Recipe 5: taquitos

Mexican night with some friends: fajitas, fish tacos, pico da gillo, guacamole, and the new recipe for me, Creamy Chicken Taquitos.  They weren't bad, just not our favorite flavor combination.  They reheated well in the toaster oven and have a nice crunch.  I'd make them again, but change up the spices and replace the cream cheese with something (it doesn't agree with Aaron).

taco salad

I don't know how other people do it, but I'd never had taco salad like this. It was easy, make a LOT, and is good for leftovers. If you've got a crowd to feed, this is a great thing. Too bad Aaron decided to make all that for just two of us. Lots of lunches already made now though!

• Head of lettuce
• Pound of ground beef
• Taco seasoning
• 6 tomatoes
• Catalina dressing
• Chips
• Cheese
• Tortillas

Brown the meat and add any sort of spices you want. We did most of a packet of taco seasoning and some chipotle peppers. Chop up the entire head of lettuce and tomatoes and put in a large bowl. Crush handfuls of chips for some crunch, and add the ground beef. Add plenty of catalina dressing to moisten everything without drenching it. Either mix in the cheese or let people add it themselves. Best served in homemade taco bowls with a few extra crushed chips on top.

Taco bowls are the easiest thing to make! Just push a tortilla gently into an oven proof bowl and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350-400 degrees. Be sure to watch it so it doesn't burn, but that's all there is to it. We had whole wheat tortillas, and they turned out delicious!

salsa cruda

#19 of 50 - I got this from a tiny Mexican book we have in a set called "Cookshelf ____" (Mexican, Italian, baking, etc.)

6 to 8 tomatoes finely chopped - what I did was seed them into a bowl, then chop and mix the pieces back in with the juices and seeds. It made it much easier to chop them without having the juice and seeds running all over the place.

3 or 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped - I just crushed them with the garlic crusher thing (for some reason, the name of it is escaping me).

fresh cilantro leaves, chopped - I used dried because I forgot to get fresh at the store

1 can diced green chilis OR 3-4 fresh jalapeno or serrano chilis deseeded and finely chopped

3-4 scallions finely chopped

pinch of sugar
salt to taste
cumin - it says 1 tsp, I did it to taste.

Adam had half of it gone with the chips before I had dinner ready (we had it with taco salad), so he obviously approved it!

chile pork

#16 of 50. I originally found this on AllRecipes, but I used some suggestions in the comments rather than the directions in the original recipe, so this is how I did it.

And let me just take a moment to vent that I have discovered one of the possible reasons for the high obesity rate in Mississippi - the cuts of meat SUCK! I went to the nice grocery store (because the only other "decent" option for food in this town is Walmart) to shop and got regular pork chops. SO fatty! The longest part of prepping this meal was extracting the meat from the bone and fat. When I finally had it cleaned and ready to cook, the pile of bone and fat was almost as big as the pile of meat. I lost almost half of what I paid for because it was garbage. That completely ticked me off. I've noticed that I have to trim fat off chicken breast as well ... where oh where is Costco and their nice meat? Oh yeah. 200 miles away in freaking Memphis. I'm planning a temple trip up to Memphis to go to a new temple (for us) ... and because I want to go to Costco!

Anyway ...

1 lb. pork cut into bite-size pieces (or you could do this with chicken)

Sprinkle over the meat and stir around to make sure the meat is coated the following spices:

1 Tbl. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander
1 clove garlic, crushed

Let it sit in the fridge for 45 minutes. Put a thin coating of olive oil in the bottom of a 9X13 pan so the meat doesn't stick, and spread the meat out in the pan so it's one layer deep. Cover it with foil and bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

Eat with corn tortillas and guacamole, and whatever veg toppings you like on your tacos. You could also put the pork on rice.

chicken enchilada skillet

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces and cooked
broccoli
corn
red pepper, large dice
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
taco seasoning

Once you cook the chicken, combine it in a skillet with all of the other ingredients. I used frozen corn and broccoli, and fresh red pepper. Apparently you can also get a frozen veggie mix with these things.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes until everything is heated through.

Serve with tortillas or tortilla chips, and Monterey Jack cheese.

It's a VERY quick dinner - start to finish including any chopping and cooking the chicken was about 20 minutes. From a book called "One-Dish Recipes."

FRESH CORN FRITTATA AND SMOKED MOZZARELLA

FRESH CORN FRITTATA AND SMOKED MOZZARELLA
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 ½ cups fresh corn kernals (about 3 ears)
¼ cup smoked mozzarella, shredded (about 1 ounce), divided
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chiffonade (this is a cutting technique where you roll the basil into a tight roll and then thinly slice the bunch)
¼ teaspoon sea salt (preferably Maldon salt – it’s a course Spanish sea salt)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 large egg whites, lightly beaten
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Method:
Preheat broiler

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. You want to use a skillet that is oven safe. Add ½ teaspoon olive oil to pan. Add corn and sauté for 5 minutes. Remove from heat into a large bowl. Let it cool a bit. Add 2 tablespoons of the cheese, basil and the remaining ingredients. Stir well with a whisk.

Heat the skillet over medium high heat. Add remaining ½ teaspoon olive oil to pan. Add corn mixture, cover and cook for 5 minutes or until almost set. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons cheese. Broil for 5 minutes or until set and browned.

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While in Texas my father in law paid for my mother in law and I to take a cooking class. Let me say, way fun. If I lived in San Antonio, I think that would become a regular date for Jason and I. Food is excellent, the instructors were excellent. The store they had the classes in was just amazing. You could actually buy Spanish sweet paprika there. Hurray!

Okay, so for dinner tonight I am making some of what was in the class. We made is before and my family loved it so we are using up ingredients (attempting to not be wasteful). I thought some of you might enjoy this as well (its really really easy – no lying about it). Oh, and its totally vegetarian and gluten free