So I have posted several times on Facebook about this really great crockpot recipe I've been making. It's become a weekly regular on our meal plan, for Taco Tuesday. Andrew requested these chipotle lime chicken tacos again when we were planning meals out on Sunday, and I was happy to acquiesce to his request!
I have had multiple people ask me for the recipe, and rather than continue typing it out in emails, I decided to just put it here in case anyone else wanted it. It's an easy recipe, but it DOES take slightly more prep work than your average crockpot recipe. Still only takes about 10-15 minutes of prep work, though, so that's not too bad. The first time I made it I followed the recipe almost completely to the letter, and I have since made adjustments that are pretty perfect, haha, if I do say so myself. Well actually, don't just take it from me: Andrew told me last night it's "one of the best-tasting things that has ever come out of our kitchen." It's THAT good. And the beauty of it is, you can alter some ingredients if you want, and turn the heat up or down depending on your tolerance for spice.
Before starting this recipe, I HIGHLY recommend making a jar of special spice mix. If you cook in the crockpot a lot, this is an essential mix that can be used in ANYTHING. It's also a great meat rub when grilling up chicken or making turkey meatballs (a personal fave of ours) or just about anything. It needs some heat, so make it however spicy you would like. Andrew has his own blend, and I cannot divulge EVERY ingredient here (he's secretive, haha) but I can give you a great base and you can add seasonings as desired. You want to mix up the following:
Cumin
Paprika
Salt
Ground black pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Chili powder
Powdered chipotle pepper
Adding any dried/ground herbs you love would also make a great addition. You almost can't mess this up, haha. BUT! A blend of these (and other) spices are what really pump this recipe up to the level it's at, so I highly recommend starting here. This will be your primary source of heat for the "chipotle" part of "chipotle lime" chicken tacos. =)
Now, to how to prepare the recipe. Get some water boiling in a small pot right off the bat. While it's coming to a boil, chop up 3-4 whole carrots (peeled first, obviously) to very small pieces, a little smaller than dime-sized. You need about a cup of these. Once they are chopped and the water is boiling, put them in the pot, and turn the heat down to just lightly simmer while you prep other things. The purpose of this is to help soften the carrots. If you throw them in with everything else, they will still be pretty crunchy when it's time to eat, and we tried them both crunchy and softened, and softened is WAAAAAAAAY better. They end up absorbing the juices and spices really well and become one of the best ingredients in there. So, if you prefer a crunchier carrot, you can skip this step and just fine-chop them and set them aside.
Prepare about the same amount of celery, also small pieces. Set aside.
You will need about 2-4 boneless skinless (thawed) chicken breasts. Costco has HUGE ones, so you can get away with just two. But if they are normal size, 3 or 4 will be best. Season these lightly with salt and pepper on both sides. We add about 1/2-1 teaspoon of the special spice mix to each side as well, rubbing it in to ensure it is coated evenly. If you like it less spicy, just do a light sprinkle and rub in. But seasoning the chicken in SOME way with this is important.
At this point, go ahead and drain your carrots. Place them and the chopped celery on the bottom of the crockpot, and carefully arrange the chicken breasts over the veggies.
Now time for the sauce. It's pretty simple, and seems kind of gross. But trust me: it becomes this amazing delicious sauce that just goes PERFECTLY with the chicken and veggies. In a separate bowl, you need a 15 ounce can of plain tomato sauce. To that, you need to add 1-2 cans of your bean of choice. We do a can and a half (1 is too little, 2 is too much) and we just save the other half a can to toss in with a salad or other dinner later in the week (beans can bulk up just about anything and are SO good for you). We also use Bush's great northern beans because I prefer the white beans (I also like butter beans). You can use any beans you like: black, kidney, whatever. But drain and rinse them, and add to the tomato sauce. You will also need to use the juice of three large limes. The fastest way if you don't have a small citrus juicer is to just cut them in half, poke a fork inside each half and twist with one hand while squeezing with the other hand. The three limes will make the sauce thinner, but it's all good: promise. You will also want to add 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The original recipe calls for them to be minced and added to the sauce, so if you don't mind that then go ahead and do that. I, however, do NOT like that, haha. I just chop them into 2 or 3 big chunks each, and toss them in the sauce. This way they impart flavor, but I don't have to munch on a hot pepper, haha. Also, if you can get 1/2-1 teaspoon of the adobo sauce in there, it will really amp up the smoky/spicy flavor. If you think it will already be spicy enough, leave it out. Anyone who knows me knows that I can be a wimp about spice. And I make it this "spicy" and it's not too bad. A good heat that lingers just while you're eating, and then it fades. Plus it mellows out when you refrigerate it so you want to amp it up a bit that first day. You can always add sour cream on top later to balance the heat out. Here I add about 1-1 1/2 teaspoons of the spice mix, as well as a sprinkling of additional garlic and onion powders, salt, and ground black pepper. I have seen a Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning that I'm curious to try in there, but haven't yet. Feel free to try it and let me know what you think!
Normally my last ingredient in the sauce is a drained can of sweet corn. BUT! Last night we roasted corn on the grill and cut it from the cob, and mixed it into everything JUST before serving. This was BY FAR the best way to add the corn. However, you CAN add a drained can of corn to the sauce if you would like.
Mix your sauce up, and pour it evenly over your chicken and veggies. You can either cook it on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 6-7 hours. After 3 hours on high (or 6 hours on low), you will want to pull the chicken out to shred it. We bought these bear claw-like meat shredders on Amazon for less than $15, they make short work of shredding meat. However, two forks will get the job done here. Once shredded, place back in the crockpot, and turn the heat to low. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, uncovered.
As I said earlier, at the moment you are ready to serve, I have found that adding freshly grilled corn straight off the cob to this mixture and stirring is the best way to use the corn. Or you can just add drained sweet corn from the can here. It retains its sweetness when you don't cook it in there.
You are ready to assemble your tacos! First things first, cut up a fresh lime and squeeze a little on top of your taco (after you've spooned a little chicken mixture in, of course). This really accents the lime already in there and gives it this wonderful freshness. We then add a bit of sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. Goes well against the heat. You could also dice up an avocado and some cilantro. Andrew likes to spoon this mixture over lettuce and make a taco salad.
You could also leave the chicken un-shredded and serve it over rice.
When serving, the juice will be pretty runny. You can use a slotted spoon to get the food into your taco, but don't dispose of the juice. It thickens up when you refrigerate it and it's absolutely AMAZING as leftovers.
If you're a fan of onions and bell peppers, you could saute those lightly before hand (like when you boil the carrots) and put those in the bottom of the crockpot, too. Go crazy, be creative. Just make sure it's got some heat and the lime flavor, and you can't go wrong! Let me know if you make it and any changes/additions you made. I hope you enjoy it!! =)
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
A lot has happened in a few weeks...
Well, anyone who has checked Facebook knows that we got a puppy three weeks ago. And it has been a crazy three weeks to say the least...
It all started on Sunday, April 22. I was at work, Andrew was at home. I checked Facebook on a break, and saw that a girl I went to high school with had found a puppy outside in their neighborhood. They were looking for a home for him, and the pictures WERE SO CUTE. So I texted them to Andrew to show him how precious he was. His response was "When are we going to go get him?" It was mostly a joke, but it stuck in both our minds. We talked about it, I reached out to the girl who had him and asked some questions, and we ended up deciding that I would come home when I got off of work and we would head down to Waco to "go look" at him. He was supposedly a calm, housebroken puppy: a dream right?
Well, we get there and there was no way we DIDN'T want him. He was so cute, and truly seemed laid back. He slept most of the car ride home, he was so skinny and malnourished-looking.
We get him home, and I was absolutely TERRIFIED of Dewey's reaction. But I think the fact that the puppy was so lethargic worked well in keeping Dewey calm. If the puppy had run in full-force and been barking and wild, it would've been a MUCH different reaction from Dewey.
Turns out the reason he was so "calm" was that he was very sick. That next morning I took him to the vet and they diagnosed him with Parvo. That explained why he had rusty red diarrhea: it was blood. We seemed to have caught it in time though, and while it was very costly to get him patched up, it didn't take as long as they thought it would. He was able to get his first shots that week, and goes back this Friday for more shots. Say what you will about Petsmart, but they really were wonderful. That first doctor I dealt with was more than a LITTLE blunt and all of that, but the other doctor we dealt with the second time was SO NICE, loved him. They've called to check on him a few times, and have bent over backwards when I've called going, "um, need some help with this..." and I couldn't be more happy with the way they've cared for Harley. Worth every penny.
Since bouncing back, we've worked very hard to start "training" him. He learned "sit" and "no bark" right away. He GETS the concept of fetch, but he will swerve at the last moment and not bring it to you, he's kind of a tease. Although the other night he was bringing it back every time and had even started to catch on to "drop it" to release the toy to be thrown again. We're working on the not nipping at us problem by teaching him "give kisses". Works a lot of the time, it's a work in progess.
Last night was the best night we've had with him. He and Dewey were PLAYING TOGETHER. Which was a drastic turn of events from yesterday afternoon, when Harley tried to "help" Dewey catch a fly, and Dewey was NOT pleased. He didn't realize Harley was following him at first, he was so wrapped up in chasing this fly all over the kitchen/dining room. He was mad and lashed out once he caught on. He prefers to catch bugs by himself: he's kind of a "one-man wolf pack" about it, haha. But then last night there was chasing and hopping and friendliness. I'm sure there will still be possessive/aggressive moments from Dewey, but that moment last night happened weeks earlier than I'd anticipated. I was THRILLED!!!!!
A few days ago we pulled up the puppy pads we left down at night and while we were gone. He hasn't had a SINGLE ACCIDENT in the house in quite awhile, EVEN while we're gone for 8+ hours during the day. I am SO PROUD OF HIM. We still have to watch him because he gets to sniffing a few spots and that means he needs to go out. But he goes to the door most of the time. Although, half the time he goes to the door he just wants to chase bugs outside. He LOVES IT. He noses through the grass like a little piggy and comes up crunching. He lifts his little leg like he's pointing, too, while he hunts. Kinda precious. =)
It went from a daily dose of (me) crying and "I don't think I can do this, I don't WANT to do this" to "I can totally handle this now!" He's a really, really, REALLY smart puppy. He's 10 weeks old and if he were any other kind of dog there would be problems. But the border collie in him has made him smart and easy-to-train, with a side of crazy, haha. I wish he was more snuggly, but he only wants to snuggle near your feet when he's taking a nap. Oh well. =)
I can't remember if I blogged about us stopping the juice diet. We stopped at Day 33 or 34. It just was getting too difficult, and it was that way for BOTH of us. So one night we just decided we were done doing it, and went to Subway. And we've been doing REALLY GREAT ever since. We have only been to a sit-down restaurant twice, and both were this month. We have been meal planning and sticking to it. We are saving a lot of money, trying new recipes, and eating WAY more fruits and veggies than ever before. I've even been comfortable enough to help out with some dinners, as we've found countless recipes that can be made in the crockpot. I have even figured out the perfect balance to my chicken chili! It's been nice to be able to take the cooking pressure off of Andrew a few nights a week. We are just loving all of the stuff we are making! Our meals this week are:
Meatless Monday - spinach salad with yellow bell peppers, celery, carrots, cucumbers, hot pepper jack cheese, sunflower seeds, and a homemade honey mustard vinaigrette (Andrew added black beans to his salad)
Taco Tuesday - chipotle lime chicken tacos (Andrew's making his a taco salad), we had these last week with Sara and I'm tweaking it a bit to really amp it up even more
Whatsacomeandago Wednesday - Hungry Girl-fredo, a fettucini recipe that has a package of tofu fettucini shaped noodles, a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss, a teaspoon of sour cream and two teaspoons of grated parmesan: that's a serving for one person, and it's 99 calories!!!! First time making it, can't wait to try it!
That's a Crock Thursday - a buffalo chicken salad type recipe we're gonna try
For the Love of Cod Friday - ended up turning into Date Night because Andrew will be out of town all weekend
When we're splurging and getting a treat, we end up at Subway or Jimmy John's. Which isn't THAT horrible considering our treats used to be pizza or Taco Bell/other fast food. I still fit in everything I fit into at the end of the juicing thing, but I haven't weighed myself since that ended. We plan on doing a 10-15 day juice fast here again soon and I want to wait until the end of that to see where I am at. Andrew has pretty much maintained, too, I believe. I think we both put on a couple of pounds when we started eating: but that was to be expected. We have tried pizza and real fettucini and stuff like that, and we find we don't have the same taste for it that we used to. We crave salads. I crave pickles, haha, although lately chocolate chip cookies have been a craving (my medicine throws off my hormones and my cravings literally change constantly, I would think I was pregnant if I didn't know I wasn't, haha).
So our life is pretty awesome right now. I recently have realized that I still hold some anger and resentment at some people in my life, and there's no point in it anymore. They aren't going to change, they aren't going to acknowledge the things they've done or apologize, so why should I dwell? I need to move on and forgive them anyways, and realizing that has actually taken away a LOT of stress. I come from a long line of grudge-holders, haha. It's easy to harbor that anger, but it's so pointless in the end. So I've decided to stop. I'm still working on it, but I can do this. I've been praying about it and the Lord is making moves in my life, subtle ones, that are making things better.
I don't really have more of an update on the infertility stuff, we are waiting for Andrew's appointment next month to get more information. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we go through this process, as much as we pray about it and try to stay positive...it's tough. It's hard to keep hoping and having faith. We know that WHATEVER the final answer is, it's God's will, and that will be all that matters.
I love you all, thanks for being so patient while I had a million other things going on and kept putting off blogging! ;)
It all started on Sunday, April 22. I was at work, Andrew was at home. I checked Facebook on a break, and saw that a girl I went to high school with had found a puppy outside in their neighborhood. They were looking for a home for him, and the pictures WERE SO CUTE. So I texted them to Andrew to show him how precious he was. His response was "When are we going to go get him?" It was mostly a joke, but it stuck in both our minds. We talked about it, I reached out to the girl who had him and asked some questions, and we ended up deciding that I would come home when I got off of work and we would head down to Waco to "go look" at him. He was supposedly a calm, housebroken puppy: a dream right?
Well, we get there and there was no way we DIDN'T want him. He was so cute, and truly seemed laid back. He slept most of the car ride home, he was so skinny and malnourished-looking.
We get him home, and I was absolutely TERRIFIED of Dewey's reaction. But I think the fact that the puppy was so lethargic worked well in keeping Dewey calm. If the puppy had run in full-force and been barking and wild, it would've been a MUCH different reaction from Dewey.
Turns out the reason he was so "calm" was that he was very sick. That next morning I took him to the vet and they diagnosed him with Parvo. That explained why he had rusty red diarrhea: it was blood. We seemed to have caught it in time though, and while it was very costly to get him patched up, it didn't take as long as they thought it would. He was able to get his first shots that week, and goes back this Friday for more shots. Say what you will about Petsmart, but they really were wonderful. That first doctor I dealt with was more than a LITTLE blunt and all of that, but the other doctor we dealt with the second time was SO NICE, loved him. They've called to check on him a few times, and have bent over backwards when I've called going, "um, need some help with this..." and I couldn't be more happy with the way they've cared for Harley. Worth every penny.
Since bouncing back, we've worked very hard to start "training" him. He learned "sit" and "no bark" right away. He GETS the concept of fetch, but he will swerve at the last moment and not bring it to you, he's kind of a tease. Although the other night he was bringing it back every time and had even started to catch on to "drop it" to release the toy to be thrown again. We're working on the not nipping at us problem by teaching him "give kisses". Works a lot of the time, it's a work in progess.
Last night was the best night we've had with him. He and Dewey were PLAYING TOGETHER. Which was a drastic turn of events from yesterday afternoon, when Harley tried to "help" Dewey catch a fly, and Dewey was NOT pleased. He didn't realize Harley was following him at first, he was so wrapped up in chasing this fly all over the kitchen/dining room. He was mad and lashed out once he caught on. He prefers to catch bugs by himself: he's kind of a "one-man wolf pack" about it, haha. But then last night there was chasing and hopping and friendliness. I'm sure there will still be possessive/aggressive moments from Dewey, but that moment last night happened weeks earlier than I'd anticipated. I was THRILLED!!!!!
A few days ago we pulled up the puppy pads we left down at night and while we were gone. He hasn't had a SINGLE ACCIDENT in the house in quite awhile, EVEN while we're gone for 8+ hours during the day. I am SO PROUD OF HIM. We still have to watch him because he gets to sniffing a few spots and that means he needs to go out. But he goes to the door most of the time. Although, half the time he goes to the door he just wants to chase bugs outside. He LOVES IT. He noses through the grass like a little piggy and comes up crunching. He lifts his little leg like he's pointing, too, while he hunts. Kinda precious. =)
It went from a daily dose of (me) crying and "I don't think I can do this, I don't WANT to do this" to "I can totally handle this now!" He's a really, really, REALLY smart puppy. He's 10 weeks old and if he were any other kind of dog there would be problems. But the border collie in him has made him smart and easy-to-train, with a side of crazy, haha. I wish he was more snuggly, but he only wants to snuggle near your feet when he's taking a nap. Oh well. =)
I can't remember if I blogged about us stopping the juice diet. We stopped at Day 33 or 34. It just was getting too difficult, and it was that way for BOTH of us. So one night we just decided we were done doing it, and went to Subway. And we've been doing REALLY GREAT ever since. We have only been to a sit-down restaurant twice, and both were this month. We have been meal planning and sticking to it. We are saving a lot of money, trying new recipes, and eating WAY more fruits and veggies than ever before. I've even been comfortable enough to help out with some dinners, as we've found countless recipes that can be made in the crockpot. I have even figured out the perfect balance to my chicken chili! It's been nice to be able to take the cooking pressure off of Andrew a few nights a week. We are just loving all of the stuff we are making! Our meals this week are:
Meatless Monday - spinach salad with yellow bell peppers, celery, carrots, cucumbers, hot pepper jack cheese, sunflower seeds, and a homemade honey mustard vinaigrette (Andrew added black beans to his salad)
Taco Tuesday - chipotle lime chicken tacos (Andrew's making his a taco salad), we had these last week with Sara and I'm tweaking it a bit to really amp it up even more
Whatsacomeandago Wednesday - Hungry Girl-fredo, a fettucini recipe that has a package of tofu fettucini shaped noodles, a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss, a teaspoon of sour cream and two teaspoons of grated parmesan: that's a serving for one person, and it's 99 calories!!!! First time making it, can't wait to try it!
That's a Crock Thursday - a buffalo chicken salad type recipe we're gonna try
For the Love of Cod Friday - ended up turning into Date Night because Andrew will be out of town all weekend
When we're splurging and getting a treat, we end up at Subway or Jimmy John's. Which isn't THAT horrible considering our treats used to be pizza or Taco Bell/other fast food. I still fit in everything I fit into at the end of the juicing thing, but I haven't weighed myself since that ended. We plan on doing a 10-15 day juice fast here again soon and I want to wait until the end of that to see where I am at. Andrew has pretty much maintained, too, I believe. I think we both put on a couple of pounds when we started eating: but that was to be expected. We have tried pizza and real fettucini and stuff like that, and we find we don't have the same taste for it that we used to. We crave salads. I crave pickles, haha, although lately chocolate chip cookies have been a craving (my medicine throws off my hormones and my cravings literally change constantly, I would think I was pregnant if I didn't know I wasn't, haha).
So our life is pretty awesome right now. I recently have realized that I still hold some anger and resentment at some people in my life, and there's no point in it anymore. They aren't going to change, they aren't going to acknowledge the things they've done or apologize, so why should I dwell? I need to move on and forgive them anyways, and realizing that has actually taken away a LOT of stress. I come from a long line of grudge-holders, haha. It's easy to harbor that anger, but it's so pointless in the end. So I've decided to stop. I'm still working on it, but I can do this. I've been praying about it and the Lord is making moves in my life, subtle ones, that are making things better.
I don't really have more of an update on the infertility stuff, we are waiting for Andrew's appointment next month to get more information. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we go through this process, as much as we pray about it and try to stay positive...it's tough. It's hard to keep hoping and having faith. We know that WHATEVER the final answer is, it's God's will, and that will be all that matters.
I love you all, thanks for being so patient while I had a million other things going on and kept putting off blogging! ;)
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