Oven Roasted Broccoli

Preheat oven to 425

Chop up broccoli into small florets

Place on roasting pan and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and minced garlic.

Bake for 25 minutes, stirring once about halfway through.

When done, you can toss with more olive oil, salt and pepper and add parmesan cheese to the top.

Mexican Fried Rice

INGREDIENTS

Mexican Spice Mix
1 tbsp garlic powder (or 2 garlic cloves, minced)
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp cumin powder
1¾ tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper (Note 1), optional
Black pepper
** Or you can use 3 tablespoons of Trader Joe's taco mix as a shortcut- spice mix tastes better**

1 pound of ground beef, browned and strained

Other ingredients
1 small onion, peeled and diced (or ½ large)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red capsicum (bell pepper), sliced
1 cup rice
¾ cup tomato puree or passata
1 cup frozen corn kernels (or canned - drained)
1 can (400g/16oz) black beans, drained and rinsed (or sub with red kidney beans)

Garnish
1 lime, plus extra to serve
Coriander/cilantro
Sliced jalapeño peppers (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook rice in rice cooker (I cook 2 scoops of rice and then fill to the "2" line in my rice cooker)
2. Brown ground beef in a pan, then transfer to a strainer to separate meat from fat 
3. Put onions, garlic, and bell pepper in pan with some oil and fry for 2-3 minutes till slightly browned, set aside.
4. Mix together all ingredients in mexican spice mix in small bowl.
5. Coat frying pan with cooking oil and pour spice mix into oil.
6. Add cooked rice into frying pan and stir until rice is coated in spice mix.
7. Add tomato puree, corn, and beans and stir.
8. Add ground beef and onion/garlic/peppers
9. Stir till everything is heated through
10. When rice is ready, squeeze the juice of 1 lime over chicken and rice and serve, garnished with coriander/cilantro leaves, extra lime wedges and sliced jalapeños, if desired. 

Asian crock pot short ribs

Ingredients
4 - 4½ pounds beef short ribs
½ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup + 1 - 2 tablespoons brown sugar (loosely packed)
¼ cup rice vinegar
½ cup orange juice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes
3 carrots, peeled and cut in 1-2 inch pieces

Instructions:

• Brown meat with a bit of cooking oil.
• Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on High for about 4 hours (I like to cook for 1-2 hours on high the night before and then leave on low overnight for 4 hours and then let it sit on warm until I wake up in the morning).
• Serve immediately
• For a lower fat version, I take the meat and veggies out of the crock pot and put stock in the freezer for an hour for the fat to solidify, remove the fat, and then reheat the gravy.
• For an even better gravy, boil down on medium until volume is reduced by half.

Chicken taco meat in a crock pot

INGREDIENTS

SERVINGS
3 tablespoons taco seasoning, I use Bulk Taco Seasoning Mix
1 cup chicken broth
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
I also add a handful of black beans to the pot to soak up some of the chicken broth while cooking.


DIRECTIONS

Dissolve taco seasoning into chicken broth.
Place chicken breasts in crock pot and pour chicken broth over (also add the beans in this step if you want).
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
With two forks, shred the chicken meat into bite-size pieces.
To freeze, place shredded meat into freezer bags with the juices.
Press out all the air and seal.