I'm a stay-at-home mom, I homeschool my 3 kids, I have 3 awesome dogs to chase after, and I maintain the home while my husband works long hours. I'M B-U-S-Y! Thank God for the person who invented the Crock Pot! I try to use mine once a week. I can't say how much I love waking up in the morning, feeding my kids breakfast (let's face it, they make their own breakfasts now) and throwing something into the crockpot and then magically having dinner ready with hardly lifting a finger on my part!
Brown Sugar Chicken
Personally, I always find myself salting this meal once I have it plated and I'm eating at the table. So, play with it and add salt to taste.
Ingredients:
12 boneless, skinnless chicken thighs (I now season mine lightly with Lawry's beforehand)
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. lemon-lime soda*
2/3 c. white vinegar
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. pepper
Directions:
Place the chicken thighs in the crockpot. Cover with brown sugar, pepper, garlic and soy sauce. Add the vinegar and the soda.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours, or until chicken is cooked through.
Serving Suggestions:
I serve this over white rice. Send along a nice Asian salad and you have a great hospitality meal that you hardly had to cook!
*Try substituting Ginger Ale or Pineapple Juice for the soda. Play with some fun flavors. If you like a thicker sauce, remove the chicken after cooking and add in a premixed cornstarch and water solution and cook on the stove in a saucepan until thickened. My husband likes a thicker sauce, so I've done this and it works very well.
Chalupa
Confession. I have no idea what a "real, traditional" Chalupa is, so I apologize to my friends of Latin descent if this completely butchers the original recipe. This recipe came from a family friend in Arizona and it has been a family favorite. I adapted the recipe to be cooked in the crockpot. This is one of those dishes where you start building your plate little by little, and when you're done with all the toppings, you have Mt. McKinley on your dinner plate in front of you. And you must conquer it!
Ingredients:
5 lb. beef roast
1 can (15 oz) beef broth
1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
1 can (15 oz) pinto beans*
1 jar picante sauce
Toppings:
1 bag (family size) Frito corn chips
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion
Avocado
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Olives
Cheddar Cheese
Cilantro
Lime Juice
Directions:
Place roast into the crockpot. Top with broth, chilies, beans and salsa.
Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours or until roast shreds easily with a fork. Shred the beef and return to the broth mixture.
Lay some Fritos on your plate. Top with the Chalupa meat from the crockpot. Now top it with any of your favorite topping above, or get creative and add your own. A little lime juice squirted on top adds amazing flavor! Add hot sauce or whatever you like on top of your favorite Mexican dishes. You can't go wrong!
Serving Suggestions:
* Try substituting black beans or any other bean of choice. Don't like beans, go ahead and eliminate them. The dish is still amazing! And by the way, my brother loves the leftovers wrapped up in tortillas. The beef would also be good inside a quesadilla. This dish is very versatile!
French Dip
My husband likes beef. I don't make it often because it gets so pricey, but this dish is so very simple and totally delicious. The meat freezes well, so consider this a good freezer meal too! If you have a large crockpot, double this recipe and freeze half for one of those days when you just don't have time to cook! We all have those days, don't we?
Ingredients:
4 lbs. beef roast
1 can (10.5 oz) beef broth
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed French Onion soup
1 can (or 12 oz) beer
French Rolls
Butter
Directions:
Place roast in crockpot. Pour in broth, soup and beer. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or until beef is cooked through. Depending on your taste, you can shred the beef or slice the beef into thin slices when cooked and return to the juices in the crockpot. Cut open the rolls and spread with butter and warm them in the oven. Place beef into warm rolls. Ladle the broth from the cooked beef into shallow dishes for dipping the entire sandwich into at the dinner table.
Serving Suggestions:
Send along a nice green salad or a fruit salad for a little sweetness.
Fiesta Chicken
This was one of those Pinterest and/or Facebook recipes that was floating around for a while. I finally came around and tried it and tweaked it to make it my own.
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, thawed
1 packet Fiesta Ranch dressing/dip mix
1 can black beans (drained & rinsed)
1 can Rotel
1 can corn (drained)
1 block cream cheese
Throw chicken, ranch mix, beans, Rotel and corn into your crock pot. Cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low or until chicken can be shredded. Shred chicken. Cut cream cheese into chunks and add to crockpot. Stir to melt. [Note: The original recipe says to save liquid from all canned goods. This yielded a very soupy mess. I now drain it. The original recipe also said to throw the cheese in at first, along with everything else. Mine never melts quite as nicely as it should. So, I do this as a final step to give us a creamier chicken.] Serve with rice over tortillas.
No comments:
Post a Comment