The shredded meat cooks up in the crockpot all day, and is easily adapted to individual tastes. I made up two trays of my mom’s famous enchiladas the night before, and woke up early on wednesday to chop, grate, and prep all of the toppings before work.

I finished my training at 5:30PM and arrived home a few minutes before six. Within ten minutes, our friends started arriving and I felt prepared. My mom had come over earlier to pop the enchiladas in the oven (that helped!). It was a simple menu that allowed me to spend time with friends, not frantic in my kitchen. Strawberry, fresh raspberry, and original margaritas, tacos, and enchiladas… what’s not to love?

Here is the basic recipe, but feel free to spice it up, add a can of Rotel, or tomatoes, a little extra seasoning, more onions, a few jalapenos…  you can’t go wrong.

Shredded Beef Crockpot Tacos

printable recipe

1 ½ – 2 ½  lbs boneless beef chuck roast

1 medium onion, sliced

1 ½ cup water

1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

1 (16 ounce) jar taco sauce

1 (7 ounce) can diced green chilies

Directions

Cut chuck roast into large pieces and brown on stove. Place beef and onion in slow cooker. Combine water and seasoning mix in small bowl. Pour over beef and onion. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or until tender. Shred beef with a fork.

Have a great week!

If you, like the rest of my world, are completely done with Halloween, skip this post, do not pass go or celebrate Thanksgiving, and head directly toward Christmas. I picked up the carpool yesterday and noticed that all of the Christmas wreaths are already up in our town center. Driving back into my neighborhood, I saw one of my neighbors hanging Christmas lights (I swear!). And before my son walked out the door for school today, he told me that I needed to put the Halloween decorations away and start making the house look Christmas-y. Is it just me or is a major holiday in between being skipped? Instead of being cynical, I’m going to assume that people are just excited for the holidays and the wonderful spirit that comes with it.

But before, I call my dad over to put up my tree (which by the way, is always hugely entertaining) I thought I’d post a couple of links to some of the yummy food our guests enjoyed at our Halloween carving party.

Mom’s Amazing Enchiladas

Spider Stenciled Cake

Chocolate Spider Web Cupcakes

Creepy Eyeballs (Follow the recipe for brownie pops, cover in white candy coating, place an m&m on top, melt red candy coating and place in a small Ziploc, cut off the tip and pipe.)

Dracula’s Sweet Tooth Martini  (an apple/cranberry martini that would be great for the holidays)

Candy Corn Infused Vodka (This time around we mixed the candy corn vodka and orange juice – really good!)

On a cruise to Mexico this summer I found some pretty funny items for Bunco, like the naughty shot glasses I used for party favors and the small sombreros that topped the napkins. 

I’m into making party planning easy so I prepared the chicken and corn for dinner the night before and made extra for the Mexican salad.  The enchiladas were made the day before so on the day of the party all you need to make is the guacamole and salad dressing.

Chipotle Grilled Chicken

1/4 cup canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup onion, chopped

2 tablespoons cilantro, freshly chopped

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

4 chicken breasts, skinned and boned

1.  Combine chipotle chili, olive oil, garlic, onion, cilantro, paprika, ground cumin, chili powder and salt.

2.  Place chicken in Ziplock and pour above mixture over chicken.  Marinate at least 1 hour and preferably overnight.

3.  Grill on medium-high until chicken is done, brushing occasionally with reserved marinade.

Chipotle Grilled Corn

1/2 stick butter

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 teaspoons chipotle in adobo sauce, minced

2 teaspoons molasses

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

6 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned.

1.  Add butter, orange juice, chipotle, molasses and salt in a small bowl and microwave until melted.  Stir in cilantro.

2.  Place corn on grill and brush with butter mixture until corn reaches 120 degrees.

Mexican Salad

1 bag romaine lettuce

3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

chipotle grilled corn removed from 2 cobs

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup jalepeno jack cheese, grated

Honey Lime Dressing

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1.  Toss all salad ingredients in large bowl.

2.  Whisk dressing ingredients and pour over salad.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3.  For the Mexican Bunco I deep fried a medium size flour tortilla in a tortilla basket maker (Sur La Table) and served the salad in the fried tortilla basket with a dollop of guacamole.

My husband made enchiladas for the Pillsbury Bake Off.  We call them Kenchiladas!  They are delicious and the best part is they can be comletely made the day before.

Kenchiladas                                                                     

2 cups Ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups jalepeno jack cheese, grated

1 tablespoon chopped green chiles

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 egg

8 flour tortillas

1 can enchilada sauce

2 cups cheddar cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a large bowl mix Ricotta and jack cheese.  Add chilies, green onions, cumin, and cayenne.  Stir in egg.

3.  Place mixture on 8 tortillas, dividing evenly and covering each tortilla.  Roll tortillas and place seam side down, in an 8 1/2 X 11 pan.

4.  Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas and top with cheddar cheese.  Bake for 50 minutes.

Last week we had our end of summer beach party with our friends. The kids put on their own episode of America’s Got Talent around the bonfire. Even the littlest one, who’s only two, participated with his “Where is Thumbkin?” singing debut. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. The kids told jokes, did some funky dances, and sang their hearts out. My boy and his best buddy even performed a stunt show act – let’s hope that’s not in his future. The older I get, the more I appreciate these moments. This is what makes all of the struggles in life worth it - being in the company of the ones you love, there’s nothing better than that!!

America’s Got Talent wasn’t the only highlight. My mom and dad are our official gourmet beach chefs, so we’re always happy when they can join us. We do the traditional hot dogs and smores, but the two of them put together these amazing, five-star, restaurant worthy chipolte chicken sandwiches, complete with crispy bacon and guacamole. We’re talking a beach bonfire – but even paper plates and plastic utensils won’t stop them from creating a gourmet menu. My mom now officially has her kitchen in working condition, except for the little things, which I think will take another year at the rate the workers are moving. But don’t expect her to be blogging anytime soon, she’s leaving for a cruise at the end of the week. The woman never stops! I’ll try to pin her down between vacations and coerce her into putting a few more of her secret recipes into print. 

Chipolte Chicken Sandwich

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

6 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 chicken breasts, boned and skinned.

Chipotle Chili Sauce (see recipe)

Guacamole (See recipe)

16 slices bacon

8 slices red onion

8 cibatta rolls

DIRECTIONS:

Whisk the first 9 ingredients in a medium bowl.

Place chicken in the bowl and marinate for a few hours or overnight.

Remove chicken from marinade and grill chicken brushing occasionally with reserved marinade.

CHIPOTLE CHILI SAUCE

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped

1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

Mix above ingredients in a small bowl and place in refrigerator.

GUACAMOLE

3 avacados, mashed

2 teaspoons sour cream

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Mix above ingredients and place in refrigerator.

Fry bacon, set aside.

Slice onions, set aside

To assemble spread chipotle sauce on one half of cibatta roll.  Place chicken on top of chipotle sauce and top with guacamole.  Add bacon and onion slices.

It’s finally summer, which means it’s also hot dog season. Americans consume 20 billion hot dogs a year and about 7 billion in the summer months. Summer is also the season when the thoroughbreds in Orange County share the track with the four-legged hot dogs in the Wiener Nationals. This year our pup (The Naughty One posing for her fans on the left) will be back at the track vying for the title and this time around her brother Odie will be racing too.

Max is last year’s champ and the one to beat. Just look at that form! Each year Wienershnitzel sponsors this event and the money raised goes to a local animal shelter. It is hilarious seeing these dogs race. Some go the wrong direction. Some never make it out of the box and then there’s usually one who actually sprints to the finish line. Winnie, our pup, became a local celebrity last year. She came in second in her race, but was written up in all of the local newspapers and was even asked to serve as the Master of Ceremonies for Octoberfest last fall. I’m glad there’s someone in my house who enjoys the spotlight!

Since we’re talking hot dogs today, I thought I’d post a gourmet hot dog recipe. This month Bon Appetit is sharing some extreme hot dog makeovers in a current article, Around the World in 80 Dogs. This one’s an authentic German dog to honor of all those little OC pups in training.

Beer-Braised Hot Dogs with Braised Sauerkraut (Bon Appetit)

Ingredients

SAUERKRAUT

• 3 cups refrigerated sauerkraut, rinsed, drained
• 1/2 cup dark beer (such as porter)
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

HOT DOGS

• 1 12-ounce bottle Belgian kriek (cherry) or raspberry lambic beer
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 all-beef hot dogs
• 6 grilled hot dog buns
• Mustard

Preparation

FOR SAUERKRAUT

Simmer sauerkraut, beer, and sugar in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Season with pepper.

FOR HOT DOGS

Bring beer and sugar to simmer in medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add hot dogs; simmer until dogs plump and beer syrup coats lightly, about 8 minutes. Transfer dogs to grill; reserve syrup. Top each bun with grilled hot dog and sauerkraut; drizzle with reserved beer syrup. Serve with mustard.