Easiest Slow Cooker Barbacoa

Don't you hate when you just wanna make an easy slow cooker recipe, but then read on and discover that the recipe requires using multiple bowls and pans before putting the stuff into the slow cooker? That drives me insane. So when I found this beef barbacoa recipe and saw how simple it was, I couldn't wait to try it.

Welp, made it this wknd and can report back that it's bombAF. Here are the deets:

INGREDIENTS
        3 lbs chuck roast (fat trimmed), cut into 2-inch chunks
        4 cloves garlic, minced
        2 chipotles in adobo sauce, chopped (or more to taste)
        1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
        1 small white onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
        1/4 cup fresh lime juice
        1 handful of cilantro
        2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
        3 bay leaves
        1 Tablespoon ground cumin
        1 Tablespoon dried Mexican oregano (or regular oregano)
        2 teaspoons salt
        1 teaspoon black pepper
        1/4 tsp ground cloves
        1/2 cup beef broth or water (I used beef broth)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker. Toss gently to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours.
2. Using two forks, shred the beef into bite-sized pieces inside of the slow cooker. Toss the beef with the juices, then cover and let the barbacoa beef soak up the juices for an extra 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.  Use a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon to serve the barbacoa beef.
3. If not using immediately, refrigerate the barbacoa beef with its juices in a sealed container for up to 5 days. Or freeze it for up to 3 months.

Here's a tip that really makes it though- BROIL the meat in a thin layer before using to get those crispy edges. YUMMMM. Then just top with cilantro, onions, lime, etc etc.

Week 50 Menu! 50!

I can't believe it's almost the New Year, but more importantly it's almost Christmassss!! We leave for Nicragua in almost a week (who's counting!?) and will be there through New Years and I'm so excited to get out of the cold.

This weekend was supa busy - our company holiday party was on Friday. Started drinking at 11am, stopped at 8pm. I'm still hurting. Then Saturday was our friends' annual Kissmas party so more drinks. Today we had brunch with Santa - Annelise would have none of the Italian Santa. Tonight we tried to go to Zoolights but the traffic/parking was so bad we bailed. We'll go again sometime this week when it's less crowded.

Amelia asked for a dog and a pink dress. Annelise just hung on to me for dear life.

I've had a lot of after work holiday events (one last week involved a shopping spree at a high end cosmetics/beauty store- um yes!), and I'm supposed to have more this week though I might cancel. This is what I have going on this week for food:

Sunday: Irish Beef Stew with mashed potatoes
Monday: Roasted Chicken in walnut sauce
Tuesday: Whiteboy Tacos
Wednesday: Meatloaf meatballs
Thursday: Leftovers for Will and the girls, I'm going out with a friend.
Friday: Out for a friend's bday - hopefully not too late of a night!
Saturday: Shrimp Scampi

What do yall have going on?? xo

Week 25 Menu + Taco Bar

Hey hey hey! Hope everyone is enjoying the summertime! Things are pretty slow for us on the home front, but it's just the calm before the storm. We have to move out end of August and don't know where we're going to live yet. That's not panic inducing at all...

Things have been going great in the kitchen - hitting a great stride of bringing my lunch in to work, preparing the lunch for the girls before I leave, and then cooking dinner at night. Lunch for the girls is usually chicken soup (girlfriends LOVE soups and stews) or ground turkey with vegetables. Annelise hates potatoes right now so I have to work on that. We had friends over for a game night and I did a taco bar. I'll post all the recipes below.

Here's what we have this week:

Sunday: Beer Braised Brats and baked beans
Monday: Chinese takeout. It was glorious
Tuesday: I'm at a work event, will is tackling this bad boy: Butter Chicken. I'm having him just make the sauce, the chicken I already cooked and pulled so he'll pour the sauce over the pulled chicken.
Wednesday: Lou's Chicken Marbella and roasted broccoli
Thursday: Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo. Made this a few months ago and it was amazing.
Friday: Out or leftovers

and now.....

TACO BAR!

This was really fun and honestly rather easy to put together. I did start early on Saturday morning so it wasn't at all a rush before our friends came over. Below is the menu and a breakdown of when I started on what:

Chicken Ropa Vieja - cooked the chicken in the morning, and then heated on the skillet with peppers just before serving

Beth's Poblano and Mushrooms - cooked while the girls were napping (at around 4pm), heated just before serving

Green Rice with Corn - made at the same time as the Poblano and Mushroom filling

Kale, Brussel Sprout and roasted corn salad with cilantro dressing - I made up this recipe on the fly. I roasted some corn earlier in the day, then chopped up the kale and brussel sprouts, tossed the vegetables together. Then I made the cilantro dressing (dad's recipe) and served that with the salad and the tacos. I can't remember when I made this, but I think it was around 4pm as well.

It was all a huge success! Really fun way to entertain and I had everything prepped earlier in the day so when friends came over, it was a breeze.

Miss you all! xo

Week 7 2014 Menu

Hi everyone!

We had a rough weekend. Amelia was sick throughout so I didn't sleep much. Will did plan a wonderful Vday dinner for us - oysters and king crab legs. Saturday, we hung around with the girls and prepped for a brunch that we were hosting on Sunday. Then yesterday, our offices were closed for President's day, so Will and I went to see Monument's Men. I thought it was good. Will hated it, though.

Here's this week's menu- nothing too elaborate, except I'm really excited to try Lou's Chicken Marbella recipe.

Monday - Rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes
Tuesday - Leftovers (or Will has to fend for himself - I have a class at CrossTown Fitness to check out!)
Wednesday - Chancho en pepsi-cola (a Yoli recipe, I'll save the breakdown for another time if we haven't shared on here already)
Thursday - Beth's Poblano Pepper Tacos
Friday - Chicken Marbella
Saturday - Shrimp tacos (or something like that)

By the way, for the brunch, I made two types of breakfast casseroles - one vegetarian, one not - , along with steel cut oats. I'd never made steel cut oats before, but really recommend them! Much heartier than the quick cook stuff and it's the exact same product.

The vegetarian breakfast casserole came out amazing so I really recommend it:

Mediterranean Breakfast Casserole
cubed challah bread
eggs
milk
cottage cheese
feta cheese
basil, chiffonade
jarred roasted red bell peppers, chopped

preheat oven to 375
lay the cubed challah bread in the casserole dish and sprinkle the feta cheese and roasted bell pepper on top
whisk together eggs, milk, cottage cheese and pour over bread mixture in casserole dish
top with basil
bake in the oven until it starts to brown on top and is no longer wobbly if you jiggle it (super scientific metric, nbd)

Also - these are my sous-chefs:

I'm Back! Some new recipes to share...

Hello, hello!

I'm back...it's been awhile. This summer was a whirlwind and I seriously slacked in the home-made meals department. But I'm back on track and hoping to experiment with some new recipes. Here's my menu this week:

Sunday: Creamy Chicken Taquitos. I think these are my new favorite thing. While they are not the healthiest recipe in the book, the recipe itself makes 20 taquitos. I was stuffed after just 2 so they really aren't THAT bad and I added lot's of extra chicken for protein. They are baked and crispy and delicious. I even went all out with the ranch salsa dipping sauce. I froze half the mixture since JP and I certainly didn't need 20 of these.  Mmm, mmm good!

Monday: Broiled Cod with Parmesan and Herbs. The Tilapia that our grocery store had was farm raised in China which grossed me out so I went with local, fresh caught cod. Going to do some little baby potatoes (from Cape Cod Farmer's market) and salad with this.

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes (Ground Turkey and Manwich from a can. Not the most organic, but you can't beat it)

Wednesday: Out with Kim

Thursday: I've had cans of beans in my pantry for forever so I'm going to use them up and make Spicy Black Bean Burgers

Friday: Leftovers

Hopefully I can stay on track! Also shooting to make it to the gym 4x this week. Last week was a major fail with just one visit. I went this morning so I'm already doing much better....

Hope everyone is doing well! Happy FALL!!

xo

Weekly Menu + Last week's scores - 7/16

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Beth, can't wait to hear about the Houston festivities! We did a lot of furniture shopping and didn't accomplish a lot. Between sort of having to work, unproductive furniture shopping, and Amelia learning how to throw fits, it was kind of a stressful weekend. I demand a re-do! (I've definitely demanded this before in the past. My demands are not being met.) Here are my scores for last week. Sort of .... eh.

Gym: 2 times - 50%
Cooking: every night - 86% We went furniture shopping last Wednesday and came home too late to start cooking, so we ordered in this rotisserie chicken that is just too good for words. Any way, got 6 out of 7 nights. Not too bad!

This week: Same goals as last-
Gym: 4 times
Cooking: every night

I failed to mention last week that Will is starting to take his lunch to work everyday. It's been fun putting together his lunch in the mornings. So he watches/plays with Amelia while he's getting ready and making the bed. I make lunch and fix us breakfast, and we eat together before he takes off. Last week I wasn't totally prepared so he sort of ate me out of the house :) This week, I've already made this tortellini salad which we added chicken to. I'm also making this tuscan tuna salad. My office is officially open starting tomorrow (EEK!) so I'll start bringing my lunch as well. Apart from the above salads, we have sandwich meats and leftovers planned to get us through the week. Below is our menu!

Monday - Spaghetti and Meatballs (frozen Costco kind- so good and easy since Will is in class until 10pm)
Tuesday - Fish Sticks with baked sweet potato fries
Wednesday - Roasted Chicken and White Beans
Thursday - Chancho en pepsi cola. I'll have to post this recipe with pictures. It's essentially a braised pork tenderloin with green peppers and onions. But the braising liquid is... you guessed it... Pepsi! Old childhood recipe from the Yols. So good with mashed potatoes.
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Foil Packet Tacos
Sunday - Black bean soup/Leftovers (never made the soup last week)

Some recipes to remember for next week's menu: Chicken sausage and pepper pasta bake and Dijon Pork Chops. Need to get these into the rotation!

What do yall have going on?

Chicken Enchiladas Recipe Reviews

I cannot describe in words how awesome this was. It's a totally walmart recipe but it can easily be high-browed up. For instance, using a crema fresca instead of cream cheese. Here is the straight recipe:

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas from MyRecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 Onion - chopped

2 4oz cans of chopped green chiles (The recipe only called for one. I used two.)

1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened

3 c of cooked, shredded chicken

White Pepper - to taste

8 flour tortillas

Monterrey Jack cheese

1 c whole milk (The recipe calls for 2 c of whipping cream, but I didn't have it and didn't want to use it)

Heat oven to 350*

Saute onions until soft

Add chopped green chiles and cook together for about 5 minutes

Add cream cheese and stir until melted and well mixed with veggies

Add chicken and stir until heated through and combined

Add white pepper to taste

Take a flour tortilla and fill with chicken filling, roll up and place on a baking sheet

Repeat until baking sheet is full or you run out of chicken filling or tortillas

Cover with monterrey jack cheese and pour milk/cream over all

Bake for 30-45 minutes (mine was getting golden after about 20 minutes so I took it out then)

It was so easy and so good and even better today for lunch. 

Enjoy!

Poblano and Mushroom Tacos

MMmmMMMMmMMmmMmm i just had such a good dinner! i'm trying to do more meat-free meals and it's NOT EASY. but so far today I've been meat free. breakfast was granola, blackberries, almond milk. Lunch was a toasty tortilla, hummus, and tabbouli. and here's dinner:


Poblano, Mushroom, Onion tacos
- 2 poblanos (seeded) sliced
- 3 oz mushrooms
- 1/2 onion
- 1 can fat free refried black beans (see here)
- 1 tsp cumin
- cilantro
- tortillas
Optional: (I opted out to be supa low fat)
crumbled cotija, avocado, sour cream, tomatoes

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add poblano chile, red onion, and mushrooms; sauté mixture until brown, about 7 minutes. Mix in ground cumin. Season to taste with salt.
While this is cooking, heat the beans in a sauce pan.
Toast tortillas on burner. Spread beans on tortilla. Spoon mixture onto beans. Top w/ cilantro. ENJOY.

Muffin Pan Tacos

MUFFIN PAN TACOS

I am so excited to make this fun recipe tonight... I can make half the tacos healthy (no cheese) and half I can make spicier and cheesier for Ryan!


Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 onion, diced
1 large jalapeno, diced
3/4 cup water
taco seasoning mix (see her site for a recipe!)
12 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese
black beans
Shredded lettuce, avocado, fat free sour cream and diced tomatoes for topping.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350f. Cook the ground hamburger thoroughly, drain and return to a clean skillet.

2. In a separate skillet, saute the diced onion and jalapeno and add it to the hamburger.

3. Blend in the seasoning and toss to coat.

4. Heat the mixture on high and add water; reduce and let simmer on med/low for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

5. Cut 4-inch diameter circles out of the flour tortillas. A standard margarita glass is about the right size for measuring and a pizza cutter gets the job done quickly. (Bake the leftovers for extra chips.)

6. Wrap tortilla circles - 3-4 at a time - in a wet paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds to soften.

7. Mold the circles into a lightly greased muffin tin.

8. Add a layer of shredded cheese in the bottom, add about 2 tablespoons of meat mixture, then top with beans and cheese.

9. Bake for 20 minutes. When they're done, just pop them out and add your favorite toppings!

Street Tacos

This is probably one of my faaaavorite things to make for dinner now that we have THE EGG.

STREET TACOS

The meat: orange honey habanero marinated fajita beef


The toppings: (queso fresco, carmelized onions, tomatillo salsa, mexican crema, cilantro, cabbage, lime, avocado) - I opt outta the cheese and crema but my fatty mcfatfat boyf can't live without them.


All togetha now:

Black Bean & Chicken Chilaquiles

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001545709

Add to the recipe:
- 1 can corn (you can also make this a veggie meal by replacing the chicken with the corn)

Garnish with:
- jalapenos
- salsa
- light sour cream
- cilantro (this is a must!)
- avocado