For the Love of Crockpots!

Oh yes,
I LOVE my crockpot! The person who invented it should be given an award. I love being able to toss things in, and leave it! Then there's an amazing meal ready when you get home from work, and there's really no effort on your part.
I've cooked three meals in the last three days, but none of them really impressed me, until I did my beef stew in the crockpot. Its something that Hubby, obviously, loves, and it was the simplest thing to put together; so it worked out well. Then I turned around, washed the crockpot, and used it again tonight for Crockpot Fajitas! So you're getting two meal recipes for the price of one today; woo!

Beef Stew:
London Broil is such a very versatile cut of beef. Perfect for stewing, using as fajita beef, and it also makes really good beef jerky. You can choose a leaner cut, or a fattier one, whichever you prefer. The slow cooking in this recipe works pretty well either way, as it softens everything up, and has a great flavor all around.
If you're not specifically doing Paleo, you could also add potatoes to this recipe (even sweet potatoes, which ARE Paleo friendly); just increase one of your liquids by another 1/2 cup.

With either one of these recipes, you can put all ingredients (excepting liquids for the stew) into a big ziploc bag, freeze it, and just toss it all in the crockpot when you're ready for it! Easy make ahead meals!

Beef Stew
Ingredients:
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3Ibs london broil, cut into bite size pieces
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 tsp paprika per bag
1/4 tsp black pepper per bag
1 C. beef broth
1/2 C. water
1/2 C. beer of choice

Directions:
Place all ingredients into crockpot.
Cook for 4 hours on HIGH or 8 hours on LOW.

Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients

1 lb. chicken tenders, halved or chicken breast, cut into slim strips

1 medium onion sliced

1 medium green pepper sliced

2 cups of salsa

1 can of green chiles

4 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning (archive)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 15oz. can black beans, optional

Directions:

Place all ingredients in crockpot.

Cook 4 hours on HIGH or 7 hours on LOW.

You may choose to remove the chicken, shred it, and then add it back to the pot to warm through; or serve it in the strips it is already in.

Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and whatever other fixins you like.

If you are NOT doing Paleo, add the black beans at the start of cooking. Then serve on warm tortillas with all the above fixins.