The recipe I am sharing today is loosely based on one I found on Gimme Some Oven, who borrowed her recipe from .My Kitchen Addiction.  And I will wager that she probably was inspired from somewhere else.

 

You know that old saying  . . .  "There is nothing new under the sun."  This is one I love about the food blogging community. We are always sharing with and inspiring each other.

 

I saved a few steps in the recipe. They rubbed the meat in the herbs and spices and then browned it first before putting it into the slow cooker. 

 

I didn't have time for faffing about with browning and such.  I just put everything into the slow cooker and cooked it.

 

I placed the onions and garlic on the bottom of the slow cooker and topped it with the meat . . .

  

Then I stirred everything else together and poured it around and on top of the meat.  That's it  . . .

 

Simple.  Easy. Delicious.  You can either cook it on high for 3 to 4 hours, or low for 6 to 8 hours  . . .

 

Once the meat is tender you take it out of the slow cooker and shred it with two forks.  I also cut into it with my kitchen scissors so that it was more chunky and less strand-like.

 

I have a think about eating meat that is in strands . . . it almost  makes me gag. I would rather have chunks  . . .

 

I used soft white flour tortillas for them.  The small ones.  I like to toast them over the hot flame of a gas burner  . . .

 

But you heat them whichever way that you prefer  . . .

 

We enjoy them with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, sliced black olives, lettuce and grated cheese . . .

  

Any leftovers can be used to make quesadillas, or burritos, maybe even empanadas . . .  if you enjoy these even half as much as we did, you are in for a real treat!

 

This is the perfect meal when you are busy doing other things, or are feeling too lazy to really cook.  Its nice to have something like this up your sleeve that you can just pop into the slow cooker and you just know your family is going to enjoy it.  In my family Tex Mex was always King!  They loved it!

 

Rice pudding is a dessert that we are awfully fond of in this house. In fact I would have to say that it is one of my husband's  favourite desserts of all time.

 

We are also really fond of Sticky Toffee Pudding, and who isn't  . . .  with its moist date cake and lush toffee sauce!  Its just wow.

 

The shop where we buy most of our groceries  puts out a little magazine each month filled with content particular to whatever  month it might be.  Its free.

 

I always pick it up and bring it home to have a look through.  Sometimes I see recipes I would like to try, sometimes I don't.

 

In the October issue there was a recipe for Sticky Toffee Rice Pudding.  It immediately caught my attention!

 

I knew that my husband would really enjoy it. He's always asking me to make him rice pudding . . .

 

Today was the day. There is no sugar in the rice pudding itself. It relies on the sweetness from chopped dates to flavour it, and some vanilla.

 

You really don't want it to be extremely sweet anyways, as there is a sticky toffee sauce to spoon over top when you serve it along with candied pecans.

 

None of it is hard to make or time consuming.  I made the nuts and sauce while the rice was cooking.

 

You do have to caramelise sugar for the nuts. This can be a bit tricky but if you follow a few rules you shouldn't have a problem

  

First use a heavy bottomed pan so that the caramel doesn't cook too fast.  Second don't stir it at all when cooking it . . .  swirl the pan to move the contents only  . . .

 

Third, remove it from the heat as soon as it starts to turn golden brown.  It will continue to cook from the heat of the pan and you don't want it to burn.  It can burn in an instant, so beware!

 

Stir in the nuts and tip them onto a paper lined baking sheet, tearing them apart with two forks as you can.  Let cool completely. It will be really hot.

 

The Toffee Sauce is also very easy to make.  You just bung all of the ingredients in a saucepan and cook them, stirring occasionally until they thicken and form a syrupy sauce.  Easy peasy.

   

Altogether, this is really, really delicious. My husband  was in rice pudding heaven!

 

I love simple desserts like this.  They spell home sweet home to me!

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com. 

 

 

My friend Lura gave me this fabulous steak rub when I was over visiting her in America.  It was from some ranch that she and her family summer at from time to time. It was just wonderful and made for incredibly delicious and tender meat.  Sadly I ran out of it, so I have been trying to come up with my own concoction for it, or at least as close as I can get.

 

I took a look at the ingredients on the container and roughly put them together into what I thought might be delicious proportions.

 

I was actually quite pleased with how it turned out!  Its not exactly the same, but it is still rather tasty!

 

Its a fabulous mix of mild chili powder, ground coffee, sweet paprika, ground cumin, brown sugar, salt, dry mustard powder ground coriander, black pepper and some cayenne pepper.

  

Although most of the ingredients were already ground, the coffee wasn't, so I popped everything into my spice/coffee grinder and blitzed it until I had a powder.

 

The end result was quite tasty, a bit spicy, a bit sweet, not too salty.

 

I used it on rump steaks today and they tasted fabulous.  Rump steaks are hit and miss I find.  sometimes they are tender and other times they are not.

  

They are not actually my favourite cut of steak.  I much prefer a Sirloin or a Rib Eye.  The steak rub however, added a nice flavour to what was essentially a semi-tough steak, even done medium rare.

 

You know how I was saying the other day about how I am always forgetting what I have in what container in the freezer and how I need to start labelling things?  I got myself some freezer labels!

 

One of the reason that I have always avoided using labels etc. is because they ruin the containers you are freezing/storing your stuff in.  If you write on them with indelible marker, you can't get it off, and stickers always leave a residue when you try to remove them that is in and of itself very difficult to remove.

  

These Innoveem Freezer Labels are just the ticket!  They use a non-residue glue which means that they are really easy to peel off before you wash them! You can also write on them with any pen or Biro.  They come in packs of 100 and are approximately 6 X 3 cm in size and there is plenty of space on them to label and date your contents. They also work for labelling your own spice mixes in jars.  I highly recommend!

 

I also wanted to show you this beautiful Salt Pig I got from Sous Chef. The Logoa Salt Pig.  Its stunning.  It has the most unusual glaze on it.  I wish I could take a photo of it that would properly showcase how very attractive it is.  The special glaze changes its appearance from however you look at it . . .  sometimes it looks like a forest of trees and then other times it looks like a beautiful coastline. Each piece of Lagoa stoneware is produced in small batches by a team of artisans. They hand glaze each piece, so every plate, bowl and accessory is completely unique. I love this piece and it has pride of place in my kitchen.  Its nice and big as well, with a very attractive handle on top which makes it easy to move from counter to table top. I really love it!   I think it would make a fabulous Christmas Gift for the Gourmand in your life! 

Up tomorrow:  Surprise 

 

This was the Thanksgiving weekend back in Canada.  I can never celebrate it properly at the right time of year because it is impossible to get a whole turkey without paying an arm and a leg for it at this time of year, if you can get one at all.  A month makes all the difference in the world.  Were it November, I would be able to get one quite easily.

 

I suppose what I should do is buy an extra one at Christmas or Easter and have it in the freezer, but I never think to do that!

 

You can get all kinds of other turkey bits all throughout the year. Turkey steaks, Turkey cubes.  Turkey breast fillets, ground turkey  . . .  just no whole turkeys.

 

I quite like turkey myself and enjoy it in any way shape or form.

 

In any case I made us these delicious Cranberry & Apple Turkey Meatballs, instead of a roast turkey and we enjoyed them.

 

All the flavours of Thanksgiving in a bite sized meat ball . . . moist and tender  . . .

 

I added grated raw apple and chopped dried cranberries to the meat mixture, along with some garlic and onion powder, a bit of seasoning and some dried sage . . .

 

There is an egg and dried bread crumbs as well to bind everything together.  You shape this mixture into balls and then bake them in a hot oven for about 12 to 15 minutes.  Easy peasy.

 

While they are baking you make a simple and delicious sauce to pour over them.

 

It also uses simple ingredients.  Cranberry sauce.  I like the whole berry sauce  . . .

 

A bit of unsweetened applesauce  . . .  some Balsamic vinegar for a tang . . .  orange juice, maple syrup and some finely grated orange zest  . . .

 

The sauce is so delicious you will want to eat it with a spoon, but please don't!  You need it for the meatballs!

  

Together these are incredibly delicious. You can make them ahead of time and keep them warm in a slow cooker on low for several hours.  You decide.

 

These are great as a nibble during the holiday season when people do a lot of entertaining. Today we enjoyed them as a main course.  They are pretty tasty no matter how you choose to enjoy them! 

Up tomorrow: The steak rub I promised for today.  (In all truth my turkey was due to expire and I needed to use it pronto!)