Honey chipotle pork tacos (Crock pot)

This recipe comes from the Rachael Ray Show- I know her personality can be a bit grating, but she has some fantastic recipes, this one included.  I love Crock pot meals- even though I'm usually home during the day, being able to prep dinner early frees up my hands at the end of the day, when things start getting crazy around here (ie: being pulled in 3 different directions by hungry, tired kids).  Robert was a super-fan of this one, so I know we'll be making it again.

HONEY CHIPOTLE PORK TACOS (Crock pot)

Yield: 12 tacos

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 2-pound bone-in pork shoulder (I used a pork tenderloin)

Salt and pepper

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, grated

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons puréed chipotle in adobo

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup vinegar

1 cup water

12 6" tortillas (corn or flour)

Toppings- chopped avocado, cilantro, fresh lime juice, sour cream, shredded cheese

Instructions:

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the pork with salt and pepper and brown all sides; then place in the slow cooker. In the same skillet, sauté the onions, garlic and cinnamon until softened and fragrant; remove to the pot with pork then add in the chipotle, honey, vinegar, salt, pepper and water. Cover and cook undisturbed for 4 hours on high.

Once the meat is done, discard the bone and shred the meat using two forks. Using a grill or gas burner, char up both sides of the corn tortillas, then build your tacos.  Top with avocado, cilantro, lime juice, a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheese.

Smothered burritos

This burrito recipe from Chef in Training is so simple and delicious.  I mean, seriously, 5 ingredients??  And the beef gets super-tender in the crock pot.  You can add toppings to the burritos if you like, but we ate them as is.

SMOTHERED BURRITOS

Yield: 5-7 burritos

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. chuck roast, cut in large cubes

1 19 oz. can red enchilada sauce

1 can refried beans

5-7 burrito-sized flour tortillas

1 cup shredded cheese

Instructions:

Put beef pieces into crock pot. Top with enchilada sauce. Cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until meat is very tender.

When beef is done (very tender and flakes off when stirred), taste and add more salt, if desired.  Warm the refried beans. Smear about 2 heaping spoons worth of beans on to the center of each tortilla. Add about 1/2 cup of beef, and roll into a burrito.

Place burritos into a greased 9x13 baking pan until it fills the pan. Pour extra sauce over the burritos to smother them. Top with cheese, and broil until cheese becomes bubbly, approx. 2-4 minutes.

Sweet pork tacos with avocado cream

I saw this recipe for Sweet pork tacos with avocado cream on fellow blogger Erin's site, Baking and Eggs. They were a big hit at our house, and we'll definitely be making them again!  The pork is cooked in the Crock Pot (yay!), and the avocado cream is simply fantastic.   I used a nifty trick from Pinterest to make crispy taco shells out of flour tortillas- have you seen this yet?  You heat your oven to 350 degrees, then drape flour tortillas over the grates of your oven racks and bake for 10 minutes.  The tortillas get crispy and make the perfect taco shell, with a flat bottom and all!!  Genius, if you ask me.

SWEET PORK TACOS WITH AVOCADO CREAM
Serves: 4

For the pork:
3 lbs pork loin roast or pork shoulder
2 cups salsa
4 oz can chopped green chilies
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

For the avocado cream:
1 large avocado, mashed
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons low fat sour cream
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:
Hard taco shells or tortillas
Optional toppings include sliced onions, shredded cheese, salsa, and shredded lettuce

In the bottom of your slow cooker, combine salsa, green chilies, brown sugar, onion and black beans.  Mix well.  Add pork roast and cook on low for 7-9 hours.  Remove the pork and shred with a fork. Return meat to slow cooker and mix meat into the sauce.  Continue to cook another 30 minutes - 1 hour with lid off to thicken the sauce a little bit.

Meanwhile, to prepare the avocado cream, add green onions, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, chile powder, salt and pepper to mashed avocado and mix well. 

To serve, scoop sweet pork into hard taco shells and top with avocado cream and any other desired toppings.

Slow-cooker parmesan honey pork roast

After seeing this slow-cooker parmesan honey pork roast recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff on Pinterest, I added the ingredients to my grocery list and fired up the crock pot!  We had a little trouble with the gravy because most (actually, all) of our liquid cooked off, so we ate it plain- and it was still delicious!  We'll make this one again.

Ingredients:

1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork roast
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

* I made one small adjustment to the original recipe and seared my roast in a hot pan for a few minutes on each side before putting it in the crock pot. 
Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place roast in slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, garlic, oil and salt; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°.
Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice roast; serve with gravy.

Slow-cooker French dip brisket

It's Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year- but also the busiest!  May I recommend this delicious slow-cooker French dip brisket?  Prep it in the morning, then after a day of work, last-minute gift shopping, Christmas party hopping, etc, it will be there waiting for you.  Don't be afraid to get messy and dunk your bread in the sauce!!

Char Siu pork roast (crock pot)

I love cooking in the crock pot- I can do the prep work and get dinner started during my kids' afternoon naps, which frees me up at dinnertime when things get really chaotic around here.  Last week we made this Char Siu pork roast from Cooking Light.  This recipe had Robert's name all over it- a big piece of meat cooked in Asian spices and sauces.  It was a winner!

Slow-cooker red beans and rice

This is actually a repeat recipe, but somehow I missed posting about it last time. Which was a mistake on my part, because Robert and I both love this red beans and rice recipe! So easy (slow-cooker!) and delicious. I halve the recipe and cook it 4-5 hours on high. I'm also a little heavy-handed with the creole seasoning because I like things spicy. YUM!

Brazilian feijoada

Dinner tonight was Brazilian feijoada, a pork and black beans stew. This is a slow-cooker recipe, which makes it a winner in my book, although it does take a bit of prep before you can just throw everything in for the long simmer. We garnished ours with orange slices, scallions, and hot sauce, and served it over rice. Expectations were high for this dish because I had to go to three different grocery stores to gather all of the ingredients (helpful hint: Fresh Market has beef short ribs every day, while Whole Foods only has them occasionally. In fact, I suggest calling around and finding a store that carries both pork shoulder AND the ribs before you venture out). Also, I kept an eye on it and added extra broth throughout the day when it looked too dry. Anyway, despite yesterday's frustration of hunting down those ribs, I licked my bowl clean and smacked my lips on this one. Robert nicknamed it Meat Heaven, so I think he'll be requesting this again.

Italian hand-cut steak chili

We made this slow-cooker Italian hand-cut steak chili recipe from Rachael Ray this week, and we finished it in record time. Robert loves chili with steak vs ground beef, so I knew this would be a hit with him. The pancetta is a nice touch, and definitely use the optional garnishes - we did fontina cheese, onion, and pepperoncinis. Delicious!!!

Chipotle and garbanzo bean soup (crock pot)

I have bookmarked hundreds of recipes to try from magazines, tv shows, and cookbooks. None of them are conducive to planning ahead, so I find myself rushing to cook dinner between the girls bath and bedtime routines, which can get pretty hectic. A great solution for that is slow cooker meals, so you will probably see more of those on the blog in the coming weeks. First up is this chipotle and garbanzo bean soup from a cookbook my mom got me on her recent trip to New Mexico. I was able to prepare it during morning naps, and it was ready to serve when Robert got home from work. This soup is spicy, hearty, and delicious!! We will definitely make this one again.

Chipotle and garbanzo bean soup
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 (15 ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 chipotle chiles in adobo, seeded
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from can of chipotle chiles)
• 6 green chilies, chopped (I used fresh jalapenos, sliced. 2-3 depending on your spice tolerance)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 cup chopped green onion

• 1 cup cubed monterey jack cheese

• 2 limes
• cilantro

Combine first 8 ingredients (through garlic powder) in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours.

Thirty minutes before serving, remove the chicken from the soup, shred, and return to the slow cooker. Add the green onions. Continue cooking on low until ready to serve.

Divide the cheese equally into soup bowls. Ladle the soup into bowls over the cheese, add juice from half a lime into each bowl, and garnish with cilantro.

Pulled pork sandwiches (slow-cooker!)

Dinner last night was pulled pork sandwiches cooked in the crock pot. My grocery store was out of pork shoulder roast, so I substituted a 4-lb pork loin. The meat was juicy and tender - leftovers were fantastic, too!

01.17.09 Brisket with black bean and corn salad

Dinner on Saturday was brisket cooked in the crock pot served with Rachael Ray's black bean and corn salad and sweet potato fries (frozen). Robert is a big meat-eater, so he loves this recipe. Note that it calls for 8-10 hours in the crock pot on low - I didn't allow myself enough time to do this, so I cooked mine on high for 5 hours. I believe all things are better cooked low and slow, so even though the meat was delicious, I recommend following the recipe's directions on cooking time. The corn salad was a hit, too. I read the user reviews and followed their suggestion to add chopped cilantro. (Also, I'm not sure the frozen corn was thawed after 15 minutes - I would allow 30-45 minutes for this).