Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

You know those meals from your childhood that you will always remember? You know how some of them are good memories and some of them are bad memories (tater tot casserole, I am talking to about you).

Well beef stroganoff is one of the beloved meals, right up there with won tons and taco casserole. There is something about beef and sauce over noodles. Double YUM.

A few weeks ago, I had realized I had never made stroganoff for my kids. Hang my head in shame now. I was kind of baffled how I had yet to make one of my favorite childhood dishes for my own kids. I mean I do like them and all.

Thinking on it, I realized that sometimes I am so focused on making all the new Pinterest recipes that I forget about the tried and true, time-tested ones.

Do you ever find yourself doing that same thing?

So in order to rectify my cooking atrocity, I put beef stroganoff right on the menu. I did change it up a bit from my childhood version. Don't worry, it is just as good. I used beef strips instead of ground hamburger and I popped it in a slow cooker to let it simmer all day long.

My house smelled grand all day. The kids LOVED it. Plus for a second I was transported to  my 12 year old self. A few demanding, "MOM!"s and I was right back.

I didn't mind because I still had my beef stroganoff.

The hungry people at your dinner table will love every last bite of this meal.

**add the Worcestershire sauce in with the beef broth**

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Barbacoa Tacos: Slow Cooker Saturday

We really like tacos at our house. Like really, really, REALLY.

While I love a good traditional taco along with the next gal, I grow a little weary of having them every time we want tacos.

That means a little variety is in order.

So far some of the varieties we have loved are Shredded Chicken Tacos and Shredded Beef Tacos. Yum!

This new variety, Barbacoa Tacos, is equally delightful.

I will be truthful that they are a wee bit on the spicy side. That is due to the delightful chipotle peppers that go into it. So you can either adjust it to make it less spicy, you can slather them in sour cream and guac, or you can make the kiddos some quesadillas while the adults scarf down on the Barbacoa Tacos.

Anyway you choose to serve them up, you should. Every one needs a little fiesta once in awhile.

Just add pico, some guac, and an indulgent helping of tortilla chips. Oh, and if you want, open up a yummy Mexican soda. After all, it is a fiesta, even if it is just a fiesta at the dinner table.

Seriously. Yum.

I insist you make these. I mean, I don't want to be pushy, but really I am just looking out for your taste buds. They should really get to experience these.

Ole'.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Taco
adapted from Top Secret Recipes

4 pound chuck roast
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons lime juice
2-3 canned chipotle chiles (or less for less spice)
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon  ground cloves
3/4 cup chicken broth
3 bay leaves

tortillas
cheese
lettuce
pico de gallo
guacamole
sour cream

Make an adobe sauce by combining the vinegar, lime juice, chipotles, garlic, cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt, and cloves in a blender until smooth. Set aside.

Trim excess fat off of the roast. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large skillet over medium heat. Sear the roast on each side until browned, about 3-4 minutes a side. Transfer the roast to a slow cooker. Pour the adobo sauce over the meat. Next pour in the chicken broth and add in the bay leaves.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Take out and shred. Skim the fat off of the liquid. Add the meat back into the liquid. Cook another 30 minutes with the lid off.

Serve over tortillas with the toppings of your choice.

Enjoy!

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Frito Taco Stack Up

One of our family go to meals is tacos. We pretty much love them. I am often trying to revamp our family favorite meal into other types of recipes.

So far we have added Taco Casserole and Taco Soup.

Now we have another taco inspired recipe for family dinner. This one is amazing and was an instant winner with the whole family!

Meet Frito Taco Stack Ups.

Well, hello there my delicious little friend. You are like a delightful fiesta on top of possibly the world's best chip ever. So, yeah I like Fritos.

Fritos are the base for this taco revamp. The taco meat mixture has a little more umph than regular taco meat. The pinto beans and corn kind of rock this dish. Adding corn to a basic taco dish really makes it yummy. Then just like a taco, you top this lovely taco stack up with shredded lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and a splash of hot sauce.

Yeah, it is perfect.

This meal also can be portable simply by opening a lunch-sized bag of Fritos and serving all the makings in the bag and dropping in a spoon. Bam! Taco in a bag.

Anyway you make it, it is yummy and family friendly.

Frito Taco Stack Up

1 lb of hamburger
1 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 can Rotel
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained and rinsed

Fritos, either individual bags or portions from a regular bag
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese
sour cream
hot sauce

Cook hamburger and garlic in a saute pan. Drain.

Add in the tomato sauce, Rotel, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Stir to combine. Turn heat to low and cover. Allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add in the corn and beans. Stir. Allow to cook for another 10-15 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

To assemble the taco stack up, layer a pile of Fritos on a plate. Top with about 1/4 cup amount of taco mixture. Top with lettuce, cheese, and sour cream. Drizzle hot sauce lightly over the top.

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Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Beef {Slow Cooker Saturday}

So today might be one of those posts, where not much is written in the actual post has to do with the recipe itself. Don't get me wrong the Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Beef is super yummy. A little bowl of goodness. Sweet and savory, with just the right amount of spice. The beef and the peanut butter are kind of crazy together. Like long lost high school sweethearts who find each other after 20 years, and after finally reuniting run hand in hand through a field of daisies.

Yeah, something like that.

Speaking of fields of daisy. I have the hand holding sweetheart thing taken care of. Alas, I do not have the field of daisies. Winter has been long. I am really excited to see some daisies. Heck, I would love to see a green blade of grass.

That seems romantic, running hand in hand through blades of grass. Not really, so I take it back. I just want the daisies.

I am grateful for the sun. Luckily we do see it on a regular basis. So I'll try not to have a wah-fest about the still bitter temps. Glass half full.

Or should it be bowl half full. Half full of Thai Peanut Beef, because you already scarfed down half of your serving.

See how I did that. Thai Peanut Beef to daisies back to Thai Peanut Beef. Yeah, I am good like that.

I am good like a big old bowl of Thai Peanut Beef.

Haha! Guess I ended up talking more about this recipe then I thought I would.

Couldn't be helped, it was just that good.

Almost as good as running hand in hand with The Hubs through a field of daisies. I probably should point out that I can't actually see The Hubs running through a field of daisies. Mayhaps a stroll on the beach would have been a better and a little more manly.

Basically, nothing is as good as running hand in hand anywhere with The Hubs. Ahhhhh. Yes, yes, very sweet. Sweet but true.

But this Thai Peanut Beef is pretty darn good

Give the recipe a whirl. Then go running through a field of daisies. Okay I am all done with the daisies.

Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Beef

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of thinly sliced flank steak, or stir fry meat
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon chili garlic sauce
1 Tablespoon canola oil
crushed peanuts
sliced green onions

Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Sear the meat until browned, about 3-5 minutes. Drain the meat and put the meat in the slow cooker.

Combine the beef broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, and chili garlic sauce in a bowl. Whisk everything together. Pour over the beef in the slow cooker.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours. The sauce will be a little thicker and there will be some caramelized portions. Stir once more.

Serve over steamed rice and top with crushed peanuts and sliced green onions.

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Zaycon Foods: How Smart Families Buy Big and Save Big

Shredded Chicken Tacos

Do you guys Zaycon? If you don't, oh how you must! I know I have had a couple of sponsored posts recently, but I promise this is a post you really want to read through. I have been a customer of Zaycon Foods for a long time and I believe in it as a mom, wife, cooker, and eater of good food. I highly encourage you to read the whole post (aka not just skim...we all do it) so that you can learn more about this AWESOME company, see first hand how I use some of the products I have ordered, and to get information for the most current food events.

Just trust me. If you like food, you will want to read the whole post.

For those of you who haven't heard of Zaycon Foods, or maybe have, but don't really know much about it, well let me fill you in.

First let me say that gushing about this company is second nature to me. I have talked about Zaycon with friends, family, and at church functions...yes I am that lady. I gush because I believe in the company and the product they provide. I have ordered a lot of their products and I have never been unhappy. They provide fresh and high quality meats and fruit. Fresh from the farm to your table.

Zaycon works directly with local farms who provide high quality product. This allows you to buy quality product in bulk for much less than buying that quality of merchandise at a store. AND let me just tell you, I personally don't feel that the quality I can get a grocery store even comes close to comparing with the product I get from Zaycon.

They have many "events", the fancy way of saying what they are currently selling. I kind of like participating in anything that is an "event", don't you? Not every product is available all the time. They cycle through events. That is the BIG reason why you need to sign up with Zaycon (click on that link right there). When you sign up, they send you information about when events are happening. This allows you to stay in the know about when each event is.

The chicken is their trademark event. The chicken that Zaycon sells is amazing. Amazing I tell you. This is the most popular purchase in our house. When the chicken event comes up, it is kind of like a holiday. Here at our house when the chicken event rolls around, we buy it up real quick. I have canned it. I store it easily in freezer bags. I cook with it all the time. I am gonna be honest with you guys, I can't handle other chicken now. This chicken is so good. On top of the quality, the price is the same if not better than the grocery store. The last chicken event was for $1.89 a pound. CRAZY!

Shredded BBQ Chicken Sliders

The chicken comes straight from the processor and is never frozen. The chicken breasts are huge and 100% naturally that way. No hormones or additives. Sometimes a chicken breast is large enough that I only store one per freezer bag. Each order is for a 40 pound box. We have been known to order two. Yes that is 80 pounds of chicken. I canned half and stored the other half. It was glorious.

I can't say enough good things about this chicken. I will say it again, it has ruined me for grocery store chicken. Best. Chicken. Ever. 

They did just end a chicken event in some areas. I suggest that you head on over to Zaycon and sign up. I have given you a link that has you sign up and just lets them know that you heard about it from me (hence the referral bit). 

Once you sign up you can see what events are currently running and then you are signed up so they can alert you when other events start.

We have ordered their chicken the most. However, like I said earlier, we have ordered many of their products.

We love their peaches and pears. LOVE. Last year we ordered pears and peaches and then we canned them. Well, we canned the ones we didn't scarf down. The peaches were juice dripping from your chin fantastic. The pears were just the perfect ripeness. Not under ripe like ordering in bulk can be sometimes and not over ripe like they had been sitting around.

How to Can Pears

We also ordered bacon from them. This bacon was amazing. I am pretty confidant in saying this bacon ruined me for grocery store bacon too. The order of bacon is rather larger and so we actually split it with some friends.  We froze what I didn't cook and eat right away. I kind of wanted to cry when we used our last package.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Garlic, and Onion

Another product we have ordered is the 93/7 ground hamburger. I love this hamburger because it is lean, but still full of flavor. I actually prefer lean hamburger to ground turkey, so when I can get a high quality 93/7 ground hamburger at a decent price I jump all over it. The order is 40 pounds. We divided it up and stored it in freezer bags. It was perfect.

The 93/7 ground hamburger event is actually going on now!  I know I am sounding like a broken record, but seriously go sign up  and order this awesome hamburger.

Mashed Potato Topped Mini Meatloaves

We have also ordered the hot Gold Medal Beef Franks, the Pork Sausage Links, the Breaded Chicken Tenderloins, and the Natural Non-Homogenized Whole Milk.

I think my next order might have to include the Carvemaster Ham, which is a current event right now! At $3.49 a pound I am not sure I can pass it up.

I haven't listed everything they sell, just what I have ordered. Go and check out all of their products. 

Zaycon Foods really is an amazing company. I really believe they have made it easier and more affordable for me to feed my family higher quality products. They provide a quality product that also tastes way better than anything you will find at a grocery store. I know they can do the same for you and your household.

Whew! I really hope you hung with me during this entire post. Two "raise-the-roof"'s if ya did. Thanks for taking the time to learn about a company I am pretty stoked about. 

Just a refresher-

Current food events are:

93/7 ground hamburger

Carvemaster Ham

I was compensated for this post, but all opinions are mine. 

I have used this company for years, and believe in

the quality product and service they provide. 

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Slow Cooker Saturday: Chili Over Cornbread Waffles

This week for Slow Cooker Saturday-- Chili over Cornbread Waffles.

I know it is almost July and it could be said that it isn't really chili weather.

However, I have men of both normal and itty bitty size and a chili craving can not be thwarted just because it is the wrong season.

When they want chili, chili must be made.

However, I decided to make slow cooker chili so that I didn't have to sweat it out over a stove. This way they got chili and I remained cool and collected (aka not sweating like a man through my shirt).

Then Hubby requested cornbread waffles be served with the chili. This is what happens when your husband likes to peruse Pinterest.

So I tweaked a slow cooker chili recipe that I found. I am NOT a burn your mouth and innards kind of chili gal. So this recipe is very mild. Just enough season and heat to know you are eating chili. If chili can be light and refreshing, this is it.

 Then I made a basic cornbread recipe and simply cooked it in a greased waffle iron.

A topping of sour cream and cheese, and the result is...

A really satisfying, no-fuss Summer and kid friendly chili.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chili Over Cornbread Waffles 
chili adapted from Jimmy Fallon via Martha Stewart





Printable Recipe

Chili:

2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 lbs ground beef (90/10)
salt and pepper
1 white onion, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup chile powder
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 (28oz) cans of whole tomatoes, roughly chopped in juices
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2 (15oz) cans kidney beans drained and rinsed

Waffles:

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Toppings:
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream

To make the chili, in a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the ground hamburger. Season with salt and pepper. Drain fat and set aside.

In the skillet, heat up the other tablespoon of oil. Cook the onions, garlic, and jalapeno. Cook for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Set aside.

In a slow cooker, combine beef, onion mixture, chili powder, oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper. Stir to combine. Add in tomatoes and cilantro. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours

Add in kidney beans and season again with salt and pepper. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, or until thickened.

When the chili is done, turn down to low and make the waffles.

Heat the waffle iron.

Beat eggs in a bowl. Stir in milk, oil, corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until smooth. Batter should be smooth and pourable. If it is too thick add a tablespoon of milk at a time.

Grease waffle iron. Pour some of the cornbread mixture into the waffle iron. Cook until done.

Serve chili over a warm cornbread waffle. Top with cheese and sour cream.

Thanks for reading!

Korean Beef

The first time I made this it was kind of on a whim.

I had ground beef. I had rice. AND I actually had green onions. I was also running short on time.

I am glad I occasionally give into whims.

This meal comes together so, so, SO easily. The dish was so tasty. Consequently, there were absolutely no leftovers. I also made it again within a week. Second time, again, no left overs. The whole family loved it and ate it with no complaints.

Two thumbs up...some of you know my children are not above giving me thumbs down! Little boogers.

Anyway, back to the "two thumbs up". They loved it.

Every.Single.Bite.

Give it a go. You won't be disappointed.

Korean Beef
adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything 

Print Here

1 pound lean ground beef
1/4-1/2 cup regular or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger (I buy mine in a jar)
1/2 -1 teaspoon Sriracha (depends on how much heat you like)
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch of green onions sliced
steamed rice

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Cook the ground hamburger in the sesame oil until completely cooked. Add in the garlic and cook for another couple minutes, making sure not to let the garlic burn.

Drain of the fat if there is any.

Add in the brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, Sriracha, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and let it cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve the beef over steamed rice and topped with A LOT of green onions.

Enjoy and have a great Thursday

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The 36th Avenue

Slow Cooker Saturday: Shredded Beef Tacos

Hoorah for me actually showing up to a Slow Cooker Saturday. I have been MIA on Saturdays around here for a couple of weeks. Chalk it up to crazy weekends. It surely isn't because I haven't been using my slow cooker, 'cause I have.

A slow cooker using fool, that is me.

Let me introduce you to these Shredded Beef Tacos.

Reader, meet Taco...

Why Hello....

Sorry for the food conversation. Where was I.

Oh right, the tacos.

These are scrumb-diddli-umcious people.

Srumb.Diddli.Umcious.

We served these at our recent Turning Uno Birthday Mexican Fiesta. These tacos were a crowd pleaser. In fact, the next day when Oldest asked for leftovers and I had to tell him they were gone, he was pretty displeased.

He was really counting on another Shredded Beef Taco.

Oh this meal was yummy. I am kind of wishing that it wasn't several weeks ago when I made this. I am kind of wishing it was like um cooking in my slow cooker right now...okay like really I wish that it was already done cooking so I could eat while typing. All the while dripping yummy taco bits all over my keyboard.

The rice and beans were good too...we will talk about that another day. Here is a teaser. Yum.

Besides being delicioso (yea I just threw in my best Spanish, which I know thanks to Dora), these are insanely easy to make.

Roast and fixins just chilax in the slow cooker for the day. Then when it is done cooking, you just shred it up and serve it up on a tortilla with your favorite taco toppings.

Seriously yum.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Taco
classy cooking

Printable Recipe

1 2-3lb chuck roast
1 14oz can beef broth
1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder
1/2 Tablespoon cumin
1/2 Tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
freshly cracked black pepper
juice of 1 medium lime

flour tortillas
lettuce, shredded
cheese (I used cojita a Mexican crumble cheese)
guacamole
sour cream 
pico de gallo
cilantro    

In a bowl, whisk together the chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Place the roast in the slow cooker. Pour the beef broth over the roast. Then add the lime juice. Sprinkle the roast with the spice mixture. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker. Remove any fat. Shred the beef and return to the slow cooker. Cover with a lid and cook an additional 30 minutes.

Remove the shredded beef from the juices. Serve up on a warm tortilla, topped with your favorite taco toppings.