Crockpot Rancho-Taco Chichen

Delish....

Y'all heard me say this before; this is one of my go recipes! No lie...I cook this just about every other week. I kick off my Sunday routine starting this in the crock pot. I usually start this right after breakfast and cook it slow. My sister introduced me to this recipe. I can't remember the original recipe name but I believe she came across it on Pin.  So I dubbed it the Crock Rancho-Taco chicken.

We eat it through the week; I make tacos with it. This recipe can be done in so many different ways. I've used the tortilla boats (find these at wally-world) and top it with black beans, tomatoes and cheese. Then bake them till cheese is golden. I do this with left overs because it's perfect for lunch.

Crock Rancho-Taco Chicken

• 1.5-2 lb. Chicken thighs (Chicken breasts are good too!)
• 1 pkg Fiesta Ranch season mix - fyi..most times I use regular Ranch season.
• 1 pkg taco season mix
• 1/2 C chicken broth

Place chicken in crock pot; single layer.

Sprinkle Ranch and Taco seasoning over chicken.

Pour chicken broth over. Cover and cook in crock pot on low for 6 hours of high for 3-4 hours. Pull apart and cook on low for a little bit longer; 1/2 hour. I like to pull it and let it cook low and slow while I start the rest of the dinner.

Here is a variation of this recipe I used the next day;

• Rancho-Taco Chicken
• 2 pkg Crescent Rolls
• Colby Jack cheese
• 1 egg

Heat oven to 350. Separate crescent rolls and place a spoon full of the chicken in the center of the dough.

Sprinkle with cheese. Place another crescent roll on top and seal with a fork.

Brush with egg and sprinkle with more cheese. Cook for 12-15 minutes, till golden brown. Its a wonderful thing!

Sweet-Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderlion

My husband is great hunter. We harvest a few deer each year to refill our meat stock. We trade meat with neighbors to keep a variety in our stock. I love Venison; it is so versatile and is the red meat of choice in our home. I hear folks say all the time, they don't like venison because of the gameness. It's all about how the meat is prepared. Sure you can soak the meat in water or milk but if you prepare the meat properly, you won't have to go through the soaking process.

My husband has his own method of preparing the deer meat before packaging. As with any other avid hunter, each have their own "best" practice that they have learned from their fathers or grandfathers. For mine; he will clean the meat and put it on salt ice for about 10 days before he cuts and packages the meat.  We use a 7 day cooler to pack the meat in ice and salt. The salt pulls the blood out of the meat and in my opinion removes the "gamey" taste.  We check the meat every day and drain and add ice as needed. Then clean all the silver skin away from the meat and cut to our family protons and freeze.

Our Christmas Eve catch yielded Tenderloin, Steaks, Stew meat and Flanks. We use all of the meat, including the heart. Yes, we keep the heart and eat it. We cook the heart on thanksgiving with some onions and green peppers. On Christmas we use the sweet meat (tenderloin) for breakfast biscuits.

Back to the recipe....this recipe is a wonderful on Port as well. I've done it with a large pork tenderloin without the bacon or with. It's a very simple recipe and I bet most folks; like me have all the ingredients in the pantry at any time.

Sweet Bacon wrapped Venison Tenderloin

• 1 1/2 LB of Venison Tenderloin
• 1/2 LB sliced bacon 
• 1 Cup Soy Sauce (not the low sodium)
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar (use as much brown sugar as you like)
• 1 t Cumin
• 1 t Garlic powder
• 1 t black pepper (want a little kick; use red pepper flakes)

In a bowl, mix the Soy sauce, sugar and spices with a whisk till sugar is mostly dissolved. Pour over tenderloins and marinade for 3 hours or over night.

Remove tenderloins from marinade; don't discard the marinade! Wrap the them with bacon. Secure with toothpicks.

Heat your grill to med-high heat. Then baste with the marinade through out the cooking process. We like our meat on the med rare side so cook for 25 minutes, flipping as needed to evenly cook the bacon. Basting the with marinade will allow the bacon to crisp up and have a nice sweet flavor. YUM!

Note: Cook for approximately 35 min for medium/well done meat.

With our meal, i harvested the last of my carrots from the garden.

Clean up the carrots and trim the "hairs" as I call them. Slice them and put them in a sauce pan.

Simmer with water, 1 T of butter and 1 T of brown sugar until they are tender. Very simple yet very tasty. Enjoy!

Drip Beef!

First off; Sorry for the delay in posting. It has been a busy month. We are enjoying the cooler weather and outside on the farm more. This means i can create more crock pot meals so that i can spend more time outside enjoying nature. I have lots to post to my other blog, Just Me so check it out.

This is a favorite from one of my favorite bloggers and Food Network personalities, Ree Drummond. I found this recipe on her blog, The Pioneer Woman  and have made it multiple times for my family. The recipe is here.

As the weather gets cooler I start using my crock pot more. This is a recipe with a short list of ingredients. It is so easy to put together, you throw all the ingredients in  the crock and forget about it for 6-8 hours. I love the way it smells through the house.

You can put this beef on just about anything you like. I love as a sandwich; add some provolone cheese. Use the dripping from the crock pot as a dipper..mmm..mmm good! I decided this Sunday I would make some of my home made mac & cheese and some Texas toast to finish off this dish. Below are both recipes for your enjoyment.

 Drip Beef

• 2-3lb. Chuck Roast 
• 1 Can of beef consomme OR beef broth
• 1 jar of pepperoncinis
• 2-3TB Italian Seasonings
• Water

Putting this together is not really a exact science. I might use a little more or less of each ingredient. It just depends on the size of the Chuck roast I find. Most cases I use a 3lb chuck; which fits very nicely in my crock. 

Put your chuck in the crock then pour the consomme or broth over the meat. Next add some water. I fill the can about 1/2 way and pour over the beef. Then add half the jar of pepperoncinis and then sprinkle with the Italian seasons. 

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. You'll know when it is done, it will pull apart easily and the stems of the pepperoncinis will fall off the pepper. This alone is delicious! Put on rice or make tacos with it. YUM!

This Sunday I decided to go overboard; just a little and serve it on home made Mac & Cheese and Texas toast. Well, not really Texas toast. I took a loaf of Italian bread and sliced it thick like Texas toast and toasted it in the over with some butter and garlic seasons. 

My Mac & Cheese

• 2 1/2 cups of uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t of pepper
• 3 cup milk 
• 5 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese - divided
• 2 Tb of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 and cook the pasta according to package directions.

In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth; gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until thickened.

Reduce heat. Stir in 3 cups cheese and Worcestershire sauce until cheese is melted.

Drain macaroni; stir into sauce. Transfer to a greased 10-in. ovenproof skillet. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes. Top with remaining cheese; sprinkle with paprika. Bake until bubbly and cheese is melted, 5-10 minutes.  This recipe makes enough to feed 8 easily. 

Camp Favorites

We all live hectic, busy life styles. To ease our schedules and help use get through the week I spend my Sundays food preparing for our week. Its no different when we are heading on vacation. If it can be made before hand that is the route I go.

These 2 recipes are so easy and are a staple in our house. Prepping allows us to spend more quality family time together. Throw them in the freezer then grab and go. Nuke them for 45 seconds and enjoy.

When I prep both these recipes for our camp trips. I will load them into the cooler frozen. They will thaw out. I usually put a couple of each in ten foil to heat up over the fire or you can put then in a sauté pan and heat on your camp stove.

Egg & Sausage Burrito

1 package of Sausage. I use Bass Farm Country pork sausage.
12 medium eggs
Garlic powder
1 1lb package of Fiesta Blend cheese
10 pack of flour tortillas

Preheat a medium saute pan over medium-high heat and cook sausage until it is done. Add garlic power.

Drain sausage on paper towels while you cook your eggs. Retain enough grease to scramble your eggs

Remove from heat and add the sausage to eggs and mix well.

To assemble, take spoon full of the sausage & egg mixture and place it in the middle of a flour tortilla. Sprinkle some fiesta cheese on top and then fold into a burrito.


Wrap them individually with saran wrap and place in the freezer.

To heat up, place a frozen burrito still wrapped with saran wrap in the microwave for 45 sec. Be careful when you unwrap it, it will be HOT. If the burrito is thawed, then heat up for approx. 30 seconds in the microwave or throw on in a pan and cook over med. heat flipping it a couple of times.

Ham & Cheese McMuffin

1 package of English Muffins
1/2 lb of Black forest Ham deli sliced
Sliced American Cheese (Switch it up some and try Cheddar or provalone)
6 pre-cooked eggs.

First start with cooking your eggs. Pre-heat your oven to 375. I used medium sized ramekins. Spray each ramekin with cooking spray. Break 1 egg into each ramekin. Use a dash of salt and pepper. Bake 15-18 minutes for soft-cooked yolks, or 20 minutes for hard-cooked yolks. Remove from oven and let them cool. 

Remove the eggs from ramekins and set aside for assembly.

Get the remaining ingredients ready for assembly.

Take a muffin, place 2 slices of ham, then 1 egg and 1 slice of cheese.

Wrap individually with saran wrap and freeze.

To heat up, throw it in the microwave for about 40 seconds and enjoy.

Bacon Jam!!

Ok, Some of you might be scratching your head on this recipe. This is the tastiest thing ever! Throw a spoon full on a burger, cracker or just eat plain by it's self. You will not be disappointed with one.

I found this recipe on Pinterest of course. The original post can be found here. It was very simple to put together and once you put in the crock pot, you leave it and forget about it. Well you can't really forget about it because it makes the whole house smell like a lovely bacon melody. Its a little salty and sweet and so damn good (excuse my french).

The line up for the show

Bacon Jam!!!

• 1-2 lb Bacon chopped
• 2 yellow onions diced
• 3 garlic cloves - peeled and minced or smashed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3/4 cup brewed coffee

I love using the Bacon ends and pieces because it yields thinker, bigger and more bacon to me. Plus it's a lot cheaper then buying packages of bacon strips. Either way you go, you won't be wrong. 

Chop the bacon and add to the pan. Cook med - high heat until it is almost done. Then transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain. Drain off fat from skillet and reserve a couple tablespoons for onions. 

Dice the onions and garlic and add to skillet. Cook onions until they are translucent; about 6 minutes. 

Add the vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes.

Add bacon to mixture and combine. 

Then transfer mixture to a crock pot and cook on low, uncovered for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Now transfer to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the Jam to airtight containers or mason jars. Let it cool completely and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. 

I put this jam on burgers and grill cheese sandwiches. You could grumble some on a salad, spread it on a bagel or toast; what ever you want to. It complements just about any dish.  

If I use this jam for with cheese and crackers, I will heat it up in the microwave for a min or 2. This helps with the spreading. You don't have to do this at all. The taste is wonderful cold or hot! Enjoy! 

Mama's Home Made Pickles

I love...love...LOVE pickles! The last couple of years my cucumbers haven't done so well in the garden so I would head to the farmers market to buy my cucumbers but not this year!! My plants have exploded and I was so happy to be able to make my pickles with the cucumbers I grew in my garden. It just makes me feel good that I know my cucumbers are fresh and organic. No pesticides, just a wonderful home grown vegetable that I didn't waste. Of course I had to give a few away but what I harvested at the end of my gardening season made 6 full jars that I can provide to my family and enjoy myself.

Because we love pickles so much, I do not do the whole canning process. I give a few jars away and they never last for more then a few weeks in the refrigerator. Even without the canning process they will hold in the fridge for 3-6 months easy.

I can't tell how easy this recipe is. To make things real easy I use the Mrs Wages Kosher Dill Pickles and add my own spices. You can usually find this with the Ball Canning supplies at your local Walmart. 

Here's the recipe:

• 1 package of Mr. Wages Kosher Dill Pickles
• Hand full of Fresh dill - For this recipe I only added fresh dill but I usually add fresh garlic cloves as well. You could add some mustard or celery seeds or spice it up with some red pepper flakes as well. I did that for a special batch for my step-father one year who loves spicy foods.  
• Vinegar
• Sugar
• Salt

Mrs Wages Kosher Dill Pickle seasons.

Put your jars and lids in a warm bath on the stove while you prep the cucumbers and pickle seasons. Follow the instructions on the back of the Mrs Wages season packet. When the seasons are ready, pull your jars and lids and dry them on a clean towel. 

Clean your pickles and then cut your them into spears. 

Add any spices before and after you fill the jars with your cucumber spears. Don't over crowd your jars, I like to give my pickles a little wiggle room so that they are nice and seasoned. 

Then ladle the pickle juice into each jar and seal with lids. I mentioned earlier, I rarely do the whole canning process. I stop at this point and let them cool completely before I put them in the refrigerator. They will last for a few months without being canned. I'd love to hear about your pickle recipes. Please comment. Enjoy!