Chicken Taco Salad

Taco Salad, remade.

 

When I was young,  my mother made taco salad all the time.    Ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, pinto beans, Catalina dressing and Doritos.   We had this version of taco salad almost weekly.

When I married and became the “cook” I began making the salad too.

It’s very kid friendly, it’s easy to assemble and made with ground chicken it’s healthier.

This salad is also yummy, meat free.

Very simply….

• 1 pound of ground chicken, browned
• 1 head of lettuce or one bag of salad mix
• 1 tomato diced
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (more or less at your preference)
• 1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups of Doritos, (placed in a bag and broken up into small pieces *but not crushed*)
• 1/3 cup + of Catalina dressing, I make my own.  Recipe follows..

To make the salad, add all the ingredients (except the dressing) into a bowl.  Mix well, slowly add dressing until the salad is covered, but not drowning.

Catalina Dressing

Makes about 2 cups of dressing.

• 1/3 cup ketchup, any brand
• 1/3 cup of white sugar or 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup onion , grated
• 2/3 teaspoon paprika
• 1/3 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 teaspoon (to taste) salt and pepper

Place all the ingredients except the olive oil into a blender or food processor, pulse or blend until smooth.

Slowly add the oil, while continuing to blend.  Place into a mason jar or other container.  Store left over dressing in the fridge.  Shake before using.

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Rainy Day Garden Gab

The wind blew away most of my seed markers.

Welcome to rain-apocalypse 2012

at least that is how the weather team on T.V. is treating it.   It’s  been raining here for a little over 12 hours.  Storming, wind howling, thunder booming, lightning flashing, big, cold drops of rain falling.

Since we just planted the garden, this is a blessing and a curse.   Water is great, a good soaking rain is great.

Puddles, not so much.

Yesterday we had high wind, crazy wind.  Crazy blowing away most of my seed markers wind.  This year the garden will be a little but of a surprise…. I can not remember where I planted everything. Ha!

Seeds are all about snorkeling, right?

Clearly we have some high and low areas....

Below the garden is a swamp....

My swamp.

These strawberries are survivors from last summer. They laugh at the water, they are already planning strawberry-topia 2

The raised bed is protected from much of the rain. The cats and birds are another story though.

There is no real update on my Grandmother, she is still hospitalized, they believe the mental confusion is due to a slight bladder infection.  She is fighting her treatment.  She keeps removing her I.V.

If you’re a prayer sort of person, I’d appreciate your prayers for her.

Slow Cookin’ Monday

One of the fun things about cooking is experimenting.

The more comfortable you get in your kitchen, and with your kitchen tools, the more likely you are to get really creative.

I’m fairly comfortable with my slow cooker.  So, I mess about sometimes.

My, what large gnocchi you have.

On December 1st I cooked another turkey.  We’re “tentatively” calling it December Firsties. *it’s similar to Thanksgiving, but on December 1st* 

So, I’ve got left-over turkey (again).

I started out thinking White bean Turkey Chili.  I ended up with something more like a goulash.

Soup-ish stew-ey goulash....also known as kitchen sink soup-ey stew-ish something.....

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pre-soaked Navy beans
• 6 cups of turkey stock
• 2 cups of shredded turkey meat
• 1 can of green chillies
• 2 TBSP garlic
• 1 cup of diced onion
• 2 cups of shredded carrots
• 2 TBSP cumin
• 2 TBSP dried (or freshly chopped) oregano
• 3 tsp black pepper
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp of tarragon
• 1 can (or package of frozen) corn
• 1 package of potato gnocchi

What to do:

• Place the pre-soaked beans into your slow cooker.
• Add the turkey stock
• Add the remaining ingredients (except the carrots, corn and gnocchi)
• Cook on high for 4 hours.
• Add the carrots and corn, cook for 2 more hours
• reduce the heat to the low setting and add the gnocchi, cook on low for 1-1 1/2 hours.

Serve with corn bread, biscuits, or crusty bread.

Make sure to pop on over to Allie’s Blog and check out her slow cooker meal.

If you’ve got a recipe to share, please link up with us!  Follow the link below to add your post to our slow cooker link-up.

Slow Cookin’ Monday…….

I’m going to talk about beans this week.  I think that beans are one of the items that I almost exclusively cook in my slow cooker.  It’s the easiest way I know to cook a big ‘ole pot of beans.

The rest of my posts this week will be Thanksgiving related.  I’m not going to talk about how to carve a turkey or the best ways to make mashed potatoes.

I am going to talk about what to do with your left over turkey.

If you’re linking up with Allie and me for this installment of Slow cooker recipes, please follow the link below to add your recipe post to the collection.

Make sure to check out Allie’s Vegan Pea soup, it looks mighty tasty!

For this week’s slow cooker post I’ve made Mayocoba Beans.

Here is a little background on Mayocoba beans.

This information is from Wikipedia.

“Yellow beans

Sinaloa Azufrado, Sulphur, Mayocoba, and Peruano (also called canary) are types of yellow beans.

Peruano beans (also called canary beans) are small, oval, yellow-colored beans about 1/2 inch (1 cm) long with a thin skin. Peruano beans have a creamy texture when cooked, and are one of the top-selling beans in Mexico City.”

These beans will need to be soaked overnight.  Some dried bean-ey things like peas and lentils don’t need to be pre-soaked.  Here is a link to a useful guide for prep-ing  dried beans, peas and lentils.

I pre-soaked a 2 pound bag of Mayocoba beans.   Once the beans were soaked, I placed half of them (about a pound) into the slow cooker and the other half I placed into two freezer safe bags for later use.

Later, these beans will be put to use.

The beans I have frozen will be useful for other recipes. You could also cook the whole bag and then freeze half of the fully cooked beans.

Mayocoba beans are great with rice or great for making  Frijoles Refritos (refried beans).

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of mayocoba beans, pre-soaked and cleaned
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 3/4 of a cup)
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp of salt (or more to taste)
• enough water (or homemade veggie stock) to cover the beans.  I used 1/2 veggie broth and 1/2 water (6 cups total)

I am cooking my beans in my slow cooker on HIGH for 7-8 hours.  If you wanted to convert this recipe for stove top cooking you will need to cook it for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Once the beans are ready, serve them with rice.

Or… make refried beans.

To make refried beans, add 4 TBSP of vegetable oil to skillet.  Add the beans to the skillet and add 2 TBSP of the cooking liquid to the skillet.  Mash the beans with a potato masher or the back of a large cooking spoon.  Season to your taste.

           

Simmer until the beans reach the consistency you want, add more cooking liquid as needed.

Enjoy your homemade refried beans.

Easy Chicken Tacos

I had both kiddos home sick yesterday.   So, yesterday was a hectic day.  Did I mention that my husband works from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays?  No?  Well, he does so we had a full house yesterday.

Dinner sort of snuck up on me.   Not that I’m saying it tip-toed up behind me and spooked me or anything.  It just got late quicker than I expected.

So, I needed a quick, easy dinner.

Does that ever happen to you?

Because I use freezer cooking, I have cooked chicken and beef in my freezer.

My attempt at a homemade 3D picture....

This recipe is quick and easy.  You could make it with chicken or beef.

 

Chicken Tacos

 

• 1 to 1 & 1/2 pounds of diced cooked chicken
• 1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 package of frozen corn (Southwestern style)
• 1/3 cup of salsa

Heat a large skillet on medium heat.

• Add 1 TBSP of oil
• add chicken
• add beans
• add corn
• cover with salsa
• stir
• place the lid into the pan
• simmer for about 10 minutes

Serve with

• lettuce
• cheese
• sour cream

 

We use up the left over party plates.

What are your quick, go to meals?

 

Meatless Monday….3 bean soup.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!   We’ve had a wonderful weekend here in central Texas.    The Texas State Fair opened on Friday, we’re planning to visit the fair tomorrow (Tuesday).  My children have Monday and Tuesday off this week, for the fair and a teacher in-service (6 weeks grade entering day).

On Sunday (yesterday) I decided to make 3 bean soup for Monday dinner.    I’ve got a repair man coming to fix my drippy ice maker today, so it’s won’t be a good day for cooking.

I’ve said it before, but it bares repeating…. I am not great at meal planning.  I usually have some sort of loose plan in my mind of meals to make, but I rarely plan more than 1 or 2 days in advance.  Horrible?  Yes.

Sunday morning  I decided to make bean soup, but I had not soaked my beans overnight.  OOPS!  I decided to throw caution to the wind and make soup without pre-soaking my beans.  Crazy right?

Fo Shizzle….that’s how I roll.

Monday’s meatless soup can become a meaty soup on Tuesday night, since I am going to be tired after my day at the fair.  Hopefully I will not gorge myself on fried Kool-aid, fried bubblegum and fried beer. 

This soup is wonderfully flavorful and so worth the extended time it took to cook it.  11:00 am to 4:00 pm cooking time.

*you could make this soup in the slow cooker, place everything into the slow cooker and cook on high for 6-8 hours, low for 8-10(+) hours*

Ingredient list:

• 4 cups of dried (mixed) beans.  I used a mixture of Organic Navy Beans, Organic Great Northern Beans and Organic Cranberry beans.
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green and 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 6 cups of veggie stock
• 2 cups of water (plus more if needed) I ended up with 4 cups of water in my soup.
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons of garlic salt
• 1 package of sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon of parsley

What to do….

Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a cast iron pot.  Saute the onion, garlic, and peppers until soft.

Add beans, spices, stock, tomatoes and water to the pot.

Bring the mixture to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer low and slow (stirring every so often) for about 4 hours.

If you need to, add more water or stock to the pot.  I ended up adding about 2 cups of water during the cooking time.

*You could totally cook this a lot quicker if you pre-soaked the beans*

 

 

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I’m making a whole wheat cornbread to enjoy with the soup. 

Are you meatless this Monday?  What are you making?

Garden Gab…the end is near.

The MyBlogSpark giveaway has ended. The winner was comment #18

“Good Cooks :

Your banana bread looks very yummy, Thanks Jamie, I would like to try it with oatmeal raisin cookie.”

Say hello to Samah on her blog, Good Cooks.

I will have another giveaway soon, because giveaways are fun!

Anyhoo……Happy Friday my friends. It has been a few weeks since I have updated you on my garden.

See all my earlier Garden Gab posts here.

I’m afraid my gardening is winding down. My raised garden box is sinking-sideways into the earth. The super hot, relentlessly dry summer, combined with water restrictions created large cracks in my backyard. Don’t worry, my house foundation is perfectly fine thanks to soaker hoses.

I tried to show the crazy lean in a picture. I’m not sure I did it justice.

I swear, I'm holding the camera straight. Notice the lean?

Pardon my grass, it needs to be mowed. So, hopefully you can see…my raised garden bed is sinking. My husband is working on my expanded garden space, but it won’t be ready for Fall planting so, I’m probably done gardening until the Spring.

I cut the okra down. Since my garden is sinking I have been removing the plants. The only plants left in the raised garden? The (unexpectedly) hot peppers. The royal purple bean plants. The purple hull peas. And, of course, Strawberrytopia.

The royal purple bean plants are very small still, they flower but have not produced any beans.

The mint plant is still doing well. It has not taken over the side garden. I believe the heat probably stunted its growth.

The carrots are still small-ish, I think maybe I planted them too close together?

Now for the really exciting part. The purple hull peas? Growing lovely little peas. The pea pods start out looking like strange monster claws.

Rawr.....monster claws

The monster claws grow longer and wider, the peas within grow and swell the pods. Then they look like this…

They grow peas that look like this…

There are not enough peas for a meal yet, but I’m very excited about the purple hull peas! They are the only reason that I have not completely gutted the garden box yet.

How is your garden growing? Are you planting this fall?

Don’t forget that Allie and I will have a new set of canning posts for you on Monday. We would LOVE IT if you would link up with us!

Have a super weekend!

Red Tortilla Soup with Chicken

I love soups…love them…gobble them up. Soups freeze well, they taste better on day two or day three, I love soup. If it’s a Tex-Mex soup….even better.

Tex-Mex is one of my true food loves. Maybe it’s because I’m from Texas, maybe it’s just because Tex-Mex is Awesomesauce.

If you’re in the northern part of the United States, you may not have ever had true Tex-Mex. I’ve been to Pittsburgh, and although Pittsburgh has a fabulous sandwich with cole-slaw and fries in it (Bravo!) the Tex-Mex or Mexican food isn’t wonderful. (Think pasta sauce on an enchilada…) Meh.

Anyhoo…

We went to Taco Cabana over the weekend. If you’re unfamiliar with Taco Cabana…I’m sorry. Taco Cabana is an awesome Tex-Mex food chain (better than Taco Bell or Taco Bueno, but not as good as a “True” sit down restaurant).

Their cheese enchiladas come wrapped in these beautiful, red corn tortillas. I begged and pleaded my way into the purchase of 2 dozen uncooked red tortillas, for my tortilla soup. The cashier thought I was crazy, kept telling me they’d be uncooked…hard… “Didn’t I want fresh steamed ones?” Nope… I want the non-steamed red ones please! I convinced him.

Happy Dance!

I’ve never seen red corn tortillas anywhere else, although when I searched online Walmart claims to sell them. I have never seen them at Walmart though.

They are not necessary to make tortilla soup, but they sure are beautiful.

An adapted Pioneer Woman recipe via her post on Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

• Cooked chicken diced or shredded (about 2-3 cups) *omit for Vegetarian soup*
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 2 teaspoons Garlic Salt
• 1 cup Diced Onion
• 1/2 cup Diced Green Bell Pepper
• 1/2 cup Diced Red Bell Pepper
• 1/2 cup Diced Yellow Pepper
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 can of yellow corn or fresh corn (1 & 1/2 cups)
• 1-2 cups of white or brown rice (uncooked)
• 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies (or 1 can of diced tomatoes and 1 can of green chilies)
• 4 cups Chicken Stock or Veggie Stock for Vegetarian soup
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 4 cups Water
• 4 cups Black or Pinto Beans (frozen, canned or freshly cooked)
• 3 Tablespoons Cornmeal Or Masa*
• 5-8 whole Corn Tortillas, sliced into strips

Heat olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, peppers, and minced garlic. Stir and begin cooking, then add the spices. Stir to combine, then add the chicken and stir.

Add the Rotel (tomatoes and green chilies), chicken stock, rice, corn, tomato paste, water, and beans to the soup pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered.

*Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water, it will make a paste. Add the corn meal paste into the soup, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes. This will thicken the soup.

Turn off heat and allow the soup to rest for 20 minutes before serving.

Five minutes before serving, gently stir in tortilla strips.

I fried half of the strips to make a crunchy topping.

Place the soup in mugs or bowls and serve with

• cheese
• crisp tortilla strips
• avocado
• salsa
• hot sauce
• sour cream

or anything you like to top your soup with.

Enjoy!

Kids ~VS~ Veggies…

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We had a very nice weekend. School starts today. This is bittersweet. While I am glad to have a little time to myself to chill out, shop or clean…I will miss them. A lot. Since I’ve got kiddo on the brain, I have a kid-centric post for you today.

Do you have picky people to feed? Do you struggle to get your family to eat veggies? I do.

When my son was 5 or 6 he was so averse to eating any green vegetable he would gag, choke, and flail. He told me all green things were evil.

Fun times at dinner.

Ah. Fun times.

He’s 13 now, and while he usually no longer flails he still is not fond of many veggies. A recent gagging episode with rainbow chard reminded me of the not so good old days.

Despite the picture below, Veggies are NOT evil.

Well, except for Brussel-Sprouts. They are pure evil. Little green balls of evil.

Here are a few things I have done to get my kids to try new veggies…….

• Try to get the kids involved in the veggie choices. I have found that kids are more likely to eat something if they helped pick it out.
• Have the kids help in the cooking process. Just like allowing them to help pick the veggies, allowing them to help in the cooking process will sometimes make them more willing to eat the veggies.
• Introduce the veggies in an unexpected way. The first time my kids tried black-eyed peas was in Texas Caviar. They still are not super fond of eating black-eyed peas unless they are in Texas Caviar, but they will give it a try now. They frequently ask for Texas Caviar and will gobble it up any time I make it.
• Offer a few options, ask them to try a little of each. We have found that they are more open-minded about trying new things when there is a veggie they like on the table too.

A few things that you probably NEVER want to do…….

• Never force your child to eat an entire serving of a veggie that they do not like. It’s frustrating for you both and I have found that they are less open about new veggies if you force one on them.
• Never use a veggie as a punishment threat. Okay, this sounds funny, but I did this.

Picture this, I’m at the grocery store with two wild-things. They are running amuck. I (in the past) have been guilty of picking up a can of beets and telling them if they do not behave the beets are coming home with us. To be a main dinner feature. Yep, I did that. More than once. *sigh* So, it’s no surprise that it has been hard to get my kids to eat beets. You know, because I made them seem like a punishment.

So, don’t make veggies a punishment. Learn from my mistakes. Ha!

How do you get your kids to eat veggies?

Freezer cooking on a small scale…

When I say freezer cooking…you say? Eek! No way! You’re a crazy lady! Okay, maybe not, but I’m sure you’re not giddy. Freezer cooking to some sounds like a whole day, 30 meal affair. It does not have to be…..

Don’t be scared, it’s not so bad. Freezer cooking does not have to take up your whole Saturday.

Fresh is best, but life happens……

If you know me, you know that I’m a stock up kind of girl. Ive got food for more than a month….if need be. My cupboards are full to overflowing, my pantries are stocked and my freezers are pretty full. Mostly due to thrifty coupon shopping, canning, and freezer cooking.

Need a dinner or two because you’re sick or recovering from surgery? I’m your girl. Dinner party on short notice, no biggie. I’m your girl.

Recession, depression, food shortage situation, Zombie apocalypse (as long as I’m not on the menu) I’m your girl.

Piggy flu...starts with you! No licking pigs!

I have tween/teens to take care of, and we really like to eat. The teen REALLY likes to eat, it’s shocking, but that’s for another post.

Traditional full month freezer cooking won’t work for me. I don’t have the space, and the idea of spending an entire day cooking makes my eye twitch.

I do like the idea of having a few items pre-cooked and ready to toss into dishes or into the microwave. So, I’d like to introduce you to a mini freezer cooking day.

I try to keep a few pounds of pre-cooked and frozen meat in my freezer. With it I can make a quick dinner on a busy night.

Easy Spaghetti night. Place a pot of hot salted water (for the pasta) on the stove and begin to boil it. Put a pot with pasta sauce on the stove at a medium heat, cover with lid. Take 1 lb. of pre-cooked frozen ground turkey or beef out of the freezer. Microwave on the defrost setting for about 3 min. (just long enough to make the frozen meat easy to break apart). Add pasta to boiling water. Place pre-cooked meat into the pasta sauce, sir and replace the lid, stir every few min. Once the pasta is done (mine usually takes about 8-9 min to cook), drain rinse and return to the hot-pot. At this point your meaty spaghetti sauce should be hot and bubbly. I pour the sauce over the noodles and mix it in. This meal takes me about 15(ish) min. to prepare.

Easy Crock Pot Chili.Take 1 or 2 pounds of frozen pre-cooked meat out of the freezer. Defrost long enough to be able to break the meat apart (3-4 min for me). Place meat into slow cooker. Add chili seasoning (what ever brand you prefer, or make your own *3 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon of paprika, some garlic salt and 2 teaspoon cumin should do the trick*, add canned tomatoes (undrained), frozen, dried or fresh diced onions (1 cup, less or more if you prefer) add canned Red or Pinto beans (if you want), add 1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and 1 8 oz. can of water (or follow your chili seasoning package’s instructions.) Set on low for 8 hours and you’ll come home to hot, yummy chili.

Set aside a few hours during your week and make a few different items that you can freeze for later use. It’s a great comfort to know that if you’re sick or running late, you don’t have to rely on a take out meal. If you have a few pre-cooked frozen items on hand you can eat (healthy) homemade quick fix meals you won’t be crying over on the treadmill the next day. Goodbye Big Mac, hello homemade turkey chili.

Ground Beef, Ground Turkey both freeze well to make a quick and easy chili night, taco night or spaghetti night. Muffins freeze well, place them in single serve freezer bags and just remove them the night before you want to eat them, easy quick breakfast. I have a great Banana bread recipe and Pumpkin bread recipe on my blog. Both would work to make muffins or breads.

Making chicken stock or veggie stock? Make more than you need and freeze the rest in 2 cup or 4 cup portions.

Making beans? Make two or three times the amount that you need and freeze the rest.

Make cream of mushroom soup and freeze it for later use.

Ready? Set? Cook and Freeze!