Italian Beef Sandwiches

Helloooooo....hellooooo....helloooo

I fear there may in fact be an echo since it's been such a long time since I have done any blogging. Between the dog, work, and time wasted on facebook I haven't been much of a blogger and I'm sorry to say I haven't been reading many blogs either. I also haven't been crafting, reading or doing anything productive much, but I plan to get back to it...I miss it.

In an attempt at getting this blog back on track I am going to post my latest cooking victory. After all, this started as a recipe blog once upon a time.

When I was in Chicago visiting with my sister and attending U2's 360 World Tour a while back I had my first taste of an Italian Beef sandwich. Now this was ballpark Italian beef from a cart, so probably not the best to be had in the city, but it was delicious! I knew I had to attempt to recreate it when I made it home.

And I did.

And it was FANTASTIC!


Here's a recipe that I found on allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon onion salt
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
• 1 (5 pound) rump roast

Directions

1. Combine water with salt, ground black pepper, oregano, basil, onion salt, parsley, garlic powder, bay leaf, and salad dressing mix in a saucepan. Stir well, and bring to a boil.
2. Place roast in slow cooker, and pour salad dressing mixture over the meat.
3. Cover, and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours, or on High for 4 to 5 hours. When done, remove bay leaf, and shred meat with a fork.

I actually made this twice, and the second time was better...here's what I did on the 2nd round:

• 2 cans beef broth instead of water
• 2 packages of the Itialian dressing mix
• added a little less than a quarter juice from a jar of pepperoncini
• cut up a few of the pepperoncinis and added those as well.
• Used an eye of round instead of a rump roast
• Cooked it overnight on low

When I got ready to serve it, I buttered and toasted some Italian rolls, piled on the beef, topped w/a slice of provolone and broiled it till the cheese melted. Then we used some of the left over juice for dipping. Man! Good stuff!