Slow Cooker Philly Cheese Sandwichs

Tuesday is a busy day in our house, which means I have NO time to make dinner, unless we want to eat really late...say 8:30? Been there done that, NOT fun! We're running kids around from 4-7:30. So I decided to make Tuesdays-weekly "Crock pot day"!

I stumbled across this quick recipe over at Food Family Finds, and gave it a try last night. Not too shabby! My kids aren't big bell pepper eaters (funny since its in over half my meals) and they don't like "stringy" onions, but when I plopped this down on their plates, they couldn't make it through a quick dinner prayer before scarfing down a few bites. They CLEANED their plates! 

I always feel like a super hero when I make something that my children really like for dinner. 

I would check out her recipe like above if you want to follow it exactly. I made, or plan to make a few tweaks to it to better suit my family...

2 tabl. butter

1 lg onion halved, and thinly sliced

2 lg green bell peppers thinly sliced

2 chicken breast, thinly sliced (you can also use a lean 1 lb. steak and thinly slice it)

2 tabl. smoked salt/or steak seasoning

Mayo

Sliced mozzarella (provolone would work too)

Hoagie buns 

FYI-I used sesame buns, since we didn't have hoagie buns. Also we had the buns left over from a previous meal, and I didn't want them to go to waste...didn't work out all that well because they became soggy quickly-the hubs really doesn't like soggy buns.

Place your butter on the bottom of you slow cooker, add in the onions and peppers. Toss your chicken/steak with the seasoning and place on top of your veggies. cook on low for 5 hours. 

On the bottom bun, spread a layer of mayo/ With a slotted spoon, scoop out a helping of the meat and peppers onto the may sided bun. Top it off with a slice of cheese, and the top bun. let sit for a minute or two so the cheese will get nice and mealty! 

Delicious and super easy!

Crock Pot Broccoli and Beef

So I mentioned how green beans are "candy veggies", I'll have to add broccoli to that! Just so many ways to make them great!
Tonight I made Broccoli and beef, we really like it, and usually will have it once a month-that's saying a lot since I usually like trying new recipes...so it was good enough to make the repeat list in our house.
I promise you wont be disappointed!

Start out with:
1 1/2-2 lbs beef sirloin steak thinly sliced
1-15oz can beef broth
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 lg minced garlic cloves
3 heads fresh broccoli florets (4c approx.)
3 tabl. corn starch
1/4 c. cold water
1 1/2 c Jasmine Rice
2 c. chicken broth
1 tabl butter
1/2 tea salt

Start by pouring in your beef broth in the bottom of your slow cooker, add soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic-whisk well. Pop in your thinly sliced beef, and slow cook 6ish hours on low.
30 min before the timer is done, add your broccoli and mix well.
Meanwhile, begin cooking your rice. Place chicken broth, butter, salt and rice in a med sauce pan over medium heat, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer cover and let cook 15 min. Check rice to make sure its done, you may add 1/4 c more chicken broth, cover and let simmer another 5 min if needed.
Extract about 1-2 c of the sauce from the slow cooker, and pour into a small sauce pan. Bring to a low boil. Stir your corn starch and 1/4 c water together and pour into your boiling sauce. Stir until it thickens and pour back into the crock pot.
Serve the broc and beef over rice!