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!