Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches (5 minutes prep recipe)

Looking for an amazing, delicious and cheap dinner recipe for a busy day? Then look no further, this meal takes about 5 minutes prep work and it's flavor is phenomenal. It only takes is a few simple ingredients to spice up a cheap cut of beef. These french dip sandwiches are loaded with fall apart tender beef (if your roast isn't fall apart tender after cooking it 8 hours then you may want to consider a purchasing a new slow cooker, I used one once that had a gap between the lid and the slow cooker so it didn't have a good seal on it, therefor the roast cooked unevenly and wasn't anywhere near tender enough). Cheese is optional but I'd say it's a must, it perfectly compliments all the flavors of the beef. 
Serve this sandwich with a side of kettle chips and you've get a dinner that couldn't get any simpler. Yes you could brown the beef in olive oil prior to slow cooking it, and you could replace the onion powder and garlic powder with the real thing but I made this recipe to be quick, basic, and incredibly delicious without sacrificing any flavor. No time wasted on chopping veggies and searing the beef. Just toss everything in and relax while the slow cooker does all the work. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Yields about 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs beef chuck roast
1 (14.5 oz) can beef broth
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce (regular would be fine, just reduce the salt added)
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp liquid smoke flavoring
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder

6 Hoagie buns or 2 crusty baguettes cut into thirds (I prefer baguettes, the crispiness of them eliminates the possibility of soggy. The hoagies just make for a better picture =)
6 slices Swiss, Provolone or Muenster cheese, optional

Directions:
Place chuck roast in a slow cooker. In a mixing bowl, whisk together beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, honey, liquid smoke flavoring, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Pour mixture over roast in slow cooker, cover slow cooker with a lid and cook on low heat 8 hours. 
Remove cooked roast from slow cooker and place on a cutting board, reserving broth in slow cooker. Shred roast with two forks. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain reserved broth from slow cooker into a bowl. Return shredded beef to slow cooker (no more cooking necessary) and pour 1/2 cup broth over shredded beef and toss to evenly coat. Sandwich beef between hoagie buns or sliced baguettes (buttered and toasted if preferred) and top warm beef with sliced cheese. Serve immediately with a side of remaining reserved broth for dipping.

Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

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Perfect Frosted Sugar Cookies

I think it's safe to say I have a slight sugar cookie obsession. If you've been following my blog you've likely noticed by now. But really, who doesn't love frosted sugar cookies? I mean how can you not love them? The only people that don't are liars, I'm just kidding everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion. But those of you that don't like them, well lets just say we probably don't have much in common =).
I know I've already posted a sugar cookie recipe, well that's old news. Those are good, but these are better. These are so soft, so fluffy, so tender. Basically they melt in your mouth dreamy. 
So, you may be asking, what is that makes these special? To answer that, it's a combination of things. The texture is amazing thanks to the cake flour and cornstarch. Don't substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour or your cookie will end up heavy and dense (compared to what you get with the cake flour, besides you'd have to adjust the portions anyway because cake flour is lighter). I know cake flour is more expensive than all-purpose flour but sometimes its worth it, in this case it's definitely worth it. The combination of butter and vegetable shortening also helps the texture, especially when it's whipped to fluffy perfection. I got the inspiration to use egg plus egg white along with the almond extract from white cake. This is one cookie that is meant to be a bit cake-y, it gives it that amazing, pillow-y as clouds bite. 
If you like the Lofthouse style cookies from the store, trust me you're going to want to try these. I think these far outdo those. Those almost taste like plastic to me, good texture but weird taste. I even like these more than my old favorite from the local bakery. These are my new favorite! Enjoy and share!

Frosted Sugar Cookies
Yields about 1 dozen (11 large and 1 regular size to be exact, recipe can easily be doubled too)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup all vegetable shortening (unflavored), at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg 
1 large egg white
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 recipe Vanilla Frosting, recipe follows

Directions:
Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, then whisk it just a few times, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, on medium speed, whip together butter, shortening and sugar until very pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scrapping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in egg and mix until combine, then add egg white, vanilla and almond extract and mix until combine. With mixer running, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combine. Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 during the last 10 minutes of refrigeration. 
Scoop dough out an even 1/4 cup at a time and roll into a ball. Place dough ball on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle top lightly with flour, then using something flat and smooth (such as the storage container lid), press and evenly flatten dough to 1/2" thick (so you should have about a 2 2/3" - 2 3/4 " circular cookie). Transfer flattened dough to a Silpat or buttered cookie sheet and repeat process with remaining dough (you'll have to use 2 cookie sheets). Bake in preheated oven 9 - 11 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely then frost with Vanilla Frosting (note that frosting begins to set quickly so if you are adding sprinkles, sprinkle each cookie immediately after frosting it, don't frost the whole batch of cookies then try to sprinkle them because the sprinkles wont stick).

Vanilla Frosting

1/3 cup salted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 - 3 Tbsp half-and-half 
food coloring, optional

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip until frosting is smooth and fluffy. Mix in food coloring if desired (note: I finally figured out how to get a good pink with your average grocery store food coloring, I put like 8-10 drops red and the faintest amount of blue - be careful if you do this though, it's no where near a full drop. Basically you'd want to touch it to your clean finger and then swipe it in. Random tip but thought I'd share, I never like the hot pink hue I used to get. The tiny bit of blue just tones and cools it down a bit). It's also fun to color coordinate and frost and sprinkle these cookie according to the nearest holiday. 

Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

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Mom's Navajo Tacos and Indian Fry Bread

I will always love Navajo Tacos. I've eaten them ever since I can remember. My mom makes the best Navajo Tacos ever (Navajo taco topping anyway =). She would cheat a little and use frozen Rhodes Rolls dough for the fry bread portion, which was also delicious but nothing compares to homemade Navajo fry bread. If you want to use frozen roll dough, all you have to do is fully thaw and rise the dough (according to directions on package) then fry it and top with the Navajo taco topping. This recipe I created for the fry bread really is incredibly simple though, you can basically make it in the time it takes just to prepare the roll dough for thawing. 
I decided to use two leavening agents for the fry bread because I wanted the slight flavor yeast gives without having to have it rise for hours, but if you don't have yeast on hand you could just add another teaspoon of baking powder. 
I would highly recommend you make 1 1/2 (or double) the recipe listed so you have left over fry bread to warm and serve with honey butter. I love this meal because you get dinner and an incredible dessert with the left over fry bread.
My mom's recipe uses a few things not found in your traditional Navajo taco filling that I think are excellent improvements, basically musts. Many recipes don't have beans or canned tomatoes or even seasonings. My mom would use taco seasoning but I basically just added my own because I don't buy taco seasoning often. Also, I like to add more traditional Mexican foods like salsa, Mexican hot sauce, cilantro and avocados. 
Another great Navajo Taco filling is left over chili (it doesn't have to be my chili recipe, any good ground beef chili would be great =). Use a slotted spoon when serving it so you don't make the fry bread soggy. If you haven't ever had Navajo Fry Bread (aka Indian Fry Bread) or Navajo tacos, then I'm telling you now is the time to try it! A pillow-y, soft center is encased by a lightly crisp, chewy, perfectly fried and golden exterior then its generously topped with a browned beef, deliciously flavorful taco filling and then it's garnished with more toppings that perfectly compliment and blend all the flavors. It is definitely a satisfying taco. Yum yum YUM! Enjoy!

 Who knows why I can't dollop sour cream in the center, we'll just say I meant to do that =)

 So good with honey or honey butter...

Navajo Tacos
Yields about 8 tacos (adults usually eat 2 and the kids eat 1)

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic finely minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes, drained 
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilis
salt and pepper, to taste

For serving:
Navajo Fry Bread, recipe follows
Romaine or Iceberg lettuce, chopped
Cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese (I use a combo of both), grated
Roma tomatoes, diced
sour cream

Other optional toppings I sometimes add:
black olives, sliced
avocados, diced
fresh salsa 
hot sauce (you could add cayenne pepper to the taco filling as well)
cilantro, chopped

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, crumble beef into oil, add onions and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up beef when stirring, until beef has browned and cooked through. Drain fat from beef and return to skillet (my mom doesn't drain the fat, she says it gives it more flavor so you can leave it if you'd like). Stir in garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, kidney beans, canned diced tomatoes and green chilis then season mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, spoon mixture over Navajo Fry bread, then top with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and sour cream (and any of the other optional toppings listed). Serve immediately.

Navajo Fry Bread
Yields 8 (6 inch) fry breads

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 - 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees)
1 Tbsp butter or shortening, melted
Vegetable oil, for frying (sometimes I use half olive oil)

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, yeast and salt. Whisk melted butter into warm milk and pour milk mixture into dry ingredients. Stir until mixture comes together and forms a ball, dough should be slightly sticky and elastic so add an up to an additional 1/4 cup milk as needed. Cover dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest 10 minutes. Heat 1 inch of oil in a large cast iron skillet to 350 - 360 degrees over stove top. Divide rested dough into 12 equal pieces. Working with floured hands and one piece of dough at a time, roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 6 inch circle and gently drop into hot oil, and cook until golden brown 1-2 minutes per side (second side will cook faster). Remove from oil and drain onto a plate or baking sheet lined with paper towels. Serve warm with Navajo Taco topping or for dessert, spread with honey butter.

Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

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