hey there! I apologize for the couple week hiatus in posting new recipes for y'all, but considering the reason is I was on a much needed vacation I am not that sorry ;) I spent the last week on a road trip exploring some great national parks, breweries, and coastal towns through Oregon & northern California. It was beyond beautiful and relaxing and I would highly recommend. Feel free to E-mail me for any recs, as much as I love talking food all the time I am also a total travel bug! Now I'm back to reality...unpacking, laundry, work, and the realization that it's time to work off all the great vacation meals. It would be nice if we could just go on vacation without having to worry about all that aftermath, am I right?! With all that fun stuff going on this week a nice and easy crockpot meal was necessary. These light turkey tacos were not only super easy but also got a "you should make our tacos like this every time you make tacos" from Jas.... easy, light, delicious, and a meal we can both enjoy?! WIN, WIN!  Oh and then there's the beer, that was for the hundreds of work E-mails I had waiting for me post vacation, plus, what's a taco Tuesday without a good margarita or Mexican beer pairing?! After all our Oregon brew tastings we were inspired to try something new this week. I proudly partnered up with Estrella Jalisco to bring this taco Tuesday to life! 

Hi y'all! 'Tis the season for slow cooker meals, soups, and all that tastes good while cozied up indoors during the fall and winter days. I made up this slow cooker cauliflower soup this weekend as I was in the mood to get all the cozy fall feels without all the unwanted calories. I'm a big fan of using cauliflower for delicious meals in place of high carb starches. Cauliflower soup over potato soup, cauliflower alfredo, cauliflower tots, you name it, I'm on the bandwagon - I just love how basic the flavor is to begin with so you can use it as a thickening agent and get flavor from your additional ingredients. This soup turned out so yummy - I'll be happily eating leftovers all week long! I hope y'all enjoy as much as I did! 

I think a good slow cooked meat is one of those recipes everyone should have on hand, I can't speak up enough about how much I love a good crock pot meal. There is so little effort required for such a flavor packed and tender meal. I mean seriously you throw everything in there, let it cook and then just add a few final touches. It's perfect if you have day time plans or just know you won't feel like making dinner but have some time on your hands in the morning. I especially love slow cooking meat in the fall and winter. Football season is around so I can toss everything in in the morning, enjoy the day and a few beers and have a delicious meal waiting. I also love how yummy the house smells and the great BBQ flavor you get out of this meal on a cool cozy fall day spent away from your grill and indoors. 

Queso is everything. It's what I miss most about Texas... well, besides the people, southern hospitality, but you get the picture, it's really high up there on the list. If there's any other displaced and homesick Texans out there I hope you love this! And anyone else of course... if I had it my way, queso dip would be a staple everywhere and to everyone. My biggest queso pet peeve though? Velveeta based dips. Not trying to hate on Velveeta, it just doesn't have that homemade, fresh, real taste I look for in my dips. i'm all about the fresh from the deli cheeses when it comes to my queso! Once you measure out all the ingredients it is so easy to toss in a slow cooker for about an hour and just let it cook while you prep other things. I don't want to bore you with my obsession here though, so let's get to it!

Y'all, these are so addicting! If you've got a party or event to make up an appetizer for I can't recommend this enough. It takes about 5 minutes of my time to put together and then the crock-pot takes care of the rest. Recipes that are so little effort & ingredients, yet are big hits are the best, am I right?! The flavor is incredible and they are so tender from being in the crock-pot. Enjoy! 

Hi! I couldn't wait to share another slow cooked chinese food dish with you guys after the slow cooker teriyaki chicken I posted became the most shared and viewed post to date, after only one week! Slow cooked meat is hard to beat with how tender and flavor packed it becomes so I guess it's not so surprising that is a favorite. I also posted a how to on the sesame oil fried rice I paired with this - the combo was delicious! If you want a really simple effort free meal you could also easily pair this with a plain white or brown rice. 

You guys. This was SO good - I know teriyaki sauce is easy to buy, but it is so worth making your own. I'm also a big fan of any meat slow cooked.... the more tender the better in my opinion. I made this for date night tonight and it didn't last long on the table, we both enjoyed it so much! My favorite part of slow cooker meals is there's so little work to do. You just toss it in during the day and get to relax that night while having a delish home cooked meal. Today while I had this cooking we were able to get our vegetable garden going for the season so I'll be using the freshest of ingredients on Simply Delish Eats this year which I am so excited about! 

If you are from Texas, live in Texas, or know anyone who is from that area you probably know that queso is VERY important. As a former Texan now living in California I get serious queso withdrawals and I know I can't be the only one. I cringe at the canned grocery store stuff, and can't find it at any restaurant - so if I want the good stuff I figured I better learn to make it. I found recipes similar to the one I'm about to share online but most were straight velveeta or white American cheese which I knew wasn't going to work for me. I tweaked those a little and added some other kinds of cheese, tossed everything in the crockpot and ended up with what I considered a pretty darn delicious queso blanco! Next time I will try making some different queso blends, but this won't be the last time I make this one!