Common Cuisine |

• 2 ½ to 4 lb chuck roast, cut into 1″ squares
• 1 pkt dry brown gravy mix
• 4 potatoes, cut into chunks
• 6 carrots, cut into chunks
• 1 onion, cut into thick slivers
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup water

Place meat pieces in slow cooker. Sprinkle gravy powder over meat and stir.

Add vegetables to pot. Stir gently.

Mix water and wine. Pour over contents of pot.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

Serves 4 to 6.

• 9-10 lasagna noodles
• 1 lb ground beef or sausage
• 1 onion, chopped (optional)
• 1 small can sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 16 oz ricotta cheese
• 8 oz shredded mozzarella
• 1 egg
• 2 T parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Fill a large pot or pan with water and heat to below boiling. Turn off burner. Allow noodles to soak in this water while you prepare the beef mixture.

Brown ground beef in skillet. If desired, start onions first then add ground beef after 5 minutes. Drain. Add mushrooms, if desired. Pour spaghetti sauce over all and stir. Turn off burner.

Meanwhile, combine ricotta cheese, mozzarella and egg in a medium bowl.

Layer the three elements in a 6″ x 10″ glass baking dish. Begin with ¼ cup of beef mixture in the bottom. Then layer 1/3 of the noodles, 1/3 remaining beef mixture, and 1/3 cheese mixture. Repeat process two more times. When finished, top with parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the cheese and noodles are bubbling all the way to the center of the dish. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Makes 6 servings.

• 1 2½ to 3 pound beef roast (round, shoulder or brisket)
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 can beer
• 1 envelope dried onion soup mix

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together all the sauce ingredients. Place roast in crock-pot. Pour sauce over roast and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

Meat is done when it is so tender it can be pulled apart with a fork into shreds or pieces.

Serve on buns with barbecue sauce. Serves 4 to 6.

Perfect to start on a chilly morning, along with the bread machine, for a hearty late lunch or supper.

• 1 2½ to 3 pound beef roast (round, shoulder or brisket)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp coarsely cracked pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 envelope dried onion soup mix
• ¼ cup water
• 4 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 2 cups cubed fresh zucchini
• 1 whole onion, cut into wedges
• 1 cup baby carrots (optional)

Season roast with salt, pepper, and garlic. Pour oil into large saucepan, and brown roast on all sides. Place browned roast in crock-pot.

In a small bowl, combine soup mix with water. Pour mixture over the roast and cook on low for 4 to 4½ hours. During last ½ hour of cooking, place vegetables in crock-pot.

At end of cooking time, remove roast to cutting board and let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. Use sauce in crock-pot to make gravy, if desired.

Serves 4 to 6.

Here is about the easiest way I’ve ever seen to make French Dip. It’s very tasty, too! You can also thicken the sauce with cornstarch and call it Roast Beef with Gravy. Serve with the kind of refrigerator biscuits that peel into thin layers.

• 2.5 to 4 pound chuck roast
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 can beef consomme
• 1 can french onion soup

Simply put the roast into your slow cooker, pour the three cans of soup over, cover and cook for 8 hours on low. The longer you cook it the more tender it becomes.

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 1 cup salsa
• ½ C milk
• 6-8 fresh tortillas, cut into 1″ pieces, or ½ pkg tortilla chips
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400. In skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef until browned, stirring to crumble meat. Pour off fat.

Add soup, salsa, milk, tortillas and half the cheese. Spoon into 2 qt shallow baking dish. Cover.

Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Serves 4.

Start this baby very early in the day, or let it cook all night while you sleep (although it makes me wake up super hungry in the morning). Put it in the fridge while you are at work all day, then shred it and put it back in the pot to heat up for an hour before dinner.

• 2 ½ to 4 pound beef chuck roast
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 small onion, sliced (optional)
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms (optional)
• ¼ cup water
• 1 cup sour cream (optional)
• 1 lb broad egg noodles

Place roast in slow cooker. Sprinkle onion soup mix all over roast, and pat it into the meat. Spoon mushroom soup over roast, and seal it down to the bottom of the pot.

If desired, sprinkle onions and mushrooms over all. Pour water into bottom. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours, or on high for 5 to 6 hours, until meat shreds easily with a fork. Drain off gravy, shred meat, and stir sour cream into gravy, if using. Then stir gravy back into meat, and serve over noodles.

Serves about 6.