Lazy Day Slow Cooker ideas-Tons of recipes from 2 easy steps.

So, its the Holiday Season, are you as busy as we are here at 3 Moms?  I know we have not been posting much and we apologize for that.  I don't know about the other 2 moms but in my house things have been crazy with Christmas parties, preschool Christmas programs, visiting Santa, and even a yucky 2 week long ickiness that swept through the family.  Things are slowing down as Christmas approaches so hopefully the posts will pick back up.

With all the craziness that I am sure we all are experiencing right now I thought I would share some easy ideas that I have been taking advantage of the past few weeks.  I seriously make some sort of version of the following at least 4-5 days a week.  These are so easy and so versatile, I am sure you can come up with some ways I haven't thought of to use these.  If you do please share here or on our FB wall.

What You Will Need:
a crock pot
some sort of cut of chicken or pork.  Any cut of either will work
1 jar of salsa OR 1 bottle of BBQ sauce.


Step 1: Cook meat-
Take whatever cut of meat you are using and add it into the crock pot.
Add in either 1 jar of salsa OR 1 bottle BBQ sauce depending on what you are wanting to make.
Move around a bit so that sauce is covering all sides of the meat.
Cook on low 5-7 hrs. (depending on cut-bone in and larger cuts take longer)


Step 2-Decide what dish you would like to "feature" the meat in-
This is the fun part, there are so many delicious ways to serve this up, the combinations are almost endless.  I am going to list a few of our families favorites.  Use your imagination and I am sure you can come up with many more than I have listed here.

Pork Tenderloin + BBQ Sauce-  With this I can make pulled pork sandwiches on homemade buns (click here for recipe).  Or I just shred up the pork and serve with homemade rolls (same dough recipe as buns) and mashed potatoes (made with golden Yukon potatoes YUM!).  Use the BBQ sauce as a "gravy" over the pork meat and potatoes, SO GOOD!
You can also serve over a bed of rice (any rice you like, we like Jasmine rice), I like to mix in some steamed broccoli to this.

B/S Chicken Breasts (or bone-in chicken breasts) + Salsa-  If using bone-in breasts shred meat off of bone before serving.
With this I can shred the meat up to use in a whole gamut of Mexican dishes including chicken soft tacos, chicken burritos, chicken hard shell tacos, chicken tostadas, Tanya's Potato Tacos, quesadillias, chicken enchiladas, etc etc. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want.  Mix it up with flour and corn tortillas and serve with all of your families favorite toppings.  We like more salsa, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, avocados and black beans.

Pork Chops + BBQ Sauce- Easy way to make BBQ pork chops w/o all the work, serve with you favorite sides.

B/S Chicken breasts + BBQ Sauce-  Again you can use bone in chicken breasts too, just shred meat off the bone before serving.
Like the pork tenderloin above you can serve the chicken as is with mashed potatoes and rolls, you can shred to make pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches or you can serve over rice with broccoli.
Another thing you can do is make some pizza dough (this dough recipe makes great pizza crust too).  Make sure to scoop out some sauce to use as the pizza "sauce", top with cheese and any other topping you might like.  Makes an excellent BBQ chicken pizza.

Bone-in Chicken legs, thighs, or wings + BBQ Sauce- An easy meal to make BBQ chicken, serve with your favorite sides.  If you like dark meat you can also do any of the above things for the chicken breast and BBQ sauce.

Pork tenderloin + Salsa- You can make any of the same dishes under the chicken breast and salsa.

If you can come up with some more things to make we would love to hear your ideas.  We will credit you if we add them to the list.
As always, we love for you to share pictures on our FB wall if you make any of our recipes.

I am going to start experimenting with things to make using a jar of spaghetti sauce and various meats.  I will let you know what I come up with.

Here are some pics of a few things I have made using these ideas:

Shredded Chicken and salsa inside of a jalapeno cheddar wrap-
brush with oil and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes to make crisp.

Chicken and salsa paired with Tanya's mashed potato tacos

Shredded chicken and salsa made into chicken tostadas

I thought I had more pics than this, they may have been lost last month when our computer crashed.  I know I had a picture of the BBQ pork tenderloin.  That's what I am making for dinner tonight in fact so I will take a pic and upload it after dinner.

Mashed Potato Tacos.

Looking for something to do with the leftover mashed potatoes from thanksgiving? Want easy, budget friendly food you can whip up for family and friends without slaving over the kitchen? then this is for you!

Every time I have friends or family over I make this dish, it's simple (I am the queen of simplicity when it comes to the kitchen) it's a definite crowd pleaser, and you can make it ahead and not slave over the kitchen which means more time to enjoy with your guests. I dare you to try these! ;)

all you need are mashed potatoes (any way you make them) if you are using leftover mashed potatoes and don't have enough double the size of the batch by incorporating steamed cauliflower, I do it anyway as it is a waist friendly and easy way to hide veggies in this meal :)

You need tortillas, oil, and toppings such as chopped lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, salsa.. whatever you would add to a regular beef taco.

get your mashed potatoes (these look a different color because I add seasoned salt to them but you can do whatever you want, that easy!)

heat some tortillas (microwave, griddle etc however you like just to make them pliable) and add a spoonful to them fold them and set aside.

make a stack of them as many as you need, or don't need ..the beauty of this is you can refrigerate and make the next day, you can set aside until your guests arrive , you can even freeze them!

As you chop your toppings you can start frying!  love using my cast Iron skillet for this...

As your guests  or dinner time arrives you can lay all the toppings on the table and bring these babies out! your job is done! everyone can build their own tacos!  fun fun fun!!

How easy was that??
Enjoy with some Mexican salsa

post by Tanya E.

Easy Mexican Salsa

There are a lot of options when it comes to salsa there is "pico de gallo" (the salsa most of the U.S considers salsa) which is chopped tomato, cilantro, onion, pepper etc.. there is  jarred or canned and there is authentic Mexican salsa...  Pico de gallo is the chopped stuff  it is not traditionally called salsa.. salsa is something more of a consistency of bbq sauce or sriracha. It is usually tomato based but can be either red tomato or tomatillo (green tomato) based.  I usually make a chile de arbol tomato sauce concoction I will address later but for now I will show you how to make a pico de gallo/salsa hybrid, the one I know how to make like this involves a molcajete (mole-cah-hay-teh)  a sort of a mortar made out of stone where you can ground spices, peppers, grains etc... But for now I will post this easier  version...

I learned how to make this from one of my best friends.. It's always been a hit on parties she brings chips and her salsa.. everyone always asks "what is the secret?" and I finally got her to tell me.. though it's not  a big deal.. what it is ..is that everyone that makes it adds a different flavor to it.. everyone makes it their own.. even if it's the same ingredients and measurements...

anyway  here it is...

4 fresh jalapeno peppers more or less depending on your  tolerance (or serrano peppers)
2 cloves of garlic
half a fresh cilantro (coriander) bunch
1 can of whole tomatoes
salt to taste

in a skillet or pan toast the jalapenos and the garlic until blackened  a bit.

In your blender's "chop" option, chop the jalapeno, garlic cloves and cilantro, chop half a second, chop again, chop half a second..chop again.  (excuse the side way images I have been trying to figure out why it's doing that , the original images are not sideways)

add the can of tomatoes

chop for a couple seconds and stop, chop for another couple seconds and stop again, you want the salsa to be chunky and not too blended.

and here is the final product enjoy with any Mexican dish or simply with chips! the easiest thing to bring to a party! ... also I like adding chopped scallions to mine as well if you like onions you can certainly add them! :)

enjoy!

post by Tanya E.

Tostadas de atun (Tuna tostadas)

Made the shredded beef tostadas? have some left over? Well here's another thing you can make with those yummy round things..  This recipe is low in calories, low in fat, very refreshing and delicious.. seriously give it a try! I am sure you will love it!

Ingredients

3 cans of chunk light tuna in water
3 tomatoes chopped
1/2 iceberg lettuce chopped
3 tablespoons of mayo
3 large limes or 7 key limes (you want limes not lemons it does make a huge difference)
1 small bunch of fresh chopped cilantro
*optional.. 3 serrano peppers finely chopped.
salt to taste
and of course your tostadas.


chop all your veggies up..
in a large container add the tuna (drain the water out of it first) and mix with the mayo

add the tomato, cilantro first mix it up then add the lettuce and lime juice and mix everything up..

you're done! easy peasy huh??

If you choose to use serranos they look like this..

kinda like jalapenos only smaller...  caution as they are quite hot!  when we were kids my mom used to set some aside for us and the put the serranos in. Chop them very finely or you'll regret it ;)

and the finished product.....

Easiest meal you'll ever make! it also could be taken as a side to a potluck with some tortilla chips instead of guacamole.  Also instead of regular tuna sandwich this tastes delicious between 2 slices of sourdough!

enjoy! <3

Tanya E.

Tostadas de Carne deshebrada (Shredded beef tostadas)

Tostadas.. (Toes-tad-ahs)
They are a magnificent little tortilla that has been fried or baked making it sturdy and flat. They taste like tortilla chips, you can top them with beans, with cheese, with tuna, hummus, chili, seafood.. the possibilities are delicious. Yesterday we had shredded beef ones at my home, and today we will make some with tuna I will post the recipe to that as well..

my favorite...

It's really simple you need a can of beans. 
1 lb of top round steak London broil beef
toppings
chopped iceberg lettuce
sour cream
cheese
avocado slices
tomato
your favorite salsa.

In a large saucepan put your whole piece of beef along with 2 cloves of garlic and salt to taste.  Boil the meat until it's cooked it will look like this.

Shred the beef with your hands, I was having  a bit of trouble so I started chopping it into little pieces with a large butcher knife until my mom came over at the right minute and showed me her trick when she can't shred, she shredded it with a fork.  Beef will look like this

Heat your beans, grab a tostada spread some beans on it and add the beef and all your favorite toppings. Simple and cheap.. my two favorite words when it comes to making dinner.

Enjoy! <3
post by Tanya E.

Enfrijoladas a mexican comfort food.

Enfrijoladas were always a staple at my mom's house, they're fast easy and cheap!
Well depends..
I like making my pinto beans from scratch but you can make any variation you'd like.
heck you could even use canned beans!
The original recipe calls for Manchego cheese and Mexican cream  but I use what I have so
I used jack cheese and sour cream.
I am not a measuring kind of person so I'll do a "guesstimate"
3-10  "arbol chiles" you can find these peppers in the spice section or the Mexican section of your grocery store..
I use 10 but I like things spicy, so of course for a milder spice add only 2 or 3.
2 cups of Cooked pinto beans
2 cups of bean broth or water
cheese  I prefer Jack cheese, pepperjack or mozzarella
sour cream
iceberg lettuce chopped

and of course tortillas....

Now let me tell you a little bit about tortillas.  Those packaged ones like Mission or guerrero tortillas are "no bueno"
If you have a Mexican store or know where to get the good kind, do so.. Tortillas should not have preservatives and they
should be yellow! Now if you don't have something like that and you must use the packaged kind fine.. just don't get mission!
They fall apart too easily for this dish.


Take a griddle or skillet and roast the peppers
add peppers, beans, bean broth an puree in blender it should be a batter consistency
if it's too watery don't worry it will thicken again when you put the sauce back in the skillet

in a skillet add some oil and fry as many tortillas (on both sides) as you want this is to make them pliable.
you should have a nice stack of fried tortillas.

In the same skillet get rid of any excess oil and pour your bean sauce and heat

Here comes to fun part, traditionally you would take a tortilla and let it dip on one side then flip it to dip the other side
You fold it in half then fold the half in half..  you get little triangles.
add cheese on top sour cream and lettuce and you're done!

However my husband likes them like this you dip tortilla on both sides, add cheese, close tortilla in half serve them
add more cheese on top and your toppings.

 I have also seen people roll them up like enchiladas and stuff them with chicken or cheese and then backed in the oven.
the beauty of this dish is you can make it your own!
work with what you have!
I'm on Weight watchers so a more low/fat calorie way would be to "fake fry": the tortillas
using a lot of cooking spray then using mozzarella cheese instead of jack.
The sky is the limit!
Enjoy! <3
post by Tanya E.