Not For Wimps!

I wanted to squeeze in a post before Kevin and I take off for a kidless vacation to Colorado in 48 hours to celebrate our 6 year anniversary and Kev's 30th. If you're a burglar reading this, save yourself the time, you won't find anything here but lego Batmen and goldfish crumbs.

Organizing childcare was no small feat, and this trip is possible thanks to three wonderful, brave women, two of whom are watching MY kids, in addition to their OWN kids, at different times in different places! Such an undertaking is NOT for wimps!

We have vacationed to Colorado several times before to visit Kevin's sister, Kelly (who is coincidentally my best friend) and something I love about it out there is that we spend the entire vacation being ACTIVE and OUTSIDE. Hiking, biking, walking, running! Cause that's just what you do there. That is the one thing that makes me want to uproot our family and head West.

Lucky for me, the training plan for my September marathon kicks off this week and I will get to do my first long run in the beautiful mountains of Boulder! Sounds picturesque, and it will be, but running at 5,000+ feet elevation is not for wimps! Kelly will have to escort me just to ensure that I don't pass out on the trails!

Sticking with my theme today, here's an aweeeeesome recipe, although not for wimps. And by wimps in this case, I mean kids. Too spicy for the little people, but sooooooo yummy for the big and brave.

I love having an EASY new crock pot recipe for my repertoire, especially since I now have about 6 minutes between when I put Sage in the farthest corner away from the stairs, and she ends up here:

Spicy Shredded Beef (Not for Wimps)

adapted from Sunset magazine on Myrecipes.com

2 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck (Buying meat with weird names like "chuck" and "round" usually intimidates me but I just walked up to the counter and asked the butcher to find it for me)

6 oz of jalapenos

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder (recipe called for chipotle sauce but that was impossible to find. You can get chipotle chili at any grocery store)

1 tablespoon honey

2 tsp cumin

2 cups of beef broth

Kaiser rolls, red onion, greek yogurt, tomato slices, and cilantro for serving

First chop up the garlic, jalapeno, and onion. MMMM you know it's going to be good when you start by chopping up 6 oz of jalapenos!!
Did that in a bowl with my salad choppers, then added the can of undrained diced tomatoes
Then one and a half cans worth of beef broth. Recipe called for 2 cups but I ended up doing more like three.
Then two teaspoons of cumin
1 tablespoon of chili powder
The chipotle chili powder
Annnnd the honey
Mix it up, and dump it on top of the beef in the crock pot!
Cover and low for 8 to 10 hours! When it's done, I took it out and rough chopped it all up
Then added it back in with the sauce until it was ready to serve
Toppings ready to go
Toast the buns
Annnnnd put it all together. INCREDIBLE. One wasn't enough for HungryMom so I did my second one open face and it was fab. Kevin had about 15.