Baked Potatoes

Baked potatoes are super simple to make, you just wrap them in tin foil and throw them in the BBQ or oven. The problem is they are fairly time consuming. If you come home from work at 6 and are hungry you don't want to wait 1-2 hours for the side of your meal to slowly bake away. By using a Crock Pot you can have your potatoes waiting for you when you get home.

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

• 4 large potatoes, washed and dried
• 4 pieces of tin foil, large enough to wrap around 1 potato each

* Wrap each potato in a piece of tinfoil. I usually leave the one end with a 'tail' to fish them out when they are super hot and done cooking.
* Place in Crock Pot on low for 8 hours and they are soft but not mushy, 10 if you like them super soft. You could also do it on high if you have a few hours before dinner.

That is it! Now go throw some chicken on the BBQ because your side is done!

Taco Thursday

I am a little bashful to post this recipe. For some reason the thought of tacos conjour up images of collage aged kids, post drinking fast food binges (not that I know anything about that ha ha), or something unhealthy. I decided to share it though because realistically pretty much everyone loves tacos (some secretly). Tacos are not that bad for you, it is the soda and the fries supreme that is the really unhealthy part. This recipe is pretty much as easy as it gets, if you can wash an apple you can make this.

This recipe can be made with ground turkey or chicken instead of beef, it could even be made with soya meat. The end result is a meat so tender, and flavorful it will make you think a little more highly of tacos. Children like it because they can assemble their own dinner.

For the taco toppings you can use salsa, guacamole, olives, lettuce, sour cream, shredded cheese. (choose light sour cream and cheese if you are trying to cut back on calories). You will also need hard and/or soft shells. Serve with a spinach salad filled with lots of veggies then you have a rounded meal.

Crock Pot Tacos

• 1 lbs ground beef (turkey or chicken)
• 1 pkg of seasoning
• 1 cup of water

* Put meat in crock pot add water and seasoning, stir

Yes my friends that is it. The exact length depends on your Crockpot, but as a guide either cook it for 10 hours (low) or 4 hours (high).  I would recommend stirring it occasionally (if you are home when it is cooking if not it isn't the end of the world), it will not look the prettiest as it is cooking as it will clump together and look rather liquidy, it will still taste good though. If there is any extra liquid at the end just scoop out the meat with a slotted spoon.

Let me know how they turn out!