Crockpot Chicken Tacos

You all know that Mexican is my favorite cuisine. I have never had a Mexican dish I didn’t like. This is a simple dish, made in the slow cooker. It’s easy to freeze too which is nice because then you have supper almost ready on nights you don’t feel like cooking. I sometimes double up this recipe too so that I have plenty left over to freeze. You can this mix for taco’s and then use what’s left for enchiladas too. Double duty meals are the best! Want a triple duty meal? Use the shredded chicken meat to make nachos too!

One Year Ago: Divine Chocolate Pound Cake
Two Years Ago: Chili Con Carne

 What You Need:

1 whole chicken, cut into 6 pieces (2 breasts, 2 thighs and 2 drumsticks) Can use the wings too but they don’t give much meat so I always save them for stock.
1 (28 oz can) crushed tomatoes
1 can of water or chicken stock
¼ c taco seasoning
1 tbs chili powder
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tbs oregano
1 tbs cocoa powder
1 jalapeño split down the middle
1 lrg onion, diced
1 chipotles in adobo, minced


What To Do:

Leave the skin on the thighs and drummies, remove it from the breast. Place everything into the crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours. Remove the chicken from the sauce. Toss the skin from the leg portions and shred the chicken. Strain the liquid from the slow cooker. Return the chicken back into the slow cooker with enough liquid to just keep the chicken moist. Serve the shredded chicken in warmed corn tortilla with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese etc. Freezing Instructions: Since you're using a whole chicken, you'll get two to three meals out this. I take any chicken we didn't eat the first night and package it into freezer zip top bags or containers with a little bit of extra sauce. When you want taco again, remove from the freezer to thaw and just reheat. With the rest of the sauce, you can let it cool and freeze it to use later for making this recipe again, or you can bowl it down till it thickens a bit and use it for an enchilada sauce.

No Fail Creamed Corn

Creamed corn was one of my dad's favorite veggies. Mom would open up the tin can and out would plop this dark yellow, gelatinous mass that was supposed to be creamed corn. It was flavorless and looked awful but still we ate it. During the summer, you can find corn every where and taking it off the cob to use in this dish isn't very hard at all, but during the winter months, or when you don't have the time you can use about 2 cups of frozen whole kernel corn. You just might need to add some flour to help thicken it up.


What You Need:

8 ears of corn

1 medium onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

2 tbs fine ground corn meal

2 c 2% milk

1 tsp fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

What To Do:

Strip the corn from the ears using a corn stripper or a sharp knife. Using the back side of a knife, run it along the stripped ears to extract all the “milk”. This is actually corn starch and will help to thicken the final dish.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the butter and olive oil until soft and fragrant. Stir in the corn and all the juices from it. Sauté just a minute. Sprinkle the corn meal over the top and stir in completely. Let it cook just for a minute before slowly adding in the milk while stirring to prevent lumps. Cook over medium low heat until nice and thick. It takes about 20 minutes. Stir in the thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper.


Freeze/Make Ahead Directions:


Make the corn up until the point where you add the corn meal. Let it cool and package your servings in freezer safe containers or zip top bags. Make sure to label each bag with the contents and the date. When you're ready to eat, pull it from the freezer and let thaw for an hour or so. Place the corn into a skillet over medium heat. Once it's heated through, continue with the rest of directions by adding in the corn meal and the milk.