Taco Soup

When I visited my aunt and uncle in North Carolina, my Aunt Gail made taco soup in her crockpot and it was deeeelicious. It's a perfect recipe for gatherings (it makes a lot) and for the colder weather.



2 lbs hamburger (I use 93/7 lean meat.)
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
2 cans diced tomatoes (I chose the ones with peppers and onions.)
1 can shoepeg corn
1 package Taco Seasoning
1 package Ranch Seasoning
2 cups water

Optional toppings:
Fritos or tortilla chips
cheese
sour cream

Brown the hamburger in a skillet and drain the grease. Rinse the beans and corn; place in the crockpot. Add the tomatoes with their juice. Place the cooked hamburger in the crockpot followed by the seasonings and water. Stir and let it hang out on high for 4 hours. Serve topped with cheese and sour cream, if desired. I keep my Fritos or tortilla chips to the side so they don't become soggy. Do whatever makes you happy. And if you really want to replicate my aunt's dining experience, drink a Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash.





Isn't it pretty? It's only pretty because I chose to not include the picture that had the meat with the beans. Let's be honest: sometimes meat isn't very photogenic.




I had never heard of the Sierra Mist with cranberry until my visit. My aunt's stash was from last year's holiday season. I had to give her a kidney in exchange for one can. She also turned me onto Canada Dry with cranberry. Apparently, Missouri is not good enough for the Canada Dry/cranberry craze. I have yet to find it. If you see it somewhere, let me know! I'll give you my other kidney...okay, I won't. I down to one because of Aunt Gail. I'll give you my appendix. Or a portion of my liver. Maybe a lock of hair.

Chili-Lime Pork

I love my crock pot. The crock pot is a magical tool. You put in all the ingredients and out comes a meal! Ta da!

I love spices and rubs. Seasonings make all the difference in a meal. They take a meal from eh to stellar.

Crock pot + seasonings = yummy (See below example.)





Remember, pork should be cooked low and slow. I rubbed on the chili-lime seasoning, placed the pork loin in the crock pot, added a cup of water, and let the crock pot work its magic for eight hours. That's it. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Roast Beef

For the majority of Sundays while I lived at home, my mom would make a roast. I've made a couple roasts on my own, but usually in the slow cooker. It's easy, little fuss, and you can go about your life. Roast is a wonderful food because it can be versatile depending on seasoning. Plus, it's delicious hot or cold in a sandwich the next day.

I have meat issues. I don't like to handle it too much, I don't like to associate the raw meat with my final product, and I have issues. So, being able to throw the meat in the slow cooker is perfect for me. Seriously. I really can't think about it or meat grosses me out.

I bought a more expensive roast because I wanted a higher quality cut with less fat. Plus, I didn't realize that I was being ripped off until I talked prices with my mom. But it was a really fantastic cut of meat and the taste combined with the low fat to meat ratio made it worth it. (Should I have said low meat to fat ratio? I don't know how to word that using a ratio scenario. Whatever, there was waaay more meat than fat. The end.)

I'm not going to provide a recipe because I simply want to make you aware of using a slow cooker for a roast. I put my roast in with a cup of water (the water should rise up to cover 3/4 of the roast) and I seasoned the heck out of it with a couple spices I had bought. You can use rubs, Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper, yada yada yada. Season with whatever flavor makes your mouth happy. Cook on high for approximately 4 hours. It may take a little longer depending on the size of your roast. Make sure you check it because you don't want to overcook your roast. Dry roast is not good. You shouldn't need gravy to moisten or flavor a good roast. If you're cooking a more straightforward roast, throw in some carrots and potatoes. And now you have successfully made a delicious dish with minimal effort. You're welcome.

P.S. I think I have used the word roast in this blog more than I've said it in my 29 years of existence. Roast.

BBQ Pulled Pork

I love pulled pork...a lot. Like, it's kinda ridiculous how much I love it. Since I'm trying to venture into more main dishes with meat, I decided to make BBQ Pulled Pork at home in my slow cooker. I didn't have a recipe, so I made it up. My biggest issue was BBQ sauce. I know what I like when it comes to BBQ sauce; the problem is that I rarely find one I like. I'd actually like to find a new one, so if you have a suggestion let me know. I should mention the fact that I don't like the sweet BBQ sauces.



Pork Loin
salt & pepper
3/4 cup water
1/4 cider vinegar
BBQ sauce

Put the whole pork loin (fat and all) into the crock pot, salt and pepper just a bit (how's that for exact measurements?). I used about 3/4 cup of water topped off with cider vinegar to keep the pork moist. You could just use 1 cup of water in the crock pot, but my logic was that vinegar is a tenderizer so I went for it. After 8 hours of cooking on low, take the pork out of the slow cooker. Using two forks, shred the pork and remove the fat.


Ignore the knife. I don't even know why it's in the picture. But look at the steam! Impressive, right?

Return the shredded pork (no fat this time) to the slow cooker and mix in your BBQ sauce.


Let cook for another hour to soak up the flavor. I think that the next time I make this, I'm going to brown both sides of the pork in a skillet first to give the edges a bit more texture. And hopefully I'll have found a BBQ sauce that I love to make it even better.

Mexican Black Beans with Pork

Well, it may not come as a surprise that I enjoy cooking. I also enjoy cookbooks, but I am pretty contained when it comes to purchasing them. However, I had my eye on a couple when I discovered Barnes & Noble were having an online cookbook sale. Yippee!!!!! So I purchased both of them for less than the cost of one. Pretty fantastic, indeed. This crock pot recipe comes from one of my new cookbooks. It's titled Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. It wasn't a difficult decision to choose this as my first recipe. Mostly because it was the recipe that caught my eye in the store. I love black beans and I also enjoy pulled pork. Now, this dish isn't technically pulled pork but because of the cooking it can be pulled apart.

I have a weird thing about meat. I'm not morally opposed to eating it. It's just that sometimes meat grosses me out. And I generally don't enjoy cooking it. It's better for me to not see the starting product. When meat is pulled/shredded I tend to do better with it. Maybe because it seems less like it's starting point? Anyway, I know that I need to get over this meat issue because it's likely that the man I end up marrying will want to eat meat and at my last annual physical my bloodwork showed a trend towards anemia. (I realize I'm rambling about stuff you all don't care about, but it's my blog so you'll just have to deal with it. Or skip ahead. Do whatever you want. I'll never know.) This recipe was a good starting point for me. I had to handle to meat the trim fat and brown it a little, but then I was able to put it in the crock pot and ignore it until finished. Baby steps, you know.



1 lb boneless pork loin, trimmed of any fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
I couldn't find one less than 1.8 lbs, but with all the fat I cut off it worked out pretty well. I also cut it into more rectangular cuts for the shredded effect.)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander (I didn't have any, so I skipped it.)
Salt to taste (I hate that. It's not like I'm going to taste the raw meat. Sick)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
Two 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
One 16-ounce can stewed tomatoes, coarse chopped, with their juice
2 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
(I've realized as I've typed this that I really didn't bother to read the recipe. I didn't rinse or drain my black beans or chop my tomatoes. Oh well. If you want to save a couple minutes, skip those steps. Your recipe will survive.)

1. Toss the pork with the chili powder, coriander, and salt until coated evenly. Heat in a large ungreased skillet over medium-high heat, then lightly brown the pork with the onion and garlic, stirring.

2. Transfer the pork mixture to the slow cooker, stir in the beans, tomatoes with their juice, and water, season with pepper, cover, and cook on Low for 8 to 9 hours. (From what I've been learning about pork over the last few weeks, it's a meat that tends to do better with longer cooking. If you're needing a fast recipe, pork probably shouldn't be your meat choice.)

3. Serve the beans and pork over steamed white rice. (I had brown rice, so I tossed it in our rice cooker. Delightful.)


This was soooooo good. Good grief. You have to try it. The other benefit of this recipe: it will keep your kitchen cooler this summer since you're using a crock pot. Glorious.