#12: Crockpot chuck roast tacos

Chuck Roast Tacos

Ingredients:

4 lbs chuck roast - (I thought this was WAY too much so I used 2.5 lbs)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/4 cups diced green chile pepper (i used a can)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 (5 ounce) bottle hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
Trim off any excess fat and season with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the roast on all sides and then transfer to your crockpot 

Top with onions,Season with green chile peppers, chili powder, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce, and garlic powder. Add enough water to cover 1/3 of the roast. 

The directions said cook on high for 6 hours, then Reduce heat to Low, and continue cooking for 2 to 4 hours, or until meat is totally tender and falls apart - I used less meat and I am not home to do that, so I just cooked it on low for 9 hours.

Put in tortilla with any toppings you like, i prefer cheese and onions, and bon appetit!

Ropa Vieja Results

B+!

The Ropa Vieja turned out great. It shredded effortlessly and went really well with rice and biscuits.  The olives and brine did make it bitter, so if you don't like that just leave it out.  My boyfriend hated the olive taste and didn't eat much, but I liked it.  If I make any changes next time, I might just add the olives but leave out the juice.  The meat was tender and I liked the flavor the onion and peppers gave it.  This one is worth doing again :)

Pot Roast Results

The pot roast was delicious. I liked eating it more as a stew with a lot of the broth on it. The flavor was great and the onions and carrots really blended well together. The roast just fell apart when I picked it up to cut it, so no knife necessary. This is great for cloudy weather and I will most likely eat it again. It was great as leftovers too. I added a little hot sauce to it which was really good and I might try next time while I cook it.

A Valentines Feast

I know Valentine's Day is a made up, capitalistic holiday where corporations make people go and spend their hard earned money on their loved ones - but I love a day where you're suppose to make that special effort for the one you love.  I'm a girl that grew up on Disney Princesses and 90s Rom-Coms, so I'll take any excuse to get some extra attention and romance.  This year we aren't spending any money on gifts or expensive dinners that aren't really worth.  Valentines dinners are such a pain with the big crowds and bad service.  Instead, we're making dinner for each other and having a nice quiet night in.

Sunday night, he made a great dinner for me which included steak, salmon, lobster-tails, and his unique broccoli recipe (the only way I'll actually eat it, mainly because veggies are gross).  Now this wasn't a cheap dinner, but it was significantly less expensive then getting flowers delivered or going out.  I loved it because we work well together in the kitchen and got to spend so quality time making food.

Pot Roast

On Tuesday I'm going to be making him a roast in the crockpot.

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 lb. red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 cup tomato sauce
1 garlic clove, crushed (pretty much the same as mincing, slightly larger)
3 fresh thyme sprigs (run your finger along the thyme branch-thing to take off the leaves)
1 bay leaf
1 beef rump roast, 3 to 4 lb.
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
The night before I'm going to chop my onions, carrots, potatoes, and garlic and set them aside.

The morning of I'll put the chopped ingredients into the crockpot along with the thyme, bay leaf, beef stock, and tomato sauce.  Season the roast with salt and pepper and coat with flour.  Heat olive oil in a saute pan and brown on all sides (about 4 minutes total), and add to the crockpot.  Turn the crockpot on low and head off to work (cook for about 10 hours).

Mexican Chicken Results

Yummm.... I love coming home to an apartment that smells delicious, it's such a good way to end the workday on a good note and always calms me even if its been a bad day.  Last night was no exception.  I got off of work much later than expected, so the chicken was cooking for about 9.5 hours on low.  Thankfully, the broth prevented it from drying out or burning.

When putting everything together in the morning, there was a bit of chicken broth left over, so I just put it in anyway and added a bit more salsa.  After I got home, I heated the oven and shredded the chicken.  The chicken just fell apart, so that only took about 5 minutes, maybe less.  I was starving, so I started eating the chicken while I made the enchiladas :)

I rolled tortillas filled with chicken and cheese and then topped it off with store-bought green enchilada sauce and lots of cheese.  I put it in the oven for about 10 minutes while I cleaned up.

I'd give this recipe an A.  It was a little spicy and very flavorful.  Next time I make it, I'll probably do tacos or something where the flavor comes out more and isn't masked by the sauce on top.  This was cheap, easy, and tasted great.  I love my crockpot!

Adventure 6: Mexican Chicken for Enchilladas

Mexican Chicken for Enchiladas

I've made enchiladas before, but they've always been so much work and a bit underwhelming.  I've always boiled the chicken and then shredded or cut it before putting it into the tortilla.  Shredding literally takes hours, and cutting the chicken into bite sized pieces results in chicken always falling out.  The chicken ends up being very bland, but that's usually masked by the enchilada sauce.  When I found this recipe I was really excited to give it a try.

Ingredients

1.5-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup salsa of choice 
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp chili powder (more if you like some heat)
1/4 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp cumin
sea salt and pepper to taste

tortillas (I use flour)
shredded cheese
enchilada sauce

Directions
Put the chicken in the slow cooker.  Add the other ingredients and stir.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours (mine will probably end up in there closer to 9 due to work).

After work I'll shred the chicken, add cheese and wrap in a tortilla.  Then add the sauce (already heated up in a pot on the stove) and more cheese to the top of the enchiladas and throw in the oven for about 10-15 minutes to melt the cheese.

Thai Chicken Results

Throughout your life, teachers, parents, and other authority figures tell you to read instructions and follow directions.  Unfortunately, that has never been my strong suit.  When cooking and not really knowing what you're doing, it's very important to check for extra instructions!

 

When using PB2, you need to mix with water... I did not see that and didn't do it.  I came home to extremely dry and kind of burnt chicken.  The flavor was there and the chicken tasted pretty good, but even after pouring the remaining spoonfuls of sauce over the chicken, it was still dry.  I'll probably try the recipe again, I think with extra liquid in the crockpot it could be really good, but I'd probably have to give this dinner a C-.

Adventure 5: Spicy Thai Chicken

Spicy Thai Chicken with Rice and Broccoli

This recipe sounds extremely easy to prepare.  One of my friends made it and it tasted amazing, so I felt like giving it a try.

Ingredients:
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
1/3 cup PB2 (reduced fat peanut butter)
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup sambal oelek ground chili paste
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
So the night before I added all the ingredients together minus the chicken and cilantro.  I realized my ginger was old and unusable so we're going to see how this tastes without it.  In the morning I cut as much fat as I could from the chicken (it was really gross) and put the chicken in the crockpot, poured the sauce on top, and cooked on low for 8 hours.

Adventure 4: Pasta Sauce from scratch

Creamy Jambalaya Pasta
 
I've always cooked pasta from the box and out of a jar.  Typically I add salt, pepper, and maybe some oregano, but that's about it.  The problem with this is there's only so many times a person can eat spaghetti or alfredo before starting to get sick of it.  Pinterest to the rescue!  One of my friends came across this post and said I should give it a try.  It looked amazing so I thought I would give it a try.


Ingredients:
1 box bowtie pasta (1 lb)
1 smoked sausage
1 cup half and half
4 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped onion
3 teaspoons cajun seasoning
3 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup white wine (chardonnay)
8 tablespoons tomato sauce

Directions:
Boil water for pasta, add salt and a dash of olive oil.  Boil the pasta until al dente.

Brown sausage in a skillet until browned.  I set the sausage aside so it doesn't get soft.  If there's a lot of grease in the pan take a paper towel and soak it up.  Add onion and saute for about two minutes, add garlic and cook until you can smell it (about 30 seconds).  Add white wine to the skillet and scrape up any of the brown bits from the bottom.  Let the wine reduce by half (3 minutes or so).

Stir in the cajun seasoning, paprika, salt, pepper, tomato sauce, and cream.  Heat until almost bubbling then reduce the heat to low.  Allow the cream mixture to reduce by half (about 10 minutes).

Toss pasta with sauce, add cheese, and I completely forgot the parsley but add that too.

Results:
I really liked the pasta, it tasted great.  I threw in a dash of crushed red peppers for a little extra heat.  My one issue was the sauce was really soupy.  I doubled the original recipe because I wanted to make sure I had enough for lunches the next day, but in doing that the sauce wasn't the right thickness.  Taste was awesome though, I may try playing around with it next time and cut the half and half and/or wine.

PS - After refrigerating and reheating for lunch the sauce was the perfect consistency - not too soupy, not to thick. :)

Chili Results

Yummmm.  I open the door and the house smells amazing.  I never think chili looks very good, but good chili tastes amazing.  I put some chili on top of rice, added cheese and it was delicious. (I totally forgot to add green onions on top.)







I think the chili tastes great and the flavors blend really well together.  I can't really taste the pineapple and might add more next time but it definitely adds a sweetness to the chili that compliments the heat really well.  I think it has the perfect amount of heat, and might add another spicy sausage and take out 1/2 a pound of ground beef next time.  The food was really filling but didn't feel heavy which I was really happy with.  One thing I'd like is for it to be a bit more soupy, so next time I make it I'll have to figure out if I need to add more tomato sauce, less paste, or add water.  Anyone have any ideas on how to best do that?

I'd give it a B, and will definitely be making this in the future.

P.S. - Its even better the next day!

Adventure 3: Chili

Chili:

So this week is my chili experiment and I'm pretty excited and nervous.  Again, I found a bunch of recipes online and decided to take what seemed good to me.  This recipe should serve about 6 and needs to be cooked on low for 8-12 hrs.  One of my friends at work put pineapple in her chili and it tasted really good, so I decided to add that.  The bf and I love corn, so I threw that in too.  A lot of recipes say use fresh tomatoes but I'm really not a fan, so I just used sauce and paste.  I'm really starting to love cooking, especially the mixing and experimenting part of creating recipes and not having to do much after I get home from work.

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
1 Polish Kielbasas (I was going to use 2 but 1 seemed like enough)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 can chopped green chilies
1 can crushed pinapples (strained)
10 oz frozen corn

1 onion
1 green pepper
2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp grill seasoning
1 tsp cumin

green onions
cheese


Directions:
I cut up the onion and green pepper into equal sized segments and chopped my garlic. I then browned the ground beef in a skillet season to taste and drained the grease and fat before adding the onion, pepper and garlic. I cooked that on the stove for about another minute and threw it in the crockpot. I browned the spicy kielbasa and added it as well. Toss in the rest of the ingredients and stir well.

It already smells really good so I'm excited to see how the flavors blend. Time for work!

Adventure 2: Pulled Pork Results

I rushed home from work today, a little worried about what I would come home to this time.  The apartment smelled amazing!  I opened the crockpot and found the three pieces of pork drenched in their own juices and when I went to pick the pieces up and put them on a plate, they just started falling apart.  It took about a minute or two to take two forks and shred the meat.  I warmed up the french rolls on a skillet and dinner was ready.

 
The pork tasted great, I added a bit of Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauce to the sandwich and it was extremely filling.  This is something I'll be making all year round, and its basically $10 for 4 lbs of pork, which makes for an extremely cheap and delicious meal.  The first time around is much more expensive just because you have to buy all the seasonings.  With almost 4 lbs of pork, we had enough for 5 sandwiches.  I might make more next time, just so we have more leftovers, but thats because I love leftovers :)

 

P.S. - I asked my friend at work about the B.O. smell and he said it was most likely from mixing the vinegar and the cumin and cayenne pepper.  So if that smell bugs you just don't add those seasonings.  The smell was NOT there when I came home, so I probably won't change anything.

I LOVE coming home to dinner practically ready to serve.  Its so nice to not have to make dinner after a long tiring day at work.  My Crock-Pot and knife set are definitely the best presents I've ever had and I'm getting so much use out of them.  Thanks to my parents and grandparents!

Adventure #2: Pulled Pork

With the stew tasting really good last week, I'm ready for a new challenge and really excited to start considering myself an amateur cook!  This week I'm making pulled pork.  I looked at a bunch of recipes online, and decided to go with the Williams-Sonoma's recipe, with a few changes, recommended to me by someone at work. 

Pulled Pork:

Ingredients:
French rolls (any kind of roll or bread would work)
3tbs canola oil
4lbs boneless pork shoulder (cut into 3 equal pieces)
1 yellow onion
3/4 cups apple cider vinegar

3/4 cups ketchup
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp crushed red peppers
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper

Directions:

So I did this part a bit differently.  I am not a morning person by anyone's standards, so I decided to get as much done the night before as possible.  I finely chopped the onion and put in the fridge overnight.  I then mixed the 2nd half of ingredients in a bowl, sealed with plastic wrap, and put in the fridge as well. (It calls for red pepper flakes... is that the same as crushed red peppers?  No idea but that's what I ended up using)

In the morning I did the following:

Searing the pork

Onions~!

 
Put a large fry pan over medium-high heat and warmed the oil.  I seared the sides of the pork, hopefully locking in the juices.  Then I put the pork in my crockpot. Pour off all but 1 tbs of the fat, and reheat in the pan.  Add and saute the onion until golden. 

Mixing the sauce

Add the vinegar and de-glaze the pan (had no idea what this mean, so I googled it and watched this youtube video to learn).  Then stir in the mixture from last night (which is pretty much homemade BBQ sauce).  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce starts to bubble.

Everything smelled AMAZING separately, but I'm not going to lie, when I added the vinegar and the mixture to the pan it started to have a B.O.-like smell, and I have no idea why, but there's nothing I could to about it, so I'm praying that the ingredients just needed time to blend the deliciousness into an amazing aroma and its back to its amazingness tonight.

 

Pour over the pork, put the lid on, and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Now off to work!

Adventure #1: Trying to cook something other than pasta

I am by no means a "cook".  I do make dinner, my specialties include spaghetti, fettuccine alfredo, and vodka sauce penne (all out of a jar).  I never had a desire to cook and so I never learned, even though my mother and grandmother both cook for their family.  Now armed with new knives and a crockpot, my cooking adventures begin.


Beef Stew:

Ingredients:
1.5-2 lbs stew meat
4 carrots
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
5 medium potatoes
2 cups water & 3 tbsp bouillon (boiled to create a beef broth)
pepper
salt
seasoning
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup red wine

Directions:
So I'm not that good with directions, I looked up a few different recipes online and mixed them together with my and my boyfriend's tastes and preferences.

wash and chop the veggies (did the night before)
cut the potatoes in half the long way
Toss the beef cubes in flour
plop into the crockpot and add the beef broth and wine
add Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and any other desired seasonings

Turn the crockpot on to low, keep fingers crossed, and head off to work!