Easy BBQ Shredded Beef

All you need is a bottle of this from Trader Joes

(best part is that it's delicious and has no High Fructose Corn Syrup!)
And 2.5lbs london broil beef, top round.

Cook beef in a large crock pot with 1-2 inches water on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours, until shreds easily.

Remove all but 1 cup of juice and discard or save for another meal later. Shred meat and mix in entire bottle of BBQ sauce. Cover and cook for another hour or until ready to serve! Goes great with hamburger buns or homemade bread!

Great meal to freeze as well!

Wendy's Chili

This is a great chili recipe that I've been making for over 4 years. I found it off Top Secret Recipes, back when they would give away a free recipe of the week. It actually tastes better than the restaurants version too!

We love to serve it with fresh cornbread and top it off with cheese, of course! We find that the cornbread helps the chili not be as spicy for the girls, and we give them milk with their dinner to help cut out any remaining burn. It's slightly hotter than a mild chili recipe, but kids just don't have that high of a tolerance as adults do.

Wendy’s Chili

1 lb ground beef (I use ground turkey)
29 oz can tomato sauce
29 oz can kidney beans (with liquid)
29 oz can pinto beans (with liquid)
1 med. onion, diced
½ cup diced green chilies
2-3 stalks celery, diced
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (I peel them, but it isn’t necessary to do so unless you hate the skins or you can use 1 can diced tomatoes)
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 tsp chili powder (or to desired spiciness)
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2-3 cups water (to desired thickness)

1. Brown the meat with the onion in a skillet. Using a colander, drain fat and rinse with water. (This will remove excess fat).

2. In a large pot (8 quart), combine meat and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. If you are in a rush, then bring to a boil and simmer for about 1 hour.

*Leftovers can be frozen! Let cool first before freezing or storing in the fridge.

Tamale Pie

We could have this dish at least once a week,

it's THAT GOOD

recipe from Joan Arrington (from Apache Park Ward)

1 lb. hamburger
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced
16 oz. can diced tomatoes
6 oz. can tomato paste
12 oz. can corn, drained
1 can sliced olives (optional)
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tsp. chili powder
Dash of pepper
1 ½ c. sharp American cheese, grated
3 c. cold milk

1 c. yellow corn meal
1 tsp. salt


Brown the first four ingredients together. Drain the fat and add tomatoes, tomato paste, corn, olives, sugar, salt, chili powder, and pepper. Simmer heated through. Add cheese and stir until melted. Pour into 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Make corn meal topping by heating milk to a boil. Remove from heat. Add salt and quickly stir in corn meal with a whisk (use a silicone coated whisk if you have non-stick pans). Mix completely. Spread over top of meat mixture. Bake at 400* for 30 minutes.

*For Kid Friendly, just use 1 tsp of Chili powder or omit it entirely. We just add Cholula hot sauce to the adults' plates and it's so GOOD!

In the photo, I ran out of green bell pepper so I improvised with zucchini instead. Tasted Great!