Braised BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Braised BBQ Beef Sandwich adapted from Simply Recipes
1 3lb chuck roast, rinsed and dried
2 medium onions, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 18oz bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 sandwich or hamburger buns

Directions:  In a large, heavy pot, heat olive oil on medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, roughly chopping them in the pot.  Add the bbq sauce, increase heat to medium high and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the chuck roast.  Bring to a low simmer, cover and slow cook until meat is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours.

Remove the meat from the pot.  Use a fork and knife to separate the roast into small pieces. Set aside.

Increase the heat on the pot to medium/medium-high, uncover, and reduce the liquid until thick.  Stir often to prevent burning.

Return the meat to the liquid in the pan.  warm both thoroughly.  add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on buns.  Makes approximately 12 sandwiches.

Here's what you'll need:

Chop up an onion

Saute in a deep pan with some oil.  Make sure the pan is big enough to slow cook the meat in.

Add a can of tomatoes.  The recipes says to add the can and then roughly cut them up while they are in the pan.  It would have been much easier to give them a rough chop beforehand.

Add the bbq sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the meat and slow cook for about 3-4 hours.

Pull out the meat and shred it and then put it back into the sauce.  Keep on low until ready to serve.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:

This beef was very tender but also had a few "burnt ends" which were fantastic, as well.  While it didn't have the smokiness of being cooked in a smoker, being slow cooked on the stove gave the meat a very tender, fall apart texture that really soaked up the sauce.

I used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle Sauce which had a nice little zing at the end but you can use whatever sauce you love the most.  This is a perfect and easy summer meal!

Hope you enjoy!

April

Sloppy Maple-BBQ Turkey Joes

Sloppy Maple-BBQ Turkey Joes from Everyday Magazine
1Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2lbs ground turkey
1Tbsp poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup dark amber pure maple syrup
About 3Tbsp soy sauce
About 2Tbsp cider vinegar
About 2Tbsp brown sugar
1 rounded Tbsp dijon mustard
8 soft burger rolls, split
Shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese, chopped scallions,
and chopped pickled for topping

Directions:  In a large skillet, heat the EVOO, 1 turn of the pan, over medium-high heat.  Add the turkey and season with the poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.  Cook until browned, then stir in the bell pepper, onion and garlic and cook until vegetables are tender, 5 or 6  minutes.  In a bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, maple syrup, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and mustard.  Pour the sauce over the meat and simmer over medium-low heat for a few minutes to combine the flavors.  Serve the sloppy turkey on the rolls with toppings.

Here's what you'll need:

Cut up the pepper, onion, and garlic.

Put some olive oil in a pan and then add the ground turkey.

Once the turkey is browned, add the veggies.

As the veggies are cooking, combine the tomato sauce, maple syrup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, soy sauce, and mustard.

Add the sauce to the mixture and let it simmer.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:

This sloppy joe dish was good.  I don't normally put red pepper in my sloppy joes.  Green pepper could be substituted (just buy whatever is cheapest) without changing the flavor but keeping the texture.

As far as the sauce is concerned, I really think that this sauce is no better than a store-bought canned sauce but it took more ingredients.  Luckily, I had all of the ingredients on hand but if I were to go out and buy each one just to make this one sauce it would have been pricey.

The one thing that did definitely add flavor to the sloppy joe is the addition of the poultry seasoning while the ground turkey was cooking.  While eating the sandwich, I could really taste the depth that the poultry seasoning added and I will definitely do that next time.

I served this with one of our new "go-to" recipes.  Scott actually prefers this roasted acorn squash to normal baked french fries.  If you know my husband then you know that is saying a lot.

Hope you enjoy!
April

Crockpot BBQ Short Ribs

Crockpot BBQ Short Ribs from Kraft Foods
4lb beef short ribs
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup flour
1 cup KRAFT Original BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp yellow mustard

Directions:  PLACE ribs in slow cooker; top with onions. Mix remaining ingredients; pour over ingredients in slow cooker. Cover with lid.

COOK on LOW for 6 to 8 hours (or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours). Remove ribs from slow cooker; cover to keep warm.

SKIM excess fat from sauce; return ribs to sauce. Stir gently until evenly coated.

Here's what you'll need:

Chop up an onion

Mix all ingredients together

Place ribs in bottom of crockpot and pour mixture on top.  Cook for 6-8 hours on low.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Even in the crockpot, there was some glazing and some crisp.

Our Thoughts:

This dish was so good.  About 3 hours after putting it in the crockpot, I could not wait for dinner to come.  The bbq sauce was sweet with a bit of spice and although the ribs were "fall off of the bone" there was also some good carmelization and crunch to them, as well.

Definitely try this dish!

Hope you enjoy!

April

BBQ Turkey Meatloaf

BBQ Turkey Meatloaf from Debbie Does Dinner
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey, 93%
1 egg
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
2/3 cup barbeque sauce, divided into 3-1/3's
1/2 cup onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp. italian seasoning
2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Onion topping:
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup barbeque sauce

Preheat oven to 425. In a large bowl, combine all the meatloaf ingredients except 1/3 of the bbq sauce. Spray a meatloaf pan with cooking spray. Dump the meatloaf in the pan. Brush 1/3 cup of bbq sauce over the top. Bake at 425 for about an hour or until done. If there is any grease in the pan when it's done, carefully pour it into a can to get rid of.

While meatloaf is cooking, prepare your onion topping. In a pan, toss the onions and oil and cook on low heat for about 15 - 25 minutes until tender and caramelized. Add the bbq sauce and heat through. Top the meatloaf with the onions and serve.

Modifications:
-I added 1/4 of an apple to the onion topping.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I preheated the oven to 425 degrees.

#2 All of the ingredients, only 1/3 of the bbq sauce, went into a bowl and mixed together.

#3 I sprayed down loaf pan with cooking spray and then put the meat into it.

#4 I covered the meat with the 2nd 1/3 of bbq sauce.

#5 Into the oven for 1 hour.

#6 After the meatloaf cooked for about 40 minutes, I sauteed 1/2 of an onion and 1/4 of a red apple in olive oil.  I turned the heat down and let the mixture carmelize.

#7 After the onions and apple cooked for about 20 minutes, I added the last 1/3 of the bbq sauce.

#8 Once the meatloaf was finished, the apple and onion bbq sauce mixture went on top.

The Finished Product:

Review:

I saw this recipe on this wonderful new blog site I found this week.  I had all of the ingredients in my pantry except the ground turkey so I definitely wanted to give it a try.

Scott and I really enjoyed this meatloaf.  The bbq sauce gave it that sweet and spicy flavor while the Panko and oats were a good binder for the turkey. 

I could really taste the sage in this recipe.  I'm not a huge fan of sage so I would probably leave it out next time.  I commented to Scott, though, that for someone who doesn't like traditional Turkey on Thanksgiving or someone who is going to be eating alone or only have a very small group, I thought it would be a great recipe.  Scott, though, said that when eating it he did not think of Thanksgiving. 

I love the fact that I thought to add apple to the onion mixture.  It was absolutely delicious!  Once again, when I thought of this dish for Thanksgiving or even Christmas, cranberries  or golden raisins could be added to the onion bbq sauce.

Hope you enjoy!

April

Slow Cooker Beef Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Beef Sandwiches from my sister, Marissa
1 boneless beef roast; trimmed (2-3 lbs) - I typically use either sirloin tip or rump roast.
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 bottle Italian dressing (16 oz.)
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
your favorite bbq sauce (We always use Sweet Baby Ray's)
hamburger buns
cooking spray


Directions: Spray inside of crock pot with cooking spray. Season beef with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and whatever other seasoning you like. Place beef in slow cooker. Sprinkle beef with brown sugar, then pour Italian dressing over beef. Cover and cook on low setting for 10-12 hours. Remove beef from slow cooker and shred using 2 forks. Pour out all juices left in slow cooker. Return beef to empty crock pot and add bbq sauce. Mix well and serve warm on buns.

My sister's notes:
**This recipe calls for the fat to be trimmed from the roast BEFORE seasoning and placing in crock pot. However, I think it is MUCH easier to "trim the fat" after the meat is cooked; it will just peel right off the meat when you're shredding it afterwards. (No cutting and sawing at it necessary.)

***If you prefer beef au jus, skip the last step. Reserve 1 cup of juice from crock pot for dipping and serve plain meat on buns, with bbq sauce as a condiment.

****I have tried varying the types of Italian dressing (zesty, tangy, etc.) but I have found that if you stick with just plain Italian dressing (I used Schnuck's brand), the meat tastes much better. For instance, the "tangy Italian" dressing gives the meat an almost sour taste because it's so tangy, which makes you have to increase your brown sugar by almost double to counteract it.

Here's what I started with:

Here' how I did it:

#1 I sprayed the crockpot with cooking spray and then put the roast in.

#2  I topped the meat with 1/3 cup of brow sugar.

#3 I emptied one bottle of Italian dressing onto the meat.

#4 I set it to cook for 8 hours.

#5 Then, I remembered that I hadn't seasoned the meat so I covered both sides with Home Seasoning.

#6 When the meat had cooked for about 7-8 hours I drained the dressing and put the meat back into the crockpot.

#7 I shredded the meat with a couple of forks and then added a bottle of bbq sauce.  I let it cook for another 1-2 hours.

TheFinished Product:

Review:

These sandwiches were great!  It was so easy to make and mde the house smell fantastic all day.  All of the different herbs and the oil in the Italian dressing really gave it a great flavor and helped with the tenderness.  I think you could manipulate the flavor by using different types of dressings and, of course, different styles of bbq sauce.

I used FF Italian dressing and served it on whole grain buns for a little healthier sandwich.  I just opened up a couple of cans of sweet kernal corn (I forgot to buy corn on the cob this weekend) and had a Steamers bag of mixed veggies. 

Such a great summer meal!

Hope you enjoy!

April