SLOW COOKER CHEESY ENCHILADA QUINOA

I am on a quinoa kick right now. Our family loves this mexidish. It feeds all 4 of us for two full nights and then some. I also freeze it in small batches for my 'mini-meals' to pop in the kids thermoses  in the busy mornings for school lunch. You can top it with anything and everything - green onions, chopped tomatoes, avocado, squeeze-o-lime, salsa, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, and the list goes on and on! Our favorite combo is green onions, chopped avocado and a dollop of sour cream.

SLOW COOKER CHEESY ENCHILADA QUINOA

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground turkey
1 and 1/2 cups uncooked quinoa
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
1 can (10 ounces) diced tomatoes and green chilies with cilantro & lime
1/2 cup salsa
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped
1 cup water
1 can (19 ounces) enchilada sauce* (two small 10 oz cans works too)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cups fresh shredded sharp cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped *optional
Optional: 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, sour cream, green onions, 1 small jap

INSTRUCTIONS
-In a large skillet, cook the ground turkey until browned through. Drain out any grease and place in the slow cooker.
-Add in the uncooked quinoa (make sure to rinse first), the black beans (drained and rinsed), the frozen corn, the diced tomatoes and green chilies (do not drain), the salsa (I used medium), and minced garlic.
-Chop up the onion and sweet bell pepper into small pieces. Add to the slow cooker. If desired chop up a jalapeno and add it too.
-Add in the water, enchilada sauce (I used mild, but use whatever you like best), chili powder, and cumin.
-Stir everything together really well. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 to 3 and 1/2 hours or until the liquid is all absorbed into the mixture.
-Once it is done cooking, remove the lid and stir everything again. Stir in the cheese and fresh cilantro (stems removed and chopped).
-If desired add in the fresh lime juice.
-When serving, add a dollop of sour cream, chopped green onions, crushed chips, etc if desired.

Recipe modified from http://www.pinterest.com/pin/40673202859848818/

Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli

This is one of our family favorites. It is so easy and so good - I had to share. Can't believe it has taken me this long to actually share it!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless beef chuck roast or flank steak
• 1 C beef consomme (or beef broth)
• 1/2 C soy sauce
• 1/3 C brown sugar
• 1 T sesame oil
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 2 T cornstarch
• 2 T cold beef broth
• Fresh broccoli florets cut in smallish pieces (as many as desired)

Directions:

1. Place Beef in crock pot. Pepper it to taste if you want.
2. In small bowl, combine consomme, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil and garlic. Pour over beef. Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.
3. Near the end of your 6-8 hours (or 45 minutes before you want to serve), whisk 2T cornstarch into 2T of COLD beef broth in small bowl. Add this mixture to sauce in crock pot and stir until smooth/combined. Set crock pot on HIGH so it will heat up to a boil. (This is to thicken the sauce. If your sauce is not thickening, you can try bringing all your sauce to a boil on the stovetop with the cornstarch mixture. Boil until your desired consistency is reached. I always skip the boil on stove part and my sauce is never very thick.  Perhaps I should try it someday . . .)
4. Add broccoli to the crock pot. Stir to combine.
5. Cover and cook an additional 30-45 minutes on HIGH (sauce has to boil to thicken and to cook the broccoli).
6. Serve over brown rice or Quinoa.

Tips:

• Beef:
•  I prefer this recipe with flank steak, but it has gotten super expensive. So I just buy whatever type of 'roast' is on sale. 
• Optional: cut the beef up into strips before cooking. This works very well and makes beef super tender, but sometimes it shreds up really tiny after. Just depends on how your family likes it - bigger chunks of beef or tiny shreds. If you don't cut it up before you cook it, it basically shreds by itself in step 3 when you stir in cornstarch mixture. 
• Broccoli:
• I usually use a ton of broccoli - maybe 5+ cups just because we like our greens over here, but you can use however much you want. Works best cut in bite size pieces.
• It also works really well if you steam your broccoli on the stove and just dump in at the end of step 5 just before serving. This gives the sauce some time to boil and thicken with the cornstarch without the broccoli getting in the way. This is totally optional - does not make that big of a difference, but if you do this, make sure you just lightly steam your broccoli so it does not fall apart or isn't mushy when you add it to the crock pot.