Crockpot Pork Tacos

If your idea of Mexican food is based on the dollar menu at Taco Bell, you are in for a treat!  Authentic Mexican food is easy to make at home and is quite healthy for you.  This Monday was Cinco de Mayo, so I made these Crockpot Pork Tacos, and they were muy delicioso!

In Mexico, and in authentic Mexican restaurants here in California, there is no shredded lettuce or cheddar cheese.  Tacos are simple and small and are often eaten on-the-go, so they’re not all covered in sauces or messy vegetables.  Chopped onions and cilantro are usually the only thing you’ll see, with a squeeze of lime.  I added avocado to mine because it pairs great with the pork.  It’s a traditional accompaniment to tacos and adds a creamy note to balance out the sharpness of the raw onions.

As far as the pork goes, I usually use a big shoulder roast, but you can use whatever pork roast you like.  The seasoning is simple here, but you can spice it up as much as you want.  Try adding a can of chipotles in adobo sauce for a smoky flavor, or a jar of salsa verde to the crockpot.

Finally, tacos are kind of like sandwiches.  You can make a thousand different kinds of sandwiches and all are tasty.  But if you only ever eat a turkey sandwich, you may never know how much you’d love a Reuben.  So:  if taco night at your house always means ground beef and diced tomatoes, you owe it to yourself to try something new.  Ready?  Vamanos!

Crockpot Pork Tacos

Ingredients:

• 1 large pork roast, 2 or 3 pounds
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 or 2 avocados, sliced or diced
• corn tortillas
• lime or lemon wedges, to serve

Directions:

1. Combine the salt, garlic powder, and cumin, and rub all over the outside of the pork roast.  Place in your crockpot and cook for 8 hours on low.  When done, the pork should pull apart easily.
2. Warm up your tortillas:  I wrap a few tortillas in a clean, damp dish towel and microwave for 20 seconds.  If you try to use them cold, they’ll crack!
3. Shred your pork with two forks, or chop roughly.  To serve, put about 1/3 cup of shredded pork in the center of a tortilla.  Sprinkle with cilantro, onion, and avocado.  Squeeze lime over taco.  Eat several.  Don’t wipe your hands on your pants!

If you have leftovers, and I always do, I usually skip the tortilla and just eat the pork, reheated in the microwave, covered in cilantro, onions, and avocado.  Skip the carbs, and squeeze lots of lime!

Crockpot Chicken Curry and Curry Chicken Stew

Two for the price of one!  That’s what you get when you start this recipe in the crockpot.  It’s not very glamorous, but oh boy! does it smell and taste divine!  A simple list of ingredients  and a crockpot are all you need to make two delicious meals: Crockpot Curry Chicken and Curry Chicken Stew!

First you need a can of coconut milk or coconut cream.  It needs to be a can, because the coconut milk “beverage” they put in cartons is all watery, and you need the high fat content of the canned stuff.  Trader Joe’s has both canned coconut milk and coconut cream, or you can try an Asian market or online.  Next thing you need is curry.  You can use curry paste; I just used curry powder and it was lovely.  You’ll need an 8-ounce package of mushrooms, any kind – I used regular button mushrooms, but shiitakes or creminis would be nice too, and give it a stronger flavor.  And last is this beauty:

I buy it at the farmer’s market from a Vietnamese lady who tells me it’s called “Chinese broccoli”.  A little online research shows its real name is kai lan.  Its leaves are like spinach, and its cooked stems have the consistency of asparagus.  If you can’t find it, use spinach instead…although the Chinese broccoli has a stronger, more bitter flavor.

I made this with whole chicken legs – skin, bones and all – but I think next time I’ll try it with just boneless, skinless thighs.  Chicken skin in the crockpot is not a nice thing – we actually peeled it off before we ate the Curry Chicken the first night because it just seemed kind of rubbery.  But I think the skin and bones do add to the stock for the stew the next day, so it’s up to you.  Either way, you get two healthy, delicious meals out of one crockpot – you can’t beat that!

Crockpot Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds whole chicken legs
• 1 can of coconut cream, or use coconut milk (not low-fat)
• 3 tablespoons curry powder or curry paste of your choice
• juice of 1 lemon or lime
• 1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large crockpot, set the time for 8 hours on low or 4-6 on high.  Put the chicken legs on the bottom.
2. Mix together the coconut cream, curry, lemon juice and salt.  Pour over the chicken and stir to combine.
3. Cook until a thermometer reads 180*F.  Remove chicken legs from the pot and cover them with foil.  Pour the coconut broth into a large pan and simmer for about 15 minutes.  It will reduce a little.  Serve chicken legs with coconut broth.

Now, at this point, I had 2 very large legs leftover and about a cup of coconut broth.  I put them together in a Tupperware container.  Then the next day, I made…

Curry Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter, coconut oil or olive oil
• 8 ounces mushrooms, quartered
• 1 pound Chinese broccoli, cut into 2-inch pieces  (or use fresh spinach)
• 2 large cooked chicken legs (or use 1 pound of chicken thighs)
• leftover coconut broth – as much as you have
• optional chicken broth
• optional jasmine rice to serve

Directions:

1. In a large pan, saute the mushrooms in 1 tablespoon butter, coconut oil, or olive oil.  Stir, and after five minutes, add the Chinese broccoli and cover.
2. While the mushrooms are cooking, prepare the chicken:  peel off the skin and any subcutaneous fat you find from the cooked chicken legs.  Remove the meat from the bones and roughly chop.
3. Add the chopped chicken and remaining coconut broth to the mushrooms and Chinese broccoli.  If you want it to be soupier, add some chicken broth.  Cook until the chicken is hot, about ten minutes.

This would be lovely with some steamed jasmine rice!  I ate this for lunch, and liked it so much I ate it again for breakfast.

Double Mushroom Pot Roast (Crock Pot)

I feel like I should apologize for the photo. It’s very…brown.  There’s really no good way to photograph this recipe.  It’s not glamorous.  But it is the easiest and most delicious thing that has ever come out of my Crock Pot!  I present to you:  Double Mushroom Pot Roast!

The secret ingredient is dried mushrooms.  I use dried shiitake mushrooms, because they’re cheap and plentiful at my Korean market.  You can try this with whatever dried mushrooms you can find.  I use a big handful, about 6 or 7 big mushrooms.  For the second dose of mushrooms, regular button mushrooms or creminis will do the trick.  Use whatever large beef roast you like.  Chuck roast is always a favorite, and for this one, I used something called a “seven bone roast” that was also flavorful.

If you want your house to smell amazing when you walk in the door after work or errands, make this in the morning and revel at how easy and delicious it is that night.

Double Mushroom Pot Roast (Crock Pot)

Ingredients:

• 1 large beef roast, preferably chuck, about 3 pounds
• 1 onion, sliced
• handful of dried mushrooms
• 8 ounces fresh button or cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a very large Crock Pot, drop in the sliced onions and dried mushrooms.  Set to LOW and the timer for 8-10 hours.
2. In a large pan, brown the roast on each side.  When browned, place on top of mushrooms and onion, season with salt and pepper, and cover.
3. After 8 hours, remove the roast from the Crock Pot to a large serving platter or bowl.  In  a large pan, cook the button (or cremini) mushrooms and spoon a bit of the juice from the Crock Pot over them to keep them from sticking.
4. When the mushrooms are done, pour them over the roast.  In the same pan, pour in the contents of the Crock Pot – the juice, onions and mushrooms.  Cook for 5 minutes on medium to reduce a bit.
5. Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix to blend.  Pour this mixture into the pan and stir into the onion mixture.  Stir frequently to prevent the gravy from sticking to the pan.  When thickened, about 5 to 10 minutes, pour over the roast and serve.  Season heavily with salt and pepper.

Zoe's Crockpot Chicken

This past weekend, I invited my best friend and her family up to our house for dinner.  Instead of trying to make a meatloaf large enough to feed eight people, I decided to use my two crockpots to save time and effort in my prep.  In the one, a mushroom pot roast.  In the other, I made a lightly curried pot of chicken thighs.  I wasn’t sure if my friends’ kids would like it – they’re eight and ten years old, and I didn’t know if it would be a hit.  Ten year-old Zoe took one bite and her face lit up.  ”Mama,” she excitedly told my friend, “you have to ask Dana for this recipe so you can make it at home!”  I have to tell you, I’ve never been so proud of a recipe in all my life!  This, then, will be called Zoe’s Crockpot Chicken.

You can use one or two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  If you use one pound, you’ll have more sauce, and will probably want to serve this over rice or noodles.  If you use two pounds, like I did this time, it’s a thicker stew and doesn’t need anything under it – but jasmine rice would certainly be delicious.  Use any store-bought curry powder you like.  I have two, and the one I used this time was just a $4 jar from Trader Joe’s – nothing fancy.  I also used half a head of cauliflower, diced.  It doesn’t add much to the flavor, but it adds nutrition and body to the sauce.  I like to garnish with a big dollop of plain yogurt, and if you have cilantro, sprinkle some of that on top.  If you need a quick chicken dish that promises to please grown-ups and kids alike, check this one out.

Zoe’s Crockpot Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, sliced fine
• 1 or 2 pounds chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes (I like fire-roasted)
• plain yogurt and cilantro to garnish, optional
• rice or noodles, optional

Directions:

1. Place the sliced onions on the bottom of the crock pot.  Layer the chicken thighs on top.  Season well with curry powder and salt.  Open the can of tomatoes and dump on top.
2. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.  When ready to serve, shred the chicken with a fork and mix all the ingredients.  Serve on top of optional rice, garnish with optional yogurt and cilantro, and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

I love my crock pot. I have found, however, that almost all the recipes in my crock pot cookbooks are for meat-based entrees. That's all well and good, but there are some times you want something lighter, or vegetarian (or that isn't made with a can of cream of chicken soup!) I ordered a book on Amazon.com, hoping to find something new and different, and I did: "Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker" by Robin Robertson.

The recipe for Black Bean Soup was easy to follow, and I had everything I needed for it already in my pantry and fridge - and I'm betting you do too. This came out better than I expected! The texture was both chunky and smooth after I used my immersion blender (you can put your soup in the blender or food processor and pulse lightly, or even use a potato masher to get your desired consistency.)

Serve this with chopped green onions, cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, tortilla chips, or any or all of the above. Terrific!

(Sorry about the photo. It's bean soup, and it's delicious and nutritious, but there's just no way to make it look glamorous in a photo!)

Black Bean Soup

(recipe courtesy "Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker" by Robin Robertson)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/2 green (I used red) bell pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans (15.5-ounces each) black beans, rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes, left undrained
• 4 cups stock (I used less, probably closer to 3 cups)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic; cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a slow cooker, add the beans, tomatoes and their juice, stock, bay leaves, cumin, thyme, and cayenne, and season with salt and black pepper. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours.
3. Remove and discard the bay leaves and taste to adjust the seaosonings. Just before serving, stir in the lemon juice, if using. To thicken, puree at least 2 cups or up to one half of the soup solids with an immersion blender used right in the cooker, or ladled into a regular blender or food processor and returned to the cooker. Serve hot.