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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How to Make Turkey Tacos {Plus a Stuffed Pepper Recipe!}

I thought I might write a few recipes focused on ground turkey.  In our house, we don't eat too much ground beef--it's all turkey.  Once you know how to season and cook with it, you'll be a fan too!  It's cheaper, healthier and can replace any meal made with beef. 

To start off, I thought I would give some tips for buying ground turkey.

• Most packages are 1.25 lbs.  It's a bit of adjustment to season if you're used to just 1 pound packages of beef.  When seasoning ground turkey, you do need to add a bit more than you would for other ground meat. 
• Start off with "Lean" labeled packages (or 93/7).  Extra lean is quite dry if you don't know how to cook it.  Sometimes premade burger patties will use both dark and white meat and they will be a fattier variety.  I prefer just making my own burgers.
• Keep your eyes peeled on the Sunday paper coupons or on Coupons.com....very frequent coupons lately!  Pair with a sale and stock up!

Our favorite recipe: tacos!  Serve with some pantry salsa and you have dinner in less than 20 minutes! 

What you'll need:

• 1 package of Lean ground turkey
• 1 can (4 oz) of green chiles
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons taco seasoning (about 1.5 packets)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Optional: 1 can rinsed black beans + 1/2 cup frozen corn

1.  In a large pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil over medium heat.  Add onions, green chiles and garlic. (Also corn, if wanted) Cook 3-4 minutes, until soft.  Add package of ground turkey.  Use a spatula to break up turkey as it's browning.
2. Season with cumin and taco seasoning about halfway through cooking.  (Since you don't drain it, you can season early).  Cook about 3-4 minutes longer.  Add water and turn to low heat.   
3. Optional: Add black beans.  Cook on low for 5 minutes. 
4. Serve on taco shells or in a taco salad!

Tired of tacos?  Make some stuffed peppers!  I love to make these when I find markdown produce pepper bags and I'll freeze half of the batch!

This recipe is perfect for a quick and healthy dinner.  I added quinoa instead of rice to keep it light.

Here's what you need:

• 1 cup of quinoa, cooked as directed with 2 cups chicken stock
• Turkey taco meat (see recipe above) making with black beans and corn- I used about 2 cups for my peppers and had plenty left over
• 1 cup shredded Mexican Cheese
• 5-6 green peppers- poblanos or red peppers work great too!
• Garnish: cilantro, salsa, guacamole, green onion, sour cream/Greek yogurt

Let's Cook!

1. Cook 1 cup of quinoa as directed with 2 cups chicken stock (there will be some leftover)
2. Preheat oven to 400*.
3. Cut peppers in half and seed them.  Place in a sprayed 9x13 pan.
4. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup cooked quinoa with about 2 cups taco mixture.
5. Fill peppers generously.  Top with a sprinkle of cheese.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and peppers are browning. 
7. Top with favorite garnishes and serve with a salad!

What's your favorite way to enjoy turkey? Head on over to my FB page to answer that question and I'll draw one lucky winner on Thursday (5/15/14) to get 4 FREE product coupons for Jennie-O Turkey products!