BBQ Beef Sandwiches & Potato Wedges

Let me start off this post with 2 VERY important pieces of information:
1) The slow cooker (aka crock pot) is a very unappreciated appliance.  It can do so much and is so affordable.  I probably use mine about 3 times a month.  If you don't own a slow cooker, go out and buy one right now.  Go on...Wal-Mart is open 24 hours a day for such reasons!  I promise you, it will revolutionize the way you think about cooked meat.  Right now one of my dreams is to own a slow cooker that has more than just a high and low setting.  I mean we all have to dream big, right!
2) Leftovers are also very unappreciated.  The goal in my house (well since being on a single income anyway) is to try to throw away as little as possible.  I laugh as I look back at the food snob that I once was.  Little did I know that today's leftovers can be recreated into a delicious meal for the next day rather than feeding it to the garbage disposal.

Tonight's dinner consisted of  BBQ Beef Sandwiches & Potato Wedges.  Since I already made a delicious beef roast last night in the crock pot, I had wonderfully tender and delicious meat to make my shredded beef with.  So on to the potato wedges.  Good thing I had my mini chef assistant with me to help out!

Step 1: Prep and cut the potatoes.  I had some golden potatoes which I have never actually used to make potato wedges before.  I always go with the good old russet for those, but I figured, why not switch it up a bit and be dangerous tonight.  That and the fact that I had no other real use for them in the coming week.  So Brenna washed and rinsed (since I leave the skins on) and I got the grown up job of cutting them into wedges.  I prefer my daughter with all 5 fingers on each hand thank you very much!

Step 2: Boil the potatoes.  So I have learned that the best way to make yummy potato wedges is to NOT put them directly into the oven after chopping.  I did this for months and wondered why I go potatoes that were burned on the outside and still semi crunchy on the inside.  Then one day I was watching the Food Channel and wouldn't you know that you can BOIL them first BEFORE baking them.  It makes an AMAZING difference!  So after chopping all the potatoes, into a pot of salted water they go to get a nice bath.  This next step is probably the most important of all...boil them for as long as it takes to play one board game with your assistant chef.  If you have no assistant chef or board game, about 10 mins should do or until they are tender, but not mushy.  Drain them well.



Step 3: Place cooked wedges into a bowl and coat with olive oil.  Pour them onto a foil lined cookie sheet.  Season with whatever makes you happy.  I used garlic and onion powder, pepper and a little seasoned salt.  Pop them into a 425 degree oven for 20 mins, flip once and bake for another 20 mins.  YUMMY!!

The BBQ Beef was pretty much a no-brainer.  Reheat meat in microwave.  Shred it.  Add to bun.  Pour on your favorite BBQ sauce (My favorite hands down is Sweet Baby Ray's...if you've never had it, it is AWESOME).  Eat.  Feel free to serve it with something more appetizing than the very sad looking canned green beans and not quite so sad, but still kind of sad canned mandarin oranges I used.  I was going to make a salad, but unfortunately lettuce was too expensive at Wal-Mart this week.  I was pretty happy with the sandwich and potato wedges which overshadowed my disappointment of saladlessness (a new word coined by myself). 

 All in all I was happy with dinner tonight.  The kids unfortunately have tried the BBQ beef and don't care for it so it was grilled cheese for them.  They did like the potato wedges though!!  50% success tonight.