First Crock Pot Pin- Gyros!!

This was a great find!
Thanks to Rainy Day Gal I found A Year of Slow Cooking and can't wait to give so many of those great recipes a try!
I loooooove gyros, so this was a perfect first crock-pot-pinterest find to make

You can find the recipe on the links above- it was DELICIOUS! I used Trader Joe's Tzatziki dip, non-fat feta cheese & flat bread and made a quick side salad to go with it.

Side Salad-
cucumber
red onion
tomato
balsamic vinegar
oil
salt
Chop- toss- EASY.

Check out my slow-cooker-recipe collection on Pinterest, growing daily- by clicking HERE

Easy Weeknight Dinner- Taco Casserole

Easy weeknight dinners are awesome, so is anything that gives you more personal time to spend with your family (or with yourself!!)
I'm also a HUGE fan of dinners that last more than just one night. This is one of those, easy and leftover-delicious. I made this on a Sunday then Monday when we got home from a long day just a little reheating and dinner was ready!!

Brown 1 lb ground beef or turkey in a skillet over medium-high heat
Season with taco seasoning- you can use a packet from the store or make your own!! (click HERE for lots of great make your own seasoning recipes),
I also added a few dashes of hot sauce- when meat is cooked all the way, remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray
I used soft taco sized corn tortillas (the corningwear is about an inch bigger than the tortilla all the way around- which works)

Put a tortilla in the corning wear

Then sprinkle on a thin layer of shred cheese, spoon on 1/3 of the meat, add some drained, rinsed canned black beans, a little handful of chopped tomato and spoon some chunky salsa over that- then more cheese.

New tortilla, repeat- cheese, meat, beans, onions, salsa, cheese- tortilla

Repeat layers

Tortilla on top

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Serve w sour cream and avocado n hot sauce.

This also makes a great freezer meal- right before the "bake at 350" step you can cover the casserole dish in freezer Press n' Seal, then add the lid and freeze- just add 10-15 minutes to the cooking time when cooking from frozen- and for goodness sake, remember to remove the press n seal before you put the frozen dish in the oven! 

Crock Pot Asian-Inspired Beef Tacos/Pitas

I'm TRYING to do at least one crock-pot recipe every week, mostly to expand my crock pot horizons and save a TON of time making dinner for more than one night while I spend the day playing and hanging out with my little guy & weenie dogs!
A friend at my husbands office was recently intrigued and had ordered a brand new crock pot so I sent him the link to A Year of Slow Cooking and he decided to try the Slow Cooker Shredded Korean Beef Tacos for his Superbowl gathering & said they came out GREAT!!
I couldn't wait to give them a try!! Click the link above for the recipe and ingredients- the only think I changed was MARINATING the beef, which I think is key if you have time- and per my husband- poke holes in the beef and insert garlic slivers everywhere- then mix the rest of the ingredients and let the whole thing marinate in the fridge at least an hour, more if you can spare the time.
I also scooped out the ginger, onion, jalapeno, garlic etc with a slotted spoon and puree'd it for a little kick-y sauce.

The first night we had soft tacos on corn tortillas

The second night stuffed em in a pita

The third night Nate FRIED the tortillas and made taco shells

My coleslaw was pretty much the same as on the link above-
I mixed 1 T soy sauce and 2 T rice vinegar in a bowl I added a few SMALL squeezes of Siracha- a little goes a long way you can always add more so add a wee bit and taste...whisk it all together.
Take a few handfuls of the shredded cabbage/slaw mix and in a gallon storage slowly add a bit at a time of the vinegar mix and toss with the slaw till coated.
Shake in some toasted sesame seeds, toss again- serve with tacos.

Green Smoothies by Sweet Life Kitchen

I thought I should start a post where I can add all the different smoothie mixes- for ease and reference!
As I post new mixtures- I'll upload the link and pic to THIS post so you can always come back to this one post for ideas~

The basic formula we use for our everyday breakfast is a quart-sized freezer bag full of fruits & veggies- plus 1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt, 1 cup cold water and two big handfuls greens (spinach, chard, kale....)

Green Smoothie 1

Green Smoothie 2

Green Smoothie 3

Green Smoothie 4

Green Smoothie 4

More green-ness! Added broccoli to the mix this week- and thanks to a fabulous Facebooker suggestion- I used frozen broccoli in the  fruit & veg bags.
We also got a GIANT bag of frozen fruit ala Costco to see how we liked that- and convenience wise it works brilliantly- it's 6lbs of strawberries, mango, papaya and pineapple- so the smoothies are super SMOOTH!

Here is what I put in each quart size freezer bag::
1 zucchini chopped
1 handful chopped frozen broccoli
1 small banana chopped
1 (more like 1 1/2) big handful of the frozen fruit mix
1 small handful/ sprinkle of blueberries

What I added to the blender each morning
1 freezer bag of fruit & veg (above)
1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1 cup cold water
2 big handfuls of spinach

Makes 2 14oz smoothies

Lemon chicken- bad photo. GOOD chicken.

This was a use-what-we-got week night dinner. Easy, yummy and a bad photo to boot because I was in a hurry to eat & get baby boy in the bath!

Here's how I threw it all together- in a flash...
What you need:
1 T butter
1T olive oil
2 chicken breasts, chopped
1/4 onion chopped
1-2 T capers
1 lemon
1T flour
Salt pepp

Add butter n olive oil to pan add chicken, onion, salt peppr cook 8 min, until chicken is completely cooked through. Remove chicken & onions from pan, set aside leave liquid in skillet
Add juice of 1 lemon, the flour and whisk constantly on med-low heat until it thickens, then add the chicken & onions and capers to the pan- cook an additional 5 or so minutes on low to get it all saucy- serve with rice or cous cous and some veggies!

Farm Box Soup Noodles

Thanks to Living Social and my friend Erin, I signed up for monthly delivery from Farm Fresh to You. Logan is starting "people food" this month and I thought it would be so amazing to have farm fresh organic produce for him to eat, add the delivered-to-your-door element and I was head over heels!

Our first delivery came on Feb 3 and there was SO much produce I was stunned- you really get a TON for your money from these peeps!
Nate and I decided to play Farm Box Iron Chef and see how many items we could use in one meal for dinner.
We also noted, neither of us had really had chard before...I've had it once, maybe twice, but never bought it and never cooked with it myself.

What else do we have in the casa to work with?

1 container of Trader Joe's Chicken Broth
1 package of Chow Mein Noodles
Hard boiled eggs
garlic, butter, olive oil, salt n pepper
siracha

What we used from the farm box:
1 bunch of leeks (rinsed WELL and chopped)
2 purple top turnips, chopped
4 red potatoes, chopped
1/2 a bunch of chard, chopped
1 head of broccoli chopped

What we did with it:

In a large pot add 1 T butter (we use yogurt butter) 1 T olive oil over medium heat.
Add the leeks & garlic- saute til fragrant, about 2-5 minutes
Add the chicken broth 1/8 tsp (a couple little squeezes) siracha, salt n pepper and bring to a boil- reduce to a simmer add the potatoes & turnips- cover and simmer 15-20 minutes
meanwhile cook noodles according to package directions- but take them off the heat and drain them a few minutes early so they are a little aldente- you want  them to finish cooking in the broth and absorb the soupy goodness.
Add the broccoli, chard and noodles to the simmering pot and simmer another 5 minutes or so until potatoes and turnips are soft and noodles are fully cooked.
Chop a hard boiled egg and serve the noodles with veggies and broth with the egg on top!!