What's For Dinner Wednesdays

Around here, Wednesdays are my night to cook (mostly cuz all the other cooks in the family are either gone all day or insanely busy!). I love to cook, and I love having a regular night to do it in, but because I'm gone all day at work, and lately I've just had a hard time coping with everything, I've been leaning pretty heavily on the crockpot, with some successes (stewed chickpeas, stuffed peppers, and pot roast), and some failures (last week's spaghetti and meatballs).

I realized recently that I'm really not good about keeping track of recipes, so instead of trying to remember which blog/magazine/etc I found a recipe at, I'm just gonna post an update after each meal. :)

Tonight's success: Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches, courtesy of the blog Simply Scratch (which I've become ridiculously addicted to!)

You can view the original recipe through the link above, but here my own alterations/additions:

• This isn't an alteration/addition, but just a note: DO take the time to sear the sides of this roast before putting it in the crockpot. It so makes all the difference.
• I diced my garlic instead of smashing it (so that I didn't have to remove it later)
• We didn't have any wine OR beer on hand :( - plus, some members of my family have been reacting weirdly to different foods lately, so they requested that I hold off on adding alcohol until they eliminated it as a "problem" food (which was easy since, you know, we didn't actually have any...). I replaced the red wine with beef broth and simply didn't add the beer or the water, and it turned out fine, with a perfect amount of liquid (although if I made it again, I think I'd go ahead and add extra broth so that I could use the leftovers to make stew).
• I subbed worchestershire sauce in for the soy sauce because I thought the slight sweetness of the w. sauce would make up a bit for the lack of wine. Next time I think I'll add both (it was definitely none too salty)
• I subbed in gel/liquid beef stock concentrate instead of granules.
• I cooked it on high for 2-3 hours, then finished it on low for an additional 2-3 hours.

Verdict: Amazing! I served it with crusty ciabatta rolls, sprinkled with olive oil and lightly toasted (gluten free rolls for my GF family members), and had horseradish, mayo, and chips available. We ate up all but one bowlful of the meat/sauce, which dashed my hopes of making a stew for next week, but also confirmed that we will be having this again. :)

Go ahead, go make some! I promise, you'll make your family very, very happy. :)