Crock Pot Sundays

I made my first crock pot meal with my new cookbook this weekend. I forgot to take a picture but it did come out mighty tasty! This week we made Beef & Noodle soup

I have a 4 quart crockpot so my cook times were a little different than the original recipe so I'll include both.

Cast of characters:


1 onion cut up small
4 cloves of garlic (I use the stuff from a jar)
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 tsp of dried thyme
1 box & 1 can of beef broth
8 oz of baby bella mushrooms (the recipe said cremini but my store didn't have any)
3 carrots peeled and chopped (or a handful of baby carrots)
2 pieces of celery chopped
2 tbs soy sauce
2 bay leaves
1.5 lbs beef blade steak, trim some of the fat*
a little salt & pepper for seasoning
2 cups of wide egg noodles


*my store didn't have beef blade so i used chuck. I want to try again with the right cut of meat to see if there is a difference

microwave the onions, garlic, tomato paste, oil & thyme in a bowl. You're trying to get the onions softened. It took me 2 mins but adjust as necessary. Stir and throw in the crockpot.

Add the broth, soy sauce, carrots, celery, mushrooms and bay leaves to the slow cooker. Season the meat with some salt and pepper and add it to the crock pot. The recipe says on low 9 hrs and high 5 to 7 hours. I think the creators of the cookbook had a larger crock pot. Mine took 4 hrs on high to cook up. Once the meat is cooked & tender, remove the meat, take out the bay leaves, turn off the crockpot for about 5 mins.  Shred the beef, get rid of any excess fat that may be on top of the liquid in the crockpot (I didn't have any).  Once you turn off the crockpot, you'll want to cook the egg noodles. The egg noodles cook separately and once drained, you'll add them to the crockpot along with the shredded beef. Enjoy!