Beef Enchiladas

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

I love this holiday...I love Mexican food, love the Mexican pride, and love the celebrations :) I wrote up a "history & fun facts" about Cinco de Mayo so if you want to read it let me know! Off topic. Anyways, this isn't a Crock Pot blog (sorry) but this is a delicious food blog...and I haven't written in a while! Things have just been so hectic - finishing college, packing, getting ready to graduate and move...basically, I haven't had any time to cook! Good thing my favorite restaurant (Plaza Azteca) is literally right next door to my apartment :) I'll miss them dearly when I leave Williamsburg (and so will J, hehe)!

Instead of celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Williamsburg, I ended up making a celebratory meal for my family. This was my first attempt at enchiladas and I have to say that I'm obsessed! It was so easy and so yummmy.

BEEF ENCHILADAS

Ingredients:

Flour tortillas (small)

1 pound lean ground beef (or turkey)

Small white onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 can diced green chiles

1 can (at least 20 oz) Enchilada Sauce

2 cups cheese (I used a Mexican variety, but you can use your favorite)

Shredded lettuce (optional)

Tomato, diced (optional)

Side Dishes:

1 box Old El Paso Spanish Rice

1 can black/refried beans

Guacamole

Okay, so it's not as pretty when it's not in a molcajete but it was pretty tasty nonetheless!

So back to making the Enchiladas...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, wrap 8 flour tortillas in aluminum foil and put them in the oven to warm up.

Heat up the olive oil in a skillet. Add in ground beef and brown.

Drain the fat from the ground beef. Add in garlic and onion. Cook until the onion is transparent.

Lightly coat the bottom of a 9x13 pan with the enchilada sauce.

Take the tortillas out of the oven.

On a tortilla, layer cheese, ground beef, and a little enchilada sauce.

Roll the tortilla and place seam-side-down in the pan.

Repeat with all 8 tortillas.

Pour the enchilada sauce over the wraps until they are covered.

Layer the cheese on top of the enchiladas.

Bake for 30 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, take a big whiff because it smells delicious!

And when you decorate a plate with all of the sides, you get something that looks like:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, wrap 8 flour tortillas in aluminum foil and put them in the oven to warm up.

Heat up the olive oil in a skillet. Add in ground beef and brown.

Drain the fat from the ground beef. Add in garlic and onion. Cook until the onion is transparent.

Lightly coat the bottom of a 9x13 pan with the enchilada sauce.

Take the tortillas out of the oven.

On a tortilla, layer cheese, ground beef, and a little enchilada sauce. Roll the tortilla and place seam-side-down in the pan.

Repeat with all 8 tortillas.

Pour the enchilada sauce over the wraps until they are covered.

Layer cheese on top of the enchiladas.

Bake for 30 minutes.

And if you want to make the dinner even better...here are some of our choice beverages ;)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Chicken & Potatoes Au Gratin

This is one of very few recipes I have tried from pure experimentation. I usually get my inspiration from my Crock Pot recipe book, foodgawker (most amazing food website ever, in my opinion), or allrecipes.com!

Also, just as an aside... I desperately want to get a recipe/photo onto foodgawker but they are so picky about the photos they choose, plus my lack of photography skills or equipment... I keep getting rejected! Any tips/hints/ideas? Or does someone want to be my food photographer? hehe. Also, if you go all the way back in their archives and click on the very first (or last) page...you will see such a huge difference in pictures - it's crazy how photography standards have changed!

My roomie made some delicious au gratin potatoes last weekend and that got me thinking...I should try to Gratin (is that even a verb?) a meal....and better yet, why not in my Crock Pot!

"CHICKEN & POTATOES" AU GRATIN

Ingredients:
4-5 medium Yukon potatoes, chopped into small 0.5-1" cubes
2-3 chicken breasts, chopped into 1" cubes
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 cups Colby & Monterey Jack Cheese (or whatever your favorite is!)
1 (12-16oz) can Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup Half & Half (or skim milk for a lower fat version)
1 tablespoon ground red pepper, optional
Pepper, to taste

Directions:
I tried to make this recipe with even parts potato and chicken, but you can alter that ratio to your liking!
1. Chop the potatoes into small 0.5"-1" cubes (they will cook faster if they're smaller).
2. Chop the chicken breasts into 1" cubes.

3. Finely chop the white onion.

4. Mix the potatoes, chicken, and onion in the Crock Pot.

5. In a large bowl, mix together cheese, soup, half & half, and ground red pepper.

6. Pour the liquid over top of the ingredients already in the slow cooker.
7. Make sure the liquid and cheese are evenly distributed throughout chicken and potatoes.

8. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
At this point, my meal was very soup-y and liquidy. I scooped some of the excess juice out and then replaced the Crock Pot lid, but I left the lid cracked about 1". Cracking the lid will allow some of the extra moisture to evaporate! I learned that if any of your recipes are soupier that you'd like it to be, just take off the lid and let it cook for an hour or two; most of the liquid will evaporate.
9. Cook on LOW an additional 2-3 hours (after slightly opening the lid).

You'll be surprised to see a nice, crispy Au Gratin'd meal :)

Salsa Chicken - Only Four Ingredients!

I've been such a slacker and have been seriously neglecting my blog - sorry! I'm in the middle of finishing up college and studying for an insurance license, so that has been consuming pretty much ALL of my time. But on the bright side, I will soon be up in Vermont with J (hellllo June!), employed, and living the dream!

I spent all of this cold, gray Saturday at my desk studying (boo) but on the bright side, I had a delicious dinner cooking all day in the Crock Pot :) Cooking meat in the slow cooker is so amazing because it has hours to soak up all of the juices and it comes out so incredibly tender and juicy.

(SHREDDED) SALSA CHICKEN

Ingredients:
2 lb Chicken Breasts
1 bottle (16-24oz) Medium Salsa
1 can Diced Green Chiles
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:
Mix together salsa, green chiles, and garlic in the slow cooker.
Place chicken breasts in the Crock Pot. Make sure they are evenly distributed and completely covered by the salsa.
Cook on LOW 7-8 hours.

When it's done, you'll probably want to take out some of the liquid, but make sure you save some of it because you may want to put some back in after you shred it.



And then shred it (if you want)...



As you can see in the picture on the right, all of the liquid suddenly seems to vanish. Thankfully, you read my sentence above (about saving some liquid, which is probably full of chiles and other flavorful things). You can put in some more salsa juice so it is juicy to your liking :)

I bought some whole wheat tortillas to wrap the chicken in (can't get away from my obsession with Mexican food), or you can eat it with rice, veggies, or just plain!

You can garnish it with whatever "taco" toppings you like... shredded lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, jalapenos, avocados, onions, cheese (just giving you some ideas).

I hope you enjoy it! It's deliciously "melt-in-your-mouth" juicy, cheap & easy to make!