dip Sandwiches

One thing I always feared about marriage was mother-in-laws.  I grew up seeing "monster-in-laws" on TV and sometimes hearing people talk about their terrible MIL's.  I knew that the women in my family all had great relationships with one another so I knew their was hope for scoring a great in-law family, but I would be lying if I said it would have been a deal breaker for me if the guy I found had a family I couldn't get along with.

I'm married now so you know I found someone who fit the bill, and let me tell you - I scored big-time on the in-law front.  My husbands brother was one of my best friends in college and I couldn't live without the friendship with his sister now.  She's one of my best friends and our go-to babysitter!  My father-in-law is good as gold, but my mother-in-law has been one of the best blessings from marriage.  She's thoughtful and extremely generous, patient and persistent.  I love her for so many things she's taught me and shown me and I love that we continually find things to bond about, food being one of those things.  

One of my favorite recipes from her are these French Dip Sandwiches.  I've always loved a good French Dip, but this recipe is delicious.  One of the amazing things about this dish is that it is SO easy.  You literally throw it all in the crock pot and let that beauty do it's thang!  Serve on french bread (or I used Bolillo rolls) to soak up all the wonderful au jus.  Mmm.

Basically, you select your roast, place it in the crock pot with all of the spices, cover with water and crank it up!  In 8 hours (or when you can tell it's definitely tender), pull it out and shred the meat.

Return the meat to the crock to let it soak up even more of this yummy broth.

When you're ready to serve, place your meat in the bread/rolls and serve au jus on the side for dipping.

Does anyone else want to straight up drink that broth??  Refrain.  That would be rude.

French Dip Sandwiches

1 (3 1/4 - 4 lb) boneless church roast, trimmed

1/2 c. soy sauce

1 beef bouillon cube

1 bay leaf

3 or 4 peppercorns

1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. garlic powder

12 french sandwich rolls, split

Place roast in a 5 qt. slow cooker.  Combine soy sauce and next 6 ingredients and pour over roast.  Add water to slow cooker until roast is almost covered.  Cook, covered, on low for 8 hours or until able to pull apart with a fork.  Remove roast, reserving broth, and shred roast with a fork.  Place roast in rolls and serve with reserved broth for dipping.

**I love this leftover, but this roast is so good, I'll use it for lots of other things like burritos or just paired with fresh veggies as a side.  My mom taught me to use roast for what we call "roast crisps," where she makes a gravy of a little butter, flour and the broth from the meat, mixes in the meat and spreads this on cripy tortillas topped with cheese.  We throw them in the oven for the cheese to melt and eat them with jalapenos. So simple and so yummy! 

Lasagna Soup

You all know already that I'm a soup lover.  This soup is definitely one of my favorites.  I found the recipe about 2 years ago and me and my family fell in love.  Being the soup lover I am, I could have soup at least once a week in the fall/winter, but my husband... not so much.

I think many meals - soup in particular - are sometimes best the second and third time, but my husband does NOT like leftovers.  We have many lunches where I just say we are having leftovers and he will make peanut butter sandwiches instead.

The recipe looks long, but it's a really easy soup to make.  The very best part is the ricotta cheese mixture that goes in the bottom of the bowl under noodles and soup.  It MAKES the dish - I promise!  It's an art to dipping your spoon to the bottom and catching a little bit of this goodness with each bite.

Also, you'll notice in one of my pictures that I've browned the sausage using what I've heard is a potato masher.  Growing up, Mom used a hand mixer to "mash" potatoes and used this potato masher utensil for browning meat.  In college I was helping one of my roommates in the kitchen and got it out to mash the meat and she questioned why I was using a potato masher for meat.  I simply told her that it's not a potato masher, that it helps crumble meat when you're browning it.  She assured me that it was called a potato masher and that was its function, but I'll still refer to it in our house as the meat masher - haha!

Anyway, here's the process with the recipe below!

Heat the oil in the pot and brown the sausage. 

Add the onions and cook until they are soft.

Add the garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes.  (Notice: MEAT masher)

Add tomato paste and cook for 4 minutes, then add tomatoes, stock and bay leaves.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins.

While those flavors are developing, make your pasta in a separate pot and stir together the ricotta cheesy goodness.

Once the soup is ready, start  putting together the bowls!  First, some cheesy yum..

Then a few noodles..

Ladle in some soup.

And top with mozzarella!

Lasagna Soup

2 T olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. Italian sausage
2 c. chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T tomato paste
1 28 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 c. chicken stock
16 oz. pasta (rotini or bowtie)
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Ricotta mixture:
8 oz. ricotta
1/2 c. grated parmesan
1/4 t. salt
pinch of ground pepper

Topping: mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add sausage and brown.  Add onion and cook until soft.  Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook for one minute.  Add tomato paste and cook for 4 minutes.  Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Cook pasta in a separate pot according to it's directions on packaging.

In a small bowl, mix ricotta, parmesan cheese, salt a pepper and stir until combined.

Right before serving, add basil, salt and pepper to soup pot.

In individual bowls, place a dollop of ricotta mixture in bottom of the bowl.  Spoon noodles on top and pour hot soup over noodles.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.


Recipe adapted from http://www.afarmgirlsdabbles.com/2011/03/24/lasagna-soup/