My favorite bean burrito crockpot/stove recipe

Beef and Bean Burritos

• 1 can refried beans
• 1/2 lb. lean ground beef, cooked and drained
• 1-2 T. taco seasoning
• 1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 c. salsa

1. Combine all ingredients and either warm on stovetop or keep in crockpot on low for 2-3 hours.  Serve in tortillas with desired toppings.

These are so kid-friendly even my 1 year old was eating them!  The brown sugar just adds a touch of sweet to offset the spice.  You can definitely forgo the sugar altogether if you'd prefer.  But we really enjoy this burrito filling.  Very versatile, easy, and tasty.

Zucchini Bread- of course!

Zucchini Bread
(from allrecipes.com)

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I do 1/2 c. oil and 1/2 c. applesauce- you won't miss the oil!)
• 1 cup brown sugar
  1 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini (I use 3 cups and it's great!)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Such a great recipe- I think it is much healthier with the revisions I made and still tastes like a dessert.  I just wish my garden was growing a little bit more zucchini!  

What to do with all those cherry tomatoes!

• 
  
• Tomato Feta Salad
• (from allrecipes.com)
• 
  
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped sweet onion
• 1 pound grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the vinegar, basil and salt. Add onion; toss to coat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oil and feta cheese; toss to coat. Serve with a slotted spoon.

This was really tasty!  We have so many cherry tomatoes coming out of our garden right now.  I wish they'd come out at a more relaxed pace throughout the whole year...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes

(from allrecipes.com)

cookie dough:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/4 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips  Cupcake: 1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix 1 1/3 cups water 1/3 cup canola oil 3 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.
2.	Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
3.	Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.
4.	Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. These were good!  I wasn't addicted to them, but my kids liked them really well and they are great for a change of pace from plain cupcakes.  The cake mix makes it easy, you can switch up the flavor from vanilla to chocolate if you'd prefer.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps in the Slow Cooker- easy and YUMMY

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wraps
(from bettycrocker.com)

• 2 lbs chicken thighs (I used breasts)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 c. buffalo wing sauce (I made my own using 1/3 c. hot pepper sauce, 1/3 c. ketchup, and 2 T honey and blended it together, throwing it in the crockpot with the chicken)
• 3/4 c. ranch dressing
• 8 tortillas
• shredded lettuce or spinach

1. Place chicken in the crockpot, cover with salt and wing sauce, cook on low for 6-7 hours.
2. Drain as much of the liquid from the crockpot after finishing cooking, and shred chicken.  Add ranch dressing, mix and serve in tortillas.  

These were so good!  Luckily they weren't too spicy for the kids.  You can make them more spicy by adding more hot sauce.  Ranch, of course, tames the spicy flavor.  The kids like dipping these in ranch and the flavor is awesome.  Of course you can make these even quicker using rotisserie chicken, canned chicken and heating it up on the stove or microwave.