Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Slow Cooker Quesadillas, Lasagna Jars

This past Sunday, I did a bunch of cooking. There was my dinner, of course, which I got off of Pinterest, for Slow Cooker Chipotle Steak Quesadillas. I’d like to say that I took pictures of it, and made it all look amazing, but to be honest, I was cooking two things at once, so I didn’t get anything. They were awesome though. The recipe:

1 ½ pound flank steak
4 chipotle peppers
3-4 Tbsp. adobo sauce (from the can with the peppers)
4 scallions, diced
About a cup of cilantro, divided
Juice of one lime
3 Tbsp. salsa
½ red bell pepper, diced
2 cups Mexi-blend shredded cheese
8 tortillas
Salt and pepper

In a slow cooker, place the flank steak, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, scallions, ½ cup cilantro, lime juice, salsa and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook on medium high for 4-5 hours, flipping the steak every hour or so. Shred the meat right in the cooker, and taste it. Add more salt if needed, more pepper. If it’s on the dry side, add some more salsa, and cook for a bit longer. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add a tortilla to the pan. On one half, arrange some shredded cheese, then layer with the shredded meat, red bell pepper, and more cheese. Fold the tortilla over and sauté until the quesadilla is golden brown on both sides and the cheese has melted.

Ok, so I wasn’t sure where to find the chipotle peppers, so instead, I used a red and a green pepper, and just added chipotle powder, and I think I got about the desired effect. For juice, I used the juice from a can of Rotel. Then, when it was time to make the quesadilla, I just drained out the juice, and put the red/green peppers into my quesadilla, sort of reused them. They were delicious! Honestly, these were so good. I dipped them into salsa, yummy. I dipped them into sour cream, delicious. I really recommend these all around. While that was slow-cooking, I made some lasagna-in-jars. We’ve been having the salad-in-jars for a while now, and just needed a change. So while perusing Pinterest, I found a recipe for lasagna, and wanted to give it a shot. The recipe:

12 oz wide egg noodles (I used the whole 16oz bag)
1 pound ricotta
1 egg
Parmesan cheese
½ Tsp. kosher salt
2 cups mozzarella cheese
3 cups marinara sauce (your favorite kind)
4-5 Wide-mouth Mason Jars

Boil noodles according to package. Drain and add back to pot. Mix in 2 cups of sauce. In a separate bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, a handful of parmesan cheese, salt, and mozzarella. Fold cheese mixture gently into the noodles, do not over stir. Place in greased jars or greased 9x13 pan and top with remaining sauce, and sprinkle more parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

I threw some ground beef into the mixture with the noodles and sauce; I thought that was a good idea. I really liked this. And then the next day, when I finally got to eat it, it was awesome! I really recommend this to people. It’s easy to make a bunch of them at once, and then I can throw it in my bag to take to work the next day, so easy.

Now, I’ve given you two meals that you can make, and enjoy, for many meals at a time. Get cooking!

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