Philly Cheesesteak Soup

Place the beef roast in the slow cooker and add the beef broth, soy sauce, bay leaf, pepper, salt, rosemary, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder. Cover and cook on low for 6–8 hours, or until the meat is tender. Remove the meat from the crockpot and shred it with two forks – it should shred easily. Skim off any fat on the top of the drippings, and then return the shredded meat to the crockpot. Cook for another 1–2 hours on low.

For the vegetables, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the red and green bell peppers and the onions and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes until they are softened. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and lower the heat to low. Continue cooking for another 40–45 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the vegetables are very soft and caramelized (the onions should be browned).

Make the soup: combine two cups of the liquid in the crockpot (strained), the beef broth, the chicken broth and the thyme in a medium pot. Bring this to a boil and then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20–30 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs (or strain the soup if using dried thyme).

Add a scoop of shredded beef, and a scoop of caramelized vegetables to each soup bowl, and top with a cup of soup. Garnish with croutons and shredded cheese.

Note: This recipe makes more meat than you need for the amount of broth. I made a 3 pound roast and had enough for this soup one meal, and used the remainder for French dip sandwiches another night with some of the meat drippings. This recipe looks really long, but each component is really easy, and all of it reheats easily too if timing doesn’t work to do everything the day you want to eat it.