Crockpot Chicken "Tacos"

I looooove my crockpot- much like all my fun kitchen goodies that are there to make life easy livin'.
I threw this together on a day off mid-morning, so I didn't have to mess up the kitchen making dinner after I cleaned all day. I did totally forget we had no tortillas- so I served them in whole wheat pita instead- we'll do it with tortillas next time~

This recipe includes an AWESOME recipe for homemade taco seasoning that will totally replace the urge to buy packets- just mix it up once in a batch and keep in an airtight container for up to 1 year!! 2 1/2-3 Tablespoons = one "packet" from the store.

3 T. chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried onion flakes
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp oregano
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 1/2 T. cumin
2-2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 T. black pepper

mix it all together!

Onward to the chicken...




about 2 1/2 T. of the taco seasoning mix or 1 packet
15 oz LOW SODIUM chicken broth
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes and liquid
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 avocado
1/2 chopped sweet onion
1/2 chopped or sliced red bell pepper
Non-fat sour cream
HOT SAUCE
Soft taco size tortillas or pitas

In a large bowl or bigole measuring cup pour the chicken broth in, and use a fork to whisk in the taco seasoning mixture (add a few dashes of hot sauce if you want!)
Spray the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
Open the diced tomato can and pour all contents over the bottom of the slow cooker.
Lay the chicken breasts on top of the tomatoes and pour the broth/seasoning over that.



Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours- chicken should fork apart easily.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked chicken to a large bowl and use 2 forks to shred it up.
Use the slotted spoon to get all the diced tomatoes out of the slow cooker and add to the shredded chicken. Then grab a large cereal spoon and add about 4-6 spoon fulls of the liquid from the slow cooker to the shredded chicken bowl and stir it all up!
As I said, I totally forgot to pick up tortillas at the store so I served these in a 1/2 toasted whole wheat pita.
Top with red bell pepper, avocado, onion and a wee bit of fat-free sour cream (and, of course, a dash of hot sauce!)

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

These are soooo delicious, and yet another reason why the crock pot is so fantastic. This is an old recipe that comes from my mom's favorite crock pot cookbook Crock It, By:Barbara Murray I'm looking forward to trying more recipes from this book, but I don't own it yet, I just call my mom and have her read me recipes. ;) It is on my "purchase ASAP list". We had these yummy French Dip Sandwiches at my mom's house not too long ago, I had been thinking about making them ever since, especially because this recipe is much better in a 5.5 qt crock pot than in the 2.5 qt crock pot I rocked until this Christmas ;)



Crock pot French Dip Sandwiches
Source : Crock It Cookbook by Barbara Murray
Serves 4-6

3 lb boneless beef chuck roast
1 pkg Mushroom/onion soup mix
1 10oz can of beef broth + 1 can of H2O
French rolls or sour dough bread

In a medium bowl whisk together the broth, water and soup mix. Trim any excess fat off of the meat. Add meat to crock pot, then pour broth & soup over it.
Cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove meat to a large bowl or plate using a slotted spoon. Use two forks to shred up the meat & remove any excess fat. Toast the bread and make sandwiches with the beef (we added some horseradish to them) serve with a bowl of the au jus from the crock pot for dippin'.

Turkey, Cranberry & Gouda Grilled Cheese

One of my FAVORITE things about Thanksgiving is making turkey sandwiches out of the leftovers. I usually make a big messy sandwich the next day that has stuffing, topped with gravy, and shredded turkey on one side and the top bread spread with cranberry sauce....it's sweet.
Smoked Gouda is a great cheese, and on the Monday after Thanksgiving I was out doing some shopping and found it at a fabulous price so I thought I'd make a grilled cheese for lunch after my morning adventures...

Turkey, Cranberry and Gouda Grilled Cheese:
By Me

2 Slices of wheat bread, each buttered on one side
Lay pieces of Gouda on each un-buttered side of the slices of bread.
Spread cranberry sauce over one side on top of the cheese and put turkey on the other side, put one side on top of the other and cook in a medium skillet over medium head for about 4-6 minutes per side or until each side is golden brown and cheese is soft and getting melty.
Slice in half and enjoy!!

Chili Cheeseburgers

Hooray for football! We had some friends over to watch the USC game this weekend and decided on making some burgers. I'd made My Crockpot Chili a few weeks ago and froze a few servings. So we cooked that up and made these chili cheese burgers.
They were sooo good. I couldn't even finish mine, but one of our guests liked them so much he ate two! YUM!

Chili Cheese Burgers
Serves 6
Click HERE for my chili recipe or just heat up a can of your favorite chili.
Shape 2 lbs ground beef into 6 patties.
Season both sides with garlic powder & season salt
Grill (about 7 minutes per side) until cooked to your liking
Top with some Tikamook sharp cheddar cheese
On the bottom bun I put spicy brown mustard and Clausen pickle, then the cheese burger patty, then chili, some shredded cheese, sliced onion and the top bun.
Huge, messy and DELICIOUS!!!!!

Pepperoncini Crock Pot Beef

I am keeping up with my goal of making one crock pot dinner a week to help us save money and have more time to relax or do whatever we want after work. This was a recipe given to me by a friend at work, it only requires 5 hours of cooking and my crock pot has no timer, so I made this on Sunday for Monday nights dinner. Which was great, because Monday I just came home, toasted some rolls and made spicy beef sandwiches.

1 Chuck Roast (I used a tri tip because that's what I had here)
1 packet Italian Dressing Seasoning/spices- All Seasons or 4 Seasons brand
1 can of beef consume
1 bottle of beer (I used Amstel Light)
2 jars of pepperoncini peppers with liquid (I only used one jar because we have a weeeee little crock pot)

Cook on low for 5 hours, slice and serve on toasted rolls.

Root Beer Slow Cooker Pulled Pork~

AKA "The best crock pot dish I've ever made", according to Nate.
This is the famous recipe from All Recipes. Click Here for the original recipe.

We had friends over for dinner and I wanted there to be leftovers so we amended the recipe a bit.
I bought 2 pork tenderloins that were about 1-1.5 lbs each so it was just under 3 lbs. I used 2 12oz. bottles of Henry Weinhart's Root beer
Into the slow cooker for just over 7 hours (because traffic was yucky)on LOW.






I removed the pork from the Crock pot, drained the liquid and shredded it with a fork in a large bowl & mixed in about 3/4 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce.
Served smothered in a bit more SBR's sauce on Toasted wheat buns.