Amanda's Steak Tacos ... (Originally from Weight Watchers, but I'll give her all the credit!)

So, this is an EASY, EASY recipe that is absolutely wonderful. If you haven't noticed, I am into using the slow cooker lately. I have one more slow cooker to post, but I'm determined to post something else before it! Anyways, this was out of a Weight Watcher's Cook Book, but I will always know these as Amanda's Steak Tacos from now on. If you want to read about the girl who inspired me to quick drinking Diet Coke cold turkey, check out her blog!

So, here is the recipe. Come home to a dinner that cooks all day, but takes about 10 minutes to put on the table!

Ingredients

• 1 pound flank steak (picture below if you aren't sure what to look for)
• 1 t chili powder
• 1.5 cups low sodium beef broth
• 3/4 cup chunky salsa
• 2 T diced green chiles (drained if necessary)
• 1/2 cup black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas (got some AWESOME ones from Trader Joes)
• Low Fat/Reduced Fat Sour Cream

Directions

Whisk the beef broth and the chili powder in the slow cooker. Add flank steak and cook on low 8-10 hours.

Transfer steak to a cutting board and shred with 2 forks. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid from the crock pot and get rid of the rest. Wipe out crock pot with a paper towel. Return meat to slow cooker.

Stir in reserved cooking liquid, salsa, beans, cilantro, and chiles. Cook on high for 5 minutes.

How good does that look? Here is what you'll need to finish this off:

Top each tortilla with some beef, a spoon full of salsa, and a little dollop of sour cream!

Enjoy :) SO GOOD!

BBQ Beans and Kielbasa in a Pot

This was another easy recipe. Cooks in less than 20 minutes but leaves you satisfied as if it cooked all day!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup BBQ Sauce (Go for low sodium if possible)

1/2 cup water

1 T Molasses

2 T Tomato Paste

Fresh Ground Pepper

1 whole white onion, chopped

1 T Olive Oil

8 oz spinach or other leafy green

2 Kielbasa, halved lengthwise then sliced

2 15-oz cans navy beans

Directions

1. Whisk BBQ sauce, water, Molasses, tomato paste, and fresh ground pepper. Set aside.

2. Rinse and drain your beans. Set aside

3. Heat oil in a medium soup pot over medium high heat. 

4. Saute onion and spinach until wilted.

5. Add Kielbasa and cook 3 minutes

6. Add sauce and beans, cook 3 more minutes until heated through

Dish up and enjoy :)

Pulled BBQ Pork Sliders

We finally had our first holiday guests over for dinner. We got to use my holiday plates and enjoy a lit Christmas Tree, our first fire, and the joys of celebrating Christmas with others! Not that this dinner is "Christmas-y" at all- but it was blog worth for sure! A slow cooked, come home to it and serve it dinner!

Ingredients:

2 pounds of pork sirloin roast (lean roast)

1/2 small white onion, chopped

3 small cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of BBQ Sauce (try to shop for lower sodium sauce)

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Lay your pork in the center of the crock pot

Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over the meat

Cook on low 6-7 hours. 

When you come back to it, the meat will be done and the sauce will all be on the bottom of the pot. Take two forks and shred meat and constantly mix the sauce in until it is well combined.

Serve on rolls, toasted bread, or however you like it!

Enjoy :)

Peppered Pork Chops with Parmesan Spaghetti.... SQUASH!

This is a dinner that I made when we had our first house guests. I just got around to remaking it this week! It is actually from one of my Rachael Ray Cookbooks.. yes, I actually opened one of them! 

 

 

 

I actually added an easy spinach side dish to this meal when Amanda and Carter were over, but i was too lazy to go all out for just Nick and I, but I'll post the recipe if you want it!

First, let me walk you through the spaghetti squash! For those of you who have never heard of it, or seen it, it is an oval squash, yellow on the outside, and when you cook it, it SHREDS itself apart like spaghetti noodles!

First, you'll want to slice it in half and seed the squash. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and then place squash in the pot, flesh side down. Boil about 20 minutes and then remove. (For this recipe, reserve 1/4 cup of your cooking liquid)

Once its cooled enough to the touch, take a fork and shred the flesh out:

You should be able to get it all the way to the skin:

See that? You use it ALL! Then, just add to a medium sized bowl, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, your reserved cooking liquid, LOTS of fresh ground pepper, salt and 2 t of Olive Oil. Serve it up!

If you don't think this looks good, get an opinion from Amanda:

Onto the Peppery Pork Chops! These are awesome, and so easy!

All you need:

4 boneless pork loin chops, about 1inch thick each

Salt and Pepper

2 T Olive Oil

1 small-medium yellow pepper, sliced

1 small-medium orange pepper, sliced

3 sweet cherry peppers, sliced (find these jarred near the roasted red peppers)

1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth (mainly used to de-glaze your pan!)

 2 T chopped flat leaf parsley (optional)

Salt and Pepper both sides of your chops

Cook in 1 T of your oil in a skillet over medium-high heat about 5-7 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Remove from skillet, and set aside

Now, add a little more oil to your pan and throw in your bell peppers. Saute about 5 minutes, then add your cherry peppers. Cook about 5 more minutes and then add your white wine, or chicken broth to get all the yummy parts stuck on the bottom of the pan!

Once most of the liquid has been re-absorbed, pour pepper mixture over your pork chops and garnish with the fresh parsley!

Enjoy :) This is a keeper! And, yes, I know you cannot see the pork in this picture, but its just because of all those healthy veggies covering it up :)

Slow Cooked Italian Chops!

Today I slow cooked some pork chops all day in some Italian homemade sauce. Pretty good if I do say so myself. The pork FALLS apart, and it requires minimum, CHEAP ingredients. EVEN THE PORK was on sale at Kroger!

I'll post the recipe at the bottom! Go through the cooking method with me first!

1. Salt and pepper 4 boneless, lean, pork chops. Brown in 1T of Olive Oil, about 3 minutes per side, in a skillet. Transfer to Slow Cooker

Now, in the SAME pan you started the pork in, saute a chopped onion, a minced clove of garlic, and 8 oz of mushrooms for about 2 minutes, just until they start to soften.

Now, add your veggies on top of your pork in the slow cooker.

At this point, take about 1/4 cup of the white COOKING wine and deglaze the skillet, pour wine and scrapings over the veggies.

Now, make your sauce to go on top in a separate bowl by combining 2-8oz cans of tomato sauce, the juice of half of a lemon, 1/2 t salt, 1/2 t basil, 1/2 t oregano, and 1/2 t parsley.

Now, pour the sauce over the pork and veggies.

Here is your BEFORE picture

Let that cook about 8 hours on low

And then you'll get to walk in the door, after a long day of work to not only the aroma of the pork cooking in the spices, but this beautiful AFTER picture as well:

All you have left to do is cook up some spaghetti to serve it over and get out some parmesan cheese to top it off!

SOOOOOOO GOOD! We really enjoyed it, and i hope you will too! Just give it a try. A little work in the morning (less than 20 minutes) and a lotta work for the slow cooker all day long!

Ingredients:

4 lean, boneless pork chops

1 T EVOO

Salt and Pepper to season pork

1 onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

8 oz sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup white cooking wine (dry)- cheaper than the real deal ;)

1/2 t salt

1/2 t oregano

1/2 t parsley

1/2 basil

2- 8oz cans tomato sauce

Juice of half of a lemon

(Spaghetti to serve it over!) I hope I didn't leave anything out, but everything should be in the instructions as well :)