Recipe Recap

A couple of weeks ago I made this......

They may look like just your normal taco's but they are not - they are baked taco's.
The original recipe can be found here but i made a couple of modifications.  Next time I will skip the tomato sauce and use enchilada sauce - Ole'!  This recipe is a keeper and G actually wants me to make it when we have a friend of his over that has gone to South America for a couple of months.  FYI it reheats great as well.  Just keep the toppings off and put back in the oven for about 10 or so minutes.

Oven Tacos
adapted from Blog Chef and Mommy I'm Hungry
2 1 lbs ground beef 
1 small onion diced
1  2 small can diced green chilies 
1 recipe for Homemade taco seasoning packet taco seasoning
1 (8 ounce) 4 oz  can low sodium tomato sauce 
1 (16 ounce)  1/2 can fat free refried beans 
2 cups shredded reduced fat Colby-jack cheese   whatever cheese you have
18-20  12 hard taco shells 

Toppings
Lettuce (shredded), Tomato (diced), Salsa, Guacamole, Sour Cream,Olives, sliced  

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  
In a large skillet brown ground beef and onion over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Return to pan, add chilies, refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix well and cook for a few minutes if mixture seems runny.   Make sure to cook this until all the liquid evaporates so your taco's stay crunchy

Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through. 
Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving. 

Recipe Recap

So far this week we've had two hits and one miss and to honest I'm cool with that.  Not every recipe is going to be a winner and I'm just happy to be out there trying some new things.  Also, this week I remembered why I hate to cook with pork.  Hate that's a strong word maybe just that cooking with pork is not relaxing.....

The Hits!

This is the pork chops in "shake and bake", delicata squash and smashed potatoes.  

This is the deconstructed enchilada recipe found here

Heads up seven up because I changed the recipe after I did the post for the week.  I decided I liked this one better.  I still might make the other one some day but I was glad I made this.  

It was a HUGE hit and it made a lot.  Enough for two dinners and then some lunches for later for the freezer.

I pretty much followed the recipe but  next time I will put the olives inside.  I didn't think about them until I had it all in the casserole.   Also I used canned corn (rinsed and drained) instead of frozen because that's what I had on hand.  A little garnish of tomatoes and you are good to go!

The Miss!

This was not a hit but to be fair I did stray a little from the recipe.   I used turkey tenderloins instead of chicken and I didn't have Bisquick but I had Belgium waffle mix so I used that.   Mistakes on both ends.   The turkey has a different texture and the mix made them almost sweet (G thought I was baking brownies).   The roasted broccoli and homemade ranch dressing made up for it a little though.   Great thing was that you could cook the chicken and the broccoli on the same big cookie sheet/jelly roll pan.   Less mess!  One tip I liked that I would take and maybe try again is to spray the chicken on both sides with cooking spray.  I great way to help them brown without adding extra fat.

Also, some randomness for this week.  This is a picture of my lunch one day.   Its leftover delicate, pork, corn, and a little feta.   It was tasty and didn't make me feel yucky later on.   We've all had those lunches where you make bad choices and then you don't feel so great (think I did that today).

Bon Appétit

Recipe Recap

Here's a brief update on the new recipes we tired last week.

First up the Clam Chowder
This was pretty much a home run hit with G.   He said it was "restaurant worthy" and "if he had a facebook page he would post a pic and say how great it is".   I'd never made clam chowder before and definitely will again being that A - G loved it and B - it could not be more simple,  We had a salad of greens, tomatoes, and a little feta to go with it.

Next up Stuffed Beef Crescents
These were a hit as well and not only did I get two dinner I also have some in the freezer for another day.   My advise if you are going to make this and there is just two of you - divide the meat in two.   I did it "fresh" both nights.  By this I mean I only used on roll of crescent dough per night.   You just need to reheat the meat the second night before you roll it in the dough.  Also, the second night G decided he wanted a sauce on the side so he had his with a side of salsa.   These little pockets are very rich so you definitely want a veggie of some sort to balance the whole thing out.  I will keep this recipe but it won't be one that I will pull out all that often.  That's roasted broccoli - if you missed it my post on roasting veggies can be found here

Bon Appétit!