As long as we are talking about food...

Oh wait. We weren't talking about food? Sorry - I must have just been thinking about food. Anyone who is surprised, please raise your hand. It's just that Steve has been with his kids 4 out of the past 5 days, and I am lonely and bored. Kempton doesn't talk back, ya know?

(Thank you Tara, Eli, Douglas and Marisa for keeping Kempton and I company last night!)

Anyway, back to food. Can I tell you about something naughty that I did? Hee hee. A few weeks back, I was having a craving for red meat (which doesn't happen all that often). I bought a roast at the grocery store, and then I brought it home, trimmed the fat off of it, browned it and threw it in the crockpot. I mixed some beef bouillon with a bottle of beer (foamy!), poured it over the top of the roast...and added about a cup of red wine. I am not an alchoholic! I just happen to think that cooking with beer or wine is fun, and more flavorful than water. Plus, if you don't use the whole bottle in your cooking...Kidding!

So, I let the roast cook in the crockpot until it was very tender. Then, I took half of the roast out, cut it up into bite sized pieces and used it for chili. I took the other half of the roast, threw it in a tupperware with all of the yummy juices, put it in the fridge so I could skim the fat off, then I threw it in the freezer for future use! Genius!

Well...tonight I took out the remaining roast, let it thaw and dumped the meat and au jus into a saucepan to heat it up for french dips! PS - you made me feel guilty for pirating that chicken wild rice soup picture off of the internet, so I actually broke out my own camera for these pics.

While the meat was warming, I cut off a chunk of french bread and melted provolone cheese on it under the broiler...the result was magical. Ok, that is a bit dramatic. But it was really, really good. I love french dips.

Take a look at THAT yummy pile of deliciousness. It was so easy and good. I will definitely do a roast like this again. It fed us about 20 times...I made two pots of chili with it (one the way I like it, and one less spicy/onion-y/celery-y/tomato-y for Steve's kids), and we will get at least 4 of this sized sandwich out of the french dips. You could also use this meat to make spaghetti, vegetable beef soup, pot roast...the possibilities are endless! Also - both Steve and I thought that the taste of the roast (just cooked in the beer/bouillon/wine) was one of the best we'd ever had. Easy and economical! Try it!