Meatballs and Easy Gravy

Using about 1-2 lbs of hamburger, make your favorite meatball recipe OR use mine:

Mix 2lbs of hamburger with 2-4 slices of bread, broken into small pieces
Milk to moisten
2 tsp salt
black pepper
1 tsp onion powder or 3 TBSP fresh minced onion

Shape into golf ball sized meatballs and brown in a skillet, no need to cook all the way. I suppose you could use frozen meatballs from the store...that would be easy!

Place meatballs into the crock pot and mix the following in a separate bowl, then pour over the meatballs:

2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup ketchup
4 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

Cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or HIGH 4-5 hours or until your meatballs are fully cooked.

About 30 minutes before eating, add 1 cup milk to the gravy.

*This is soooo good served over mashed potatoes or rice. It would even be good over cooked grean beans, but my kids won't really go for that, so we have the green beans on the side.

Beef Brisket

Marinate a 4-6 lb beef brisket, trimmed if you like for 12-24 hours in the fridge. (I just put mine in the marinade the night before.)

Marinade:

1 can beef broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup soy sauce
3 cloves garlic
2 TBSP liquid smoke

The next morning, place the beef brisket into the crock pot with about half of the marinade liquid. (Discard the rest of the marinade.) Cook on LOW at least 8 hours, ALL DAY. Cooking on LOW is the key. Shred with forks, it should just fall apart. Drain the liquid if you like, I left mine in to keep the meat from drying out and just used a fork to serve it without the liquid.

Serve with steamed rice, potatoes or our favorite: Sesame Noodles from Tasty Kitchen.

*Ok, so this one will take a bit of planning ahead, but oh my heck...sooooo good!!! We loved this. It's summer time, so I loved that it didn't heat the house up. The sesame noodles were perfect with it. Leftovers, yay! It was a big hit, a definite repeat recipe.

Roast Beef and Gravy

2-4 lbs roast beef chunks for stew
2 cans cream of mushroom soup on top
1/4 cup water
1 packet Au Jus Gravy Mix

Cook on LOW 7-8 hours or HIGH 5-6 hours - just watch your meat, don't burn it...don't undercook it. The meat will be VERY tender.

Serve beef chunks and gravy over mashed potatoes.

*I know that most people would just make a stew with this meat, but then my kids wouldn't eat it. Sad, but true. When I do the carrots on the side and do MASHED potatoes separately, it gets gobbled up. Watch the meat dept at your grocery store for the packs of roast beef chunks for stew, so much easier than cutting the meat up yourself. Always a hit for Sunday dinner...and easy too. You know that's how I like it.