Crock Pot Spicy Shredded Beef Tacos

If you've been around me at all in the last few weeks, you've probably heard me talk about Pinterest. I'm so sorry to sound like a broken record! I found this recipe during my daily Pinterest crawl. It's so good. And so spicy. I just had leftovers for lunch, and my mouth is still tingling (but I like that). Once again, I forgot to take pictures, but you can see the original recipe here, and she has gorgeous ones.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos Recipe


(Adapted from My Kitchen Addiction)

Ingredients:

1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds beef (boneless chuck roast)

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 cup beef stock

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced (I love spice and used two!)

1/2 large sweet onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

Flour tortillas

Favorite taco toppings (**ideas below**)

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine the chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika in a small bowl.

Rub the spice mix into the beef, covering each side evenly. Once the oil is hot (it will shimmer a bit in the skillet), place the beef in the skillet and sear on each side.

Remove the beef from the skillet and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Leave the pan on the heat, and add in the beef stock to deglaze, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste and minced chipotle and whisk into the pan sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.

Add the diced onion and minced garlic on top of the seared beef in the slow cooker. Pour the pan sauce down over the onions, garlic, and beef. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Remove the beef from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions from the slow cooker, and mix into the shredded beef.

Serve the beef in the flour tortillas, topped with your favorite taco toppings.

Some topping ideas include:
guacamole or avocado
fresh salsa
Mexican rice
grated cheese
fresh lettuce
tomato
onion
cilantro
squeeze of lime juice

Kelly's note: Yesterday, I was in a hurry when I threw this together. I didn't do anything but throw the (frozen) roast into the crock pot, chop up 2 canned chipotle peppers, and scoop in some of the adobo sauce from the can. That was it. The meat was still really tasty!

Smothered Burritos

This was all that was left from a 9x13 pan of these burritos (we all like them at our house)

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 tbsp. flour
1 or 2  four-ounce can of green chilies
about three cups cubed or shredded cooked pork divided (mine was just a pork roast cooked in the crock-pot so it was shredded)
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon
about 1 cup water or chicken broth
8-10 flour or corn tortillas
3 cups refried beans
Grated cheese

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet. Stir in flour to make thick paste.  Add 1 cup of pork (juice included if there is any), green chilies, chili powder, chicken bouillon, and about a cup of water (or chicken broth) if you don't have enough juice from the pork.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.  Turn to low until you need it.  Spread about 1/3 cup refried beans, some pork, and a little cheese, in each tortilla.  Fold up burrito style.  Place burritos in greased 9x13 dish.  Cover with all the pork/green chile sauce and a little more cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 min. or until cheese is melted and sauce is a little bubbly.
Optional: after plating add a little sour cream on top.

Pineapple Enchiladas

(the innards- look at the lovely colors!!)

Pineapple Enchiladas

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1 (20-ounce) can pineapple, drained (save juice)

1/3 cup pineapple juice (reserved)

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained

1 (4 1/2-ounce) can chopped green chilies

1 teaspoon salt

1 t. cumin

1 t. chili powder

1 t. garlic powder

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 (10-ounce) can green enchilada sauce

8 flour tortillas (8 or 9 in) 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped (optional)

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and bell pepper, cook 4 to 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in pineapple, beans, chilies, and spices. (Add chicken.) Cook and stir until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the 9x13 pan. Spread 1 tablespoon enchilada sauce on each tortilla, then spoon about ¾ cup vegetable/meat mixture and cheese on each. Roll up tortillas and place in baking dish. Mix reserved pineapple juice and remaining enchilada sauce and pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake tightly covered for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 5-10 more minutes, until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly. Top each enchilada with a dallop of sour cream and a sprinkling of fresh chopped cilantro. *VEGETARIAN OPTION: Omit chicken and add another can of black beans instead.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

{I got this yummy soup recipe from Jacque Edwards and made it for the Fabulous Friday soup assortment.}

1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 4oz. can chopped green chilies, undrained
2 cans chicken broth (You can use bouillion and make your own broth)
1 can beef broth
2 cans cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1-1 1/2 lbs. cooked chicken (cubed or shredded)
1 cup water
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder

Toppings on the side: avocados, shredded cheese, tortilla strips, and cilantro.

Saute onion and garlic in hot oil in a large sauce pan. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Taco Soup

Here is the soup I made for our Fabulous Friday. This is Tammy Thompson's recipe, but I have tweaked it a little bit.

1 lb ground beef
chopped onion
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans undrained
1 can corn undrained
1 cup salsa (I use Pace Chunky Salsa, Medium)
1 packet taco seasoning

Brown ground beef with onion. Drain. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Ladle into bowl. Top with cheddar cheese and sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips.

I put mine in a crockpot and cooked on high for about 2 hours.

Posole Mexican Lasagna (Rachael Ray)

Jeremy told me there was no way I would be able to take a really appetizing photo of this dish. He was right, but I have to say my picture isn't any more or less appetizing than the one on Food Network's website....Regardless, this dish is AH-MAZING.

Rachael Ray's Posole Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients


•2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

•2 pounds ground pork

•1 tablespoon ground cumin

•1 tablespoon ground coriander

•Salt and freshly ground black pepper

•1 (15-ounce) can hominy

•1 large red onion, chopped

•4 cloves garlic, grated or chopped

•2 jalapeno or serrano peppers, chopped

•12 large tomatillos (14 to 16 if small), peeled and coarsely chopped

•A handful cilantro or parsley leaves

•3 avocados

•2 limes

•2 tablespoons honey

•1 package large flour tortillas

•1 pound pepper Jack cheese, shredded

•Sour cream, to pass at table

Directions

Place rack in oven in middle of oven and heat broiler or place oven on 400 degrees F.





Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and crumble up as it browns. While pork browns, season the meat with cumin, coriander and salt and pepper. Once browned evenly, stir in hominy and reduce heat to simmer.





While meat cooks heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a sauce pot, add onions, garlic and peppers, season with salt and pepper and saute until softened 5 to 6 minutes. Place tomatillos and cilantro or parsley in food processor and process until almost smooth. Pour into onion and garlic mixture and simmer to mellow, 5 to 6 minutes more. Replace the processor bowl. Pit and scoop the avocado flesh into the processor, add the lime zest and juice. Add the honey, puree until smooth and season with a little salt. Stir the avocado mixture into the green sauce and remove from heat.





Char all of the tortillas over an open flame or in dry hot skillet.





In a baking dish layer sauce, tortilla, meat, cheese, tortilla, sauce, meat, cheese, etc. End with a layer of tortilla, sauce and finally cheese. Place baking dish in the oven and bake for 4 to 5 minutes until bubbly and cheese is brown. Pass sour cream at the table.

I have used many of your recipes and now it is my turn. This is a quick and easy one dish meal that we love.

Baked Chicken Fajitas

1 pound chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1 medium onion, cut into thin strips

1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips

1 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 Tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

¼ teaspoon salt

Flour tortillas, warmed

In a 9 x 13 baking dish coated with cooking spray, combine the chicken , tomatoes, onion and peppers.
Combine the oil, chili powder, cumin and salt. Drizzle over chicken mixture, toss to coat.
Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 – 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Serve with tortillas. Serves about 6

This is what it looks like before the oven...........This is what it looks like after.

I rarely follow a recipe exactly so I changed this up a little. I used tomatoes and a jalapeno pepper from my garden to replace the canned tomatoes. I also I didn't have a ripe red pepper so used green ones, also from my garden. I like to add garlic to everything to that was added in too. We serve these with some sour cream and grated cheese (everything is better with cheese, right?) chips and salsa Enjoy!

Confetti Bean Dip

I've had lots of requests for this recipe, so here it is! I don't have a picture of it though. So next time I make it, I'll take a pic and put it on here. You'll just have to trust that it is DELICIOUS, without seeing the pic! ;)

Confetti Bean Dip

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can shoepeg corn, no need to drain
6 roma tomatoes, diced
3 avocadoes, diced
Fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime

Mix above ingredients together, then mix:

1 pkg. dry Italian dressing mix
1/4 cup white vinegar

Add that mixture to the rest, stir, and enjoy!
Serve with tortilla chips.

The best Chicken Soft Tacos.....ever!

So y'all have probably heard about the Food Nanny, Liz Edmonds. www.thefoodnanny.com. She has lots of simple recipes, and everything she makes is delicious! She has a great idea of having a certain type of food on each night of the week. I need to practice that more. I'm excited to watch her new show, starting in February of 2010 on BYUTV.
So she made these on Good Things Utah one day. I have to tell you, they are the tastiest chicken soft tacos I've ever had! There are just a few simple natural ingredients. They're pretty healthy too! The butter is the only semi-bad thing. So here it is:

2 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (although the recipe calls for Canola Oil for frying, I just use EVOO.)
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Garlic Salt
Corn Tortillas




Heat the butter and oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and onions and cook and stir until the onions are soft and the chicken is tender and no longer pink. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute more.



Decrease the heat to low and stir in the tomato and cilantro. Add water or chicken broth if the mixture seems too dry. Season generously with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Continue cooking about 2 more minutes. Serve w/ corn tortillas, and top with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, fresh spinach, fresh salsa, or whatever you'd like. Although I never need to top them with anything. They are always moist and delicious straight out of the pan. Enjoy!!

Fuss-Free Fiesta Chicken

This is a recipe from Kenzie Richardson that most of us should have. I thought I would add it on this site for those that haven't tried it yet. It's a crock pot dish. I LOVE the crock pot and only wish I had more recipes so I could use it more often. It's so nice to be able to throw things together in the morning and not have to think about dinner the rest of the day. The hardest part is remembering to make it in the morning so there is enough time before dinner.
This is a yummy dish that makes a ton! Be prepared for leftovers.
Here are all the ingredients ready to cook.

And this is after 8 hours and after I shredded the chicken and added the refried beans.
Thanks to all of your suggestions, we tried those amazing uncooked tortillas. YUM!! Marty was in pure heaven. They reminded him of the tortillas he ate so much in Mexico on his mission. He told me I should buy these kind from now on. :)

Here is the recipe for the chicken:

3 chicken breasts (frozen or thawed)
1 can black beans with juice
1 can corn with 2/3 of juice
1 can mild green chilies with juices
1 cup salsa
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can refried beans

In crockpot combine first 5 ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Carefully remove chicken breasts and shred with 2 forks. Return shredded chicken to crockpot. Add refried beans and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately.

I also had purchased some avocados so we made some Guacamole and used Heidi Cole's recipe. BTW, thanks Heidi for sharing this recipe. We love it!! Brooklyn could drink the stuff.
Guacamole

2 avocados
2 Tbsp salsa
1-2 Tbsp fat free sour cream
dash garlic salt

Scrape out inside of avocados and smash up. Add salsa, sour cream, and garlic salt (to taste). Add more sour cream if you like it creamier.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This was another recipe submitted to Recipe Swap by SuAnn McFadden, but I changed it up a bit.

3-4 cups cooked and shredded chicken

1/4 onion chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup chicken broth

1 can green chilies

12 corn tortillas (I used 8 big flour tortillas for the one in the picture)

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese divided

Cook onion in pan with a little oil until transluscent. Mix with chicken, soup, broth, sour cream and chilies.

Cut tortillas into pieces.

At the bottom of 9x13 or other casserole dish place half of the tortillas on the bottom. Top with half the chicken mix and top with 1/2 the cheese. Repeat.

Bake at 350 for 30 min.

I add salsa and a dallop of sour cream to the top of mine. The kids add crunched up tortilla chips.

Chile Verde

I had to rearrange my meal plan for this week because I had a pork roast that needed to be used up. I got this recipe from Amy Grow and it is so yummy. We triple it every time like she suggests because leftovers and even better! I'm no photographer as many of the contributors on here are so my pictures will be nothing short of mediocre. :)

My girls helped with the staging. Lots of spices in this recipe. Notice the big block of wrapped cheese. What do you do with stuff like that when you buy in bulk?

Have you tried these? They are fresh tortillas and they are so yummy. You just quickly brown them on both sides in a dry frying pan. I will never eat any other kind of tortilla again! (Think Cafe Rio tortillas.) I buy mine at Sam's Club or Costco. I've never looked to see if they have them other places. They are in the refrigerated section. So good!


Josh was late getting home so we were starving and devoured it all quickly. We also shared some with friends that wanted to try it so this was all that was left when I remembered I needed a picture. Oops! I'll get better at this I hope.



Chile Verde ~ Amy Grow

1 Cup water
1 pkg cubed pork chops
1 beef Bouillon cube
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp oregano
¼ tsp pepper
1 can diced green chilies
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder

flour tortillas
grated cheese

Brown pork chops in oil. Pour water in with pork and bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients (except for tortillas and cheese) and simmer for 20 minutes. Thicken it with cornstarch or flour. Spoon a couple of spoonfuls of chili verde in tortilla with some grated cheese on top. Roll it up. Or some chili verde (smothered style) on top of burrito and add cheese. ENJOY! I usually triple this recipe for my family.

NieNie's Mexican Lasagna

This recipe was okay. I had some issues with it. First of all, I don't own a food processor, so I just used my blender. Obviously, dry spinach won't blend, so I added the salsa to the blender, but then that just made a puree. When all was said and done, it was more like Mexican lasagna soup. It wasn't disgusting - it's worth trying, and it's a healthy dish. Just make sure you have a food processor. Here's the recipe, straight from CuisineNie.

MEXICAN LASAGNA

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves

4 scallions, coarsely chopped

Coarse salt and ground pepper

10 ounces fresh baby spinach

Nonstick cooking spray

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

1 (15.5 ounces) pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup prepared salsa (mild or medium)

8 ounces pepper Jack cheese, grated (about 2 cups)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor, combine cilantro, scallions, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper with as much spinach as will fit; pulse, adding remaining spinach in batches, until coarsely chopped.

Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Lay 4 tortillas in bottom of dish (they will overlap slightly). Layer with half of beans, salsa, spinach mixture, and cheese; repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with cheese and pressing in gently.

Cover dish with foil; place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes; remove foil, and continue baking until golden, 15 to 20 minutes more. Cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

NieNie's Mexican Lasagna

Here's what I'm making for dinner tonight:

NieNie's Mexican Lasagna