I decided to make this amazing Italian beef stuff that you put in sub rolls. Easy to do in a crock pot, easy to sever to lots of people. But I needed to borrow a crock pot because mine isn't big enough to cook three beef roasts. I decided to run over to Ada's (see The Great Cake Disaster to learn more about Ada) and borrow hers.
Big mistake.
This first red flag should have popped up in my brain when she cheerfully opened the door and handed me her crock pot. It was the oldest crock pot I had ever seen. Probably one of the first ones ever made. The second red flag should have popped up when she said, "It should work. I recently rewired it."
What? Who rewires their ancient crock pot? Well, Ada of course.
So I took it home, and that evening after I cleaned up the supper dishes and put Patience to be I divided up my three roasts, put them in crock pots with the italian dressing and beef stew seasoning mix, turned on the crock pots to let them slow cook for 10 hours, and went to bed.
I woke up at 12:30 am. That's not unusual for me. I have trouble sleeping. Probably because I'm a crazy person whose mind won't relax. Anyway, I decided to check the meat. The meat in my fancy-dancy-less-than-four-years-old-digital crock pot: bubbling away, smelling delicious. The meat in Ada's beater: raw as it was when I put it in several hours earlier. Probably because the crock pot is not working. This is an interesting problem. I need this meat to cook because I am solely responsible to feed 25 people lunch in a matter of hours. I cranked up Ada's crock pot in hopes that, I don't know, I didn't turn the knob far enough and went back to bed. After laying there wide awake and worrying for thirty minutes, I got back up. Crock pot still not working. I drummed my fingers on the counter and contemplated my options. Call someone to take over the lunch for me? Nope. That's not the Sarah Netherton way. Get another crock pot after midnight? Sure, I'll just run down to the store and get one. Oh wait, it would take the rest of the dadgum night to drive into town and back and then the meat wouldn't have time to cook.
I finally devised a plan. I dipped a lot of the juice out of my good crock pot and crammed all the meat into it. It was the only way. I went back to bed praying that the meat would cook all the way and the crock pot wouldn't explode all over the kitchen or something bizarre like that.
Next morning I was up and at 'em bright and early, deeply concerned about the condition of my meat, my crock pot, and my kitchen at large. What I found was mostly good. The meat had cooked, the crock pot had not exploded. The only negative was some greasy leakage on the kitchen counter from an over-filled crock pot.
I bounced back into the bedroom to find Patience running a fever again. She'd had fever off and on for a few days, but I was hoping she was over it. Of course she wasn't. The problem was that I had to go to the church early. Due to my improvised plan, I had to get to the church kitchen, bust out another working crock pot (our church has lots) shred the meat, divide it and put half in the other crock pot, add all the bell pepper, onion, and pepperoncinis, and let it cook for another hour. The original plan was to have all this done at home, but no, things don't work out that easily for me. Of course it had to get all complicated.
So, what to do with a sick toddler, an overfull pot of greasy meat, and 25 people wanting their lunch? The clock was ticking.
Benjamin to the rescue! Oh, the joys of having a self-employed husband! He offered to just stay home with Patience so I could go early, get it done, and get home. He's the best husband on the planet. I love him more than the breath in my chest. Anyway, I left the two of them snuggled up on the couch together, loaded all my Italian-beef-sub-roll-related plunder, and sped down the highway, slopping greasy juice all over the floorboard of my car. Luckily I kind of figured that would happen, so I had planned ahead and put down a towel.
The lunch got made, it was huge success, everyone raved about it, many asked for the recipe, and I just realized that I haven't given it to anyone yet. Totally forgot.
After I cleaned up the lunch, I went home, loved on my husband, took care of my sick baby, and vowed to never, ever feed lunch to 25 people or borrow a crock pot again.
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All Day Italian Beef Sandwiches
From the kitchen of Nancy, my sweet mother-in-law
3-4 pound beef roast
1 package beef stew seasoning mix
1/2 bottle Italian dressing
1 small jar pepperoncini
1 white onion, sliced
2 green bell peppers, sliced
Sandwich rolls
Spray inside of crock pot with Pam. Try to use a working crock pot. Place roast inside and coat with seasoning mix. Pour Italian dressing over roast, add enough water to just cover roast. Cook on low for 10 hours or until roast easily falls apart. I think sometimes it can be 7 or 8 hours. Slice onion and peppers, refrigerate for later. When roast is done, remove from crock pot, shred with two forks, and place back in crock pot. Add onion, peppers, and pepperoncini. Cook on high for 1 hour, or until peppers and onions are tender. Lightly toast sandwich rolls in oven, spread with mayo, top with Italian beef mixture, and ENJOY! It could be good to melt some cheese on top, too. Everything is better with cheese. My mouth is watering just thinking about this. Its one of Ben's all-time favorites. I think he hugs and kisses me even more than usual when I make this!
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