Busy Chopping

First I'd like to profess my love for my Crock-Pot. My friends are probably tired of hearing about my Crock-Pot because I talk about it constantly, but it is my single favorite appliance in the kitchen... well actually that's my KitchenAid, but it's a close second.

Slow cooker recipes are EVERYWHERE. My favorites come from my friend's mom, Momma Calhoun. She emails them to him and he happily forwards them along. Cameron and I have never had the pleasure of meeting her, but she's like my very own Julia Childs, only Southern (SC) instead of French (American turned French) and perhaps more like Sandra Lee because a lot of her recipes are semi-homemade. Anyway, I haven't made a single one of her recipes that Cameron and I didn't enjoy immensely. Even as I write this post, there is a classic Momma Calhoun recipe simmering away in my Crock-Pot, Carolina Style Pulled Pork. I could dedicate an entire post to the differences in Carolina Barbecue versus Texas or Tennessee, but I'll save that for another time. For now I want to share the magic that my Crock-Pot produced last night and Monday.

Cameron loves Mexican food and I eat just about everything, but for some reason Mexican is on my take it or leave it list. However, I do like a good fajita now and then. We actually lived a block away from a really good, hole in the wall, Mexican restuarant in New York called El Paso Taqueria, but I digress. I always wondered how restaurants get their fajita chicken to be so flavorful and moist and then it dawned on me, use the Crock-Pot! All it took was a little bit of chopping, add some spices, a little chicken stock and some chicken and six hours later we had delicious chicken fajitas.

I actually got the recipe from someone else's blog, Kalyn's Kitchen, which I found through Googling "Slow-Cooker Chicken Fajitas". The only thing I changed/added was I used the juice from one lime and then added some store-bought lime juice as well as added a tablespoon of honey (thanks for the 'sweet' idea Emily). I almost forgot to take a picture of the meal and only remembered after chomping into my corn, so please forgive the half-eaten cob in the picture below.

Now that Cameron is a student and I'm unemployed, I have been trying really hard to use every food item I buy. So I just love when I find recipes that complement one another and that use similar ingredients. I recalled seeing a recipe in my old Food Network Magazine (LOVE that magazine by the way, great gift idea) for chili. Of course chili is going to call for some of the same ingredients as fajitas, sour cream and cheese for example. Plus, I had a bunch of corn on the cob leftover that I knew I could toss into some corn bread. So Crock-Pot recipe number 2 of the week, thank you Food Network, Texas Chili:

I spiced mine up a bit more by using a little less than 3/4 cup of chili powder and instead using 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper and 1 tablespoon of Spanish hot smoked Paprika. However, we like our food SPICY so be careful with those measurements.

Okay so I might've been avoiding it but the title, Busy Chopping...well onions and peppers aren't the only things getting chopped this week. I finally bit the bullet and succumbed to the Carolina heat and chopped off most of my hair. I took off 9 whole inches!!! Yep, I went in for a "lob" (long bob), but I came out with more of a bob.  I think I like it, but it's going to take some getting used to. What do you think?