Slow Cooker Italian Ranch Beef - Prepped in 2 Mins or Less!

I have to share this recipe for two reasons. 1) Its the most delicious recipe of my whole life I'm pretty sure and 2) it takes less than 2 minutes to prep. I am so happy that a girlfriend shared this with me, and that I was able to try it at her house so that I was extremely motivated to make it. I actually called my hubby on the way home and asked him to pick up the stewing beef so that I could make it the next day! Now I have to say that the original recipe called for three different envelopes of mixes (can you say SODIUM OVERLOAD!), but my brilliant friend modified the recipe to include the delicious Epicure products that we love.

Slow Cooker Italian Ranch Beef

Ingredients

2 tbsp Epicure's Italian Dressing Seasoning
2 tbsp Epicure's Creamy Ranch Dip Seasoning
2 tbsp Epicure's Gravy Mix
2 c. water
3lb  Stewing Beef

Directions

Whisk together first four ingredients.  Add stewing beef to slow cooker.  Pour mixed ingredients over beef. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until beef is tender.

This is simply delicious and probably one of the fastest prep times of anything that I make. Is seriously takes just moments to throw together.

I'd like to take a quick minute to compare the envelopes called for in the original recipe to the substituted ingredients here....

Left: The Sodium content of an entire envelope of the Gravy = 1520mg
Right: The Sodium content of the replacement Epicure Gravy = 740mg

Left: The Sodium content of the envelope of Italian Dressing = 2560mg
Right: The Sodium content of the replacement Epicure Italian Dressing = 70mg

Left: The Sodium content of the envelope of Ranch Dressing = 2160mg
Right: The Sodium content of the replacement Epicure Creamy Ranch = 190mg

So if you do the math, the original recipe for this dish would include 6240mg of sodium!!  The Epicure modified recipe contains just 1000mg of sodium. That's just crazy!  So for a recipe that makes 6-8 servings... that's 780-1040mg PER SERVING with the envelope recipe (pretty much your daily intake!) Just something to think about.

Just looking at the photos I want to make it now!


Hope you enjoy this recipe!