Easy BBQ Pulled Pork - Crockpot

Do you ever go digging around deep in your freezer, and way in the back you find a hunk of frozen meat you should probably use up soon?  Well I found a very nicely sealed pork butt (I believe they come in a pack of three at Costco) and it had been in the freezer for an undisclosed amount of time. It was a long enough time that I had totally forgotten how I had cooked the first two). Not to let a good thing go to waste, I went searching online for the best way to use this cut of meat, and decided to try out the best looking recipe I could find for you.  Needless to say it was easy, cooked all day in the crock pot, and pulled apart quite easily -  all saucy and yummy  and ready to pile up on fluffy slider buns.

BBQ pulled pork in the crock pot - YUM

You only need of few common ingredients that you probably already have on hand. I found this recipe here.

Ingredients:
1 (4 lb) pork butt
2 cups of chopped celery
1 onion chopped (or half bag frozen onions) 
1 cup of Ketchup
1 cup of BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder (optional - did not use)
1 tsp of seasoned salt and pepper to taste 

Start dumping things into a crock pot: 2 cups of chopped celery and 1 chopped onion

 Next add a cup of ketchup and a cup of BBQ sauce (your favorite)

Next add in 1/2 cup of water, the garlic powder, chili powder, seasoned salt and black pepper to taste.

It always feels better if you put a few fresh ingredients in

Stir that around until you get an official looking "sauce"

Hey!  That's looking promising

Place the thawed pork butt in the crock pot and push some of the sauce over it.

Cook on low in the crock pot all day 7-8 hours until you can pull the meat apart with a fork.

I jabbed it with a fork there at the top and could see it was ready for shredding.

It should shred easily and this cut of meat has very little fat, but I pulled the pork out on the plate and skimmed off any undesirables from the sauce before putting the meat back into the pot and shredding it.

Smokey, tangy, juicy BBQ pork heaven.

It shreds very easily and the sauce gets incorporated throughout all of the meat as soon as you start stirring.  Do a little taste test here.  If it needs more seasoned salt, or a little extra straight BBQ sauce, this would be the time to do it. 

Next, pile up some BBQ meat on a soft little slider bun. The beauty of sliders is that you can have more than one! Any party that has tiny sandwiches is a win win in my book.

BBQ pork sliders!  Easy party food!

After that the work is all done.  Keep the crock pot on low to keep the meat warm, and let the guests serve themselves. This works great for a large gathering, and this recipe easily doubles if you are serving a bigger crowd.

BBQ pork sliders - makes a fun meal

This also works great on a regular week night just feeding the family.  Throw things in the crock pot in the morning, and return to deliciousness at dinner time.

I like my meat to slider ratio - equal parts meat and soft bun

Everybody seems to love these little babies.  It also makes great left overs (if you have any, that is). Store the meat in a plastic container and save a couple of extra slider buns and take it to work for a fun lunch. 

 
Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Casserole - (5 ingredients)

Well it feels like everyone is heading back to school and getting adjusted to their new fall schedules. If you are anything like me, you are always on the lookout for a few new recipes you that can throw in the crock pot (last minute) in the morning and come back to a home-cooked meal at the end of a busy day. Well look no further because I found an easy, 5-ingredient winner! Behold the slow cooker (crock pot) Chicken Enchilada Casserole.

Easy chicken enchiladas in the crock pot

 
Printable recipe found on my site here

You will only need 5 ingredients:

3-4 Chicken breasts (thawed, or frozen)
1 large (28 oz) can of red enchilada sauce (we did mild)
3 cups of shredded cheese divided in half
1 can sliced olives or buy a regular can and cut up your own
10 corn tortillas cut into strips 

(by the way I found this recipe here) and will be testing more recipes for you very soon.

Plop your chicken breasts into the crock pot sprayed with a little cooking spray. You can have them thawed, or like me plunk them in completely frozen.

You only need about 3 Costco breasts, because they are so big.

Dump in the entire can of red enchilada sauce.

So nice and easy when you are in a rush in the morning getting out the door

That's it for now!  The rest you will add an hour before serving.  Set on slow cook for 4-8 hours (I would recommend closer to 8 hours for the frozen breasts). 

Now you're back home from a busy day of running around.  Your house will smell amazing by the way, and you'll want to shred the chicken with two forks right in the sauce.  Also I tend to scoop out each breast, remove any fat that bubbled up during the cooking process and sort of skim the sauce for any fat chunks.

This slow cooked chicken is super tender and shreds so easily

You just want a nice sauce and lovely shredded chicken before proceeding.

Yummy!

Cut the 10 corn tortillas (we did white corn, but you can also do yellow corn).  

 

These are the 5 inch corn tortillas.

Add the strips to the pot with 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (we did a cheddar/jack mix) and half the sliced olives.

The tortilla strips save you the time of rolling individual enchiladas the old fashioned way

Stir around gently until fully combined. Add a little seasoning salt here to taste if you wish, then pat the mixture down until it resembles an oval casserole in the bottom of the crock pot. 

Press down slightly to make a casserole shape in the bottom of the pot

Top with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese and the rest of the sliced olives.

Cover with the lid and cook for 1 more hour until cheese is all golden and melty, and the enchilada sauce is bubbling up from underneath.

Crock pot enchiladas, I think I love you!

Gratuitous close up shot of bubbling sauce through the cheese.

Somebody grab a fork

All that's left to now is scoop it up on a plate!  

Cheesy, awesome, get in my belly!

Serve with chips, lettuce, olives, sour cream, salsa, and some fruit.

This was an instant family favorite!

Delicious, hot and gooey, and tons of flavor and a real crowd pleaser.

I say crowd pleaser because i made three extra containers for the leftovers (they make great lunches for work or school the next day) but alas, I went back and they were arleady all gone!  Apparently I need to make this again really soon.. and so should YOU!

Enjoy.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup - Instant Pot

Who doesn't love loaded bake potato soup?  All hot and creamy, topped with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese and bacon. Serve it with a crusty loaf of bread and you've got yourself a really hearty meal.  I have made this soup in a crock pot several times and wondered if it could be done in the instant pot.  After checking out a couple of recipes, and a few trial runs, this one turned out to be not only the easiest, but the best.

Delicious, yummy loaded bake potato soup!

 Note: I got this recipe from www.belleofthekitchen.com
 She also has a video play by play on her site which is super helpful.

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoon butter
1 medium onion diced (or half bag of frozen chopped onions)
3 cloves of garlic minced (or a spoon full of diced jarred minced garlic)
3 cups of chicken broth
1 small can cream of chicken soup
4 large russet potatoes or 7-8 smaller russet potatoes chopped into 1 in cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons of seasoned salt 
   black pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon of flour
1 cup of milk
2 cups of shredded cheese (i used mild cheddar and a jack/cheddar mix)

Garnish:
Cooked bacon chopped up, or real bacon bits
Sour cream
Shredded cheddar cheese


Put 2 Tablespoon of butter into the Instant Pot and turn on "Saute" function.  Add in chopped onions and cook until soft (3-4 minutes). 

You gotta love the saute function!

Add in garlic and cook for an additional minute, making sure the garlic doesn't burn

Steamy garlic vision

Add in 3 cups of chicken broth, the small can of cream of chicken soup, stir

It's smelling pretty good right about now

Add in cubed potatoes, salt, pepper, to the pot.  Stir until well combined. 

Hey potatoes, are you really going to be fork-soft in 10 short minutes? Let's find out.

Place lid on the Instant Pot, turn the vent valve to "sealing" and cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes.  

My instant pot with it's new pretty cover

Quick release the pressure.

What it looks like when you open the lid

Meanwhile, stir together the 1 tablespoon of flour and the 1 cup of milk with a whisk until it creates a slurry and set aside.  

I think it's easier to add the milk to the flour than the other way around

Once the steam is completely released and the pin has dropped, open the lid and add in the slurry.  Turn to pot to saute and cook the soup for 4-5 minutes, until thickened. 

Hey we're getting somewhere! I also used my Pampered Chef meat utensil to help mush up some of the poatoes.

Stir in the two cups of shredded cheese and stir until melted.

Everything is better with cheese.

 Cook until thickened. Taste and season at the end.

Seasoning is the key to non-bland soups.

Serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream, bacon chunks, and some extra cheddar cheese.  

Yummy loaded baked potato soup

Also a nice buttery crusty loaf of french break goes nicely as a "dipper" for the soup.

Activate smell-o-vision now.

Also toppings are key here, don't skimp!

The more the merrier!

My children are weird, well 2/3 of them are.  They don't like mashed potatoes, but they love french fries.  When my youngest said "What's for dinner" I told her it was "french fry soup with bacon"... and guess what? She bought it!  She had a whole bowl and proclaimed it "yummy"!  The middle child wasn't so fooled but I will still count this as a victory.  

The bread fell in, so sad we had to scoop it out - and devour it.

This was a very delicious and hearty week night dinner that the whole family enjoyed (minus one - there's always the one). I am always surprised how the instant pot cooks old school crock pot dishes in a flash.  You don't need all day to get all day flavor these days!  Hooray for science, and Instant Pots.

 Enjoy!!

Intant Pot - Chicken for Tacos

Will the wonders of the Instant Pot never cease? So here's a scenario: You've been busy all day, and suddenly it's 5 o'clock! Did you plan something for dinner? Well of course you didn't, it's been a crazy day! Is there going to be other humans depending on you to whip something up regardless?  Why yes, yes there is.  Enter the Instant Pot. It will take FROZEN Costco chicken breasts and turn them into a meal in 15+minutes. That's right, you heard me.  Once again defying the laws of cooking physics, the Instant Pot will save the day.

The Instant pot: Cooking frozen chicken and saving one dinner at a time.

This is what you will need:

4-5 frozen Costco chicken breasts
1 cup of your favorite salsa
1 cup of water
1/2 cup taco seasoning (also from Costco)
Salt and pepper to taste.

It's super easy. Plunk down the frozen breasts into the bottom of the pot.

The "clang" the frozen chicken hits the pot is somewhat unsettling, but oh the payoff in a few short minutes!

Dump over the salsa, water, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper.

Chicken Taco meat, it's almost too easy

Seal the lid and plug in the machine. Hit the "Poultry" setting which will give you a default time of 15 min on high pressure.  Let the pot do it's thang.

While the chicken is coming up to temperature, you can run around and chop some lettuce (for taco salads), grab some sides like chips, shredded cheese, olives, chips, and salsa, or taco shells for the kids.

After the 15 minute timer goes off, let it sit for about 5 more minutes (wait time optional, if you're in a rush) then release the steam valve and pop that baby open as soon as you are ready.

What you will see when you open the pot.  The little globs of fat is what I remove before shredding

Take the chicken out of the pot and shred on a plate with two forks or a knife and a fork, depending on how you like your chicken chunks. I make sure at this time to also remove any fat or veins, or anything unappetizing so it's just chicken.  I also take a peek a the liquid back in the pot and skim off any unmentionables.  

Shredded chicken from frozen - We're living in the future people

Place the shredded chicken back in the sauce and stir. See if it needs anymore seasoning and then you are good to go!  

Mmm good for tacos, taco salads, burritos, nachos....

I use a slotted spoon to scoop the meat out of the liquid and serve.

You can also drain off most of the liquid while you are shredding if you want less moisture

After that, just scoop some into a taco shell, plop on some shredded lettuce for a taco salad, and stack your favorite toppings on top.

An easy meal and a tasty one too.

My kids used to only eat ground beef tacos, now we've expanded their horizons.

Yummy!

It's great the next day with left overs too, or bring some to work for lunch with a "taco salad kit" and make your co-workers jealous. My hubby loves doing that.

He'll send me pics profusely thanking me for "Taco Salad 2.0"

My daughter made chicken and cheese nachos for lunch the next day on her own, so that worked out well.  It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Chicken and cheese nachos by my 14- year-old

This quick journey from completely unplanned, sad, and frozen, to fast, tasty, and fabulous makes the whole family happy! While at the same time making YOU feel like a hero because you literally pulled this dinner out of thin air (making you seem far more reliable than you actually are and pretty much all around awesome). Thanks Instant Pot!