Tex-Mex Chuck Roast Stew

HOWDY friends!  Hope you are doing well and staying warm today.  I’m enjoying a relaxing weekend with family, and I’ve even found a little time to get back online again.  I’ve got several recipes I’ve been wanting to share with you, but haven’t had the time to post them.  I’ll post one today, and hopefully I’ll get to the others soon.

Anyway…a few months ago, I came across a recipe for Mexican-Inspired Southwestern Chuck Roast over at one of my favorite blogs…Ally’s Kitchen.  I thought it sounded incredible, but I didn’t want to go through all the effort (and clean-up) of making the oven-version, so I decided to go with the slow-cooker.

I adapted the ingredients a little to fit what was in my pantry, and added a little extra liquid to make a thick stew rather than a regular roast.  After it had cooked for 5 hours, it was still a little soupier than I wanted, so I added the vermicelli.  It came out really good, and was a BIG hit with my hubby.

It thickened as it cooled (the vermicelli absorbed most of the liquid), but the thickened version was yummy too.  There was plenty left over, so I divided it into several freezer containers and froze it.  It made several quick & easy suppers over the next few weeks.

One time we just heated up the leftovers and served them in tortillas (flour for hubby, corn for me) with some diced avocado and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt (you could use sour cream if you prefer), kind of a pulled-beef taco.  Soooo yummy!

Another night, we just added a little more liquid (you could use water or more beef broth) to thin it out again, and served it as a stew again.  Still wonderful.  I’ll definitely be making this again…and again…

Tex-Mex Chuck Roast Stew

Ingredients

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. premium 6 pepper seasoning (original recipe called for 1 tsp. ground smoked ancho chili powder)

1/4 tsp. black pepper

4 Tbsp. flour

2 lb. chuck roast

1/4 cup olive oil (you can use a little more or a little less…this isn’t an exact science)

1 tsp. chili powder

2 Tbsp. fire-roasted Mexican green salsa (medium)

3-1/2 cups lower sodium beef broth

1 (14.5 oz.) can whole tomatoes (crushed)

11 oz. Spicy V8 tomato juice

3 large cloves garlic, chopped (I’m a garlic-lover, so I used more than the original recipe called for.  Feel free to use more or less depending on your personal taste.)

4 oz. chopped green chilis

1 cup chopped celery (you can chop the pieces into large chunks or finely chop them, according to your preference)

1 cup shredded carrots (I used pre-cut matchstick carrots)

1 (4 oz.) box of spicy vermicelli (I used Q&Q brand)

Mix together first five ingredients, then coat all sides of the roast with the seasonings, and rub into the meat.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Once it’s hot, sear all sides of the roast until they are golden brown.  Place seared roast into slow-cooker, then add remaining ingredients (except the vermicelli) on top of the meat.  Don’t stir, just put it all in there, on top of and around the meat.

Cook on high for 5 hours or until fork-tender.  Remove roast from liquid and pull apart/shred using 2 forks.  Return shredded meat to slow-cooker, mix well.  (You can cut meat into bite-sized chunks if you prefer.)  Add vermicelli and let it cook for an additional 30 minutes on high.  Serve hot with crusty bread.

The recipe is very versatile.  I think I’ll try serving it over some brown rice or pasta in the future.  YUM!

I hope you’ll give it a try.  If you make your own adaptations, let me know what they are.  I might like them too!

AND...don’t forget to stop by Ally's Kitchen and show her some love…she’s got lots of great recipes you’ll want to try.  Her original recipe looks incredible, so be sure to check it out.

Well, I gotta run.  Family calls.  I hope you’re enjoying some time with your family this weekend too.  If so, enjoy and treasure every minute.  It goes by far too quickly.

Oh yeah…don’t forget to “Spring Forward” this weekend.  Hope to chat with you again soon…

Blessings,

--Faithy

“Use It Up” Soup

HOWDY friends!  Brrrrrrrr…it’s cold outside!  Temps are only in the mid 30’s here in South Texas...all day today!  This weather put me in the mood for some hearty soup, so I went looking in my refrigerator & pantry to see what I could throw together.  I decided to just experiment today, and this is what I came up with.  It turned out REALLY good, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you.  Feel free to adapt it to fit whatever you have in YOUR pantry or refrigerator.  LOL!  If you come up with something really yummy, please share your recipe with me too!

Can you smell this?  It smells heavenly!

“Use It Up” Soup

3/4 cup chopped celery (I had some celery & carrots left over from Thanksgiving, that needed to be used)

1/2 cup diced carrots

1 large sweet onion, diced

1/8 cup chopped jalapeño peppers (I had a few small ones left in my garden that had to be pulled before last night’s freeze)

3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped (because I put garlic in practically everything I cook!)

1 Tbsp. butter

1 (15.5 oz) can dark red kidney beans, rinsed & drained

1 (15 oz.) can mayocoba beans, rinsed & drained (or any white bean you like)

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed & drained (I used some that had jalapeño & lime in them)

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes

1 (32 oz) carton low-sodium beef broth (you could also use chicken or vegetable broth)

1 small link smoked sausage, diced (I used a pork/beef sausage with hatch green chili - you could leave this out if you want, the soup is very hearty even without it)

6 cups water (I started out with 4 cups, and added more as the soup cooked…just use your own judgment on this and make it to the consistency YOU prefer)

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. dried thyme (fresh would be better if you have any - my thyme plant didn’t survive the past few weeks)

1/4 tsp. soul seasoning (or whatever seasonings you prefer)

1/3 of a 16 oz. bag frozen chopped collard greens (spinach - or some diced cabbage - would be good too)

1 large baking potato, diced

4 Tbsp That Green Sauce, mild (I got some of this stuff free with some other purchases at the grocery store.  I don't like it much on it's own, but it really added a nice flavor to the soup!  Glad I finally found a way to use it!)

Sauté celery, carrots, onion, jalapeños & garlic in butter until softened.  Add all remaining ingredients (except for That Green Sauce) and stir well.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until reduced and thickened a bit.

All the veggies are in, and starting to cook!

Stir in That Green Sauce about 10 minutes before serving.

If you want a creamier, less chunky soup, you can use an immersion blender to emulsify some (but NOT all) of the veggies.

Serve with a nice loaf of crusty bread or some hot biscuits!

I found some Hatch Chili & Cheddar scones in the freezer that needed to be used...
that worked out well!

This stuff really hit the spot for me today.  Hope you like it too!

Stay warm out there!

Blessings,

--Faithy

Baby...it's cold outside! (Apple Pfannkuchen Revisited...)

HOWDY friends...

Just popping in to say hello and wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving.  I hope that you'll be able to spend it with the ones you love.  That's exactly what I plan to do!

We've had a blustery cold front blow in today, bringing our South Texas temps down from the mid 70's to the high 30's in just a few hours.  Aaaaahhhh...gotta love Texas weather!  This change has put me in the mood for one of my favorite cold weather suppers (Apple Pfannkuchen) tonight, so I thought I’d share a link for the recipe along with a few thought-provoking quotes on Thanksgiving!

I posted this recipe a while back, but I thought this would be a good time to share it again, in case you haven't had a chance to try it.  It's really easy, and a sure-fire hit.  My hubby loves it as much as I do, in fact, he's the one doing the cooking tonight!  He’s definitely a keeper!

 

Anyway, here's the link back to my original post with my recipe for Apple Pfannkuchen.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!  I hope you like it as much as we do.

If you're traveling for the holidays, please travel safely, and enjoy the time with your family...it's precious and fleeting.  AND…if you come across any new and interesting recipes while you’re at it, please share!! 

Gotta run, but I'll leave you with these thoughts for thanksgiving…

As we pause to thank Him for the blessings of the past year,

we must not forget to thank Him for the lessons we have learned through our difficult times.

We are not to be thankful for just the pleasant, easy things, but ALL things.

-- Millie Stamm --

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We tend to take all the gifts and pleasures and happiness and the joy

without saying much to God.

We take our health and strength, our food and clothing and our loved ones, all for granted;

but the moment anything goes wrong we start grumbling and complaining

and we say 'Why should God do this to me, why should this happen to me?'

How slow we are to thank and swift to grumble.

-- Martyn Lloyd-Jones --

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In ordinary life we hardly realize

that we receive a great deal more than we give,

and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer --

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You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.'

You make a mistake.

If you are not content with what you have,

you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.

-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon --

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanksgiving is nothing if not a glad and reverent

lifting of the heart to God

in honor and praise for His goodness.

-- Robert Casper Lintner --

Blessings,

--Faithy