Mr. Prevention and I had to get out of the house yesterday. Our weekends free of all commitments are enjoyable, but incredibly lazy and somewhat unproductive. As we kept complaining about being ready for a nap 3 hours after our 9-10 hour night of rest, it was clear that we needed some fresh air and activity.
Activity in the form of retail therapy, that is.
“We can be boring and shop here or we can be ADVENTUROUS and shop in South Bend!” Mr. Prevention offered.
I piled into the car and let him choose. He chose the “adventure”.
For those of you familiar at all with South Bend and Grape Road — what a nightmare on Saturday afternoons. I thought Chicago traffic was bad, but heavens no. Grape Road in South Bend, Indiana on a Saturday afternoon is painstakingly sluggish. We sat at multiple lights for 4-5 cycles before actually getting through…only to hit more traffic.
Our “adventure” entailed TJ Maxx and Whole Foods. We live on the edge, let me tell you.
Whole Foods was much more enjoyable than TJ Maxx, even if the store was overcrowded and far too small. I chugged along with my mini cart and stared longingly at all of the fresh produce, cheese, and meat as I sampled guacamole and Irish cheddar, throwing items in the cart as quickly as Mr. P, surprisingly.
Whole Foods is the only store where I actually drool over the meat counter. Drooling over raw meat…yep. They make everything look so fresh and appealing…that is until you check out the price tag. They did, however, have chuck roast on sale (chicken breasts, too!) so I stocked up. After making these Crock Pot Tangy Italian Beef Sandwiches with the very lean chuck roast cut, I fell in love with these easy to make, super flavorful & spicy sandwiches. Perfect for a fast meal that also reheats great for later.
- 3 banana peppers
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1½ tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt, divided
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 8 bottled pepperoncini peppers, chopped
- 2¼ lb chuck roast, trimmed and halved
- 8 (1½ oz) sandwich rolls, toasted (if desired)
- Preheat broiler. Place peppers on a baking sheet and broil for 4-6 minutes, turning as needed to char on all sides; remove the stems and transfer peppers to the bottom of the crock pot.
- To the crock pot, add the vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper,1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and chopped pepperoncini; stir well.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef; cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Place beef in slow cooker and sprinkle with remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- Remove beef to a cutting board and shred with 2 forks. Return beef to crock pot; gently stir to moisten meat with liquid before dividing evenly between the sandwich rolls and serving.
Weekly Menu: March 16th – 20th
- Sunday: Salad with Pancetta, Peperoncini, and Parmesan {from last week that I never made}
- Monday: General Tso’s Tofu with roasted broccoli
- Tuesday: Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce and twice-baked potatoes
- Wednesday: leftovers with asparagus
- Thursday: Tortellini Chili
I think the stair mill is calling me today…
Be well,
I loves me some banana peppers! I was in Chicago yesterday – I have never seen more drunk people dressed in green in all my life! Definitely an adventure!
Enjoy your Sunday!
Ooohhhh I love the added element of vinegar to the beef! I’m definitely going to have to try it! Great recipe, thanks for sharing!
Love a good crockpot beef recipe! Looks like the perfect weeknight meal!
My husband would love this. I love crock pot recipes. I have never used banana peppers in my cooking but I know I love them though. I need to get come at the supermarket next time I go ๐
I can totally relate to drooling over the meat counter. There are just so many good options at Whole Foods.
Glad to find another slow cooker recipe. They are saving dinner with all my daughter’s after school activities.
Glad to know I’m not the only one who finds raw meat appealing! haha ๐
There was definitely no Whole Foods in South Bend when I lived there – which is probably good, because I couldn’t have afforded it anyway. I lived half a mile away from Grape Road. I’d forgotten how crazy it got on the weekends!