I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Recipes

Slow Cooker Sweet Spicy and Short Rib Tacos

I just started going back to work from maternity leave with Hunter. Man, it’s been a rough week. Oh shoot, it’s just been 3 days. Wahhhh!!

I am thankful that starting on Tuesday has meant that it is a short week for me. Same with next week with Labor Day. Starting off slow is much better than being thrown into the deep end.

Hunter has been great but I have been a useless mess. I have sobbed driving to work every morning.

I even ditched Price on the first day by dropping off Autumn and leaving him standing at the door to Hunter’s classroom with a puzzled look on his face as I ran our through the main doors waving a frantic bye among other kids trying to get out and get on a bus. I then followed that up with a text in the car apologizing but explaining how I couldn’t go in the room. Very much like the post it that Berger left for Carrie in SATC “I’m Sorry. I can’t. Don’t hate me.”

I’m hoping for a better week next week, but lets be real, it will probably suck too. Gotta keep some realistic expectations over here.

Besides that, it’s all about adjusting to the new morning routine and how to get prepped for the day. I already had 1 issue with forgetting nipples for Hunter’s bottles and my neighbor saved the day by dropping off some at his daycare. It takes a village!

One of the things at makes life a bit easier is having dinner ready when I get home. I do love using my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker, but there is something so nice and familiar about using a slow cooker. Plus, it’s awesome to come home to a house that smells so good.

Short Ribs are my go to meat right now. I love them in tacos and in marinara sauce. Last year I shared another short rib taco recipe using a slow cooker, but I swear this one is different! I love finding new-to-me spices and ingredients so I was excited when I grabbed a bag of Chile Guajillo peppers. They are a mild to medium spiced chili that is often used in salsas, sauces, and rubs to flavor meats.

I wanted to try them with the short ribs by allowing them to flavor the meat as it cooked all day. To cut some of the heat, I used some orange juice for sweetness. And the beer is another great way to add some flavor. If you prefer, you can sub our the beer for stock as that is just as flavorful, in a different way. I think it worked out so well. yum!

Hoping you enjoy these tacos just as much as we did!

 Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Short Rib Tacos

Makes 8 Tacos

Ingredients

For the Short Rib Filling

  • 2 pounds of boneless short ribs
  • 1 Cup Orange Juice
  • 1 Cup light beer or beef stock
  • 3 dried Guajillo chilies
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

For the Tacos

  • Flour Tortillas
  • desired fillings such as greens, avocado, tomato, diced onion, cheese

Process

  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a slow cooker.
  2. Cook for 8 hours on low.
  3. Discard the bay leaf and chilies.
  4. Shred the short rib meat, discarding pieces that are too fatty. Return short rib meat back to liquid in slow cooker.
  5. Assemble tacos with desired toppings.

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Peanut Butter and Banana Frozen Dog Treats

I know that everyone is like “OMG!!! Bring on Fall!!! Pumpkin Spice All The Things!!!!” but it’s still hotter than the surface of the sun here in Florida. In fact, we have just 2 seasons: Hot and Hotter.

Here, these frozen treats will be a welcome reprieve to the heat for most of the year. And even it it’s cold out, I bet your dog will enjoy them.

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S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches – The perfect summer treat for the s’mores lover and ice cream lover in all of us.

S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

It’s the last day of S’mores Week 2017!!!

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Peanut Butter Pupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

PEANUT BUTTER PUPCAKES

Maybe you didn’t know but our 2 Boston Terriers are super cool. Super, super cool. They are way cooler than me.

How do I know?

Well, they have crossed the 40K follower mark on Instagram. They have more than 2x the number of followers than me. (yay!/ugh!)

PEANUT BUTTER PUPCAKES

I have been having tons of fun with them and building their account. Thankfully, they don’t know how successful it has become or they would be even more demanding of treats, bacon, and belly rubs.

They were super spoiled when I made Pup-cakes for Brinkley’s 2nd birthday.

PEANUT BUTTER PUPCAKES

Our sweet, derpy dog just turned 2 years old. She is such a peanut, although she is fully grown, so everyone thinks she is a puppy. She might be small but she has a mighty appetite. I think she would have eaten them all had I let her.

But she  just gobbled up 1 and shared another with Kemper. They both really enjoyed their extra special treat.

 

I swear our dogs know the moment when we open a jar of peanut butter. They can sniff out peanut butter in a 1/4 mile. So they were in their glory with the peanut butter in the cupcake and in the frosting.

PEANUT BUTTER PUPCAKES

So this yummy pupcake recipe is the first in a new series of features from our dogs Kemper and Brinkley! Hope you and your dogs will enjoy them as much as we enjoy the treats and adventures that we will be sharing.

PEANUT BUTTER PUPCAKES

Peanut Butter Pupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Makes 6 Pupcakes

Ingredients

For the pupcakes

  • 1 Cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 Cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 Cup vegetable oil
  • 1 Cup shredded zucchini/carrots
  • 1/3 Cup honey
  • 1 egg

For the frosting

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 6 small dog bone biscuits

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line 6 muffin cups with paper liners.
  2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat the peanut butter and vegetable oil with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in the zucchini, honey, and the egg; beat well. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
  4. Divide the batter into the 6 prepared muffin cups.
  5. Bake for 22 – 25 minutes or until cooked through. Cool completely before frosting.
  6. To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Top the cooled cupcakes with the frosting. Decorate with a dog bones.

Slightly Adapted from Fake Ginger