Crockpot Korean Beef Tacos with Cucumber Slaw

Ingredients:

For the Korean Beef:

• 5 lb. chuck roast
• 1 10 oz. bottle low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 c packed brown sugar
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 T ginger, grated (Have you discovered the pre-grated/ground ginger in produce section yet? Love!)
• 6 T rice vinegar
• 2 T sesame oil
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T sriracha

For the Cucumber Slaw:

• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 c water
• 1 T Thai Garlic Chili Pepper Sauce
• 1 t salt
• 2-3 cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
• 1/4 c thinly sliced red onion

For the Tacos:

• 16 small tortillas or spring roll wraps
• Cilantro
• Shredded cabbage/cole slaw mix
• Greek yogurt or sour cream
• Sriracha

Directions:

1. To make the Korean beef for the tacos, spray your slow cooker crock with non-stick cooking spray and add the chuck roast.
2. Whisk soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar with the garlic, ginger, sriracha, and oils.
3. Pour over the roast in the crockpot. 
4. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove roast from crockpot and meat just falls apart.  Use the "shredded" beef for the tacos.
5. For the cucumber slaw:
   1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, vinegar, water, chili pepper sauce and salt.  Stir, cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
   2. Add cucumbers to onion in an appropriately sized dish that will allow all the cucumber mixture to be covered with the marinade.
   3. Pour vinegar mixture over the vegetables and let marinate for 30 minutes.
   4. Remove cucumbers with a slotted spoon.
6. To assemble, serve the shredded meat on warmed tortillas topped a spoon of cucumber slaw, shredded cabbage, cilantro, sriracha and a dollop of yogurt.

This recipe is absolutely delicious! We actually used the coleslaw and ate it more like an asian salad, but it was absolutely delicious.  We actually used leftover cucumber slaw marinade and put some of the cabbage in there to marinate as well.  Delicious!  Everyone in our family LOVED it! This recipe inspiration (and the photo) came from the Confections of a Food Bride blog.

Banana Blueberry Coconut Pecan Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 
• 1 T golden flaxmeal (I didn't have any on hand, so left this out)
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 c coarsely chopped pecans
• 1/2 c dried blueberries
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (mashed in my Kitchen Aid, kept a bit lumpy)
• 1/4 c coconut oil, warm enough to be liquid
• 1 T agave nectar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Combine oats, coconut, flaxmeal, salt, pecans, and blueberries. Stir in bananas, oil, agave nectar and vanilla until well combined.
2. Press 2 tablespoons of mixture onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. You could also press into a round cookie cutter for a more uniform looking cookie. I just used my 2 T measuring scoop. Continue with remaining mixture.
3. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until fragrant and golden. Cool on pan. Makes about 15 cookies.

These are delicious! The recipe came from www.kumkuatblog.com and either this or something like this was introduced to me by my sweet friend, Ali.  I HIGHLY recommend making a double batch as they keep well in the fridge and won't last long.  Easy to make and a repeater recipe for sure!

Pizza Stuffed Bell Peppers

Makes 4 Stuffed Peppers
Time: 1 hr, 10 minutes

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground Italian turkey sausage
4 bell peppers, tops cut off and seeds removed 
4 button mushrooms, diced
10 black olives, sliced
1/2 cup tomato or pizza sauce 
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tsp crushed red peppers
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
Dash of salt and pepper
2 cups shredded Italian cheese

Directions
Heat oven to 400 F
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
Once oil is hot, add onions to pan and cook until translucent, stirring often (2 to 3 minutes)
Add garlic and cook for an additional minute, while continuing to stir
Add Italian sausage, peppers and mushrooms to pan, cook until meat is browned, about 10 minutes
Drain meat mixture and add to a large bowl along with olives, tomato sauce, tomato paste, crushed red peppers, herbs, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.
Scoop the filling evenly into each of the four bell peppers and top with shredded cheese.

Place peppers standing up into a small glass baking dish.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until peppers are tender and filling is heated through.

Flying Goat Copy: Grace Veggie Sandwich

After I had the Grace Veggie Sandwich at The Flying Goat, I wanted it again right away so I took it upon myself to recreate it. I added in some grilled chicken and the outcome was divine! To make this meal gluten free, simply make it into a salad. It's equally as delicious!

Ingredients:
2 grilled chicken breasts, sliced (I just seasoned mine with sea salt and pepper)
1 cucumber, sliced
1 onion, caramelized
1 roasted red pepper (you can buy them canned at the store)
1 roma tomato, sliced
4 oz goat cheese, sliced
balsamic vinaigrette dressing
your choice bread (I use the sandwich buns from Costco)
mixed greens (a handful for sandwiches, or enough to make a salad)

Toast bread and top with all ingredients. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and enjoy!

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 Butternut squash, about 2 pounds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeno pepper
2-3 cups chicken stock

Directions:

1. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel the squash and cut into 1 inch pieces. Or for faster prep, you can buy the butternut squash pre-peeled and cut. 

2. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. 

3. Add the carrot, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, and then add squash, jalapeno pepper, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender (check the carrots to determine readiness).

4. Remove from the heat and puree the soup using an immersion blender, or transfer to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Adjust the seasonings. 

This delicious recipe was shared with me by Ali Stitt.  I absolutely loved the kick and the preparation time was much lower than the roasted butternut squash recipe I had made before. This recipe originally came from Emeril Lagasse and was posted on the Food Network.  I substituted olive oil for peanut oil, and took out the heavy cream the original recipe calls for.  Depending on the size of your butternut squash, you may need to slightly adjust the amount of chicken stock.  This recipe makes a thick soup, just the way I like it!  I definitely used the already-prepped butternut squash from Costco which was 2 lbs. of cut squash (as opposed to the entire squash weighing 2 pounds), so I added about a half cup chicken broth.  I also increased the cooking time a bit, because in order to get the smooth texture, you have to be sure that the carrots are nice and tender.  As for spice factor, it's kid friendly at our house and really just adds a little kick.  You could easily add more if you like things on the spicier side. This soup is surprisingly filling and obviously very healthy.  Highly recommend it and am already excited to make it again!

Nutty Granola

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup cashews (feel free to substitute nuts and seeds as desired)
• 1 c shredded coconut
• 1/3 c dark brown sugar or sucanat
• 1/3 c real maple syrup
• 1/4 c olive oil or coconut oil (if you use coconut oil, heat until it's in liquid form)
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 cup raisins (or any other dried fruit you prefer)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar (or sucanat).
3. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt.  
4. Pour the liquid mixture into the oats mixture and combine well.  
5. Lay out granola onto 2 sheet pans and place in the oven.
6. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring every half an hour.
7. Remove from oven and transfer to large bowl.  Add in the raisins and mix well.

This gluten-free recipe is great because you can obviously add any kind of nut, seed, or dry fruit that you'd like or have in your pantry. It's very simple in terms of hands-on time, but you definitely have to plan for the bake time.  Granola also makes a great gift! For Christmas this year, we made some and put it in jars tied with a ribbon. Simple, thoughtful, and tasty too!  It would also be a great gift to accompany a get well meal or a meal being delivered for new parents. My whole family helped in the process, although I'm not sure Owen's participation always counts as "help" ;). Yes, those cashews tripled the value of his airplane!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash (about 5 lb squash peeled and cut or 4 lbs pre-cut)
1 large green apple, peeled, sliced and cored
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp butter
4 cups chicken broth

Directions:

1. First things first. How do I take a store-bought squash and transform it into something I can cook? To prepare a butternut squash, first cut a thin slice off the bottom of the squash so that it can stand flat on the counter and is easier to handle. Next, peel off the outer layer off the squash. Then, using a sharp large knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. You can either discard of the seeds or rinse them and roast in the oven. Lastly, dice the peeled and seeded squash into cubes. Of course, you could also buy pre-cubed squash from the grocery store to make life a little easier.

For this recipe you don’t need to worry about making the cubes uniform, because they will be blended eventually. The same goes for the shapes of the sliced apple, onion and carrots. Everything is roasted in the oven after being tossed with some spices, and then combined in a large pot with some chicken stock to simmer. The more chicken broth that you add, the soupier it will be

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the butternut squash, olive oil, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp cumin. Mix together, coating the squash well. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet.

3. Next, in the same bowl that the butternut squash was in, toss the apple slices, onion, and carrots to coat with the remnants. Place on a second rimmed baking sheet and add both baking sheets to the oven. Roast for 50 minutes until soft, stirring once.

4. Melt butter over medium heat in a large pot on the stove. Add the roasted ingredients and then the chicken broth. Add 1 teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon and chili powder. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

5. Using an immersion blender, combine the ingredients until smooth, or transfer to a blender to puree. Serve warm.

The minute I read this original recipe, my mouth started watering! I am definitely a fan of the flavors you get when roasting vegetables. I immediately bought the ingredients to give it a try. I really enjoyed the flavors, but it didn't turn out quite how I wanted it.  The following week, I tried again and added a bit more spice, longer roasting time, peeled the apples, used yellow onion instead of sweet, and a bit longer puree time to get the texture even smoother. Loved how healthy it is and the flavor was great! I modified this recipe from one found on Paleogrubs.com Photos credit to: Rebecca Bohl