Southwestern Shredded Beef Sandwiches

I've been receiving the BHG daily recipe emails for a few years now but I rarely pay attention to them. The other day though I was procrastinating (what's new, right?) and my phone buzzed with a new email. It was from BHG. I decided to look at the featured recipes and saw quite a few that looked good. One in particular that caught my eye was Southwestern Shredded Beef Sandwiches.

You make the beef in the crockpot and then throw it in a saucepan with a few other ingredients right before serving. The meat had this awesome spicy flavor to it. I'm usually not a big shredded beef fan, but this was so good. I even had the leftovers for dinner the next night. This meal was perfect for my crazy life because the bulk of the cooking is in the crockpot. We threw it in at 5 when we went to the gym and by the time we left for work at 7:45 the house was already full of the wonderful aroma of our dinner in the crockpot. I was also happy because the nutritional value of the sandwiches wasn't too shabby. I am positive we'll be making this again.

Southwestern Shredded Beef Sandwiches
Better Homes and Gardens


Ingredients
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
1 sliced red pepper, orange pepper, and yellow pepper
1 Tbsp. cooking oil
2 cups Shredded Beef Master Recipe (see recipe below)
1 10-oz. can diced tomatoes and green chiles I used the Hot/Spicy Rotel
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro I used 1/4 Cup
1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (2 ounces)
4 rolls, split and toasted, if desired
1 cup shredded lettuce

Directions
1. In a large saucepan, cook onion in hot oil over medium heat about 4 minutes or until tender. Add shredded beef, undrained tomatoes, cumin, and chili powder. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until heated through and desired consistency. Stir in cilantro.

2. To serve, sprinkle some of the cheese over bottoms of onion rolls. Spoon about 1/2 cup meat mixture over cheese on each bun. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and the shredded lettuce. Add roll tops.

Makes 4 servings.

Shredded Beef Master Recipe: Trim fat from a 3 to 3-1/2 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast. If necessary, cut beef to fit a 4- to 5-quart slow cooker. Place 2 large onions, cut into thin wedges, sliced peppers and 2 cloves garlic, minced in the cooker. Top with beef.

In a medium bowl, combine 1, 14-ounce can beef broth, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons dry mustard, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed; 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Pour over beef in cooker. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 11 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5-1/2 to 6 hours.

Remove beef and onion from cooker, reserving juices. Using two forks, shred beef, discarding any fat. Skim fat from juices. Add onion to beef; add enough juices to beef to moisten. Place 2-cup portions of beef in airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Makes 6 cups.

** Nutrition Facts: Calories 114, Total Fat (g) 4, Saturated Fat (g) 1, Monounsaturated Fat (g) 1, Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 1, Cholesterol (mg) 16, Sodium (mg) 230, Carbohydrate (g) 10, Total Sugar (g) 1, Fiber (g) 1, Protein (g) 9, Vitamin C (DV%) 7, Calcium (DV%) 5, Iron (DV%) 7, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet**

A Crock Pot Meal I like

I'm not a huge fan of crock pot meals. I own 5 crock pots but just don't care much for this cooking method. I'd rather have it right out of the oven. I like dips in crock pots and roasts and brisket but that's about it. My friend Leslie recommended this recipe a while back and I finally decided to give it a go.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
My changes in italics

4 chicken breasts
1/2 package of taco seasoning
1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom soup
1 cup salsa
1 green pepper, rough chopped
1/4 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. reduced fat sour cream
4 servings brown rice
1ish c. corn
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
Fresh Cilantro to taste
Next time I'm also going to add 1 chopped red pepper

Place chicken breasts, corn, and chopped peppers in slow cooker with broth. In separate small bowl, combine soup, salsa, sour cream, seasonings and cilantro. Stir until combined. Pour mixture over chicken. Cook on low for 5 hours. Chicken should shred easily towards the end of cooking. Serve over hot brown rice.

This was very, very good (and simple - even better!) It will definitely be making an appearance in our house again.

Easy Enough

I found this recipe through Cooking Light the other day. It seemed simple enough and we've never made brisket so this was a good opportunity. We prepared it all the night before and stuck it (it = stoneware from crock pot) in the fridge. In the morning the hubs just popped the stoneware back in the crock pot. I served this with veggies and speedy twice baked potatoes. (Instead of baking the potato in its skin the 2nd time, I put the potato mixture in a dish, sprinkled cheese on top, and baked about 15min. I was too impatient to wait for the potatoes to cool.)

Slow-Cooker Beef Brisket with Beer


Photo by Randy Mayor

1 (3-pound) beef brisket, trimmed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
1/4 cup water
2 cups vertically sliced onion (about 1 large)
1 1/2 cups chopped parsnip (about 2)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 bay leaf
1 (12-ounce) bottle light beer

Rub brisket with salt and pepper. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add brisket to pan; cook 10 minutes, browning on all sides.

Remove brisket from the pan. Add 1/4 cup water to pan, stirring to loosen browned bits. Add onion and parsnip; sauté 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Place onion mixture, vinegar, bay leaf, and beer in a large electric slow cooker. Place brisket on top of onion mixture. (M added water so the meat was almost completely covered) Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Discard bay leaf. Cut brisket diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Serve with sauce


M and I were nervous that the brisket wouldn't taste good and be too beery (is there such a thing.... ha!) We were wrong and pleasantly surprised. It was very good. If you're not a beer person you will not like this.


Nutritional Information
CALORIES 160(28% from fat); FAT 5g (sat 1.9g,mono 2.1g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 20.5g; CHOLESTEROL 49mg; CALCIUM 20mg; SODIUM 232mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 5.6g