Dirty Laundry for Dinner ? (Ropa Vieja recipe)
My hubby is half Cuban. I love when he cooks Cuban food for me. He always told me about Ropa Vieja because he loved it as a child and it means “Dirty Laundry” I found this recipe and wanted to give it a shot this week since it has bell peppers in it.
The outcome: it was very good. The meat was tender and flavorful. We served it with brown rice and tostones (fried plantains) but it would also make a great sandwich.
Ropa Vieja in a crockpot (from Allrecipes.com)*Note – based on the reviews of this recipe, I changed it around quite a bit – I’m posting what I did, click the link above to see original and reviews 2 pounds beef flank steak
6 cloves garlic
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 red bell peppers, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 green bell peppers, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 sweet onions, cut in wedges
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Place meat into slow cooker with the garlic, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir the tomato paste into the vinegar until dissolved; pour into slow cooker. Add the chopped vegetables to crockpot.
Cover, and cook on Low until the beef is tender, 7 to 8 hours; then remove beef, and shred. Place meat back in crockpot.
Cook on High about 1 to 2 hours.






I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






This looks like such a perfect summer salad. I would definitely add a ton of cilantro. I love it!
Looks perfect. Yum.
Your pictures look great! I am glad you liked this – I need to make it again soon!
oh Yum, I will have to try this. Way to improvise in the kitchen, looks like your kitchen is still in the works.
I have seen this recipe floating around and I must try it!
I’m in so long as I can pick out the tomatoes! 🙂 Not a fan of them.
Btw, I made your 40 clove chicken in the slow cooker…..HOLY COW, was that good and so easy (best part)! I’d made it before but a different recipe and not in the slow cooker. My honey actually put it all in the crockpot. My Mom loved it!
~ingrid
I saved this from Colleen’s site, too. It looks so good. A perfect summer salad!
It is so good. For anyone who’s thinking about making it. DO IT! I also made it again the other day. I didn’t have an avocado around, so I just mixed in a packet of Wholly Guacomole instead. It was delicious.
YUMMY! It looks great and perfect for the summer!
Update! I made this and added a few additional ingredients. I love it!