Slow Cooker Carne Asada Tacos

Another week, another challenge for the 52 weeks of cooking. This week the challenge was tacos, which is right up my alley. Fajitas are one of my favorites things to make (and eat!) and tacos aren't very different as far as technique goes.

A couple weeks ago I made chicken fajitas in my slow cooker, so I thought I'd try to make the taco meat for this weeks challenge in the slow cooker as well. In the past year, I haven't used my slow cooker much, but I'm beginning to see the appeal. A little prep in the morning, let it cook all day and voila!, you have a tasty meal to come home to after a long day at work.

Enough mooning over my slow cooker, let's get to the recipe!

Slow Cooker Carne Asada Beef Tacos
adapted from the following recipes: Tyler Florence Tacos Carne Asada and Crock-pot Carne Asada Tacos

Ingredients

For the mojo:

4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 large handful fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 limes, juiced
1 orange, juiced
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

For the tacos:

3 lb flank steak

flour or corn tortillas

salsa

shredded lettuce

Directions

To make the mojo:

In a mortar and pestle or bowl, mash together  food processor, pulse the garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, salt, and pepper to make a paste. Put the paste in a glass jar or plastic container. (I used a mason jar and it worked really well. Bonus: you could make a bigger batch and store half for later use.)Add the lime juice, orange juice, vinegar, and oil. Shake it up really well to combine.

Taco Meat:

Set your slow cooker to low for 8 hours. Place the meat flat on the bottom and pour the mojo over. Poke holes in the meat with a fork so the sauce can penetrate it while cooking. After 8 hours, remove the meat and shred. Return to the crock-pot and keep on warm until ready to serve.

Heating tortillas:

Set oven to 350. Wrap up to five tortillas in aluminum foil and place in oven for about 15 minutes. Keep wrapped until ready to serve.

Rating
Overall, I'd say this recipe was a win. The meat was very tender from cooking all day and the mojo was just right. I'm not a huge fan of cilantro so I was worried when the sauce called for so much, but it ended up being perfect. If you're looking for a complete meal, serve with black beans and rice. 

Crock-pot Chicken Fajitas

I'm late on posting this, but it's another one to add to my 2013 cooking challenge. The one was entitled, "Guilty Pleasures".

Over the years I have grown to love the elements of tex-mex food. Black beans - yum. Yellow Rice - Mmmmm. Fajitas - anytime, anywhere. Especially at a restaurant because it's so fun to have that sizzling plate delivered to you.

I consider this a guilty pleasure because the method I used to prepare it this week was so sinfully easy. Cue: the slow cooker!



Crock-pot Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients
1 lb chicken breasts
1 onion, cut into chunks
3 peppers, cut into slices, any color will do
1 package of taco seasoning (I wanted fajita seasoning, but the store was all out - they're basically the same anyway, so no big deal)
Guacamole, cheese and salsa for topping

Directions
Place onions and peppers into crock-pot. Put chicken on top. Sprinkle seasoning onto the chicken. Add about an ounce or so of water. Cook for 8-10 hours on low. Before serving, shred chicken.

I served mine sans tortilla since I'm trying to watch my calories. (More room for guacamole that way!)

Crock-Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Thank goodness for easy recipes like this for weeknights! I found this one on Ashley's blog, The Mommy Games. It's so simple, I'm not even going to repost it, so click on the link and thank me for such an easy peasy meal later!

Crockpot Beef Tenderloin

I was feeling lazy last week, so instead of actually cooking up a stew like I planned, I threw the beef tenderloin I bought into my slow cooker. I really love my slow cooker. You just throw it all in, and out comes a delicious meal with meat so tender that it just falls apart. YUM!

Crockpot Beef Tenderloin
Kitchen Canister Original

Ingredients

3 lb beef tenderloin
1 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
about 1 tablespoon of McCormick steak rub
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
1 bunch asparagus, broken into 1 inch pieces
1 cup baby carrots

Directions

Rinse beef and place in crockpot. Sprinkle spices over beef, and rub with McCormick spice mix. Pour beef broth and vinegar over mixture. Add vegetables. Cook for 8 hours on low.

Servings: 5






Chef's Notes:

Since this is an original, I don't really have many notes. When the beef was done, I pulled it out and put it aside, fishing out the vegetables with a slotted spoon. I made a gravy out of the broth remaining in the crockpot by emptying it into a small pot and adding 1 tablespoon of corn starch. Cook the gravy on high until it boils, then let stand for a few minutes. To complete the dish, I served with a baked potato.

Shredded Chicken Soup

So this was our first week of really cold weather here in NJ. It all started last Saturday when it snowed. Generally, we don't get too much snow in these parts until later in the winter, like February, so snow in December is always a surprise. Of course, the first snow is always fun. This storm was particularly great, because it snowed all day on Saturday and melted by Sunday at noon. No shoveling required!

In light of this new cold weather, I decided it was time to break out the soup recipes. I tried this one in crockpot, since I had to go into the office on Monday and wanted something warm and comforting to come home to that night.

Shredded Chicken Soup
Kitchen Canister original

Ingredients
1 whole chicken (about 2 pounds)
1 bag of shredded carrots
1 package of cheese tortellini
2 15 oz cans of low sodium chicken broth
oregano
fresh ground black pepper
salt
italian seasoning

Directions

Rinse chicken and remove gizzards. Pat dry and place in crock pot. Add water to crockpot until it covers about half of the chicken. Add spices above to taste. Cook chicken on low for 8-10 hours.

After the chicken is cooked, remove from crockpot and shred using two forks, setting aside the legs and wings for leftovers. Add the chicken broth to the stock created by roasting the chicken all day. Put the chicken back in the crockpot and add the carrots and tortellini. Let cook on high for about an hour and. Top each bowl with parmesean cheese and serve with crusty piece of bread.

Servings: about 7




Chef's Notes:

This soup lasted us almost all week. On the last night, I had to add some additional broth because the noodles sucked it all up. Make sure you use a lot of pepper to bring out the flavor in this soup. It tasted so much better with the cheese on top.

Crock-pot Beef Tenderloin

Now that we are finally somewhat settled into our new house, I've begun to get back into the cooking swing of things. The first few weeks it was really hard to get a routine down since we were always running here or there to pick up essentials for the house. I think past week was our first "normal" week. I've finally gotten used to working from home a couple days a week, and my husband is learning the ins and outs of the traffic flow for his commute.

On Tuesdays I go into the office and my husband goes into NYC, so that means neither of us are home very early. I decided this was the perfect day to try out a crock-pot recipe for the first time in the new kitchen. Cooking beef in the crock-pot is relatively easy, so I knew there wouldn't be any problems.

Crock-pot Beef Tenderloin

Ingredients

3 lbs beef tenderloin
about 15 baby potatoes
1 onion
1 bag pre-peeled carrots
1 cup water
olive oil

The following spices:
rosemary
fresh ground black pepper
garlic powder

Directions

Wash the potatoes and cut in half. Cut the onion into slices. In a large mixing bowl, combine carrots, potatoes and onion. Drizzle with olive oil and stir to coat.

Place the beef in the crockpot and pour water over it. Sprinkle the spices above, to taste. Add the vegetables. Cook on low for 10 hours.

Servings: 6



Recipe Notes:

This beef came out great. It was really tender and basically fell apart when I took it out the crock pot. I ended up shredding it with two forks because it was almost impossible to cut into slices. Since I was out at work all day, I put the veggies in along with the beef. If you prefer them to be a little firmer, you could probably put them in during only the last two hours of cooking.

Crock Pot Chicken with Vegetables

Now that I have my new crock-pot, I find myself using it all the time. My old one didn't have a timer, so a lot of my weekday meals didn't come out that great. The new one will shut off after 8 or 10 hours on low depending how you program it.

Last week, whole chickens were on sale at the grocery store, so I thought this would be a perfect meal for the crock-pot. Who doesn't love a roasted chicken after a long day at work.

Crock-pot Whole Chicken with Vegetables

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (note, make sure the size you buy fits in your crockpot)
rosemary
sage
thyme
black pepper
red pepper flakes
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp butter
10 red potatoes, cut in half
1/4 of a medium onion, sliced
8 oz baby carrots
1.5 cups water

Directions

Remove chicken from packaging and take out gizzards. Rinse chicken thoroughly and place in crock pot. Using a butter knife, spread the butter over the chicken. Be sure to get the legs and wings as well as the breast. Sprinkle a generous amount of the spices over the chicken and then drizzle the honey on top.

Add the vegetables to the crockpot. Cook on low for 10 hours.



Review

The chicken came out so moist. It was really delicious! I served this with the vegetables and some rice. A little bit of chicken gravy may have complimented this well, but it was moist enough that we didn't need it.

Black Bean and Corn Soup

Over the weekend, I purchased a new crockpot that has a timer (yay! it came with a bonus "Little Dipper", too), so of course I had to try it out ASAP. So, on Monday morning, I fired it up and made this black bean and corn soup.

Black Bean and Corn Soup
Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Bridal Edition

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups dry black beans (1 pound)
1 10-ounce package of frozen whole kernel corn
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon bottled hot pepper sauce
4 cups boiling water
1 14 1/2 ounce can Mexican style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 recipe Pepper Salsa (see below)

Directions

The night before, rinse beans and place in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans.

That morning, combine the beans, corn, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, coriander and hot pepper sauce to the crockpot. Pour boiling water over all.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. To serve, mash beans slightly to thicken. Stir in undrained tomatoes. Top with pepper salsa. (We also topped ours with some Mexican blend cheese and crushed tortilla chips)

Pepper Salsa:



In a bowl combine 1 1/2 cups finely chopped yellow and/or green sweet pepper; 1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper; 1/3 cup chopped, seeded tomato and 1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro. Cover and chill up to 24 hours. *TIP: I took all the ingredients and threw them in my food processor. This made it pretty close to a "zero-prep" dinner when we got home that night.

Servings: 6



Review

This recipe was really good. The next time i make it, I would add another cup or so of water. It didn't really have the consistency of soup when we ate it. Instead, it was really thick. The salsa was also super spicy (and we like some pretty spicy food) so I think I will take some of the seeds out of the jalapeno before adding it next time.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I've had this crock-pot for a couple years now (inherited from my mom), and I've never really cooked with it. Usually, I just make a large meal on Sunday so we can eat it during the week because our busy schedules don't really allow the pleasure of cooking on a weekday. If I can learn to use the crock-pot, we can start to have some variety in our meals.

So, this is my first attempt at a whole meal in the crock-pot. I thought I would start easy with a simple recipe like beef stew.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups beef broth

3 potatoes, diced

4 carrots, sliced

1 stalk celery, chopped

Directions:

Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl, mix together flour, salt and pepper, and pour over meat. Stir to coat the meat with the mixture. Once mixed thoroughly, add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

Servings: about 6

Modifications:

1. I added a cup of red wine to the crock-pot for a little more depth.

2. I used a bag of the pre-cut carrots.

3. I used 4 potatoes instead of 3.

4. I bought the beef already cubed.

Review:

For my first attempt at the crock-pot on a weekday, I would say this was very good. It's a very hearty meal, and would be a perfect dinner for the winter months. The next time I make this, I will probably add some red pepper flakes or something to give it a little kick. Other than the spice factor, the recipe was very good, and very easy. I prepared the whole thing in the morning before work and it only took about 10 minutes.

BBQ Pulled Pork

I've been wanting to try a crockpot recipe but too scared to do it while I was at work. Sunday was the perfect day to try since we were home all day. I found this recipe on the Big City Cooking blog. As I was cooking, I wasn't able to smell anything, so I was nervous that I did it wrong. The recipe came out great, though! 

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork

taken from Big City Cooking

Ingredients:

2 lb pork tenderloin

12 oz can of Dr. Pepper

18 oz bottle of BBQ Sauce

8 hamburger buns

Directions:

Poke holes in the tenderloin with a fork and season with salt and pepper. Place the pork in a slow cooker and pour the Dr. Pepper over it. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours or until well cooked and pork shreds easily.  Drain well. Shred the chicken with two forks. Stir in BBQ sauce. Serve on hamburger buns. 

Servings: Makes 8-10 sandwiches

Modifications:

1. We like stuff spicy so i seasoned the pork with some cayenne, and garlic and onion powder.

2. My pork loin was slightly bigger, so we used extra BBQ sauce and extra Dr. Pepper.

Review:

This recipe was so easy and so good, I almost didn't believe it! The pork came out so juicy and tender, I didn't think I was the one who made it. I will definitely be making this again.