Crocking south of the border.

When I was looking for ideas for meals for this week, I wanted to use a cut of beef I've never used before. Enter flank steak. I was sure I'd seen a recipe SOMEWHERE that called for it and it was on sale, so I bought some with no real plan. I paged through the cookbooks and finally found what I was looking for. Steak fajitas. *drool* 

I am a huge, huge, HUGE tex mex fan. Unfortunately for my taste buds, I don't live in tex mex country. Instead, I live in crab country and my taste buds hate, hate, HATE crabs. A few weeks ago (prior to the birth of this blog), I crock potted chicken enchiladas and they came out pretty nicely. They were probably my favorite chicken based recipe so far, so you'll likely see that recipe end up here one of these days.

"Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas" (6 quart pot)

~1 beef flank steak (about 1 lb), partially frozen

~1 medium onion, cut into strips

~1/2 cup salsa, plus additional for garnish (I used Newman's Own Hot)

~2 T lime juice

~2 cloves garlic, minced

~1 T chili powder

~1 t ground cumin

~1/2 t salt

~1 small green bell pepper, cut into strips

~1 small red bell pepper, cut into strips

~Flour tortillas, warmed (I used Chi Chi's soft taco sized flour tortillas) 

Cut flank steak lengthwise in half, then crosswise into thin strips.

Combine onion, 1/2 cup salsa, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and salt in crock pot.

Add steak and stir well.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

Add bell peppers. Cover and cook on low for 1 hour.

Serve with flour tortillas and additional salsa.

4 servings.

It was soooo good. My official taste testing other half says that he's putting this meal tied in the number 1 spot right next to my pulled pork bbq. I am SO making this again.  

This next recipe is the easiest crock pot recipe on the planet. I've made it 3 times (I think) so far. A recipe from even further south...

Dulce de leche (6 quart pot)

~1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

~water

Remove label from can. Place can on it's side directly into crock pot.

Fill crock pot with water until it's 3-4 inches above the can.

Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.

Turn off crock pot and let cool for 40 minutes inside the crock pot.

Chill caramel in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serve as a dip for apple slices and banana chunks or as a topping for pancakes, crepes, or ice cream. Or do what I do and eat it by the spoonful. 

6 servings.