This month’s Recipe Redux is Two For One. The idea being you cook once and eat twice. I do this all the time – finding ways to repurpose leftovers into another meal. My children are rather picky about eating leftovers so if I make extra of something, I have to find multiple ways of using it so it doesn’t go to waste (or I freeze for another time). And let’s face it, life is busy and I don’t have time to cook from scratch every night. I rely on leftovers to get me through the week!
As many of you know, I love my slow cookers and this is generally my preferred method of cooking large batches of food to have plenty of leftovers for other meals. Slow cookers aren’t just for cold weather, soups and stews. They are really quite versatile. One trick I learned recently is that I don’t have to necessarily brown ground meat before putting it in the slow cooker. Now there are some instances where browning the meat first brings out extra flavor, but not always.
I started playing around with this recipe for Beef and Black Bean Taco Meat about a year ago and love how it turned out. I prefer to make my own taco seasoning, which is also included below, so I know exactly what is in it and can adjust to our tastes. The beef and black beans are also super versatile – it makes a great taco or burrito filling, but also can be served over baked potatoes, salad or nachos just to name a few ways to use the leftovers.
Adding beans to the meat helps stretch the meat so our food dollar goes farther, but also helps punch up the nutrition adding fiber and other great vitamins and minerals. If beef isn’t your thing, you could also use turkey. And any type of bean could be used in place of the black beans. Enjoy and be sure to check out all of the creative ideas at the bottom of the post from other Reduxers. 
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- ½ cup water
- Combine all ingredients in a 6 quart slow cooker and stir well.
- Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until meat is cooked through and temperature is at least 165 degrees F. Stir occasionally to break meat up into crumbles. Adjust seasonings as needed before serving.
- Serve with corn or flour tortillas and your favorite toppings such as shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado and salsa.
- 3 ½ tablespoons chili powder
- ½ tablespoon chipotle chili powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons cumin
- 4 teaspoons coriander
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Mix all seasonings together well and store in an airtight container.
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