Posts Tagged ‘Mexican’
Crock Pot Carnitas
May 11th, 2013 | 
Author: All day long I kept smelling my hands and the limes, even though by now I’m just have washed my hands a good half dozen times, all I could think about what was waiting for me at home. No, not my sexy Mr. Fantabulous (sorry honey but Mama was hungry) but rather those carnitas just slow cooking away in those sweet and tangy juices. Now what made it worse for me was I was crushed ALL DAY at work. Meeting after meeting and even during lunch. I actually didn’t get to eat until almost 3pm and that was nothing more than a protein bar. Stupid meetings! They really should instill a Meeting-less Monday at our office so people can get actual real work done.
So when I got home and walked in the house that smell hit me. OMG that dear sweet amazing smell! As it was sitting in the crock warming I put together the Creamy Cilantro Lime Pineapple Coleslaw, tossed that puppy in the fridge to chill and quickly changed. 30 minutes later it was time to get to work. Well, what little there was. I shredded it and then broiled the meat to get charred brown edges. Warmed some tortillas, chopped some cilantro and got out the sourcream. DINNER was served.
This was so good that I just wanted to crawl into the crockpot and swim around in all that luscious flavors. Well okay, not literally as that would be icky but you know what I mean *wink*. Kind of like wanting to swim in the Willy Wonka Chocolate river, right? LOL
One night this week, get the ingredients to make this and before you go to work the next morning pop this in your crock pot. I highly recommend using one, that after cooking for the X amount of time that it goes to a warm setting.
Even Mr. Fantabulous who is not a pork fan LOVED this!
| Crock Pot Carnitas |
- 4-5 lbs pork shoulder
- 11/2 Tbl garlic, minced
- 1 Tbl coarse salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp oregano
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Juice of 1 lime
- 16 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
- 4 ounce can of diced green chilies (keep the juice)
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 12 ounce bottle Corona
- Place the pork shoulder in the crock pot.
- In a small bowl, mix together the salt, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, oregano, cinnamon, and cayenne.
- Rub seasonings onto the pork.
- Evenly distribute the garlic over top of the meat.
- Next, add in lime juice, orange juice, beer, tomatoes and green chilies.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. I actually let mine cook for 10 since I was at work. It was SUPER tender!
- Directly in the crock pot, shred the meat into chunks using 2 forks.
- Preheat broiler and place rack in upper third of the oven.
- Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Shred meat with two forks directly in the slow cooker (or take out, shred, and replace in sauce). It should fall apart easily.
- Using a slotted spoon, scoop up some meat (allowing to drain slightly) and place the meat on the baking sheet.
- Spoon a few spoonful’s of sauce over top.
- Broil for 5-10 minutes or until you get browned edges on the pork.
- Serve with warm tortillas, Creamy Cilantro Lime Pineapple Coleslaw and sour cream.
Most awesomest Fajitas… EVER!
Make this for dinner
Really… MAKE THIS!
| Most awesomest Fajitas… EVER! |
Marinade
- 2 limes, juiced
- ½ cup orange juice
- 3 Tbl fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 Tbl garlic, minced
- 1 tsp worcestershire
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Meat
- 1 pound skirt/flank steak or 1 pound boneless chicken breast or 1 pound jumbo shrimp
Veggies
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- * 1/2 tsp cayenne if you want it spicier
Additional Stuff
- Tortillas
- sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, refried beans…
- For marinade, in a large bowl, combine all ingredients with a whisk.
- Put the meat in a plastic bag and pour the marinade over top. Squish it around ensuring the meat it all covered. *If doing multiple type meats, put each meat in a separate bowl/plastic bag.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, though I often do overnight. Make sure to turn the bags every few hours to ensure all the meat gets the marinade soak.
- Heat oven to 200 degrees; set tortillas in for 1 to 3 minutes, to warm.
- Remove and put in a covered basket.
- Preheat a ridged grill pan on high heat.
- Lightly baste with olive oil.
- Add marinated meat and grill for over medium-high heat and cook for 4 minutes on each side (for beef), chicken is about 4-6 minutes each side and shrimp is about 3 minutes per side and then transfer to a cutting board and let rest. Depending on the size of your grill pan you may need to cook in batches.
- Once the meat is off the grill pan and resting, add the bell peppers and onions
- Grill the mixture for 7 to 8 minutes until the vegetables are just barely limp.
- Place cooked meat in a large bowl or platter and serve with tortillas, toppings and garnishes.
- For each fajita, fill a tortilla with meat and desired amounts of garnishes and toppings and roll up like a burrito.
- Serve with refried beans, black beans or Spanish rice.
Posted in Appetizers, Beef, Chicken, Mexican, Seafood, Side Dishes, Snacks n'at | 
Tags: chicken, fajitas, Mexican, onions, shrimp, Steak | 
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Never buy can again.. Homemade Enchilada Red Sauce
| Never buy can again.. Homemade Enchilada Red Sauce |
- 1 onion (medium) chopped fine
- 1-2 jalapenos, -remove the seeds and chop fine
- 1 Tbl canola oil – you can use vegetable oil but canola does have a better taste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbl chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tsp sugar
- 1-15oz can tomato sauce
- 1 cup water
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Add the oil to a large sauce pan and put the heat to medium.
- Toss in the onion, jalapeno(s), garlic and about a 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Cook, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened ~ 5-7 minutes.
- Add the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and sugar. Cook for about 1 minute, gently stirring.
- Add in the tomato sauce and water and stir to combine.
- Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, ~5 minutes.
- Strain the sauce through a strainer into a medium size bowl.
- Using a rubber tip spatula, press the onion mixture to extract as much liquid as possible.
- Season sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste; set aside. You’ve now made your red sauce!
“Unfried” Tortilla shells
Okay now this is something you’re gonna have to admit, out loud and publicly. You can do it, I know you can.
How many of you secretly LOVE those deep fried taco bowls you get at Mexican restaurants? You know those sinfully crispy and delicious bowls that house salads or other awesome stuff.
Admit it.. you know you do. It’s okay, I won’t tell. I love them too even though they are sooooooooooooooo unhealthy! I mean you’re soaking bread in hot oil and deep frying it. Yeah… wait, I think another artery clogged.
But wait, let’s back up a second here. Can one of you ‘splain the logic behind putting something relatively healthy (salad with meat and cheese – no sour cream at restaurants is NOT healthy. It’s full fat) into a grease laden bowl? But honestly, I kinda don’t care cause that damn crispy salty bowl is soooooooo good 
Well tonight I wanted one however my thighs said “BAHAHAHAHA yeah right! You eat that and you’re wearing a Hefty Bag to work tomorrow!“ Bastards…
So since I listen to them (and my conscious) I decided to try making them crispy but by baking them.
Tonight I opted for a crispy tortilla shells; next time I’ll show you how to make the bowls. Trust me, you’ll want them too!
This is SUPER easy and so yummy and a bajillion times healthier for you without any flavor sacrifice.
| “Unfried” Tortilla shells |
|
- 4 10” round tortilla shells
- Cooking Spray
- Very slightly damp paper towel
- Preheat oven to 375 with the rack in the middle.
- Wrap the 4 tortilla shells in the slightly damp paper towel.
- Microwave for 15-30 seconds until steamed and soft/pliable.
- Spray each tortilla side with cooking spray.
- Pull out the rack slightly and carefully drape each tortilla over two bars in the rack.
- Bake at 375 for 6 minutes.
- Turn oven to broil.
- Broil for one minute or until golden brown and crispy.
- Using oven-safe tongs, carefully lift each shell up and lay them down on their sides directly on the rack.
- Broil for 1 minute to crisp that side.
- Flip over and broil up the other side.
So essentially we went from this:
Cold tortillas going into the oven
After 5 minutes and flipping them onto their side to broil, we got to this:
Look how crispy they are!
Fresh from the oven, they super crispy and healthy shells turned into this…
You may want to sit back a little bit as I will not be held responsible for when your jaw hits the table on how awesome this looks
Don’t you just want to bite the screen right now?!
As for how I made that, I’ll post that recipe later. It’s made up of an unfried tortilla shells, some of the Mexican shredded beef, spinach, cheese and fat free sour cream. TOTAL YUM!
Now what’s awesome is that you can essentially use any size tortilla from smaller ones (for say housing dips – just take a 10″ shell and a biscuit cutter to make 4-5″ rounds) to larger 12-14″ rounds.
Next time I’ll show you how to make unfried tortilla bowls. All the flavor without the guilt!
Posted in Appetizers, Beef, Mexican, Recipes, Tips and Tricks |
Tags: baked, crispy, Low-Fat, Mexican, Tortilla Shells |
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White Chicken Chili Chimichanga
I had my nephew and his buddy over our house the other day to do yard work for us. You gotta love boys that’ll do hard physical work for free food, right! LOL They are great kids and in college and hey… what college kid do you know that would pass up killer food and extra cash?!
Knowing they would be needing protein and something with sustenance, I decided to make chicken chimichangas. I was going to make them like my Lime Chicken Chimi’s but since I was out of limes and some other ingredients I went a different route. See I LOVE white chicken chili. Honestly I think I love it more than my regular chili. I knew I had the stuff on hand to make that but with it being 80 degrees and those boys sweating their butts off, I knew hot chili was the last thing they would want. I know I certainly wouldn’t. So I took a few minutes and reworked my chimichanga recipe and my white chicken chili to make this chimichanga. OMG you want to talk about knockin’ it out of the ballpark?! Holy crap was it good!
I served this with a side of Mexican Taco Rice. See our Facebook page for this recipe.
| White Chicken Chili Chimichanga |
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 1 large red pepper, chopped
- 1 small can diced green chile peppers
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 2-4 ounces hot pepper sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 packet of White Chicken Chili mix
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 2 Tbl cilantro, minced
- 3 cups enchilada sauce
- Enough water to cover 1/3 of the meat
- 8 large size tortillas
- 1-2 cups cheddar cheese
- Sour Cream
- Guacamole
- Slice Jalapenos
- Add the chicken to the crockpot.
- Top with chopped onions, both peppers and garlic.
- Sprinkle the dry spices on top trying to best evenly distribute.
- Add the hot sauce and chopped cilantro.
- Add enough water to go to 1/3 the way up the meat.
- Cover and turn on high for 6-7 hours.
- During the cooking time refrain from removing the lid. ONLY remove the lid briefly to add more water if it dissipates.
- After 5-6 hours, remove the meat to shred replacing the lid while you are shredding it.
- Using 2 forks, shred the chicken.
- Add the shredded chicken and 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce back to the pot and mix.
- Replace the lid and turn the crock pot to low.
- Cook for 1-2 hours to allow the meat to soak up all the juices and flavor.
- Turn on your broiler and place the rack in the top 1/3rd of the oven.
- Warm the tortillas.
- Add a few Tbl of cheddar cheese down the center.
- Top with a cup or more of the meat mixture.
- Fold Sides of tortilla in half until sides are even and covering all ingredients.
- Pull back top of one side of the tortilla slightly to compact all ingredients, but they are still fully covered. One side of the tortilla will overlap with the other.
- Fold in each end until tight an there are no openings in the tortilla.
- Roll over all sided together to the top to complete.
- Set on a baking pan and finish all tortilla shells.
- Put in the oven and broil for about 5 minutes or until the tops of the tortillas get slightly “toasted” .
- Remove from oven and spread the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortillas.
- Top with remaining cheddar cheese.
- Return to the oven and broil just until the cheese is melted; ~3 minutes.
- Serve with sour cream, guacamole and a few jalapenos.
Posted in Chicken, CrockPot Wonders, Mexican, Recipes |
Tags: chicken, chili, chimichanga, cilantro, guacamole, Mexican, rice, Taco |
3 Comments »
