Days 15, 16, and 17

Hi, Gang! Let's talk tacos.


On Sunday, we I made crockpot chicken tacos.  The recipe is from a blog pinned on my 30 Days Of Tacos Pinterest board.  It was the easiest crockpot recipe I've ever made.  Like, you know how people who are obsessed with their crockpots are always all, "you just throw stuff in there in the morning, and then when you get home dinner is ready! So easy!"
But then you try a recipe and find yourself chopping vegetables and browning a 4 lb cut of meat in your pajamas at 7 am and you're thinking, "How is this easier? I'm still cooking an entire meal, and I had to get up early to do it."

Well, this recipe isn't like that.  It is what the crockpot fuss is all about. Here goes:

Ingredients:
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning
1-16 oz jar of your favorite salsa.

Add all ingredients to crockpot, directly from their packages. Stir. Set on low for 8 hours.

Then, when it's dinner time, stick a big spoon in there and stir, and all the meat will shred itself. You don't even have to use forks to pull it apart.  Then alls you have to do is stuff shells with this chicken and whatever other toppings you want and BAZINGA: dinner.

I put cilantro, avocado, and sour cream on mine, since I used hot salsa and they were kind of spicy.  And seriously, really good.  On the side is an orzo basil salad I got out of the Feed Zone Cookbook.  I think I've mentioned it on this blog before.  It's a great cookbook, and just about everything I've tried out of it has been pretty darn tasty.  Here's a closeup of the salad:

I won't post the recipe since it's directly out of a cookbook and also I'm too lazy, but it's orzo, basil, spinach, kidney beans, cashews, and diced apple.  Suprisingly good.


Then, on Monday, we tried another recipe from the Feed Zone Cookbook. These were meant to be Bison and Sweet Potato Tacos, but I had trouble finding a pound of ground bison, so I used ground beef.  They looked like this:

They tasted okay, although I overcooked the beef a little.  Also, the recipe involved sauteeing already-cooked sweet potato "until it begins to brown and become crispy." You know what happens when you sautee cooked potato?

It becomes mashed potato.

Still, it had nice flavor.  As you can see, we had 'em on homemade corn tortillas.  Acutally, this night, we learned that there is such a thing as a too-thick tortilla.  Turns out they sorta break in half during the eating process if they're too thick.
So this one was a little disappointing, but still ok. 

I just looked at the picture again, and found that the salad in the background is part Feed Zone recipe topped with Martha Stewart recipe. 

That salad embodies my current style of cooking (erm, style of cookbook reading).


Ok, I'd love to stick around and chat, I really would, but it's about time to get ready for work.

You guys have a nice day!