French Dip Sandwiches (Our Best Bites)

Story:
The extent of my meat dishes, sadly enough, is mostly limited to frozen chicken breasts, ground beef, and an occasioual ham.  So when I make something different, Ben warmly welcomes it.  Especially this dish... he loves a good sandwich, and French Dip is one of his favorites.

I bought myself the beautiful "Our Best Bites" cookbook for Christmas last year (2011).  Ummm... LOVE IT!  I love their food, their photos, and their clear instructions.  So good.  I highly recommend it.  I found this recipe in there; I've made it twice and Ben was pretty much drooling both times.  Thumbs up.

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
1 (2 1/2 - 3 pounds) beef roast
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
2 (1 ounce) packages dry onion soup mix
2 C water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans beef broth
1 (16 ounce) package sliced Swiss cheese
Hard/Crusty rolls

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  While the oil is heating, sprinkle all sides of the roast with kosher salt and pepper.  Carefully place the roast in the pan and sear it on all sides. This shouldn't take more than a few minutes--you just want to quickly brown the roast to add flavor and seal the juices.

Transfer the roast to your slow cooker.  Sprinkle onion soup mix over the roast and add water and beef broth.  Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. (OBB recommends: You can also cook it on high until it begins to boil and then switch the heat to low; the meat is more tender.)

When the meat shreds easily with a fork, shred the entire roast.  Serve on sliced crusty rolls with a slice of Swiss cheese.  I like to put these under a broiler/in my toaster oven to toast the bun and melt the cheese.

Serve with the juices from the slow cooker as au jus for dipping.  Sooooo good.

Amazing Sandwich

Story:
Have any of you ever been invited to do one of those "recipe exchanges"? It's like one of those good ol' fashioned chain letter things that you used to get invited to do as a kid... only this one you forward on a recipe on to one person and then you get like a zillion recipes from other people. I'm not very good at following through on these kinds of things, but if I get one when my mood is just right, I try to do it.
Well, this recipe came from one of those recipe exchanges a few years ago. The gal didn't put her name on the recipe card, so I have no recollection of who sent it to me. But, man!, this is a yummy sandwich. Now that my kids are getting older and eating more, I usually do two loaves... or just one if I have a side dish to go with it. We all like it a lot.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 Pillsbury French Bread Loaves (refrigerator section)
Guacamole (I like Wholly Guacamole... so good!)
Turkey (deli meat)
Monterey Jack cheese, sliced
Tomatoes, sliced
Olives, sliced
Lettuce

Directions:
I think it's pretty obvious... but bake the loaves according the instructions on the package. Then layer on all the ingredients. Be sure to spread the guacamole on generously.

Tuna Melts

Story:
I worked at Swensen's Ice Cream Parlor in San Diego the summer after my senior year of HS, before moving away to college. My friend Traci got me the job. It was a quiet little place, and has since closed. I met a cute boy there, and though that didn't work out, it was that summer that I fell in love with Tuna Melts. And since then I've learned (thanks to my friend Lee), to add more veggies into the tuna salad part. Sooo good.

These are always more filling than I think they are going to be. And I don't know why, but I always serve them with a side of sliced cucumbers.

Ingredients:
sourdough bread
monterey jack cheese*
tuna fish, drained
mayo
dill pickles, chopped (you can use pickle relish too, but I liked the chopped pickles better)
celery, diced
red or orange bell pepper, chopped
dehydrated chopped onions (green onions would probably be good; never tried)
garlic powder
black pepper

Directions: (kind of obvious...)
For the tuna salad:
Shred the tuna into a bowl. Add mayo until the tuna is lighly coated. (I tend to like things dryer than wetter... so add as much mayo as you want.) Add pickles, veggies, and seasonings to taste.

For the sandwich part:
Butter outsides of sourdough bread, put on cheese and tuna salad and cook on a griddle--just like a grilled cheese sandwich. Grill until lightly browned and cheese is melted.

*EDIT* Last week I made these again and I used Pepperjack Cheese in Ben's and my sandwiches. The best ever! Try it.