Chicken Tacos

Greetings blog readers! I feel like I’ve been a little behind on my blogging lately, but I’m back today with a great recipe for chicken tacos.

I love this recipe because it incorporates three of my favorite things: a crockpot, laziness and Pepper Jack cheese. Plus the tacos are relatively low-fat and taste great with a Corona. My main squeeze told me that these tacos were better than the version served at our local Mexican restaurant so I will take that as a big old compliment. Now if I can just learn how to make pizza we’ll really be in business! So, anyone have any good pizza recipes?

Chicken Tacos

16 oz container salsa

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
15 oz can black beans
1 package of 6" corn tortillas
Sliced Pepper Jack cheese
Tomatoes, chopped
Avocado, chopped

1. Place chicken, salsa and black beans in crockpot. Cook on low for about 8 hours or on high for about 5 hours (adjusting temperature as needed for frozen chicken).
2. Using a gas stovetop, char the tortillas slightly by placing each one individually on a burner for a few seconds until it's slightly blackened around the edges. Please use caution when doing this and watch your tortillas closely to make sure they don't go up in flames!
3. Make the tacos by layering the tortillas with the cheese on the bottom, followed by the chicken mixture with the tomatoes and avocado on top.

BBQ Chicken Joes

The man of the household worked a double shift last weekend, which meant we spent a rare Saturday together. So, we made a little mini vacation out of it by meeting a friend for brunch, drinking boozy milkshakes in the afternoon and watching a Back to the Future marathon. In a word, our day together was AWESOME!
I knew that Mr. Man would be pretty tired from working an 18 hour shift, so I rewarded him with slowcooked BBQ Chicken Joes for dinner.  He had his on country white bread as a sandwich, which he swears is the way to go, but I had mine straight up in a bowl which I think is the better option.  Now I'm back from my "vacation" and trying to avoid the huge mountain of laundry that's been piling up in the bedroom, sigh.....

BBQ Chicken Joes

1 lb ground chicken

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp vinegar

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

¼ c. BBQ sauce (I used Stubb’s honey pecan sauce)

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp chili powder

Shredded cheese as garnish

1.       Combine all ingredients in crockpot, cook on low for 8 hours.

Enjoy with the '80s movie of your choice for a fantastic date night!

image via Abduzeedo

Still lazy - this time with roast beef!

My days are long, there are meetings to worry about, laundry, gym, Hoarders, the inevitable post Hoarders cleaning spree, Jersey Shore....well, you get the idea.  So you might be wondering, where does dinner fit into this packed schedule of trashy TV? Well ladies and gents, I present you with my all time favorite kitchen appliance:

That's right, the lowly slow cooker has found a place of honor in this metropolitan kitchen. No joke, if I had a car it would have an I heart crockpots bumper sticker. Because really, who doesn't want to come home to a delicious and healthy dinner after a full day of stuff and things? Plus I found out I can throw frozen protein in there directly from the freezer......genius! I'm not ashamed to admit that I own 4 of  them, viva la slow cooker!

Anyway enough about my unhealthy obsession, let's get down to business with a classic Sunday roast from my childhood adapted for my favorite appliance.  Interesting side note on this one, I hated sandwiches when I was a kid (seriously, what kid hates sandwiches) so my Mom would give me straight up roast beef cubes in a plastic baggie. No bread, no cheese, just plain old roast beef because I was a weird kid.  It's amazing that I ever managed to become a relatively well adjusted adult.  Still working out some kinks on that well adjusted adult thing though so no promises.

Slow cooker Roast Beef
Beef Roast (pretty much anything will do, mine was a frozen 3 1/2 lb top round roast)
1 10.75 oz can mushroom soup
1 14.5 oz can beef broth
1 packet onion soup mix

Place roast directly in slow cooker (frozen is fine, no need to defrost just let it cook a little longer). Whisk together the three soups and pour over the beef.  Cook on low for 10-12 hours.

French Sweet Potatoes
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
3 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp herbs de provence
1 tsp rosemary
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix together mustard, olive oil and seasonings, toss with potatoes to coat. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes, tossing stirring halfway through.