Crock Pot Beef and Noodles

Spring weather is funny, sunshine does not always equal warmth, especially in Alaska. I love to have dinner cooking away in the crock pot while I work and play outside. It's nice not to have to worry about what I'm making for dinner because I know what I am making AND I'm making it already. This recipe was a bit tricky though, because I took the beef out, added more broth, made homemade noodles and added them to the pot and let it cook for another 30-40 minutes. I guess tricky, in that you have to do a little work at the end but the results were a dinner where no one spoke they were too busy slurping noodles to say much.

 Crock Pot Beef and Noodles

cooking time 6 hours on high, 8-10 hours on low
3-4 pound chuck roast, large pieces of fat trimmed off
2 quarts water
1/2 cup black coffee
2 drops liquid smoke
1 tsp of white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. garlic granules-dried garlic a lot like powder but bigger, use garlic powder if you it
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp of black pepper
1 quart beef stock
1 recipe homemade noodles or 1 pound of egg noodle, if you are making the noodles yourself make them ahead of time and have them ready to add to the broth


place the roast in the crock
add the water, coffee, liquid smoke and vinegar
sprinkle in the garlic, salt and pepper
give a quick stir to combine, cover and cook
high 6 hours or low 8-10 hours
1 hour before serving heat the broth on the stove or in the microwave
mean while remove the beef, cover and set aside
if you cooked the roast on low increase heat to high
add the noodles and the extra heated stock, stir to combine and press the noodles under the broth
the noodles will soften and soak up the broth
let cook about 30-40 minutes for homemade noodles
while the noodles are cooking cut the beef roast into bite sized pieces, set aside some for later use at this time 
when the noodles are done stir the beef into the noodles and serve

I like mine with lots of pepper

Remember, this isn't quite a soup but more of a noodle and meat dish, with a bit of broth in the bottom of the bowl. Yum. Store bought noodles would work too, you can get frozen "homemade" noodles or dry ones or regular egg noodles in a bag would work too. As for the cooking time I don't really know but make this on the weekend when you have time to play around with it and then you won't have a dinner time crisis.

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Peace and Love--