(To make actual tostadas, add cheese beans, lettuce, salsa, etc to a tostada shell along with the beef. The meat is also good in a variety of other applications…)

What you need:

1 1/2 lb. boneless beef round
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup lime juice
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

What you do:

Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper. Place 3 tbls of the lime juice, the carlic, jalapeno, onion, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne in a slow cooker. Place beef on top and cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.

Remove beef to a cutting board and when cool enough to handle, shred with fingers or using two forks. Place shredded beef in large bowl. Add remaining tbsp of lime juice and liquid from the slow cooker (along with solids –this is where I differ from the magazine – not a huge thing, but whatever.) to the shredded beef.

At this point, you can use the beef in tostadas, tacos, burritos, salad, whatever.

In the spirit of giving and sharing, I would like to share my recipe for cranberry sauce. This sauce is easy to make, and is WAY better than that canned “Jellied Cranberry” stuff you see in stores.

It’s based on my grandmother’s recipe, but I’ve made a couple of minor adjustments in the last couple of years. Most cranberry sauce recipes you’ll find use water and sugar to sweeten the berries. My grandmother used apple juice in place of the water and sugar. What you end up with has a much more complex flavor, and is healthier, too.

Honey’s Cranberry Sauce

Yield: about 1 and 3/4 cup of sauce.
(If you figure 2 tablespoons per serving, this will give you about 14 servings. If you want or need more, double the amounts listed below.)

What you need:

• 1 12oz can frozen apple juice concentrate
• 1 12oz package of fresh cranberries
• 1 cinnamon stick
• The zest from one orange (lemon might work too)

optional: About a tablespoon of sugar (used to adjust sweetness at end – if needed)

What you do:

Rinse the cranberries in a large bowl of cold water. They float, so any impurites will sink to the bottom. You should also inspect your berries at this point and discard any that are mushy

Add the apple-juice concentrate (no water, please) cranberries, cinnamon stick and orange zest to a medium sauce pan. You’ll want to use a pan large enough to prevent boil-over. (I like to have the initial mixture come to about 2/3 of the way up the side of the pan)

Slowly bring the apple juice to a boil. Keep an eye on it and let it continue to boil until the cranberries begin to burst. Then reduce the heat and simmer until all the berries have burst, and the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally. BE CAREFUL the sauce has a tendency to splatter when you agitate it.

As the sauce reduces and thickens, you may find some berries that are still intact, just help them along by smushing them against the side of the pan with your spoon as you stir.

Once the sauce has reduced, (you’re looking for a texture like a loose jelly – it will thicken more as it cools.) pull a small amount out with a spoon and let it cool so you can taste it. You want the sauce to be a bit tart, but if it is too tart for your tastes, adjust the flavor with some sugar and simmer for a few more minutes.

Now let the sauce cool, remove the cinnamon stick, and serve. If you are making the sauce ahead of time, you can store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a few days.

I like to serve my cranberry sauce warm, like gravy, but you may serve it chilled it if you so desire.

In my opinion, this recipe is way better than your standard restaurant fare. It makes enough to have leftovers for a couple of days. I think next time, I’m going to make a vegitarian adaptation.

(Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence)

1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef broth
1 baguette, sliced
1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn’t burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

When you’re ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.

Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

I saw a good recipe for borscht on a food network show, (which is when I said to myself “I know, I’ll make THAT for the pot-luck!”) and grabbed the exact recipe from their website. The only modification I made was to substitute vegetable broth for chicken stock. I wanted to give as many people as possible the chance to try it, so I thought going vegetarian would be a good idea.

The soup was very well received. I’ve had several compliments and a couple of people have asked for the recipe. I’ve sent it out to those that have asked, and I figured I should blog it too.

Here is my (Vegetarian) Roasted Beet Borscht
(can I really call it mine if all I did was change one ingredient?)

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

What You Need:

• 1 pound beets
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 cups vegetable broth, heated
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• Sour cream, for garnish

What You Do:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Scrub the beets and put them on a large piece of aluminum foil; season with salt and pepper, add 3 thyme sprigs, and drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Bake until the beets are tender, about 1 hour. Set aside. When the beets are cool enough to handle but still warm, slip off their skins, and chop them into large chunks.

In a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, add the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. Put in the onion, carrots, garlic, and remaining 3 thyme sprigs and cook until softened and just starting to color, about 10 minutes. Add the vegetable broth and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs. Put the chopped beets into a blender and add the cooked vegetables and most of the stock. Blend until smooth, add more stock if the puree is too thick. Add the vinegar and honey; season with salt and pepper. Blend again to incorporate flavors. Borscht can be served hot or cold.

To make the garnish, grate the apple on the large holes of a box grater and mix in the dill. Serve in bowls, garnished with a big dollop of sour cream and topped with the apple and dill mixture.

While you don’t strictly need to brown ingredients before adding them to a slow-cooker, doing so brings a richer flavor to this dish.

One note about wine: Don’t cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink. Cooking will intensify the flavors in the wine. If you use a cheap wine that you don’t really like the flavor of, you won’t be happy with the final dish.

What you need:

• 1 3/4 to 2 lbs (about eight) boneless skinless chicken thighs.
• salt, to taste (course-ground sea salt or kosher salt both work well)
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• about 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 5 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 tbs unsalted butter (or extra virgin olive oil)
• 12 oz of crimini mushrooms, quartered. (White button mushrooms would work too.)
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 in. pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped. (If you like garlic, as I do, you can bump this up.)
• 2/3 cup chicken broth. (If using store-bought, make sure its low-sodium)
• 1 1/2 cups Merlot wine
• 3 to 4 sprigs of fresh thyme.

What you do:

In a medium dish, (an 8 inch glass baking dish, for example) season the flour with salt and pepper. Lightly coat the chicken in the seasoned flour and set aside.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until the bacon is just crisp and the fat has rendered out. Keep the drippings in the pan, but drain the bacon on paper towels and set aside.

Add the chicken to the sauté pan and cook in the rendered bacon drippings until lightly browned. (About 3 minutes per side.) Set chicken aside.

Add the mushrooms to the remainder of the rendered bacon drippings and sauté until the edges begin to brown. (They will probably soak up the rest of the drippings.) Add the butter, carrots, onions, garlic and a large pinch of salt. Cook until the vegetables just begin to soften. Transfer the vegetables to the slow-cooker.

Use the the chicken broth to deglaze the sauté pan, then add it to the slow-cooker. Arrange the browned chicken on top. Sprinkle the bacon over the chicken. Add the wine and the thyme sprigs.

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours, or on high for about 3.5 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if desired. Remove thyme sprigs before serving.

I’ve done a braised chicken, a roast beef, (well braised beef, really) Coq Au Vin, chicken and dumplings, and 2 batches of chili (I did a test batch before my final entry for the contest as I was adapting a pressure-cooker recipe, and wanted to make a couple of other changes, too.) So far, I think my favorite was the Coq Au Vin. Tonight I’ve got corned beef (sans cabbage) lined up.

The thing I like best about cooking with a crock-pot: Throwing everything in to it in the morning, and basically forgetting about it until dinner time.

The thing I like least about cooking with a crock-pot: Having to wait 7 more hours to eat dinner when it smells SO GOOD right now.