Mexican Beef Stew

I started out with an entirely different plan for this meal, but when I pulled out the recipe for what I had intended to make, I decided it really didn't sound good and changed direction. I did a little search for something that would include all the ingredients I had planned on using, as well as a few other things I had on hand, and came up with the idea for this "stew".

I ended up straining off most of the liquid at the end and serving the meat and vegetables over rice with some homemade guacamole and baked tortilla chips (yes, at the risk of carb overload), and it was delicious. You could just as easily thicken up the broth a little more and enjoy it as a more traditional stew with some fresh tortilla or cornbread...yum!

Ingredients

1 lb. beef stew meat
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 mediun onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground thyme
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 cups beef broth
2 large red potatoes, diced

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine stew meat, red pepper, onion, jalapeno and garlic. In a separate bowl, combine flour, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, salt, thyme, and cayenne. Mix well, then add to the meat and vegetable mixture and stir to coat.

2. Transfer meat and vegetable to a slow cooker and pour beef broth to cover. Cook on low for 6 hours. Add potatoes and cook 2 hours more or until potatoes are tender (can turn up to high at this point to speed the cooking of the potatoes).

Slow Cooker Carnitas

This is one of my favorite recipe for carnitas, because the possibilities for the final result are endless! It cooks up perfectly but the spices don't completely overwhelm the meat, so you really can use it in a variety of different meals. This time around we started with these:

Pork tacos, in crispy corn shells and topped with sour cream and the sauce from Pioneer Woman's Perfect Enchiladas (which is another versatile item that we use a lot!). These tacos are reminiscent of my favorite ones from Qdoba - a place we used to frequent in Denver and I'm sad we don't have one here in San Diego :(

Of course there is a lot of meat leftover so we'll be adding it in to meals throughout the next week!

Slow Cooker Carnitas

Ingredients

2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (3-4 pound) pack "carnitas" (I can buy pork packaged as "carnitas" already at a local grocery store we have here, but if you can't find that a boneless pork shoulder roast is what to look for)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 cups chicken broth

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine salt, garlic powder, cumin, and ground cinnamon. Coat pork with the spice mixture, and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Sprinkle cilantro on and around the pork, then pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.

2. Cook on low 7-8 hours, turning meat halfway through cooking time.

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

2 lbs. top round steak, cut into 1" cubes
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
1 - 26 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 - 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup diced onion
*I had some leftover French Onion soup that I used for the broth/onions and it worked great

Directions

1. Place meat in the bottom of slow cooker, and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

2. In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients. Pour over meat. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Thicken with a little cornstarch slurry, if desired, and serve meat and gravy over rice or noodles.