As I was typing the title for this blog post this morning, I got stumped…. I used a Rival Crock-Pot to make the Coffee and Garlic Roast Beef for these sandwiches, but my fingers wanted to type crockpot. I went to my Facebook and Twitter friends to find out the important answer to this most critical question – Is it Crockpot, crockpot, crock-pot, slow cooker or slowcooker? What is this handy appliance really referred to as?

And you know what? You all are as confused as I am! The answers rolling in proved that we all are calling it completely different names. No matter what the appliance is called, I can tell you that it is an under-utilized little machine in my house. Every single time I use it, and remember how much it simplifies dinner, I vow to use it more and more.

My mother-in-law recently treated us to some tasty open faced shredded roast beef sandwiches. She made the roast beef in her crockpot / crock-pot / slow cooker and added a bottle of heavy stout beer. Those sandwiches were so good. I decided to test out her recipe but instead of using beer, I used a  bold coffee. You can’t really taste the coffee in this recipe (just like you couldn’t really taste the beer in hers) but the roast beef was so incredibly tender and rich in flavor. I’ve since made this recipe again and have turned my family into big roast beef fans.

Speaking of coffee, it’s time for a new Keurig K-Cup® Ambassador promotional code to share with you! AM0004-3571. This code offers 15% off Donut House K-Cup® portion packs (one of my favorites!) and free standard shipping (no minimum purchase), from now until 9.11.11. Make your discounted purchases at www.greenmountaincoffee.com! This offer cannot be combined with any other offer or discount.

 Now, on to the recipe!

Recipe: Slow Cooker Coffee and Garlic Roast Beef

• 1 5-6 pound Beef Roast
• 4 Garlic cloves, minced
• 10 ounces bold coffee (Super easy to brew just 10 ounces with the Keurig!)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Place whole roast beef in a large slow cooker / crock-pot
2. Spread minced garlic all over roast beef
3. Pour bold coffee over roast beef.
4. Cook on low settubg for 8 hours or high settubg for 4 hours.
5. Shred and serve on buns or slice and serve.

Let’s face it everyone… chicken legs are ugly. Really, there is nothing at all picturesque about a chicken leg sitting on a plate. In fact, I almost nixed sharing this recipe with you for two main reasons.

1. This is a delicious recipe, however it comes no where close to the amazing Oven Baked Chicken Legs I posted awhile back from Chaos in the Kitchen. Don’t blame this Garlic Chicken Leg recipe though… nothing I ever bake that has to do with chicken legs will EVER come close to those oven baked chicken drumsticks from Chaos in the Kitchen. It’s a fact. I know this before I even try any other chicken leg recipe. Trust me. That is one delicious recipe.
2. Chicken Legs / Chicken Drumsticks are just plain ugly. Trying to take a pretty picture of ugly food is not at all easy. Try it sometime. It’s hard, I say…really hard. My picture above is proof.

Why am I sharing this recipe with you then? Three reasons.

1. I kind of felt sorry for this picture, sitting alone in my food photography folder, looking at all of the other photos being chosen and wondering “why not me?” Lesson learned…ugly photos need love too.
2. This recipe is so simple. Like most Crockpot chicken recipes, you can just throw it in the crockpot and run away, leaving the flavors and seasonings to party with the chicken all day and then at dinnertime, you have a tasty and delicious meal.
3. Last but not least, even though this slow cooker chicken leg recipe is not as good as the baked chicken leg recipe from Chaos in the Kitchen, it is nice to have another recipe for chicken legs to fall back to on those days where we want something different than our current standby. (Although my kids would probably disagree that we ever would need to digress away from the baked chicken legs. That is one recipe that everyone in my family will eat 2nd and 3rds on!)

If you love your Crockpot and you love chicken legs, even though they are kind of ugly, I think you would love this recipe. The chicken legs may not be pretty, but they sure are tasty!

Super Garlic Chicken Legs for the Crockpot / Slow Cooker (Adapted from Food.com – and yes… this die hard Recipezaar user is having a hard time adjusting to the site change, in case you are wondering!)

• 6 chicken legs (more or less as needed)
• 20 garlic cloves (papery skins left on)
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons oil