Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

A Facebook friend shared a recipe for unstuffed cabbage rolls a few weeks back. I did a quick screenshot of the recipe on my phone and then forgot about it. We were running low on cash this week so I had a light bulb moment and remembered this recipe. I wanted to link to the original recipe poster, but even though I stalked my friend's page like a private investigator, I couldn't find her original post. A quick search on Pinterest reveals a plethora of unstuffed cabbage roll recipes as well. I even found one that can be canned and a special little place in my heart warmed.

Every one in the family actually loved it! Even the littlest member. I knew I'd have to share it. I look forward to next year when I can grow all the ingredients myself!

Ingredients:
     1.5 to 2 pounds of lean ground beef or ground pork
     1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
     1 large onion, chopped
     1 green bell pepper, chopped
     1 clove of garlic, minced
     1 small cabbage, chopped
     (2) 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
     (1) 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
     1/2 cup of water
     1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
     1 teaspoon of sea salt

In a stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef (or pork), bell pepper, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink and the onions and peppers are tender.

Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, pepper, and salt. Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender. Eat and enjoy!

That's it! The most work is chopping the veggies. I used two pounds of ground pork in ours because it was less expensive than the beef. I had to purchase the pork, onion, cabbage, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. My total was only $7.99. Guesstimating on the ingredients I already had, six people ate for less than $10. Plus I had leftovers.

DIY Pizza Pockets

Like most folks, I ogle the beautiful pins on Pinterest.  Knowing damn good and well that when I attempt whatever cutesy do-dad I pin, it will not turn out cutesy.  So I ran across a pin for pizza monkey bread and I said, "Ooo! That looks pretty easy.  I could totally do that!"  I clicked it.

Do you know what happened?  Nothing.  It just linked to the photo.  No recipe.  No instructions.  This was a pain in the ass.  I could have just searched for the recipe, but I made the executive decision to wing it instead.  Instead of monkey bread (because I couldn't make it look right in the bundt pan), mine morphed into pizza pockets.

And here is how I made them...

What You Need:

~Canned biscuits in the amount you wish to make
~Pizza toppings of your choice:  pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, cheese, etc.
~Marinara sauce and/or garlic butter for dipping

How to Make 'em:

1.  Separate biscuits.  Take one and roll it out.
2.  Place ingredients inside.  I suggest not using the marinara on the inside.  Every time I've attempted this has ended in an ugly mess that was less than desirable.

3.  Fold biscuit over and pinch the edges together.  Repeat with other biscuits.
4.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 mins.
5.  Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce!

A few of mine split open because I didn't roll them out enough.  No worries, they still tasted great!

Repost: Tacos a la Pasta sans Tortillas

I was looking back through my archives and I came across this recipe.  I can't believe I haven't made this since last year!  It was so easy and so yummy!  I decided to revive it and give it a repost!

This is a yummy recipe that I stumbled across in an old handwritten cookbook. I am always looking for recipes with few ingredients and quick cook times.  This is one of those recipes.

Most families love tacos for their ease of cooking and eating, but sometimes they can be pretty messy.  This recipe helps keep the mess to a minimum, tastes great, and can be adjusted so easy for any families likes or dislikes!

Add these to your grocery list:
1 (16 oz.) package of medium pasta shells
1 lb. of ground beef (or turkey)
1 (26 oz.) jar of spaghetti sauce
1 envelope of taco seasoning
1 (8 oz.) carton spreadable chive and onion cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme)
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese (or more to taste and I think we used the "Mexican" blend, but again you can change it up and use any blend of shredded cheese)

Get started:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cook the pasta per package instructions.  Once that is started, cook beef (or turkey) in large skillet until no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the spaghetti sauce and taco seasoning.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream; set aside.

Drain the pasta; stir in beef mixture.  Transfer to a greased 13" x 9" baking dish.  Spread the cream cheese/sour cream mix on top then sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Yields 8-10 servings.  Total time:  45 mins.

Chicken Salad Sammies

The original recipe that I had every intention of using included grapes, celery, and both dry and liquid ranch dressing.  Mine does not.  See here's what happened...

I forgot the grapes.  I don't like celery.  And...  I thought we had ranch dressing in the fridge because that's a staple that should always be in your fridge, right?  Plus a couple of weeks ago, I'd used a half an envelope of dry ranch dressing mix in another recipe.  As I was getting all the ingredients ready, I realized that we, in fact, did not have any ranch dressing.  No liquid in the fridge.  No half a dry mix packet.

D'oh.

So what do you do when you don't have half of the ingredients?  Just make up your own recipe.  I will tell you that I didn't measure many of these ingredients.  The measurements that I'm showing are guesstimates.  As will most recipes, it's just a guideline.

Ingredients:

1 12.5 oz can of chicken breast
1 tablespoon of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1 teaspoon of dry dill weed
1/2 cup of mayonnaise (or salad dressing if that's what you prefer!)
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
Sandwich rolls

What I did:

Drain chicken, place in bowl. Using a fork, break up the larger pieces of chicken to make mixing easier.  Add all ingredients and mix!  Put some of the mixture on a roll.  Done!

I bought some yummy Kaiser rolls in the bakery at Wal-Mart.  I knew we weren't going to eat them for a couple of days so I placed them in the freezer.  Taking them out that morning to thaw.  I also warmed them for a few seconds in the microwave before putting the chicken salad on them.  They were really yummy, but I'd still like to try the original recipe as well!

Recipe adapted from Mom's Chicken Salad Sandwiches.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

The crazy cold weather is no secret to most of the nation.  We are experiencing colder weather than we have had in 20 years here in Kentucky.  I didn't take all this frigid cold into consideration when I made up the meal plan for this week.  Instead I just focused on what nights we would be out late for ball games.  That meant that Monday and Tuesday would be slow cooker nights.

Kind of ironic that on a day when the high temperature was only forecast to be 4F (with a wind chill of -20F), that I had planned to cook HAWAIIAN BBQ CHICKEN.

All day I'm looking out the frosty windows.  And smelling some Hawaiian cooking BBQ chicken in my kitchen.  

It smelled DELICIOUS! 

From original site(found through Pinterest, of course!)--

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

a bottle of Hawaiian style BBQ sauce

a can of pineapple chunks

rice

Make:  Place the chicken in crock, then cover with sauce and pineapples.  Cook on low 4-6 hours.  Shred chicken in the crock and serve over rice.

What I did:  I already had some drumsticks in the freezer so I used them to save a little money.  The original recipe site uses BBQ sauce purchased from Target (Archer Farms Hawaiian style BBQ sauce).  For me, going to Target requires driving 35 miles out of my way so I checked at the place I was at (Wal-Mart).  No Hawaiian style sauce.  Dilemma.  I chose honey BBQ sauce and added in the 100% juice from the pineapple chunks!  I also opted to cook mine in a 9 x 13 baking dish simply because the added warmth from the oven was welcome in this cold!

I'm not usually a fan of sweet entrees.  I like my meat savory.  But this chicken?  It's so yummy!  We served ours with whole grain rotini.  Mainly because my husband turns his nose up at any kind of rice other than saffron.  I think it would be great no matter what it's served with!

Super Simple Pot Roast

Generally, pot roast is pretty simple to begin with, but I found this recipe that has only five ingredients and tastes amazing!

Ingredients:

-Any size beef roast sized to fit your crock pot (or in my case, I used my Clay Cooker)

-1/2 cup of warm water

and...

a package of brown gravy mix, ranch dressing mix, and Italian dressing mix.  I grabbed the zesty Italian, but regular will be fine.

Place the roast in the crock pot.  

In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients then rub them on the roast.  Add 1/2 cup of warm water.

Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove from crock, let it rest, then EAT IT!

So good.  So simple.  I found that adding a bit of the juice from cooking made it even better.  The next day I threw some in a tortilla with banana peppers and Monterey Jack cheese.  Mmm... mmm...  Just writing this post, I'm getting hungry.  Might need to make a run to the grocery!

Another Pinterest WIN!

More and more often I find myself going to Pinterest to find recipes.  I mean, is there anything better than Pinterest right now?  Seriously.  Need a recipe?  Pinterest.  Need to know how to clean something? Pinterest.  Need to know anything?  Pinterest.  It's freakin' amazing.

I had a few packages of chicken breast in the big freezer that really needed to be used.  I happened upon this pin for Baked Chicken Bacon Ranch Taquitos.  Listen it has bacon and ranch in the title.  SOLD!

My not-so-glamorous photo.... 

The photo on the actual blog for the recipe is much more amazing and yes, I am jealous.  Thank goodness I don't really care what it looks like as long as it tastes good.  AND they tasted great!

Only 8 ingredients:

• 1 pkg of cream cheese (8 oz., softened)
• 4 cups of cooked, shredded chicken
• 12 slices of cooked, crumbled bacon (or more... it's bacon!)
• 2 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or if you are lazy like me and don't want to shred your own cheese... use the blended already shredded cheddar and jack.)
• 3-4 tablespoons of chopped green onion
• 1 pkg of ranch dressing mix (1 oz.)
• 20 flour tortillas (6-inch)
• salt

Cook your chicken however you see fit.  I cooked mine ( I used about 3 boneless, skinless breasts.) overnight in a slow cooker so it was nice and tender and ready for shredding the next day.  

• Pre-heat the oven to 425F.  
• Mix together all ingredients except for tortillas and salt. (Start with about half the dressing mix packet then taste and add more if desired.)
• Spoon a couple of tablespoons of mixture onto tortilla, roll up, and place seam side down on greased, covered with aluminum foil baking sheet.  Once they are all filled, rolled, and placed...
• Lightly brush top with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
• Place in oven and cook for 10-15 mins or until the edges and tops are golden.

Let them cool for a few minutes then serve with dip of your choice!  Yum!  You can find the original post and recipe right here.  This was great quick meal for after the basketball game last week and we had NO leftovers! 

The Foodie in Me

I haven't shared a recipe in some time.  Not a new one anyway.  You know why?  Because every single time I try a new recipe or deviate from the "normal", someone won't eat.  Usually it's either the 12 year old or the 14 year old, however, occasionally it's the 35 year old.  Normal is more frozen pizzas than I really want to admit.

It's such a pain to find something that agrees with everyone.  And the oldest daughter goes between being a vegetarian and not being a vegetarian.  I'm always so confused on what to buy.

This week's meals are a bit up in the air.  I haven't been on a real grocery run since before we were expecting serious weather last week.  One bright spot is lunch time.  It is just myself and the 2 year old.  She is very open to trying new foods.  I'm sure this will change as she gets older so I'm taking advantage as much as I can.

I opened up the cabinets.  Hmmm... well, yes they are a bit bare.  A little of this, a little of that.  I decided the asparagus and tuna both looked like they wanted me to eat them.  But how to fix them....?

Away to Pinterest I go!

I went looking for one recipe.  Spent more than an hour perusing and ended up making two new boards.  Sheesh!  However, I was able to find something!  An asparagus salad with tuna dressing from the Hellman's site that is apparently a Mario Batali recipe.

image from Hellman's recipe page

I looked over the recipe, nodded my head, and decided that I could make it work.  Very loosely based on the actual recipe though and I didn't actually measure any of my ingredients.

So.... I opened one can of asparagus, drained them well, then put them in a skillet with just a half tablespoon of butter.  While they were warming in the skillet on medium low, I put about a cup of mayonnaise,  a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, one large minced up clove of garlic, a pinch of salt, somewhere around a teaspoon-ish of dried dill, and half of the can of drained tuna in water in a bowl and mixed them all together.  I let that sit and ruminate on how all those ingredients were working well with each other while the asparagus simmered in it's buttery goodness.  Once the asparagus was heated through, I just placed it on a plate then spooned the tuna mixture on top.  Done.  I think it would have been even better with a few thinly sliced pieces of Monterey Jack on it.

I didn't photograph it.  Mainly because I was hungry, but also because I didn't even think about blogging it.  Just know it looked just as good as that image from the website.  And tasted even better!

The amounts that I used were more of a two serving meal as I had enough left that I can warm it up for lunch tomorrow.  If I fixed this for everyone, I would double it.  If you try it (or something similar), let me know how it turns out!

Tasty Tuesday! Mandy's Meat Pies

Most of you probably don't know that several years ago I worked at Wal-Mart for five whole years.  I didn't have to check out groceries.  I had the pleasure of working the jewelry department counter for all of those years.  I took a few things away from that job.  Knowledge about Wal-Mart that I'd rather not have, realization that the time I spent there wasn't the best years in my life (that's a post for another day when I have the guts to be more open) that was in no way Wal-Mart's fault, but my own, and the best jewelry department girls that Wal-Mart has ever seen as friends.

Annie, Missy, Mandy, Christy, Ashley, Tabitha, and Mary were some of the funniest and most interesting people I've met in my life.  There were a few duds in our day... April, Amy, LaVitra..., but we survived them.  Sort of!  We had the best Christmas parties.  Every year Mandy brought her meat pies.  Scrumptious meaty pie-y goodness.  Mmmm....

I had almost forgotten about them until a few days ago when I was going through an old recipe box of mine.  I found the recipe!  I was so excited!  Probably more excited than I should have been about finding a folded up piece of old paper.  I can't wait to share this with y'all!

Mandy's Meat Pies

Ingredients:

3 cans of flaky biscuits
1 pound ground beef
2 cups raisins
2-3 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 cup olives, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 egg
Meat tenderizer



Do it up:
Preheat oven to 375F.

Cook the beef and drain. Season with meat tenderizer.

Add onions and garlic.

Cook until onions are soft, then add teriyaki sauce, ketchup, olives, and raisins.  Mix well and cook to heat; stirring occasionally.

Roll out individual biscuits until flat.

Spoon meat mix onto dough.

Wet edges slightly, fold, and press with fork to seal.

Stab top of pastry with fork so air can escape and brush tops with beaten egg.

Bake in oven at 375F until golden brown.  Enjoy!

A few notes:
-- I only used two cans of 8 ct. Great Value brand biscuits.  Recipe is easily adjusts to feed more or less people.
-- Teriyaki sauce matters.  I forgot it and they didn't taste the same.

Tacos a la Pasta sans Tortillas

This is a yummy recipe that I stumbled across in an old handwritten cookbook. I am always looking for recipes with few ingredients and quick cook times.  This is one of those recipes.

Most families love tacos for their ease of cooking and eating, but sometimes they can be pretty messy.  This recipe helps keep the mess to a minimum, tastes great, and can be adjusted so easy for any families likes or dislikes!

Add these to your grocery list:

1 (16 oz.) package of medium pasta shells
1 lb. of ground beef (or turkey)
1 (26 oz.) jar of spaghetti sauce
1 envelope of taco seasoning
1 (8 oz.) carton spreadable chive and onion cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme)
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese (or more to taste and I think we used the "Mexican" blend, but again you can change it up and use any blend of shredded cheese)

Get started:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cook the pasta per package instructions.  Once that is started, cook beef (or turkey) in large skillet until no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the spaghetti sauce and taco seasoning.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream; set aside.

Drain the pasta; stir in beef mixture.  Transfer to a greased 13" x 9" baking dish.  Spread the cream cheese/sour cream mix on top then sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Yields 8-10 servings.  Total time:  45 mins.

Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary and Garlic

I hadn't intended to do a recipe/food post about this meal.  Honestly, I don't have much time to think about anything right now.  Busy, busy, busy around here.  I barely managed a photo and it's a bad photo too.  I know a good food blogger takes excellent images of their dishes, but I didn't.  I'll take the bad grade and be happy because this roast tastes so good!

In an effort to curtail the constant eating out on game nights,  we've started trying to find recipes that are quick and easy.  Usually that means a frozen pizza, but we were all getting tired of those.  A couple of months ago, I picked up a Crock-Pot recipe book from the book fair at school.  I hadn't made anything from it yet, but a crock-pot meal was just what I was looking for.

I didn't follow the recipe to the "T", but it was so very, very good y'all.  I couldn't NOT post about it.

Scrumptious tenderloin goodness

Here's how I did it:

-1 boneless pork tenderloin weighing a little over 4 lbs because the husband did the shopping (see original recipe below)
-Salt and black pepper, to taste
-4 tablespoons olive oil
-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
-2 tablespoons dried rosemary
-A lemon of lemon juice, because what do you call that?  It isn't a jar, it's a lemon.
-1 can of chicken broth

I combined 4 tablespoons (give or take a half a tablespoon) with the garlic and rosemary.  Because I used dried rosemary, I let the combination sit on my counter for about 15 minutes so they could mingle and get to know one another.

While the previous ingredients were enjoying cocktail hour, I poked a few holes with a fork on the top and bottom of the tenderloin.  I was feeling angry.  Then I took the lemon juice and squirted a bit on both sides followed by a dash or two of salt and pepper.

I poured about 3/4 of the can of chicken broth into the bottom of the Crock-Pot, then added the tenderloin to the pot.  I poured the mixture of rosemary, garlic, and olive oil to the top of the roast and spread it out to cover the majority of the tenderloin.  Which was uncomfortably curled into my pot because the husband bought a too big tenderloin!!

I put on the lid and pushed that button over to LOW for 10 hrs.  Recipes always give an option for HIGH and I don't know why.  Who does that?!?  No one.  No one should ever put their slow cooker on the HIGH option.  It really shouldn't exist.  Just go ahead and use your trusty Sharpie and black out that word.

It took both my husband and myself to remove it to the cutting board without it just completely falling apart in the pot.  I let the tenderloin rest for 10-15 minutes before just using a fork to pull off pieces.  And that's it!  So simple!  If you scroll down, I have included the original recipe and you will see that I took extreme liberties with how I cooked this.  I can't imagine how good it would be if I had seared it as I was supposed to have done.  It was simply the best roast we have ever eaten.

I guess I should note that we also had mashed potatoes and rolls too, but I'm sure we could have just made a meal of the roast by itself!  If you try out this recipe, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the original recipe:

BONELESS PORK ROAST WITH GARLIC

1 boneless pork rib roast (2-2.5 pounds), rinsed and patted dry
Salt and black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 lemon, cut into 1/8-1/4 inch slices
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock

Unroll pork roast and season with salt and pepper.  Combine 2 tablespoons oil, garlic and rosemary in small bowl.  Rub over pork.

Roll and tie pork snugly with twine.  Tuck lemon slices under twine and into ends of roast.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in skillet over medium heat until hot.  Sear pork on all sides until just browned.  Transfer to Crock-Pot slow cooker.

Return skillet to heat.  Add white wine and stock, stirring with wooden spoon to loosen any caramelized bits.  Pour over pork.  Cover; cook on LOW 8 to 9 hours or on HIGH 3.5 to 4 hours.

Transfer roast to cutting board.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes before removing twine and slicing.  Adjust seasonings, if desired.  To serve, pour pan juices over sliced pork.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Bacon and Cheese Quiche

Super easy recipe folks!  I made it Monday morning before anyone else got out of bed!

What you'll need:

-- 12 slices of bacon
-- 4-5 green onions
-- tomato
-- a dozen eggs
-- 1/3 cup of sour cream
-- 1 cup of mushrooms
-- 1 cup of cheddar cheese
-- 1 cup of mozzarella cheese

As with any recipes these ingredients are more of just a guideline of where to start.  I use a smaller tomato because we don't care for tomatoes and I use a little more mushrooms.  For this time I also used Monterrey Jack cheese.

How to make:

-- Heat oven to 325F.
-- Chop up the onions and tomatoes.  Set aside a couple of tablespoons of the onions and tomatoes.

-- Cook bacon in skillet until crisp.  Remove the bacon from the skillet, reserving the drippings.  

-- Add mushrooms to skillet, cook for 2 mins or until tender.  Remove from heat.

-- Crumble up bacon, add to skillet along with remaining onions and tomatoes.

-- Mix eggs and sour cream together on bowl with a whisk.  Spray a 13 x 9 in baking dish with non-stick spray.  

--Pour in egg mixture.  Top with bacon mixture and cheese.  Bake in 325F oven for 30 mins or until the center is set.  Top it with remaining tomatoes and onions and let stand 5 mins before cutting.

This is a nice filling meal that can be made for dinner or breakfast.  Serve it with some fruit on the side and yum-o!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Last night was the easiest dinner I've cooked in some time.  Just a few ingredients, only 30 minutes of cooking time.  Yay!  I even took some crappy pictures to share with you!  

BBQ Chicken Pizza

What you'll need:

• 1 store purchased pizza crust
• 1 jar BBQ sauce
• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 red onion
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Can/jar or fresh mushrooms
• Cilantro
• Olive oil

1.  In a large skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil then add chicken.  Cook thoroughly.  Once cooked, shred chicken with a fork or cut into bite size pieces.

2. While the chicken is cooking, dice red onion, drain and rinse mushrooms, and chop cilantro.  

3.  Pour some BBQ sauce on the crust, then throw on some chicken.  Add your toppings of choice and top with cheese.

4. Place in a pre-heated 400F oven for 15 minutes.  

5. Enjoy!

Project 52 - #4

I'm doing it!  I'm doing it!  Working on these 52 goals is going great!

Yeah, I know I'm only 4 days into the New Year.

DO NOT rain on my parade.  I've made it this far and that's saying something!  I am so glad I discovered this blog through my Pinterest.  We are such a busy family that having supper practically cook itself is a real help for me.

I should note that I'm having to use my larger slow cooker for this meal because I broke the bottom out of the crock on my 5 qt. cooker.  Not excited about it, but it was about 12 years old.  Guess it's time to buy a new one!

I'm not a big fan of chicken.  I don't think there is anything quite as gross as having to handle raw chicken.  The possibility of  getting salmonella is also not fun.  I'm always scared I won't cook it enough and everyone will get sick.  This usually results in my overcooking the chicken.  Slow cooker chicken takes a little of the fear away from me.  I mean, it must be done if it's cooked for 6 hours, right?

Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken and Veggies
Recipe from 365 Days of Slow Cooking


What y'all need:
-- 4 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed (I used 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs)
-- 4 large red potatoes, cut into small wedges (I used 6 small potatoes 'cause the husband bought a big bag of smaller potatoes instead of the larger ones)
-- 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
-- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
-- 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (I cheated and used refrigerated lemon juice)
-- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic (I didn't measure mine, I just minced up 3 cloves of garlic)
-- 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
-- Salt and pepper


Cook it up:

1. Mince up some garlic, then add that and the olive oil, lemon juice and oregano to a small bowl and mix well.  Set aside so the flavors can meet each other!
2. Slice up that carrot, cut up the potatoes.  Place them in the bottom of your crock.  Dash with salt and pepper.
3. Wash off that chicken!  I used boneless, skinless thighs, but I still had a bit of fat trimming to do.  Put the chicken on top of the potatoes/carrots.  Add a bit of salt and pepper.
4. Take your olive oil mix and spoon it over the chicken.
5. Cover and cook 4-6 hours on LOW, or until potatoes are tender.  

Since I used a larger crock I cooked on LOW for about 5.5 hours, added 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of Worcestershire, then cranked it up to HIGH for about an hour.  I probably could have added a little more water, but I didn't want to drown it.  I would have added chicken stock instead of Worcestershire/water if I'd had any.  Isn't that one of those things you are ALWAYS supposed to have in your cabinet?  Oops!

As with everything else, I'm forgetful and forgot to take a photo of the food still in the crock before I began dishing it up.  I remembered about three bites in and scrambled to grab a couple of shots.  

My husband and I both agreed that we would probably have to fix this yummy dish again.  My son ate his plate then went back for seconds... twice.  (He cleaned out the crock!)  Daughter #1 curled up her nose before it was done cooking and didn't even give it a chance.  She did eat a couple of bites, but then said she just couldn't eat it.  Such a drama queen... She's picky about everything though.  This recipe will definitely get cooked again.

Shredded Beef Tacos

Print it here!

This recipe comes from My Kitchen Addiction.  We've heard such good things about the Chipotle Mexican Grill, but the closest one to us is an hour away.  When I found this recipe I knew I was going to have to give it a try.

Here's what I used:

• 2 tbls extra virgin olive oil
• appx. 2 lbs boneless chuck roast
• 1 tsp mild chili seasoning
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• a pinch of sage
• 1 cup of beef bouillon
• 1 tbls tomato paste
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (forgot to mince it! Oops!)
• 1 tbls onion soup mix
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• flour tortillas
• For toppings: monterrey jack cheese, lettuce, sour cream, etc., etc.

Some of the ingredients have been adapted from those in the original recipe.  

And here's how I cooked it:

Add olive oil to a skillet and heat it over medium high heat.  Or in my case slightly below medium high.

Mix the dry spices (chili seasoning, paprika, sage) --MKA recipe calls for cumin, not sage, but I was out-- and rub it on the roast.  The original recipe says make sure to rub spice on all sides, but I ran out of spices so I just made sure to coat the top and bottom well.  

Sear the beef on all sides then remove from skillet to slow cooker (or stock pot), though I would suggest using the slow cooker.

Leave the skillet on the heat, add beef bouillon to remove all the bits of burned on goodness from the bottom of the skillet.  Add the tomato paste and the minced (remember I forgot to do the mincing...) chipotle --which I found in the ethnic food section at Wal-Mart-- and whisk it all together.  Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and let it thicken up.

Dice up that onion (again... I forgot to get an onion so I used some onion soup mix...), mince up that garlic and put on them on the roast.  Pour the sauce over the roast, cover and cook for 6-8 hours.

Since I used a stock pot instead of a slow cooker, mine wasn't as tender as I would have liked.  After shredding, I added in some of the sauce from the stock pot.  Add beef to tortillas, join them with your favorite taco toppings and enjoy!

These were a huge hit in our house.  Surprisingly even the kids were impressed!  I think because I forgot to mince that pepper, it made the roast less spicy.  It still had the flavor, but not a lot of heat.  This was so easy to make and so yummy, we will definitely be making them again!