Pot roasty oasty oasty

It's recipe time again.

Because, dudes, I made something pretty tasty the other day and it bears to be spread far and wide amongst the internets...... it's easy to do and tasty and fun to eat, much like a lead guitar player or cheerleader.

Think about it.

OK - here we go with the recipe:

Tiff's O-mouth pot roast

Serves 4 with these instructions, or 8 if you double the pasta.

1 3-pound (or so) eye of round beef roast, or other "roastable" meat.
1 10-ounce can of garlic and olive oil diced tomatoes. (I use Del Monte)
2 10-ounce cans of water
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
8 ounces of long pasta (regular spaghetti works well. Stay away from angel-hair; it's not robust enough)
1 TBSP olive oil

Stick the roast (can still be frozen) in your crock pot or slow cooker. Empty the cam of tomatoes and cans of water into the pot. Sprinkle the roast with spices. Cover the pot and let cook on low for 8-10 hours (or longer) or high for 6-8 hours (or longer). Longer cooking will tenderize the meat more.

Just before serving, set 4 quarts of water to boil. Break 8 ounces of pasta into 3 inch pieces and boil until al dente. Drain and coat with a tablespoon of olive oil.

When meat is done, it will be fork-tender and shreddable. Pull single-serving sized chunks off the meat, cut into bite sized pieces.

Put 2 ounces of pasta into a bowl (you do NOT have to measure - just eyeball it for goodness sakes!). Add meat. Put 3/4 cup of broth from meat into bowl, and serve with a fresh roll or piece of warm foccacia or ciabatta (rosemary and garlic would go great here) for dipping in the broth. Shaved parmesan can be added on top, if you're feeling really fancy.

Eat the goodness of the italian post roast noodle bowl. Make O-mouth. Wipe up dribbles. Repeat.

(ASIDE - I make rolls from leftover homemade pizza dough. My inner Martha glows when I do, which is hella awesome).

Caution - do NOT try to over-season this dish. If you do the broth will taste weird. Leave the tomatoes and meat to comingle and do their thang for several hours, and you'll wind up with a nice tasty beefy broth that's soothing and luscious, that even the kids will eat.

BONUS! - there will likely be leftovers. If there are, here's what to do. Boil some rotini in the leftover broth (or, hey, why not some mini-ravioli or tortellini?). Maybe get crazy and add some sliced carrots here too. Shred a buncha meat. Throw the meat into the pot when the pasta's done, and heat it through.

There - beef soup. It's different enough from the first iteration to not get "THIS again?" comments, and if you're feeling really sexy and chef-ish now's the time to add some oregano and thyme to change the taste just enough to fool the unwary family.

Don't you just want to go buy a slow-cooker now? C'mon, they're cheap, and you can play along at home if you do.....