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!)

Chicken Chili Verde

If you've been following me over the course of this blog, you already know I have a soft spot for anything tex-mex. When I came across this recipe on TPOX's blog, Proceed With Caution, I knew I had to try it. I'd never made anything with tomatillo's before, but this looked pretty simple. I wrote down all the ingredients and headed to my local grocery store to search them out. Lucky for me, I snagged the last 10 tomatillos the store had. Unlucky for me, when I got them home and unhusked them, one was moldy. Ew! Needless to say, I threw that one out and used the remaining nine. It still came out great, though.

Chicken Chili Verde
courtesy TPOX at Proceed with Caution

Ingredients
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 jalapenos, stem removed (and seeded if necessary to reduce the heat)
10 tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed
1/2 of a large white onion, quartered
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, rinsed (Grocery store was all out)
4 tablespoons vegetable olive oil
5-6 small 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" cubes

Directions
1. Place garlic, jalapenos, tomatillos, and onion in a large stock pot with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil (see step 3) over medium heat, and cook, uncovered, for about 25 minutes.

2. Add contents of the pot to a blender along with 1/2 cup water and cilantro. Puree until smooth, being careful to allow steam to escape while blending or you will end up with a newly decorated kitchen in a wonderful shade of green!

3. When tomatillo mixture reaches a boil, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken until no longer pink, then drain skillet. Add pureed tomatillo mixture to skillet, then add salt, to taste. With the lid cracked, simmer over medium low heat for 30 minutes. Serve with mexican rice and tortillas, garnished with lime for juicing.



Servings:6

Chef's Notes
Even though my recipe was minus one tomatillo, it was still delicious. For the jalapenos, I seeded one and left the seeds in the other. I didn't think it was that spicy, though, so next time I think I will leave all of the seeds in. I served it with black beans and mexican yellow rice. We also used whole wheat tortillas for dipping in the sauce.

Black Bean and Corn Soup

Okay, I think I'm finally done with all the recipes out of my Wegmans magazine, so now it's back to some original concotions and some other of my favorite sources.

For those of you who aren't aware, we got completely slammed with snow in NJ last week. On Saturday it snowed almost 30 inches, and then mother nature dumped another 18 on us the following Wednesday. To top it all off, a transformer blew in our neighborhood and we were without power from 6pm Wednesday night to the early morning hours of Thursday. Lucky for us, none of our perishable cold items went bad, and we had enough food and candles to survive the night. Blankets were also key. After the temps dropped, it got pretty cold in the house without heat!

Cooking by candlelight isn't really as fun as it sounds, but at least I can be grateful that we have a gas stove so we were able to cook. This is a recipe I threw together based on the items we had laying around the house. On Tuesday night we bought one of those pre-cooked roasted chickens, so I used the leftovers in this soup.

Black Bean and Corn Soup
Kitchen Canister Original

Ingredients
Leftover chicken from pre-cooked rotisserie chicken (about 2 cups shredded)
32 oz. chicken stock
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can yellow corn, drained
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup acini di pepe pasta


Directions

Shred chicken and add to a large stock pot. Her on medium low for a 3-4 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add beans, corn tomatoes and spices. Let simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Add pasta and cook for an additional 10 minutes, or until pasta is at desired doneness.

Servings: 4

Three Things Thursday - 2.12.10

Three blog posts for the week. Since I love it so much, the theme is Mexican!


First up, from Elly Says Opa! is some delicious looking pork.

Next, an interesting spin on Mexican inspired ingredients from Simply Satisfying. A Mexican Chicken Crescent Braid

Lastly, some Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas from Stirring the Pot.

Grilled Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa

Now that my housewarming is behind us, I can get back to what's really important: posting recipes!

Last month we had a few days that were pretty warm. I think one day we even got into the 70's. Since that's almost unheard of this time of year, we fired up the grill for one last meal before it starts getting too cold to cook outside.

Grilled Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa
courtesy The Neelys of Food Network

Ingredients

Marinade:
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
2 limes, juiced
1 tablespoon honey
1 small shallot, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped and seeds removed
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
4 bone-in, center-cut pork chops

Pineapple Salsa:
1/2 pineapple, diced and cored, juices reserved
1 tomato, diced
1/2 red onion, minced
1/2 small jalapeno, diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced
Salt and pepper

Directions

For the marinade:
Blend all the ingredients in a large bowl. Place in a resealable plastic bag and add the pork chops. Marinate in the refrigerator for up to 3 hours.

For the salsa:
Mix all the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste for seasoning. Set aside for 10 minutes for flavors to meld.

Preheat grill to medium heat.

Remove chops from marinade. Grill for 5 minutes per side for a medium rare and 8 minutes for medium. Remove chops from grill and let rest 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon the salsa on top.



Recipe Notes

First, I will talk about the salsa. I only used 1/4 of a red onion and I think it still had way too much onion compared to the other ingredients. Next time, I'll double up on the tomato to balance it out. The pineapple and jalapeno gave it the perfect balance between sweet and spicy though. The salsa was excellent with the pork chops.

Now, onto the pork. Marinading the pork chops really made a difference. Though the recipe recommends marinading for up to 3 hours, my chops soaked it up for only an hour and I think they were perfect. They were so moist, I wanted to eat two!!

The recipe reheated nicely the next night and the salsa got pretty spicy as the flavors sat and melding together. I served this with black beans, which complimented the pork perfectly.

Chicken Fajita Burgers

I will be the first to admit that I am not a huge fan of Rachel Ray. I don't really like her talk show that much, and her voice cuts right through me. As I was browsing the food network website for an easy, grill-friendly Sunday night meal, I came across this recipe for Chicken Fajita Burgers. Since this combines two very awesome things - cooking on the grill and tex-mex - I didn't want to pass it up.

For those of you who have been following me for awhile, you've probably realized by now that one of my favorite types of food to cook up is tex-mex. I don't know what it is about it, but I really love the spice that goes into it. Maybe one day we will visit Mexico (or even Texas) and taste the real thing. I bet it's nothing like what I'm used to cooking, but I'm sure it'd be delicious! I digress....so here is the recipe!

Chicken Fajita Burgers
courtesy, Rachel Ray of The Food Network

Ingredients:

Chicken Fajita Burgers:
1 1/3 pounds ground chicken
1 tablespoons ground chipotle (smoky flavor) chili powder, a palm full
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Several drops hot sauce
1 tablespoon grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick) - (I used the McCormick seasoning, but the one specifically made for chicken, not montreal steak)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Seared Peppers and Onions:



1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 red or green bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 medium yellow skinned onion, thinly sliced lengthwise, reserve 1/4 of a piece, uncut
1 jalapeno or serrano, seeded and chopped
2 cups tomatillo, green chili salsa or chipotle-tomato salsa, your choice
4 crusty rolls, split - (I used Arnold Select Sandwich whole grain sandwich thins)

Directions
Combine chicken, chipotle powder, cilantro, hot sauce and grill seasoning. Score and divide meat into 4 sections and form big patties, 1-inch thick. Using the rest of the 1/4 reserved onion piece, grate the other half of it on the burgers. Drizzle patties with extra-virgin olive oil and cook 6 minutes on each side or until meat is firm and cooked through.



Heat a medium skillet over high heat (I used our grill instead of a skillet). Add extra-virgin olive oil and peppers and onions. Stir-fry the veggies tossing them with tongs to sear them at edges. Add the jalapeno or serrano pepper. Toss and turn the mixture about 3 minutes, then add salsa of choice and toss a minute longer. Place burgers on each bun bottom and top with 1/4 of the pepper and onion mixture and bun top.

Servings: 4

Recipe Notes:
The original recipe (see link above) is for both beef and chicken fajita burgers. Since there are only two of us in our house, I made just the chicken burgers. We ALWAYS have beef burgers, so I thought chicken would be a nice change.

Rachel also suggests you serve this meal with her Bacon and Black Bean Smash. We're trying to watch our fat intake here at the Kitchen Canister household, so instead I served it with plain black beans seasoned with some diced onions, cinnamon, chili powder and cumin.

I also added an extra jalapeno because these type of recipes usually never have enough kick for us. I think one jalapeno would have been more than enough, however. I am writing this post a half hour later and my mouth is still a little tingly!



Overall, this was a pretty good recipe. I have always been skeptical of Rachel's recipes really taking less than 30 minutes, but this one only took me about 25 minutes start to finish - and I had some down time while things were simmering to clean up, so the mess afterwards was minimal. I think this would have taken me over 30 minutes if I made the suggested side, but regular black beans are so simple, it was easy to stay within the alloted time. I also had some help - my husband happily manned the grill while I took care of the stuff on the stove.

Fajita Bake

I love fajitas, but sometimes get bored with preparing them the same old way. The last time I made them, I decided to try something different. Instead of combining everything after, why not combine it before. So I cooked up some chicken and made a casserole of sorts using fajita ingredients. To make this dish vegetarian, simply omit the chicken.

Fajita Bake

Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced into thick slices
1 large green pepper, sliced
1 jalapeno, sliced
1 jar of salsa - I used Old El Paso medium, thick and chunky
1 pound of chicken, cut into bite size pieces
1 can of black beans, drained
1 can of corn, drained
1 teaspoon each
cumin
cinnamon
cayenne pepper
ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup mexican blend cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine sliced pepper, onion and jalapeno into a large bowl. Add spices and olive oil. Stir to coat vegetables. Spread vegetables on a cookie sheet and place in oven for 10-12 minutes.

While veggies are cooking, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a medium skillet until smoking. Add chicken and cook for about 6-7 minutes, until browned.

Remove vegetables from oven and empty back into original mixing bowl. Add chicken, beans, corn, and salsa and stir. Empty mixture into 9x11 baking pan. Top with cheese. Place pan in oven until cheese melts, about 10 minutes. Serve with tortillas, if desired.

Servings: About 6

Black Bean Tacos

I made this recipe a couple months ago, but since I haven't been cooking much I thought I would post this. It was really quick and it doesn't require much prep work. I first saw it on Big City Cooking, but a few weeks later, smitten kitchen also posted it.

Crispy Black Bean Tacos
originally from Bon Appetit magazine, reworked by Big City Cooking and smitten kitchen

Ingredients

15 oz black beans, drained
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
5 tsp olive oil, divided
1 lime, juiced
2 c. coleslaw mix
2 green onions, green part only - I just used regular onions
1/3 c. cilantro, chopped
8 corn tortillas
1/2 c. feta reduced fat mexican blend cheese

Directions

Place beans, cumin, and garlic powder in bowl and partially mash (I used the back of a tablespoon, but I saw in the smitten kicthen post later that she used a potato masher. Either looks like it would accomplish the job). in a separate bowl combine coleslaw mix, green onions, cilantro, lime juice, and 2 tsp oil. Season with salt and pepper.


Heat 3 tsp oil in large skilled over medium high heat. Add tortillas and heat for 1 minute. Top half with the bean mixture and fold over. Heat 1 minute on each side until crispy. Remove from pan and stuff with feta and coleslaw mixture. Serve immediately. (if you want some heat top with hot sauce)

Black Bean and Corn Soup - redone

I got out early from work earlier this week and actually had the chance to cook. Since "early" meant I got home at 8:45, I wanted dinner to be light and easy, but flavorful too! I dug up this recipe from my archives but changed it up a little for the ingredients I had in the house. I'll repost the recipe ingredients below with modifications in italics.

2 1 cans (15 oz.) black beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) of yellow corn, drained
1 2 cans (15 oz.) chicken broth
1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 cup 2 tablespoons jasmine rice
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
1/4 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

This recipe came out a little better than the last one. I think it was because I used two cups of chicken broth instead of 1 cup broth, 1 cup water. I wanted to add some green peppers to it, but we didn't have any in the house. I think it would go excellent with it, though! If you want to make this meal vegetarian, you could easily substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.



I also have a crockpot recipe for black bean and corn soup you might enjoy. Can you tell I LOVE black beans???

Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup

Tyler Florence is one of my favorite Food Network chefs. Whenever I need a dinner idea, I usually find something of his to prepare. One of our friends and his girlfriend were coming over last Sunday and I needed something quick and relatively easy that I could walk away from while preparing, to socialize. I found this soup recipe and couldn't resist. The last time I tried one of his soups, it was an out of the park homerun with my husband, so I knew this was going to be good. Unfortunately for you blog readers, I don't have any pictures of the finished product. The four of us gobbled it up so quickly, I forgot to grab the camera! Hopefully you can all use your imagination.

Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup
adapted from Food Network chef, Tyler Florence

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium white onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
3 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped
1 quart chicken stock, recipe follows
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Canola oil, for pan-frying
8 corn tortillas, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced I don't like avocados, so I omitted them)
1 cup shredded Jack cheese, optional we used mozzarella because it's what I had on hand
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish
1 lime, cut in wedges, for serving

Directions:
Place a stockpot over medium heat and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, jalapenos, and tomatoes; cook, stirring for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked down and pulpy. Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes.



Meanwhile, heat 1-inch of canola oil in a skillet over medium-high flame. When the oil begins to smoke, add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until they are crisp on all sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined platter and sprinkle with salt while they are still hot.

Ladle the hot soup into 4 soup bowls and put a pile of shredded chicken on top of each. Top with the diced avocado and fried tortilla strips (and cheese if using). Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

Servings: about 6

Review:
I didn't fry the tortilla strips in a pan as the recipe suggests. Instead, I put them on a cookie sheet, and sprayed them with non-stick cooking spray. Then I sprinkled some cumin and cinnamon on the strips, and put them in the oven at 400 degrees until they were brown and crispy.

The recipe probably would have stood fine on it's own, but since this was our main course, I wanted something a little more hardy. I cooked up one cup of jasmine rice and added it to the soup so that it would be more filling. The addition turned out great.

I would also suggest that you not skip the lime garnish if you make this. We squeezed the lime into the broth before eating and it gave the soup an extra tang. It was really delicious.

The soup was relatively easy to make, even though it says it's "Intermediate" level on the FN website. The most time consuming part was chopping up all the vegetables to add to the chicken stock.