Oriental Beef & Noodles

I get super excited about my crock pot......I love the ease of it, its like someone else cooked my dinner. Maybe that is why I am usually underwhelmed with the results. I don't know maybe its me. Maybe I just need to keep in mind that in the morning I dumped a few things into this magical machine and left it alone for 8 hours and now I am eating it. I have yet to find a handful of recipes that I would rather eat from the crock pot then eat anything else. I have so many of those in my life, but the crock pot 5 start favorites have eluded me.

Oriental Beef and Noodles
borrowed from Cooking This and That
Makes 4-6 servings

1 (16 ounce) package frozen stir fry vegetables
2 - 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1" cubes
1 (12 ounce) bottle stir-fry sauce, any flavor
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 (3 ounce) packages ramen noodles, broken
1/4 cup green onions, chopped

Coat a 4 quart slow cooker with cooking spray.
Place frozen vegetables in the bottom and top with stew meat.
In a medium bowl, stir together stir-fry sauce, water, and red pepper.
Pour over stew meat and vegetables in cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 9-10 hours or on high for 4 1/2-5 hours (I recommend low, it will help to break the meat down more).
At the end of cooking time, discard spice packets from ramen noodles.
Stir noodles and green onions into meat mixture.
Cover and let stand 10 minutes more.
Stir before serving.
This can be kept on warm for 1-2 hours.

VERDICT
It was OK. Again I don't know maybe my expectations for my crock pot meals are too high. The veggies had virtually vanished and that was sad. I guess they cant hang for 9 hours. I would add them in with the noodles and see if that helped. I also should have made some stir fry broccoli to go with it. Just to perk it up. I also would add another package of noodles because I liked that part. I think someone needs to make this recipe and give me their thoughts. It was awesome to throw it in and not think about it again. Maybe I need to cut the crock pot a break!