Crock Pot Cook: Shredded Beef Tacos

Okay, so I know people are huge fans of crock pots. "You can't mess up," they tell me. "Works every time," they say.

Well. I'm here to say that I've messed up and had things not work in the crock pot before. But this is not one of them. I love making this meat mixture. It's so versatile. I made tacos one night, layered it with cheese and tortillas for a beef quesadilla the next, put it on sourdough with cheese for an amazing beef grilled cheese the third.

It makes so much, I took half of it to my friend who had just had surgery (and her family of 6!) and still had enough to do all of the above.

This is a recipe from the American Heart Association cookbook. I've made exactly one thing from it: this, but it was worth buying the thick volume. I've made a few changes according to my tastes, and I'll note those below.

Shredded Beef Tacos:
2 lb. top round steak
1 bell pepper (recipe calls for green; I use whatever color I have in my fridge), diced
3 large onions, diced (I only use two, and it seems to have plenty of onion)
1/4 c. water (recipe calls for dry red wine, but I don't cook with alcohol)
1/2 c. ketchup (recipe calls for low-sodium, but yeah. I use the regular stuff)
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 T. cider vinegar
1/4 t. pepper
1/2 t. cumin
3/4 t. liquid smoke
1/2 t. hot sauce (I'm a wimp, and don't put this much in. I do a couple of shakes and call it good)
2 medium bay leaves
6 cloves garlic, minced (I adore garlic and may or may not add more than this...)

1 t. brown sugar
1/2 t. cumin

Taco toppings (sour cream, ranch dressing, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, guac -- whatever you like!)

I use those raw tortillas, cook them and add cheese before I start building my taco. That way, the cheese is melty and everything's warm. #mmm

Instructions:
1. Place the steak in the crock pot. Dice the onions and pepper and layer over meat.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the water, ketchup, bouillon cubes, pepper, cumin, liquid smoke, hot sauce, bay leaves, and garlic. Whisk together and pour over the meat and vegetables. Stir to coat.
3. Turn the crock pot on low and let it go for 6-8 hours.
4. With one hour of cooking time left, add the additional 1 t. cumin and 1 t. brown sugar. Shred meat, remove bay leaves, and stir well. Let stand for one hour so the flavors will marry.
5. Assemble tacos, or quesadillas, or enchiladas, or chimichangas, or... the list is endless!

Enjoy!

Weekday Chef: Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Okay, so my daughter is a super-fan of this soup. She's always begging me to make it, especially in the fall months and when it's a little rainy. It's been pretty stormy here for a few weeks, and one day while she was at a mega-dance practice one Saturday, I whipped this up for her.

It's a simple soup to make, and I'll admit that sometimes I even leave out the chicken! She just really likes the pasta and the creamy broth. I mean, who doesn't? It's totally not diet food, which is why I hardly ever make it, but everyone can splurge sometimes, right?

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup:

10 c. water

10 chicken bouillon cubes

1 pkg. egg noodles

1 pint sour cream

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can evaporated milk

2-3 c. cooked chicken, cubed

Instructions:

1. Boil the noodles in the chicken stock (water + bouillon cubes) until tender, about 8 minutes. 

2. Add sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and evaporated milk. Whisk until smooth. 

3. Stir in chicken. Serve immediately; do not boil.

Easy! And delicious! And mostly from your pantry, so you might be able to make this TODAY without even a trip to the grocery store. Happy eating!

Weekend Baker: Homemade Bagels

Okay, so I love baked goods. Breads, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, all of the above! I'm not a huge baker, because my sixteen-year-old son and ten-year-old daughter have taken over the cookie-making on Sundays.

But a few weeks ago, we decided to make something out of the ordinary. My husband is the real baker in the family, having done artisan breads and such. But we worked together as a team to make these delicious, simple homemade bagels. I mixed the dough and he did everything else, but that's still teamwork, right?

The best part of these is their somewhat crunchy outside combined with their delicious, chewy inside. The trick is boiling them first. I wish it were the weekend so I could bake up another batch of these beauties! And the best part? I had everything in my pantry, and I bet you do too!

Bagels:

2 tsp. dry yeast
1 1/2 T. sugar
1 1/4 c. water
3 1/2 c. flour, plus extra for kneading
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into 1/2 c. water. Leave for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in the dissolved yeast.

2. Pour in half of the remaining water and mix. Stir in the rest of the water, as needed to form a firm, moist dough.

3. Turn the dough onto a well floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Work in extra flour -- this dough should be firm and stiff.

4. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about an hour. Punch down and let rest for 10 minutes.

5. Cut the dough into eight equal pieces. Shape into a ball, and make a ring by inserting your finger through the center and working the dough until the hole is about 1/3 of the bagel's diameter. (You can see ours aren't like this. They don't have to be perfect!)

6. Place the bagels on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover. Let rest for 10 minutes. (Dough resting is important! Don't skip this step. It's a weekend recipe!)

7. Bring a large pan of water to a boil, then reduce heat to keep the water at a simmer. Carefully lower the bagels into the water in batches of 2 or 3. Boil, uncovered, until the bagels rise to the surface, about 1 minute. Turn them once.

8. Transfer the drained bagels to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake* at 425 for 20 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

*You can use steam in the oven if you'd like. Put a pan of ice cubes in the oven as it preheats, and put the bagels in before the ice has all melted. When the cubes have all melted, remove the pan. You can also use a sprayer. After the oven is at temperature and you've put in the bagels, mist the sides of the oven 8-10 times. Close the oven quickly. Repeat after 2 minutes, and again after 2 more. Be careful not to spray the oven light, heating coils, or oven fan.

Enjoy!

Weekday Chef: Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup

 Okay, so I'm a huge fan of Paradise Bakery. I love their Southwest Chicken Ceasar Salad, paired with a bowl of their fire-roasted tomato soup. I mean, it comes with a cookie (yum!), and with that little drizzle of sour cream and those tortilla strips -- heaven.

So I decided I was going to do a soup and sandwich night at home. Who doesn't love a grilled cheese? So I thought, "I want to make that fire-roasted tomato soup." So I went to my best friend--Google--and found a copycat recipe for the soup at Chef In Training.

I followed the directions exactly (usually what I do the first time I make a recipe), and... I didn't like the soup. It still tasted like canned tomatoes.

So I fancy myself a Food Network expert. Ha! I watch a lot of cooking shows, and I've listened to a lot of judges on Chopped and Guy's Grocery Games talk about acids and sugars, salts and sours, and textures.

My first thought to "fix" the soup was to add sugar to it. It literally tasted like tin. I thought sugar would mask some of that and sweeten up the tomatoes.

My husband tasted the soup, and his first thought was to add hot sauce--two great profiles there in vinegar and heat.

We added both, brought the soup back to a boil and let it go for a few minutes.

And it was a thing of beauty! I'm just glad my countless hours of watching Food Network has finally paid off!!

So here's my recipe for the Paradise Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup.

1 sweet onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
2 (14.5 oz.) cans fire roasted tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 T. brown sugar
1 t. hot sauce (or to taste)
1 cup heavy cream

1. In a large pot, saute onion in olive oil until almost translucent.
2. Add garlic and sauté a couple minutes longer.
3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water and chicken broth to pot. Stir to combine and until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Puree soup as necessary to reach desired constancy. I did about 3/4 of the soup in two batches in the blender. I like a smoother soup, with only a few chunks.
5. Add salt, pepper, brown sugar, hot sauce, and cream to pot with tomato soup and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Thin 1/2 c. sour cream with 2 T. milk. I had a squeeze bottle and added my sour cream to this for easy streaking.
7. Streak soup with sour cream and top with tortilla chip strips (help from the grocery store!).

Viola! Paradise Bakery Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup that doesn't taste like the can. Enjoy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Okay, so I love things that I can put all together in one dish, bake, and serve. Which is sort of weird, because I don't like to let my food touch. Why, yes, I am like an eight-year-old when it comes to food. Ha!

But I do love casseroles. And I love the flavors of chicken cordon bleu. But who has time for all that pounding and rolling and tying?

Not this girl.

So when I found this recipe, it immediately became one of my family's favorites. The secret is in the spice in the white sauce. Delicious!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole:
4 c. cubed, cooked chicken (I use a rotisserie chicken, or I've even bought a high-quality chicken from the deli in my grocery store. I ask them to cut it about 1/4-inch thick. Same with the ham. Then I cube it. Easy, peasy.)
2. c. ham, cubed
1 c. swiss cheese, grated

½ onion
⅓ c. butter
⅓ c. flour
⅛ tsp. nutmeg
⅛ tsp. ground mustard
1 ¾ c. milk

Topping:
¼ c. butter
1 ½ c. soft breadcrumbs (I use panko. They're my favorite.)

Directions:
Brown the ham in a saute pan for about 5 minutes, or until it has some color. Set on paper towels to drain. Layer the chicken in the bottom of a 9x9 pan. Top with the shredded swiss cheese, and then the ham.

In a pan, melt the butter and add the onion. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, nutmeg and ground mustard, stirring to make a soft paste. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring constantly until incorporated. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes to thicken sauce.

Pour the sauce over the ham. Combine all topping ingredients until well blended, and sprinkle over sauce.

Bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes, or until bubbly. (I usually turn the broiler on for a minute or two to make sure the bread crumbs are browned. Because as Anne Burrell would say, "Brown food tastes good!")

10 servings = 220 calories/serving.

And as an added bonus, this dish is spectacular reheated for lunch the next day -- and we all know not everything is like that...

Enjoy!

A Pork Paradise

Okay, so I eat a lot of chicken, because it's the lowest calorie protein. As I've worked to lose weight and still provide my body with the nutrients and energy I need, I've turned to other meats. Specifically, the Other White Meat: Pork.

I took a recipe I got from Cook's Country (I love watching their shows on Saturday afternoons!) that used bone-in pork chops and took 1.5 hours in the oven. One and a half hours?!

I don't have time for that. I like to be in and out of the kitchen in less than a half hour. Sometimes that includes cooking time and sometimes it doesn't. But I definitely don't have time to let my chops cook for 1.5 hours.

So I did some modifying for my busy lifestyle. I came up with these breaded pork chops with an onion pan sauce. It's a pork paradise!

Depending on what's on sale at my grocery store, I sometimes use thin-cut, boneless pork chops and do all four (I have four people to feed every night). But if I get a thicker chop like what you see here, I'll only do two.

The trick to eating less is making sure every bite has a ton of flavor. So everything is seasoned, every step of the way.

First, the pork. Get your pan on the stove over medium-high heat with 2 T. olive oil. It needs to be H-O-T before you put in your meat. That's the trick to cooking protein. A hot pan.

While the pan is heating, mix together:
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. onion powder
2 t. celery salt
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper (I always back off on the pepper. It's not my favorite flavor. If you like it, add a bit more.)
1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs

Coat your chops in the seasoning mixture. I use my hands to pack it on, because the bigger breadcrumbs can keep the finer seasonings from adhering.

When the pan is hot, put the chops in. Don't touch them. Don't move them. Let the pan do it's work.

These are quick-cooking, depending on the thickness. For the thin ones, I literally time them for 2 minutes, and then flip them. For these thicker chops, I gave them 4 minutes on the first side, and 3 on the second. 

See what happens when you start with a hot pan and let it do it's work? Golden brown! And brown is delicious.

Remove the chops from the pan. Add 1 T. butter and another splash of oil.

Then add:
1 onion, chopped (I like a smaller onion when I'm eating it, so the size of the chop here is small)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Season veg with salt and pepper

Cook for a couple of minutes.

Be sure to stir! You don't want the garlic to burn.

Add 1 c. of beef broth and scrape up all the delicious bits from the onions and pork chops. Mix together 1 T. cornstarch with 1 T. water and add to the pan. 

Add pork back to pan (along with any juices that have come out), and cover. Cook for a couple of minutes, or until chops are cooked through.

Slice and serve with your favorite side! This is the broccoli slaw I love.

Deliciousness in less than a half hour!

Spectacular Sides: Broccoli Slaw

Okay, remember how I said I take all the help I can get from the grocery store? Well, it's really true. Some of my favorite sides require little more than opening things and mixing them together. Since I'm not eating many potatoes, rice, or other grains during meal times, I need my sides to be flavorful and fresh.

But that doesn't mean you can't take the help from some prepared products.

One of my favorite vegetables is broccoli. But not the heads. The stems. When I was growing up, my mom would peel them like you'd peel a carrot. And then she'd cut them like sticks, and we'd eat the broccoli stems with ranch dressing.

I don't do that. I don't know why. Probably because anything that requires peeling takes too much time! Ha!

But I've discovered that my local grocer carries broccoli slaw. It's all broccoli stems, carrots and red cabbage. Mmm. Some of my favorite things.

And there's nothing I like more than Lighthouse dressings. We've had most of them, and they make a coleslaw dressing that has celery seeds in it. I *love* me some celery seeds! So I take two products from the grocery store, mix them, and viola! A spectacular side.

Broccoli Slaw:
1 bag broccoli slaw mix
1 jar Lighthouse coleslaw mix

1. Open the bag. 

2.Spoon in about 1/3 of the jar of Lighthouse coleslaw mix. 

See? This makes 3 batches! That's good for the palate and the wallet. 

3. Mix well, and refrigerate about 20 minutes. 

Since my philosophy is dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes, I make this up front and then continue cooking my main dish while this marinates. And it doesn't need to. Only if you have time.

Enjoy!

10 Items You Need in Your Pantry

Okay, so like I said in my last post, I don't like to cook for longer than 30 minutes during the week. That was sort of a lie. I don't like to cook for longer than 30 minutes ANY day of the week!

Either way, I need to have some things on-hand in order to do this. I'm not as organized as some people I've seen, but I have learned to keep these 10 things stocked in my pantry. As soon as I notice I've used the last one, I add it to my shopping list and I re-stock.

1. Garlic powder -- I use this on pork chops, pork roast, on vegetables, on everything! If I don't have this, then my asparagus actually tastes like, shudder, asparagus.

2. Onion powder -- Ditto the garlic powder. But I also use this in some dry dredges, mostly because I like the flavor of onions, but actually having diced onions in stuff sort of freaks me out.

3. Chicken bouillion -- I use bouillion in all my grains, like rice and quinoa. I also make soups and need it. And sometimes my pan sauces are greatly enhanced by a cube of bouillion.

4. Tomato soup -- I have several recipes that call for this, and it annoys me when I can slap together my sloppy joes if I don't have tomato soup. So I always keep it on-hand.

5. Apple cider vinegar -- Any kind of vinegar, really, but I find that I like the flavor of apple cider the best for salad dressings, to add a bit of acid to my sloppy joes and pan sauces.

6. Barbeque sauce -- I use barbeque sauce in several recipes, but sometimes I just need something to slather on my meat. I never want to be out of barbeque sauce.

7. Ketchup -- Ditto the above. My meat loaf topping has ketchup. If I'm grilling hot dogs, ketchup. Sloppy joes, ketchup. The list goes on and on. I hate not having ketchup!

8. Evaporated milk -- I use this in several soups, and I dislike being out of this crucial ingredient if I'm trying to throw a pot of food together. Plus, we throw this "canned cow" into hot chocolate to make it extra-delicious!

9. Taco seasoning -- Not only can't I make tacos, but forget about taco soup. I like mixing a packet of this with sour cream too, for a more flavorful condiment, especially if I'm trying to get down that fat free sour cream, which I often am.

10. Balsamic vinegar -- This is my absolute favorite marinade for vegetables. It's pretty much how I choke down so many vegetables! Give it a try (with salt and pepper and garlic powder. Yum!).

I use these ingredients ALL THE TIME in various recipes, and if I can't just go to my pantry and grab them out, I'm m-a-d. Because then I can't make dinner.

What have you learned to keep on-hand?

A Busy Mom's Weekday Dinner

Okay, so I work outside the home. And with a busy sixteen-year-old son, and a ten-year-old daughter who dances competitively, I need to get dinner on the table, fast. I like to cook, don't get me wrong, but for a weekday dinner, I want something that takes me less than 30 minutes in the kitchen. And the fewer the ingredients, the better.

Many of you know I lost 60 pounds last year. That would've been impossible eating bland, flavorless food. So here's a recipe I grew up with that packs in the flavor, but not the calories.

Soy Sprite Chicken -- BONUS! This recipe only have 4 ingredients, and one of those is the chicken! I should get, like, an award or something like that.

 I get home from teaching about 2:15. I whip up this marinade and get it going then. I try to have dinner on the table about 5:00 - 5:30, so it's a quick marinade that doesn't take hours or overnight, though you certainly could do that.

If you follow my life saga (and it's a saga!) on Facebook, you'll see why I recommend this next step. I mean, no one wants a huge, oily, soyly mess in their kitchen, right?

So use a tupperware or bowl, and use your friend, the ziplock bag. It maximizes coverage.

After a few hours in the fridge, you're ready to grill! I am a habitual over-cooker of poultry! I've never been able to get it right. So I started timing, and then taking the meat off even when I think it's not done. And you know what? It usually is done!

Since I'm a take-all-the-help-I-can-get-from-the-grocery-store type of cook, I whip out my bagged salad to go with this. I actually get angry if I have to eat salad for every meal when I'm dieting, but this chicken is so good, I don't mind it here. And there are a ton of different bagged salad choices now to also up the flavor. (Bonus: this one has my favorite food: BACON!!)

I always add extra croutons! They're pretty much the only bread I get, and yeah. Bring on the croutons!

You can simply slice this and eat it with your salad on the side, or put it ON your salad for a whole new meal! 

Enjoy!

Soy Sprite Chicken:
2 chicken breasts, pounded to uniform thickness, all fat trimmed
1/2 c. Sprite (can use Sprite Zero, or Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew)
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. soy sauce

1. Measure the ingredients -- and let the kids help! My daughter makes this marinade while I trim and pound the chicken. Nothing better than cooking with kids!

2. Put the chicken in a ziplock bag, and put the bag inside the bowl or tupperware. DO THIS FIRST, so you don't end up like me with marinade all over your floor, and boots, and yeah.

3. Pour the marinade into the bag, which is securely held in the bowl. Again, kids can do this.

4. Squeeze out all the air, zip tight, and put chicken + marinade in the fridge for a couple of hours.

5. Heat the grill on high -- until it reaches about 400 degrees.

6. Grill chicken on the first side for 5 minutes. Flip. Grill for another 3 minutes, depending on thickness. Discard extra marinade.

7. Remove to plate and let sit for a few minutes while you open your salad and add those extra croutons! You can also add anything else you want, it just requires chopping. Some nights I feel like tomatoes, and some nights I don't.

8. Enjoy!

Dietary Information: I count calories, so that's what I'm looking at here. I don't know about fat and protein and stuff. But I'm sure I could Google it...
1/2 chicken breast: 250
Salad -- read package nutritional information.

I'm looking at a quick, easy, delicious weekday meal that's under 500 calories and done in less than 20 minutes. How much easier can it get? 

What's your favorite, quick, weekday meal? I might need to steal it from you.