Recipe Review: Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls

So much yum!

Sometime last week I received an email from Mark's sister with a few recipes attached. This is a semi-regular occurrence between the two of us and I always get really excited because we seem to have the same philosophy on food: healthy without sacrificing flavor.

Two of the recipes were ideas for fall apples, one was for a chicken salad, and the other was for a black bean and quinoa burrito bowl. I knew right away that I wanted to try the burrito bowl first; it just called to me like all other mexican style dishes. So I soaked a huge batch of black beans and cooked them up the next day.

Other than using fresh black beans instead of canned I followed the directions exactly topping ours with fresh tomato, greek yogurt, and guacamole. Yum! Being as its the burrito filling without the wrap I thought I would miss the tortilla but I was wrong. Mark didn't even complain! It doesn't need anything else. Both of us just loved it.

Seriously... Make. This Tonight. It's definitely a winner.

Head on over to The Shiksa in the Kitchen for the recipe.

One last bad picture

Recipe Review: Crock Pot Beef Carnitas Tacos

Perfection

Most of the time when I find a recipe I want to make I end up tweaking it here and there to make it something more up our alley. But sometimes I see something that looks and sounds so good that I don't want to change anything. This happened when I came saw Jenna's recipe for crock pot carnitas tacos back in July.

I bookmarked it in my head until last week when both Mark and I were craving tacos. I told him about the recipe and he was down. We went off to Whole Foods for some flank steak, came home to dust off the crock pot, seasoned and topped the meat, and waited the long 8 hours.

Ingredients for success

Look how deliciously red the flank steak is

Rubbed with spiced and topped with chopped produce

8 hours later on a corn tortilla and topped with salsa & avocado

Boy was it worth it. The steak was tender and juicy. The onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño combined for melt-in-your-mouth amazing flavor. Add corn tortillas, salsa, and fresh avocado, and you've got a home run. 

Both Mark and I agreed that we wouldn't have changed a thing as far as the meat goes (except maybe adding more jalapeño, we like the heat). We also thought it tasted phenomenal in the tacos, much better than your run of the mill ground beef mixed with taco seasoning.

But we also noted how much like a roast the meat tasted. It wasn't a bad thing, just not what we were expecting. It was a pleasant surprise that left us wishing we had made more meat (we ate the entire 1/2 lb in one sitting). This slow cooked flank steak would taste absolutely mouth wateringly good as sandwich filling, with some melted cheese on top of course.

So if you're looking for a no hassle, tastes-like-you've-slaved-for-hours taco recipe, head on over to Eat, Live, Run and get your slow cooked carnitas on!