LENTIL SOUP

This warm and hearty soup is made in the crockpot using ham hocks, dry lentils and vegetables. Leave the house and come home to a wonderful meal that tastes fantastic!

 

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INGREDIENTS:
Lentils, one 14 ounce package of dry
Onion, one diced
Ham Hock, one (you can either used left over ham or by a hock at the store)
Celery, three stalks diced
Carrots, 3 diced
Potatoes, 3 diced
Garlic, 2 teaspoons
Bouillon Cubes, chicken three
Bouillon Broth, 32 ounces
Olive Oil, 2 Tablespoons
Butter, 2 Tablespoons
Wine, white 2 cups
Water, 4 cups
Salt, 1 Teaspoons
Freshly ground pepper. 2 Teaspoons

DIRECTIONS:
Rinse the lentils overnight and set aside.  In a medium saucepan, heat the oil.  Then add the 2 T of butter, ham hock, onion, 3 Bouillon cubes and 2 cups of broth, celery and carrots, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cook until tender…about 15 to 25 minutes.
Peal and dice the potatoes and add directly into the crock pot.  Salt and pepper the potatoes.  Add the lentils on top of the potatoes.
Add the ingredients that have cooked down into the crock pot along with 4 cups of water, and 2 cups of white wine and the remaining chicken broth…cover and cook for 6 hours.

If you love being able to leave the house for hours…come home and not only have your house smell wonderful but have a hearty dinner ready…this dish is for you.  Serve with hot bread and a salad.

All the prep work can be done the day or two before, so all you need to do is take it out of the fridge, plug your crock pot in and go.

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While the vegetables are cooking down in the olive oil, butter and chicken broth, dice the potatoes and add to the crock pot.

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It’s warm, thick, rich and tastes good.wonderful…especially on a cold day.
It makes me very happy when the soup basically makes itself…and makes the house smell amazing at the same time.  Crock pot cooking is wonderful because you can make things up ahead of time, leave while it’s cooking, and it’s ready no matter who wants to eat when.

Really something this good should be more difficult to make…but I’m so
glad that it isn’t!

BARBACOA BEEF

Beef brisket cooked inside of a crockpot tender and juicy ready to put inside a tortilla.

 

INGREDIENTS:

Beef Brisket, one 5 to 7 pounds

Beef or Chicken Stock, 4 to 6 cups

Apple Cider Vinegar, 1/2 cup

Chipolte Pepper,  1 can

Red Onion, 1 chopped

Bay Leaves, 5 dry and left whole

Cilantro, 1 bunch chopped

Garlic, 8 cloves smashed

Limes. juice of 4

Cloves, ground 1 teaspoon

Kosher Salt, 1 Tablespoon

Freshly ground pepper, 1 teaspoon

DIRECTIONS:

All the ingredients go into the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours.  After it has cooked for four hours turn the crock pot to warm and let it sit for 6 to 8 hours.  I turned mine to warm before I went to bed and in the morning the meat was fall apart tender and shredded perfectly.

This is enough to make 30 tacos, 30 taquitos or 30 burritos…or any combination of the three. I was at Costco, our large warehouse store, and found a huge brisket and was just going to adjust the recipe for the larger cut of beef.  The only trouble was…it wouldn’t fit into my crock pot.  After running to the store to buy another one, I ended up cutting the meat in half and cooking it in two pots.  Which was fine, because this meat will go into a variety of dishes.  So in this case I was able to double the amount of taquitos and tacos and burritos…it was perfect.  I’d rather fry up a bunch of taquitos all at the same time and only have to dirty the kitchen once.

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I had to cut this huge piece of beef in half and use two crockpots, because as usual, I got totally carried away.  Normally you should look for one between 5 and 7 pounds.

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One can of Chipolte Peppers go into a large bowl.

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One large red onion, diced

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and into the bowl.

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One whole bunch of Cilantro chopped, including the stems.

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Garlic

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Eight garlic cloves, crushed.

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5 whole Bay Leaves into the bowl

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The original recipe called for two teaspoons of crushed cloves, but it was too strong for us, so I cut the amount in half.  If you like it stronger…go for the 2 teaspoons.

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Salt and freshly ground pepper

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The juice of five limes and the zest of one lime.

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The zest gives the meat a wonderful tangy taste.

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You may think this is a lot of lime juice, but really it isn’t.

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Add the Apple Cider into the bowl

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And the last ingredient to be added is the beef stock.

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Mix the ingredients together and pour over the meat that is in the crockpot.

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Cover and let it cook.

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When it’s done, the meat will be unbelievably tender.  Remove it from the liquid and shred using two forks.

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This is what you will end up with…a pot full of seasoned shredded beef that you can use in so many different ways.

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I made up a bunch of taquitos and froze half to have on hand later.

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We also had burritos one night with the meat.  I know that you will love this meat however you choose to use it in a recipe.  Love dishes that are this simple to make.

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This tender meat inside of a taco is crazy good, especially topped with fresh pico.

What could be easier than throwing some ingredients in a crock pot, you go to bed…and when wake up, you find the most amazingly tender, melt in your mouth best beef you have ever tasted all ready for you to eat?  This is that simple! This meat is delicious, easy to make because it’s done in a crock pot, and it is wonderful in taquitos, burritos, tacos, or warm on a hoagie.  We make it often because it is soooo darn good.