I love to find cheap helpers at the grocery store and doctor them up with fresh ingredients.  I've had a ton of luck with the new Campbells Slow Cooker sauces.  Usually, I don't follow the directions and use up whatever markdown meat I have in the freezer.  I buy them for the flavors!

A little note about markdown food: it's SO worth it!  I scan the whole meat section for orange stickers and stock up if the price is right.  Some easy tips:

• Always look at the quality of the meat: brown or grayish meat is a NO NO
• Repackage and freeze, or use that night.  Don't let it sit any longer in the fridge.
• Consider adding a marinade or seasoning before freezing.  Pork chops could be seasoned with jerk spices or a tasty Hawaiian marinade.   When you take them out of the freezer, they are infused with tons of flavor as they defrost. 
• Larger cuts of meat like pork shoulders or pot roasts are GREAT markdowns.  I love pork roasts for pulled pork or carnitas!

For this recipe, I used the Campbells Slow Cooker sauce in Mexican Red Chile Taco.  Another reason these sauces are great is that they have SO much flavor.  If you don't have a ton of spices at home, you can use these without the addition of anything else!  We had a pork roast in the freezer and carnitas sounded perfect for dinner.

When it's hot and humid, the slow cooker is my BFF.  I can start dinner after breakfast and have it ready by dinner time with minimal effort.  Even with the air on, our house gets super warm with the oven on.  I try to avoid it as much as I can....although it's quite hard!

Here's what you need:

• 1 pork roast (this is a Boston shoulder roast) around 3-3.5 pounds
• 1 packet Campbell's Slow Cooker Sauces- Mexican Red Chile
• 1 (4 oz) can of diced green chiles
• 1 cup chopped onion
• Toppings: lime wedges, cilantro, green onions, lettuce, cheese
• Corn or flour torillas
• Slow Cooker

1. Preheat the slow cooker to LOW heat.  
2. Season the roast with salt + pepper.
3. Add onion, chiles and roast to the cooker.  Top with sauce packet and cover.  Try to avoid peeking! 
4. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours, or until falling apart.  
• Ours did have quite a bit of extra juices, but keep them for after shredding.  You don't want dry carnitas!
• You can try HIGH heat, but I'm not sure you will get the same juicy flavor. Let me know if you try it!
5.  After cooking, remove meat from cooker and pull the meat with two forks.  It should fall right apart! Return to cooking juices and serve with tongs.  They will be juicy!
6. Toast the tortillas over open flame or in a pan before serving.

For sides, we like green quinoa or rice.  Simply make rice/quinoa like you normally do.  On the side, blend a handful of each: cilantro, green onions and spinach/kale with a splash of chicken stock and zest of a lime (save the actual lime for later).  Add to hot rice or quinoa and mix, adding a dash of salt and squeeze of lime.  It adds a great POW of flavor! Mexican rice is tasty too!

Also, you always can use some chips with salsa and guac.

 Have you tried the Slow Cooker Sauces?  What's your favorite?

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Slow Cooker Southwest White Chicken Chili

Sometimes, you magically come up with a great recipe by mistake.  Don't you love when that happens? Since I've been trying to only do one big shopping trip a month, by the end of month we are at the end of our freezer and pantry supply...which is perfect and hard at the same time!  It forces you to be creative!

One day, I was craving white chicken chili, but we were out of chicken breasts.  I did happen to have some ground chicken in the freezer.  Voila! This recipe was born!

I have this amazing new Ninja cooking system (another swag item from BlogHer!) which is an oven, slow cooker AND a stove-top in one.  I KNOW!  It seems too good to be true, but I am in LOVE! I can even steam and make CUPCAKES in this thing.  It is so fun to play with!

I was able to saute the ground chicken first with some onion, then I just started cleaning out the pantry: beans, chicken stock, tomatoes, green chilis and a packet of White Chicken Chili seasoning. At first, I wanted to add sour cream, but we were out.  Alas, I used plain yogurt (Greek would be even better!).  I had some fresh corn I added during the last 20 minutes of cooking, but canned or frozen would work too!

This chili has a mild heat that is  perfect to load up with toppings: especially lime, avocado and some cilantro.

Yes, I do realize it's summer still...but I love soup!  Served with a salad, this is still the perfect dinner to beat the heat!  And it's quite healthy!

Ingredients

• 1.25 lbs of ground chicken (lean) or 93% ground turkey
• 1 can of Great Northern Beans, 1 can Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (regular or Greek)
• 1 can (5 oz) chopped green chiles
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup fresh, frozen or canned corn 
• 1 cup reduced sodium chicken stock
• 1 packet McCormick White Chicken Chili mix
• 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained (the ones with chilis add heat!)
• Optional: Perfect Pinch fiesta citrus seasoning
• Topping suggestions: green onions, jalapenos, cilantro, Mexican blend cheese, avocado, tortilla chips, lime

Let's (Slow) Cook!

1. Cook the ground chicken with the onions before adding to the slow cooker, season with the Fiesta Citrus seasoning, if you want!
2. Add everything else to the slow cooker, except toppings.
3. Cook:
• High: 3-4 hours
• Low: 6-7 hours
4. Top with whatever you want and enjoy!  If it seems thin, mash the beans up a bit.  It's great with another dollop of yogurt!

What are your favorite toppers for chili?

Mmmm Mondays: crock-pot chicken cacciatore

I absolutely love my crock-pot.  Running around with the girls all day, it is so great to have a low-effort and amazing meal waiting for us.  This cacciatore recipe has been in my recipe binder for a while, it was from an old Women's Day.  Usually, this is for a nice cold winter day, but with this weather I wanted to bring it out again.

All you have to do is make some rice or mashed potatoes and a veggie and you're set for dinner!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups marinara sauce (I use Prego)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 peppers thinly sliced (optional)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/4 cup red or white wine (I prefer red)
• 1/2 teaspoon: rosemary and kosher salt
• 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
• NOTE: I am not a huge fan of bone-in chicken, but I still recommend it.  I tried it with skinless and it turned into a mush.  I did like bone-in breasts though.
•  8 oz mushrooms, sliced

 Mix it up!

1. Turn on the slow cooker.  
• HIGH- cooks in 2.5-3.5 hours, LOW- cooks in 5-7 hours
2. Chop veggies, skin the chicken (a paring knife helps).
3. Mix marinara sauce, onions, tomato paste, wine, rosemary and salt in the slow cooker.
4. Add chicken and mushrooms.  Mix to cover all of the chicken.
5. Put the lid on and you're good to go!  I find the sauce gets a bit thin, so I add some corn starch near the end to thicken it up.

What's your favorite crock-pot meal?