Make this again Mum! Happy Words to My Ears!

Jalapeño Lime Shredded Pork Tacos 

(Lettuce Wraps) 

WOW! That was a great meal. I do not usually get this excited about a slow cooker meal, but this one was good. I would make this again for company. The pork was really juicy, with a hint of heat from the jalapeño. 

The kids even loved this one. Second helpings were had by all. I can't wait to take them for lunch tomorrow. Yum! My daughter took one bite and said FIVE automatically. My son thought it was a solid five too. Hubby gave it a 4.5. We all gawked at him in disbelief. He thought it was a tad dry. What??? Crazy! It was perfection. 

I did not alter the recipe at all, and I don't think I would change a thing. I did drain all of the juices from the pot before I shredded the pork. I then strained the juice off the onions and jalapeño pepper and added them back into the pot.(shhhh - my son did not even notice they were in there).To cut down on fat, I poured back part of the juices through a fat separating cup. This skims the fat off the juices. I found that I only needed about a quarter of the left over juice. 

 The cup looks like this: 

 Another hint to shred the meat; use your hand mixer. I cannot remember if I read this somewhere or one of my friends that loves to cook shared this little piece of advice with me. Anyway - it's SO much easier then using forks. Once I added everything back into the pot I just mixed it all. Worked like a charm.

Once you have all the meat ready to go, serve with your favourite taco toppings. I served up with cut up avocado, tomato, shredded cheese, salsa and sour cream. I also cut up some cilantro. I think it really added to the flavour. To cut down on the carbs a bit, I opted to make lettuce wraps out of this instead of wrapping in a tortilla. The family used the tortillas though. Lettuce wraps - AMAZING, added a little hot sauce and voila! Served with a simple side salad and called it a meal. 

Overall Family Rating 4.9 out of 5 

I got this recipe from a great cookbook from this blogger. Check it out.
Recipe from:
http://newleafwellness.biz/2016/05/24/12-crockpot-freezer-meals-you-need-to-make-for-june/
Here is the recipe: 

JALAPENO LIME SHREDDED PORK TACOS

SERVE ON SOFT TORTILLAS WITH SHREDDED CHEESE, DICED TOMATOES, AVOCADO, SALSA, SOUR CREAM & CILANTRO YIELDS: 6-8 SERVINGS

Ingredients

2-3 POUND BONE-IN PORK SHOULDER ROAST 

1 SMALL YELLOW ONION, DICED

1 JALAPENO PEPPER, SEEDS REMOVED AND SLICED (PLEASE WEAR GLOVES)

THE JUICE FROM TWO LIMES

1 TABLESPOON HONEY

2 CLOVES GARLIC, MINCED 

1 TEASPOON CHILI POWDER 

1/4 TEASPOON SALT

Materials

1 GALLON-SIZED PLASTIC FREEZER BAG 

(I USED VACUMN SEALER BAG AND SEALED)

Prep

1. LABEL FREEZER BAG.

2. ADD ALL INGREDIENTS TO YOUR FREEZER BAG.

3. REMOVE AS MUCH AIR FROM THE FREEZER BAG AS POSSIBLE, SEAL, AND LAY FLAT IN YOUR FREEZER.

Cook

1. THE NIGHT BEFORE COOKING, MOVE FROZEN BAG TO YOUR REFRIGERATOR TO THAW.

2. THE MORNING OF COOKING, POUR CONTENTS OF FREEZER BAG INTO YOUR SLOW COOKER.

3. COOK ON “LOW” SETTING FOR 8 HOURS OR UNTIL PORK IS COOKED THROUGH AND TENDER.

4. PUT PORK TO THE SIDE AND DRAIN JUICES FROM POT INTO A MEASURING CUP. STRAIN THE ONIONS AND JALAPENO OUT OF THE JUICES.

5. ADD PORK BACK INTO THE POT AND REMOVE BONE. ADD BACK THE ONIONS AND JALAPENO TO THE MEAT. SHRED PORK.  ADD BACK SOME JUICE AND STIR WITH PORK.

Batch Cooking At It's Best..... Well, the kids think so......

Last night we decided to to pull out lasagne from the freezer. Not a slow cooker meal, but still one of the meals that we prepared in our marathon batch cooking weekend extraordinaire. Friday's are a pretty relaxed in our house. No carting kids around, and the kids get off school early. This was a great day to have lasagne, relax, catch up on conversation and watch a little telly. 

This is good served up with a little garlic bread and salad of your choice. This is by far one of my families favourite meals. In fact when I asked for ratings, my husband and daughter said FIVE stars. Well........ I would not let them give it five stars because my 'from scratch' is definitely better! I allowed them to rate at 4.9!  Guess I will need to make a from scratch one to remind them of the differences. This recipe is a very simple lasagne recipe for the purpose of getting something in the freezer quickly and into our bellies. Leftovers are yummy the next day for lunch too. I would give this recipe 4.5 stars, simply because I do like my own better, and I am not a huge fan of express noodles. I do not find them to be the same texture as the ones you boil. The sauce is good and who does not like the cheesy goodness that is lasagne? My son rated it at 4 stars, I think because it is not pizza or burgers. Also, it has the tiniest chopped up onions in it, which he is not a fan. * le sigh* Oh well!

As stated in the recipe, I add a few more spices. I did not add spinach as I do not think that I would get my son to even try it. I however, really like it with spinach. 

Over all family rating: 4.6 out of 5. Not too shabby!

Kimberley’s  - Simple Lasagne For Batch Cooking

Makes 2 large lasagnes  - deep 9-13 foil trays.

This is just a basic recipe; add any additional seasoning that you may like. I add in about a tablespoon each of basil, oregano and garlic powder.

2 boxes Catelli Express® Lasagne Noodles

4-5 pounds lean ground beef

2 large onions, finely chopped

6 cups pasta sauce (something thick)

4 cups ricotta or cottage cheese

1 thawed package of chopped spinach (the frozen brick) (optional)

2 eggs

6-8 cups shredded Italian blend cheese (depending on how cheesy you like it)

1.     Brown beef with over medium heat. Add any seasoning that you like in a tomato beef pasta sauce. Stir in pasta sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes.

2.     Meanwhile, stir ricotta or cottage cheese with eggs and 2 cups of shredded cheese. (I add salt and pepper to taste – you can also add a thawed package of spinach if you like it)

3.     Cover bottom of pan with a layer of sauce. Layer sauce with noodles. Layer noodles with sauce. Layer with noodles. Layer with half the cheese mixture. Layer with noodles. Layer with sauce. Layer with half of the remaining shredded cheese.

4.     If cooking one right away, bake for 1 hour at 350 degree F. Spray a piece of foil with cooking spray and cover if the cheese is getting too dark.

5.     If you are just going to freeze both lasagne’s you can do this right away. Cover with a layer of plastic wrap, and then foil wrap over top. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, bake from frozen for 2 hours at 350 degrees F or 1.5 hours thawed.

Enjoy!

   

We're Back At It and..... The Reviews are In!!

Can you believe it has been 4 years since our last post? I couldn't! Our little blogging experiment of 2012 did not go very far. We have decided to give it a go again and hopefully post all 25 meals this time. 

Well, we cooked all weekend and we are starting to enjoy the fruits of our labour so to say. The kids and hubby are back on board to give their reviews of the new slow cooker meals that we have prepared. My son is still the picky one, and it seems my daughter still likes just about everything. So here goes.....

Today's selection was a recipe called Lemon Rosemary Chicken. My daughter picked the recipe for today's review. I thought it was just meh.... I found that the sauce tasted of too much lemon and not enough garlic and rosemary. It was a bit to acidic for my liking. The chicken was very tender, not dried out at all, and melted in your mouth. If I were to make this again, I would juice 1/2 a lemon, add more garlic, and more rosemary. My daughter thought that it was pretty good. She didn't seem to find the sauce too bad either. I would say she liked it the best out of the four of us. Hubby thought is was above the meh rating that I gave it. Now for the picky eater son. He thought it was okay too. Of course he did not have the veggies or rice to go along with it. It was just the chicken up for review. My guess is he will raid the fridge for something else later. He's a good sport though. 

Family Average Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Would I make it again? Probably with some tweaking. 

Note - I cooked this for 6 hours. Any more than that and I think it would be very stringy. I would say 5 hours would have been perfect. 

Recipe

Slow Cooker Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  8 hours

Total time:  8 hours 10 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

•    1 cup chicken broth

•    ½ cup olive oil

•    1 fresh lemon juiced

•    2 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed and minced

•    1 TBSP dried rosemary

•    salt/pepper - optional

•    12 boneless skinless chicken thighs

Instructions

1.  Salt and pepper both sides of chicken breasts

2.  Place all ingredients except for chicken broth into a freezer safe bag.

3.  Freeze.

4.  Place into the slow cooker with 1 cup of chicken broth and cook on low for 6-8 hours until done.

Thanks For Reading!

The Farley Fam!

Chocolatey Fudgey Goodness...Oh My

Oh my, oh my! This was delicious times ten! My kids have been bugging me since I started this slow cooker challenge to do dessert. Well, this recipe doesn't really fall in line with the whole freezer cooking concept, but it sure was a nice deviation. When I got home tonight, I decided to throw the ingredients for this delectable delight into the crock and viola...... 2 hours later dessert!

My Dad and his lovely new wife - my beautiful new step mum Tatiana, came over to do some dad stuff for us. We are so blessed to have dad around to help with the honey do list. Thanks dad for getting the garage door working. Lloyd will be forever grateful to have his baby (the Millennium Falcon - aka the truck) back in the garage safe and sound. I invited them to share dessert with us and they will contribute to todays family star rating.

This was so easy to make. Make a batter, spread it in the bottom of a greased crock, sprinkle with more sugar and cocoa add boiling hot water over top, stick the lid on over top of a dish towel (more about that in the recipe), cook for 2 hours. Done! Rich dark chocolatey goodness. Add a dollop of vanilla ice cream over this warmed treat and enjoy. Enjoy we did.

My daughter was the first one to dig in, I was surprised that she did not give it 5 stars right off the bat. She thought it was very very good. I think it was a tiny bit rich for her and not unlike me she prefers less rich desserts. She gave this 4.5 stars out of 5.

My dad was the next to dig in, I don't even think it got all the way into his mouth and he blurted out 5! Dad has a BIG sweet tooth, so this does not surprise me at all.

Tatiana was the next have a taste. She said very good, most enjoyable. She gave it a 5 star rating too! We are going to share some slow cooker recipes.

I also thought it was very good and found it hard to beleive that it came out of my crock pot. It had a nice warm creamy sauce on the bottom and a deep dark delicious fudgey cake on top. I am allergic to chocolate, so my sampling was small. I enjoyed it very much though. It was rich and delicious. 5 stars all the way.

The boys came home after scouts and had dessert. My husband was very much like my dad and barely had it reach his lips before he rated it 5 stars. I am pretty sure I could make this one every day for him. He is a chocoholic though!

Connor also had the same response as his dad and grandpa. 5 stars right away! Funny how this did not go down slowly at all. It was gobbled up faster then he could say five. Connor opted to have no ice cream with this.

Average family rating: 5 Stars out of 5 stars.
Another keeper! All around good food day!

Here is the recipe!

Slow Cooker Hot Fudge Cake - 2 Hours

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup flour

3 Tbsp cocoa (I use Epicure cocoa-it is a bit richer)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa (Epicure cocoa)

1 3/4 cups boiling water

Mix together 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup flour, 3 Tbsp cocoa, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 salt. Stir in milk, butter, and vanilla. 

Spread over the bottom of slow cooker. Mix together 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Sprinkle over mixture in slow cooker.

Pour in boiling water. Do not stir. Cover with a tea towel (this keeps the moisture away from cake while it is cooking) 

Cook on HIGH 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

I sprinkled a little dusting of powdered sugar over this. 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

Makes 8 servings.

Until Next Time!

Cheers!

Kimberley