Slow Cooker Pork Chili Verde

So I hesitate to call this a recipe, but really, it’s delish.  And you could make your own salsa verde and then it’s a LITTLE more recipe-like. 😉  Regardless, it’s awesome, jars or homemade or whatever.  I would say this just became a favorite for both of us.

 

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Recipe!

Pepper Steak

This was pretty quick and easy, and definitely did well with an overnight marinade.  Next time, I’d double the marinade, but wouldn’t make too many other changes.   We actually served it over shirataki noodles rather than rice this go-round and it was good – but rice would be better as leftovers.  That said, the steak and peppers are fine on their own as leftovers!

 

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Tibetan Beef and Sichuan Peppercorn Dumplings

My favorite cookbook is definitely, “Asian Dumplings,” by Andrea Nguyen.  I’ve yet to make anything I didn’t like, and some of them I really love.  They are great to share with friends!  We had a great time with our friends for a dumplings, ramen, and games night, and this was one of the meat dumplings I made.  I really enjoyed it…different than the pork dumplings I’m used to, and very interesting!  These are called Sha Momo, and I highly recommend you check them out, as well as the entire book!   Forgive the photo – it was post-steaming and it was…well, steamy. 😉

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Recipe!

Hoisin Cocktail Meatballs

We recently hosted a dumplings, ramen, and games night and thought we wanted something…well, not wrapped in a dumpling wrapper or part of a noodle bowl.  Or really, I saw these, thought they looked awesome, and they were. 😉  We kept these warm in a slow cooker during the party, which worked well but I’d advise making sure you stir them now and then, which I forgot to do.  I would definitely make these again, especially for a party – I might double the recipe next time as well.  Leftovers were pretty good. 😉

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Pork Tenderloin with Salsa Verde

This was an awesome weeknight meal!  I happened to have a jar of Trader Joe’s salsa verde on hand (my favorite jarred salsa!), so this was a done deal.  The pork we had in the freezer was a loin roast, so a bit of a pain to butterfly (largely because I’m not that good at it), but worth the trouble.   Very simple and really, really tasty.  We had this with some simple steamed green beans tossed with the Penzeys Ruth Ann’s mix – we’re addicted to this one on *everything.*  The combo was great.  The pork recipe came from Chow and I didn’t do anything differently. I might double the mustard next time, just because we love mustard, but really it’s not necessary.

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Recipe!

Butternut Squash Soup

Shawn makes the best soups, and this butternut squash with an array of different veggies was definitely right up there with my favorites he’s made.  This makes a lot, is very adaptable, and *very* filling.  We had this with some garlic flatbread crackers for dipping, but honestly this is so filling that a side isn’t needed.  Great for lunches!

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Recipe!

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Taco Bowls

While this recipe was underwhelming, it really has potential if seasoned correctly.  In retrospect, I really should have thought out how much seasoning I was using for a slow cooker recipe.  It was pretty good once it was mixed with all the taco toppings, but it would have been excellent if it had more seasoning.  I doubled the spices in the recipe below, which originally came from Gimme Some Oven.  Or, you could use a homemade taco seasoning mix – that’s what I will do next time.  I think a large flank steak might do well, too.  I used a chuck roast and wouldn’t again.

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Recipe!

Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja

Wow, we loved this!  I got this recipe from the really fun “My Big Fat Cuban Family” website.  I’ve had her recipes bookmarked to try forever and finally got around to this one – we’ll be doing more of Marta’s recipes soon.  This was easy and honestly, we actually liked it better sans rice (good for me and low-carbin’ it).  My only mistake was over-salting and it was still great.

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Greek Marinated Chicken

This was the first recipe I have tried from Budget Bytes, and we loved it!  Simple and very tasty.  We baked the chicken, but it would be excellent on the grill.  The only change I made was to use Greek yogurt for plain yogurt, and I think it went well.  We served this with Greek green beans, one of my favorite sides that unfortunately didn’t turn out (if you use diced tomatoes, watch they don’t contain chiles 😉 ).

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Recipe!

Fish Fillets in Curry Sauce

This was a Madhur Jaffrey recipe that looked really interesting, and Shawn picked up some nice haddock fillets so it was a good fit.  We really liked both the simple preparation of the fish and the sauce!  I am not usually a star at breading/baking fish, but I followed this to a tee and it came out perfectly.  The sauce would also be really nice with chicken or pork as well.  All-around great recipe…pretty much like every Madhur recipe we’ve tried. 🙂  We had this with ginger-garlic broccoli on the side.

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Recipe!