Common Cuisine |

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.

This is another family dish that brings back fond memories of large holiday gatherings when I was a child.

• 1-2 eggs
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken or onion, or cheddar cheese)
• ½ cup milk
• Large bag frozen chopped broccoli
• 2-4 cups bread cubes (or garlic croutons)
• 1-2 cups shredded cheese (any kind you like)
• ½ small onion, diced

In small bowl, mix egg, soup, and enough milk to make the soup mixture thin enough to pour.

Gently fold together broccoli, bread, cheese, and onion, and place in large baking dish. Pour soup mixture over top. Bake 40 minutes until the top is browned.

Serves 6-8.

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 med onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups chicken, beef or vegetable broth
• 1 (32 oz) can pumpkin
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained
• 1 (14½ oz) can ready cut tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup cream
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper

In soup pot, saute onions in oil 5 minutes. Add broth, pumpkin, black beans and tomatoes. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and stir in cream, curry, cumin, cayenne and salt, to taste. Simmer 5 minutes; adjust seasonings and serve.

Serves 4 to 6.

• 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.

This completely inauthentic take on English sausage and potatoes is enormously well received by my family.

• 1 ½ lbs smoked sausage, sliced thickly
• 1 pkg (32 oz) frozen hash brown potatoes (not thawed)
• 5 green onions, sliced
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 can cheddar cheese condensed soup
• 1 soup can milk

Combine potatoes, sausage slices, green onions, pepper and garlic powder in crock pot. Stir gently to mix.

Stir together soup and milk. Pour over potato mixture. Top with shredded cheese.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Serves 4-6.

I was amazed to find that this ordinary dish from my childhood went over so big with my own kids. And it is so easy!

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cans french style green beans, drained
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 package frozen tater tots

Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground beef and onion together in skillet. Drain off fat. Place mixture in a layer in bottom of 13″ x 9″ baking dish.

Layer green beans on top of beef mixture. Stir together soups and layer on top of green beans. Arrange tater tots in layer on top of all.

Bake 30-45 minutes.

Serve 4-6 with salad and a loaf of crusty bread.