Taco Bake - Slow Cooker Thursday

BWelcome to this week’s installment of Slow Cooker Thursday!  I’m trying something quite a bit different for us this week.  I’ve been making lots of soups lately so I figured it was time to go outside the new slow cooker comfort zone J  This week I found a recipe for a Taco Bake that sounded interesting.  I figured, we all like tacos here, and this gives me a chance to try another new recipe in my new Crock-Pot.  Here is the recipe:

Taco Bake (Source: Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Cuisine cookbook)

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 oz taco seasoning
31 oz tomato sauce (can be achieved using multiple cans of tomato sauce, or measured using your handy kitchen scale)
8 oz macaroni, uncooked
4 oz mild chopped green chilies
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and onion.  Drain off any excess fat.  Add water, taco seasoning and the tomato sauce.  Mix well and simmer for 20 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to your slow cooker.  Stir in the macaroni and the chilies.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 – 8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.

In the last 30 minutes of cooking, top with the shredded cheddar cheese.

VERDICT:
This wasn't too bad!  The macaroni noodles were a little squishy in my hubby's opinion, but I didn't mind.  It all blended together quite nicely.  While the original recipe called for 1 1/4 oz of taco seasoning (as in a package of taco seasoning) - I make my own taco seasoning and used that instead.  I also used less than what was called for, because I know my seasoning can be spicy, especially if simmering all day - and I know that our oldest wouldn't be too happy with overly spicy food.  There was a great spice to this - it wasn't crazy hot or anything, it was a nice warm flavour that had kick but didn't burn your throat and stomach.  I liked that!  And the leftovers were great for lunch :-)