Slow Cooked Goulash - Yummmmm

This is actually a joint posting, as Michael has agreed to do a guest spot here on BrooklynFoodies. I'll humbly offer apologies now for the vegetarians in the audience, as this is most certainly a dish best suited for the carnivores in the crowd. Perhaps there's a way to convert this dish, but I'll leave those ideas to Morgan.

First and foremost, the recipe: Crockpot Beef Goulash. (Personal aside here: it never ceases to amuse me that the boy who was raised almost exclusively in New York continues to use recipes found on "Southern Food.")

Second, the occasion. Actually, for this, there wasn't really an occasion. We had shunned the typical Italian restaurant option for Valentines, instead deciding to tempt our palates at Schnitzelhaus, an authentic German restaurant in Bay Ridge. We weren't disappointed (ok, I was a little, but that was because I was foolish enough to order what was basically spaghetti and meatballs. I know. It was a bad idea.), as Michael's order of beef goulash was amazing...succulent, silky and, dare I say it, robust in flavor without being too pushy. (Given that description, there's a much funnier joke to be told, but this is neither the time nor the blog in which to do so.)

As ever, we enthused over the fact that we should learn how to make this at home, though I wasn't even quite sure where to start, as this was a far cry from the goulash that I had grown up with (sorry, Mom). However, one whiff of this amazing dish as it slowly simmered in the crock pot overnight, and I was beginning to think that Michael may have been on to something. (Side note number 234: I was really amazingly ill when he cooked this dish, and the fact that it smelled even halfway appetizing to me was stunning. It was really the only thing that was remotely appealing for about 72 hours.)

Michael's improvements on the recipe (since really, I've been doing the writing):

• Use more tomato paste (double) than the recipe calls for
• Use beef gravy in place of most of the water
• Add whole button mushrooms
• Don't spare on the paprika

That said, this is a dish that we would certainly make again, and recommend to our fellow meat lovers. Morgan, any suggestions on how to make this dish a little more veggie friendly?