Steak Fajitas

Okey dokey folks, no time to mess around today...these quickie steak fajitas went into the crock in about 5 minutes or less.  Cleanup was another 5 minutes.  'Cuz it was a busy day.

Before...

 

And after...

 

Last night my step-dad arrived on our doorstep with this lovely box of garden goodies.  He and my mom have a prolific little garden.  Both of them come from long lines of people with green thumbs.  That line has been broken with me.  My gardening skills are lacking.  However I do like to eat good food.  Does that count?

Garden goodies from Nanny and Popsie.

 

Many years ago, I found it very pertinent to read books on the topic of thrift and economy.  We were first-time parents, with a brand-new little one, and making the transition from two incomes to one. 

There were two books that really stand out in my mind from those days.  I learned many valuable skills from them, and still utilize those handy techniques today.  As a result of many years of practice, I'm pleased to say they are now a habit. ;)

 

Here are the two most valuable techniques I gleaned: 

 

1. Gathering up the Fragments  This concept is from Doris Janzen Longacre's classic work, More-with-Less Cookbook, first published in 1976.  At the end of each chapter there is a gem of a page called "gathering up the fragments" that gives ideas on how to utilize every last bit of the food you have, to stretch it and use it completely up, thereby reducing food waste as much as possible. 

 

Even if I had piles of money to burn, I'd still hate to waste things.  Good stewardship just feels great, doesn't it?  :)  Some "gathering up the fragments" techniques are: saving meat bones and carcasses for stock (which is made simply, and BEAUTIFULLY in the crock pot, essentially for free), saving bits of leftover veggies in the freezer for soup, tossing leftover veggies onto a salad, or into a blended soup, making a smoothie out of the last few pieces of fruit and the end of the yogurt...you get the idea.  The goal is to obtain all the nourishment you can out of the things for which you traded your hard-earned money.

 

2. C.O.R.D.  The concept of CORD comes from a book titled:  "Miserly Moms" by Jonni Mc Coy.  This acronym simply stands for Clean Out Refrigerator Day.  This is just what it sounds like!  All those little single servings of leftovers...you eat them up.  So everyone gets a little something different that meal! :)

Here's a good discipline to practice:  Label things in your fridge with the date.  Keep a sharpie pen and a roll of freezer tape next to the fridge.  Everything that gets opened or put in there gets a date...that way you're not standing there trying to guess which day you opened what jar or package, and wondering if it's been too long.

 

Today was both a  CORD day, and a "gathering up the fragments" day.  For lunch, we all had something a little different, consisting of all the stuff you've seen on this blog all week.

 

And the Steak Fajitas in the crock tonight are "Gathering up the Fragments":  some of the veggies Popsie brought us, the last two steaks I had from our freezer clean-out, and a single jalapeno and onion I had leftover from other recipes.  We also needed to use up some corn tortillas we had leftover.  All that stuff sounds like steak fajitas to me.

 

The steaks weighed in at 1 lb, 8 oz. put together, and the bulk price we pay by buying beef in bulk, directly from the ranch, is about $3.50/lb, so meat cost for this meal was $5.25.  The garden veggies were free, and the leftover corn tortillas and single jalapeno and onion were, I dunno...not much.  Maybe $1.?  $1.50?  So lets just say total on this pot of steak fajitas was $6.75. 

 

Here's what went into the 4 qt slow cooker:

The 1 lb 8 oz. of steak, cut into 1/4" strips
2 c. fresh tomatoes, diced
2 small, or 1 lg. green pepper, cut into chunks
1 jalapeno, chopped
1/2 lg onion, chopped
2-3 TBSP taco seasoning

Everything goes into the crock.  I used 1 heaping TBSP taco seasoning to begin with, then ended up adding another heaping TBSP when it was done, because it seemed to need more seasoning and thickening. 

Mine was done in 3 hrs. and 15 minutes, on "low".  Bear in mind that this was nice, tender, grass-fed steak.  If you use a tougher cut of beef it could take longer.  I've used flank steak and round steak before and had it take much longer, up to 7 hrs., for a larger quantity.  These were lovely wrapped in tortillas with guacamole and a sprinkle of cheese. 

 

Maybe "CORD" and "Gathering up the Fragments" will be a blessing to you too, in helping you attain whatever financial goals you may have in your life right now, while lovingly nourishing yourself and your family at the same time.