Crock Pottin' Monday: Barbecued Pulled Pork & Salsa Verde Chicken

There are few things I love in my kitchen more than my crock pot. Actually, there's only one appliance I love more than my crock pot and that's the dishwasher {and the handsome spouse that always unloads it!} I don't do a lot of crock pot meals during the week because I don't like leaving uncooked food sitting on a timer or cooked food left on the warm setting {it never just 'warms' and then I'm left scrubbing a burnt mess of the sides!}. However, one or both of my crock pots are usually going once or twice over the weekend. I can throw meals in for that weekend's lunches or dinners and the week's dinners also. Seriously, I love these things! 

Today I'll be sharing two of my favorite crock pot recipes with you. The pulled pork recipe was shared by my parents. After always begging them to make it, they finally just told me how to do it myself. {Thanks Mom & Dad!} The salsa verde chicken was created during the Ice-pocalypse weekend of December 2013. I was staring at my freezer and pantry desperate for something I could make with only the ingredients I had on hand. I took a chance and it turned out to be one of our favorite meals!

Barbecued Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin

Salt & Pepper

BBQ sauce of your choice {My favorite combination is a mix of Absolutely Mild! and Absolutely Wild! but those are hard to find in my stores so I use my second favorite, Stubb's.}

Directions:

Cut the pork tenderloin into 3 large chunks and place in crock pot. Cover with half bottle of BBQ sauce and cook on low for 4-6 hours. After cooking, use two forks to "pull" {shred} the pork. Discard any juice or sauce left at the bottom of the crock pot. Return the pulled pork to the crock pot and mix with remaining unused BBQ sauce. Warm in crockpot until sauce is heated thoroughly. 

Salsa Verde Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken breast 

Salsa Verde

Directions: 

Lay chicken breast in bottom of crock pot. Cover with 2/3 of the salsa verde. Cook on low 4-6 hours. After cooking, use two forks to shred the chicken. Discard any juice or salsa left at the bottom of the crock pot. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot and mix with remaining unused salsa verde. Warm in crockpot until salsa is heated thoroughly. Use with flour tortillas for a soft taco or roll in corn tortillas for enchiladas! 

Two meals with only two ingredients that can be made with less than 10 minutes of "woman power". That's just two more delicious reasons why crock pottin' is the McGregor Method!

Tiny Tot Thursday: Busy Bags

I've had a list of different busy bags to make and all of the supplies bought for the last month, but haven't seemed to find the time to put everything together. So that became Spring Break Mission #1. Especially, since we would be in the car for a 4-5 hour road trip, I knew I needed different things to keep Audrey occupied. I leave this backpack full of busy bags in my car so that I can quickly grab it for restaurants, doctors offices, etc. There are a million and one ideas for busy bags floating around Pinterest, but I put together a few things I knew Audrey would like the most. Feel free to use any of my ideas to make or revamp your own! 

Audrey made this bag during our Christmas time stay at Great Wolf Lodge. It's perfect for holding busy bags because I can quickly pull it shut and throw it over my shoulder! 

There are 12 activities total. Mini box #1 on the left holds small linking shapes and mini box #2 on the right holds small Legos. 

The two long tubes on the right are spice jars with pipe cleaners. This proves to be a favorite so far!

Bag #1 holds two activities: sticker books and a small coloring book with Crayons. 

Bag #2 holds fuzzy Pom Pom balls, mini plastic containers and a plastic spoon. Audrey loves to scoop the Pom Poms into the bowls. 

Bag #3 holds mini tubs of play dough, and a plastic spoon and fork for making "cakes". 

Bag #4 holds mini pegs and blocks. 

Bag #5 holds interlocking foam pieces great for making figures or towers. 

Bag #6 holds magnetic letters and numbers. Use these with a metal pie pan. 

Bag #7 holds foam sheets for lacing. Simply punch a couple of holes around the edge of a foam sheet and use shoe strings to lace through. 

Bag #8 holds color matching clothes pin. Grab 2 of each paint swatch from the painting department. Punch or cut out a small piece from one swatch, glue on a clothes pin and match to other paint swatch. I used a hot glue gun to secure the stars to the clothes pin because all of my paint swatches we're laminated. {Teaching 101: Everything is better when it's laminated!}

All of my supplies were purchased at either Hobby Lobby, Michaels or Dollar Tree. I spent between $25-30 to make these bags, but since I created 12 activities that only averages to about $2.50 per bag. You can't beat hands on learning for less than $3! I have about half of everything left over that I have a special plan for a special someone soon, but you could very easily split all of these supplies to make two sets of busy bags for two different children. 

So grab a friend, get crafty and get busy! 

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

I promise that one day soon I will have a full Meal Makin' Monday post for you. I had every intention of doing it today, but life got busy and I didn't start cooking until after 8:30 Saturday night. At that point, I just wanted to get done quickly and not stop to document and take pictures.

But I will share this recipe that I threw in the crock pot Sunday afternoon. I served it with quesadillas and southwest chopped salad for dinner that night and portioned a couple of small bowls for this week's lunches. 

Ingredients: 

~1 package chicken breast {I used tenders because they were on sale at Kroger which shortened my cooking time by about an hour.} 

~1 box of chicken broth 

~1 can corn {drained and rinsed}

~1 can diced tomatoes 

~2 cans ranch style beans {drained and rinsed}

~2 bell peppers {I used 1 red and 1 green}

~1 medium onion

~1 jalepeno {seeded}

~juice from 1 lemon 

Lay chicken breast at the bottom of crock pot and top with seasonings of your choice. I used taco seasoning but you could use a mixture of cumin, chili powder or any other southwestern spice combination. 

Add diced bell peppers, onions and jalepenos as well as the corn, tomatoes, and beans. 

Add the chicken broth and lime juice and stir. 

After 4 hours on low {3 if you're using tenders}, remove the chicken, shred and return. 

Continue cooking for about 30-45 more minutes. Serve and enjoy! 

{This combination was pretty mild on the heat level. To spice it up a bit, add an extra jalepeno and swap a can of Ro-Tel for the regular diced tomatoes.}