By Professional development week. Four days in the building with the full staff. I met Ms. Okafor in person — she is tall, very direct, and has a way of saying exactly what she means that I immediately found calming. The speech therapist, Ms. Park, is methodical and organized and has been working with three of my incoming students for two years already. The OT, Mr. Delgado, stopped by the classroom on Wednesday and adjusted the height of one of the student desks and rearranged the sensory corner slightly and said "Better flow." He was right. I adjusted the rest.
The aide assigned to my room is a woman named Carla who has been at the school for nine years and who walked into Room 108 on Monday morning, looked around, and said "You've already labeled everything." I said yes. She said "Good. Last year's teacher never labeled anything." She has been in SpEd classrooms for nine years and she is going to make me a better teacher. I can already tell.
The last PD day was Friday. The staff meeting ran long. I ate a granola bar from my bag in the meeting and wished I had brought soup. First day of school with kids is Monday. I am ready and also terrified in the specific way that being ready and terrified at the same time means you actually care about the thing you are about to do.
Made a Sunday prep batch: brown rice, roasted sweet potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, a batch of the pulled pork that I know will get me through the week. Everything in containers in the fridge by three PM Sunday. Ready. Total food spend for the week: ten dollars and forty cents. I wrote it down. I write everything down now. The classroom, the recipes, the cost, the week. This is the record of becoming a teacher. This is what it looks like.
The pulled pork is what anchors the whole week—I always need one shreddy, savory thing in the fridge that works on rice, in a wrap, or straight from a container at 7 AM when I am already behind. This Slow Cooker Italian Beef has become that thing for me. I start it Sunday morning before I do anything else, and by the time the sweet potatoes are roasted and the rice is done, the beef is ready too. It costs almost nothing, it makes the whole apartment smell purposeful, and it is exactly the kind of cooking that feels like taking care of yourself before the week gets a chance to take it from you.
Slow Cooker Italian Beef
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 8 hrs | Total Time: 8 hrs 10 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 lbs beef chuck roast
- 1 packet (1 oz) Italian dressing seasoning mix
- 1 packet (1 oz) au jus gravy mix
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 jar (16 oz) pepperoncini peppers, drained (optional but recommended)
Instructions
- Season the roast. Pat the beef chuck roast dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the Italian dressing seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper evenly over all sides of the roast.
- Build the liquid base. In a small bowl, whisk together the beef broth, water, Worcestershire sauce, and au jus gravy mix until the mix is mostly dissolved. Pour into the bottom of the slow cooker insert.
- Load the slow cooker. Place the seasoned roast into the slow cooker. Add the pepperoncini peppers around and on top of the roast if using.
- Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours, or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours, until the beef is fall-apart tender and shreds easily with two forks.
- Shred the beef. Remove the roast to a cutting board or large bowl. Use two forks to shred the meat, discarding any large pieces of fat. Return the shredded beef to the slow cooker and stir to coat it in the juices.
- Portion for the week. Divide into airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze portions for up to 3 months. Serve over rice, in wraps, on rolls, or straight from the container.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 4g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 620mg