Mom's Meals: French Dip Sandwiches

I decided to share a quick crock-pot meal with you all this week, because the weather outside is frightful. (It snowed over the weekend and it's 10 degrees in Madison as I type! Thank goodness for furnaces and sweaters.) Stephen and I only have one underground spot between us, and I was the lucky one over the frigid weekend, so yesterday started with jumping his car before work. Gift idea: any new drivers need jumper cables. I got them one year for Christmas, and they've been infinitely useful. Especially since I live in the arctic tundra.

It's comforting to know that one by-product of cold weather is warm meals taste that much more delicious.

I believe my grandma taught my mom to make French Dip Sandwiches. It's great to make for large groups, because who doesn't love a hearty sandwich? And, in true crock-pot glory, it's plug and play. Or set and stay. Whatever odd two-verb phrase you want to use to celebrate laziness works here, really.

Ingredients:
~2lb Eye of Round Roast
1 can beef consommé
1 zesty Italian seasoning packet
1 au jus gravy packet
Kaiser Rolls

As you might be able to tell from the above ingredients, salt plays a critical role in this meal. (It's the first ingredient in the Italian seasoning packet and the au jus gravy packet) So, if you're on a low-sodium diet, I'd recommend getting off that diet and then making this!

For those of you who (like me) didn't know how any of those ingredients looked initially.

Directions: 
1. Pour beef consomme, Italian seasoning packet, and au jus gravy packet into crock pot. Stir.
2. Add Eye of Round Roast.
3. Let cook for ~4-6 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. (depending on how well done you want your meat cooked)
4. Slice the roast and return it to the juices in the crock pot.
5. Serve on rolls as sandwiches and use the sauce for dipping.

You can add cheese if you want, but this is actually so good I usually just eat it cheese-less!* I'd love to hear what you think after trying it! Or if you have any easy go-to crock-pot meals. Go forth and crock pot, homies.

--

p.s. More crock pot fun: my favorite chili.

*And I have a theory that almost any meal can be improved with cheese. So the fact that I eat this without cheese is quite the compliment to the stand-alone glory of the french dip sandwich.