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.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Chicken Migas

grab a tortilla and sit a spell.

Generally I agree with The Pioneer Woman on most food related issues.

To me though, Migas is not Migas without Chorizo.

Chorizo is really greasy and fatty though. A local market, I adore Sprouts Farmer’s Market, sells ground chicken chorizo. I decided to give the chicken a try and boy, howdy I’m glad I did. Chicken Chorizo is excellent.

I adapted a Pioneer Woman recipe, I added 1 pound of chicken Chorizo I browned it, drained off the minimal fat and proceeded with Ree’s recipe.

A few things I altered.

• I omitted the Jalapeño, due to a tween with a low spicy tolerance.
• I used 2% milk instead of Half-and-half
• I used cheddar cheese

Here is the original recipe ingredient list.

• 4 whole Corn Tortillas
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Seeds And Membranes Removed, Finely Diced
• 4 whole Plum Tomatoes, Roughly Chopped
• 1 whole Green Pepper, Roughly Chopped
• 1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Roughly Chopped
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
• 12 whole Large Eggs
• 1/4 liter Cotija Cheese, Grated (may Use Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Etc.)
• 1/3 cup Cilantro, Chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Half-and-half

To view entire recipe click here.

Serve with refried beans and corn or flour tortillas.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Irish Stew

Stew and whole wheat soda bread....a perfect pair.

Stew is one of those meals that feels like a hug in a bowl.

My family is Irish, Scottish, German. Our varied heritage means we embrace a little bit from each piece of our backgrounds. Well, mostly we embrace the Irish and the German. I should work on the Scottish.

Irish stew is one of my favorite dishes.

Most Irish stews are made with lamb. The reason, lamb is less expensive in Ireland.

Purist Irish stew is lamb (mutton), potatoes, onions, and water…

This is not a purist stew.

1. I am not using lamb, because of the higher price of lamb vs. beef and because the idea of eating a lamb always causes a mutiny in my household.
2. I add carrots, turnip, garlic and barley.

This stew recipe should work with either lamb or beef.

• 2 1/2 pounds of stew meat (I used beef)
• 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
• 2 cups of carrots, diced or sliced
• 1 small turnip, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 clove of garlic, diced
• 4 cups of beef stock
• 1- 12 ounce Irish stout beer *optional* if you’re not adding beer, increase your stock my 1 & 1/2 cups
• 1/2 cup of pearl barley
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper
• 1 teaspoon of parsley
• potatoes *4 large potatoes peeled and diced, or 1 bag (about 4 cups) of small potatoes left whole*
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil

Heat the oil in a cast iron dutch oven or large stock pot. Add the flour to the meat, coat the meat as evenly as possible. Brown the meat. Once the meat is browned (8-10 minutes), add the beer to the pot. Add the onions, carrots, turnip and garlic. Add the seasoning and spices. Add the beef stock. Add the pearl barley. Stir to combine.

Place the lid on the pot and cook on a medium heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. After 1 hour, add the potatoes. Stir to fully combine the stew with the potatoes. Return the lid to the pot and continue cooking for 1 more hour. (Total cook time, 2 hours).

The lid can be removed for the last 30 minutes to thicken the stew if you wish.

The finished stew

How do you make your stew?

Texas Sized Turkey Egg Rolls

Yes, I said turkey.

Turkey Egg rolls, large and in charge...aka Texas style.

We love egg rolls!

I recently tried my hand at making my own egg rolls, it went so well that I tried it again, this time with ground turkey.

Egg rolls trick my “Veggie Resistant” teenager into eating cabbage, carrots and onions.

The process is a little time-consuming, but well worth it.

Here is the ingredient list:

• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 1 tsp. minced ginger
• 2 (+) cups of cabbage, chopped *I use a bag of cole slaw shreds, the whole bag*
• 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
  
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 TBSP of soy sauce, 1 TBSP of honey and 1 tsp of minced garlic *I use this instead of 2 TBSP of Oyster Sauce*
• 1 package of egg roll wrappers
• *optional* 1/4 pound of bean sprouts
  

Brown the ground turkey and minced ginger....

Drain the fat, if there is any.

Add the veggies.

Add 2 (+) cups of chopped cabbage, carrots and onions.

Keep cooking….

Keep cooking to wilt the cabbage, and cook the carrots & onions.

Done.

Now…on to wrapping!

wrap your rolls....

Fold one end over the filling....

fold the sides in....

Roll the egg roll up. Repeat until all the filling or the wrappers are gone.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees on a greased cookie sheet (brush the tops with olive oil)

Frying In a large skillet (or cast iron pot) heat Canola oil to 350 degrees. Place the egg rolls *flap side down* into the hot oil a few at a time. Turning the egg rolls if needed. Cook until golden about 2-3 minutes.

Drain the egg rolls on a paper towel before serving.

Yum.

Since the iPhone is major awesome, I’m participating in the iPPP link up that Liz and KLZ host.

The Tale of Two Salads, this week in FAIL

I am working on adding more greens and whole grains to my families diet.   Not that we don’t love nachos, chicken fried steak and creamy, dreamy gravy….because we do.

It’s more about making wise choices about the food I feed my family.

I made two salads recently with two very different results.

The first salad I made was similar to Weight Watchers Greek Lemon-Dill Grilled Chicken Salad

One change I made….I placed the roasted red pepper into the food processor with the dressing.  My kids are iffy about eating any color peppers, so if they can’t see them….well, what they do not know does not hurt them.

The salad was filling and really quite tasty.

The second salad I made was not so well received.   I made a Cesar Salad with kale.  Not unlike the salad over at Savoring Every Bite I made mine with raw kale.

I really like this salad.  Kale has a strong flavor, the Cesar dressing stood up to the kale and truly held its own.

My husband and children did not care for the kale salad.  Bummer. So….

Family wise it was a FAIL.

Kale is very good for you.  I’ll keep trying to find a way to get my family to eat kale.

Monday, I will tell you about a wonderful giveaway I’ll be hosting thanks to MyBlogSpark.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

This week in FAIL….fishy edition

This has been my view since Thursday....mostly

I had one heck of a week last week. 3 visits to the doctor’s office, an x-ray, an MRI and a shot.

One doctor’s office visit was for my daughter, who stayed home most of the week with a sinus infection.The other 2 doctor’s office visits, the x-ray, the MRI and the shot were mine.

My knee has bothered me for about a year and a half. I had x-rays taken when it started hurting. The doctor said….bone spur in my knee. We began cortisone injections. I got very little relief from the shots. About 3 months ago the pain got worse. I did my best to ignore the pain, because I did not want to have surgery on my knee. However, the pain got so bad that it was affecting everything. I was sleeping more, grumpy and almost weepy at times.

Stupid? Yes.

I decided to make an appointment with an Orthopedic doctor. I had x-rays taken, yes I have a bone spur, but that is not the issue. I have OsteoArthritis in my left knee. After the x-ray I was scheduled for an MRI, to check for a Meniscus Tear. 45 minutes in an MRI gives you time to think or day-dream. I day-dreamed about new kitchen gadgets and new dishes….I’m a foodie through and through.

After the MRI.

I had to wait until Thursday for my results. Thankfully, there is no tear. Since there is no Meniscus tear, no surgery is needed at this time. I was given a shot. Synvisc-One. Right now, my knee hurts more than it did before the shot, which is so frustrating but it is feeling a little better each day.

I would really just like to be pain free. Is that too much to ask?!?!?!?!?

What does that have to do with a FAIL?

While at the doctor’s office this week, I watched a lot of Accent Health (by CNN) TV. On Accent Health I saw a recipe for Cioppino, which sounded interesting. I needed to make a few changes, because my people do not eat scallops and only 2 of us eat shrimp.

I used flounder and tilapia. I omitted the wine, because of the kids and used veggie stock instead.. The soup smelled lovely.

cooking away

Unfortunately, we did not love it. Three of us did not even like it.

Served with bread

It was too fishy or something. The fish overpowered the entire soup, and not in a good way.

We are calling this a FAIL.

Because of my knee, I may not post much this week.

Have you had any FAILS lately?

Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub

Some gifts are about food. About filling a tummy with gooey goodness.

Other gifts are about pampering someone you care about in a non-foodie way.

Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub is one a great way to pamper the crafter, gardener, baker, person who likes pampering in your life.

Making your own sugar scrub is so easy.

Seriously, you’ll smack yourself for ever buying it once you know how simple it is to make.

The recipe I adapted and use came from By Stephanie Lynn.com

• 2 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 TBSP of Lemon Juice (fresh or from concentrate)
• 2 TBSP of Lemon Peel (fresh grated or granulated)

It's edible, but it's for your hands.

• Mix it together until smooth
• Jar it up in lovely canning jars
• Gift it to the people you love

Three ready made gifts.

Happy hands, in a jar.

Directions for use.
Wet hands.
Scrub with sugar scrub.
Rinse hands.
Wash hands with gentle soap.
Pat dry.
Enjoy soft hands.

I’m linking up with

And you should too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all my wonderful friends have a great Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for every one of you.

Thank you for being you!

I’m off celebrating the holiday with my family.

If you’ve made a turkey, don’t forget to make turkey stock with it after you remove all the meat from the bird.

Place the bird and any left over raw veggies into a stock pot or your slow cooker and cover it with water.

In the stock pot, simmer for 2-3 hours or in the slow cooker, let it simmer over night on low.

Discard the bones and veggies, separate the stock into 2-4 cup servings and freeze for future soups and sauces.

I will be using some of my stock to make turkey and lentil soup on Friday.

XOXO. Have a wonderful day! I’ll be gone Friday. It’s a family day.

I’ll be back on Monday.

Turkey and Gnocchi Soup

One of the great things about Thanksgiving, besides the family time is left-overs….turkey to be specific.

What do you do with all that left-over turkey once you’ve eaten a few of the pre-requisite turkey and stuffing sandwiches?

I love using the left-over turkey to create new twists on recipes.

Olive Garden has this amazing soup. Chicken & Gnocchi soup. It’s so tasty.

I’ve copy-catted, or is it copy-katted?, it.

It’s not exact, but it is very similar. You can make this with chicken or turkey.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this creamy, dreamy soup.

• 2 cups turkey or chicken, cooked and diced

I used turkey cutlets in the soup since I’ve not cooked my turkey yet.

• 4 cups turkey or chicken stock or broth
• 2 cups cream
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup carrots, finely shredded
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 2 cups fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon of tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 pound (package) of potato gnocchi
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese – for garnish.

What to do:

• I used frozen meat, so I first cooked the meat in the broth, once it was done cooking I removed it from the broth. I cooled it, then diced it.
  I sautéed the veggies in a separate pan and then added them to the Stock/soup base.

• Sauté the onion, celery, garlic, carrots in the olive oil until they begin to soften.
• Add the turkey/chicken, broth, and & spices.
• Bring to a boil.
• Add the gnocchi into the boiling broth.
• Turn down the heat and let simmer for about 8-10 minutes.
• For thicker soup add 2-3 TBSP of corn starch or masa flour to a bit of the broth and stir it into the soup.
• Add the cream and spinach.
• Slowly allow the mixture to come to a boil and then turn it off.

I serve this soup with crusty bread and a salad.

What are your go-to left over meals?

Chicken Pot Pie

What could be more comforting or more fall – winter-ey than

chicken pot pie?

That question was totally rhetorical.

In my opinion, no store-bought pot pie will ever come close to the taste of a home-made pot pie.

I’ll be totally honest, home-made takes a little more time to make, but it is totally worth it.

Creamy, hearty and oh so good.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The recipe I use is not my own. It’s an Ina Garten recipe.

Here is the ingredient list.

I use less butter than the recipe calls for. I will mark my changes in blue.

I use store-bought crust, but you can totally make your own.

• • 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on I used boneless, breast fillets
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
  • 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
  • 2 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter I used 1 stick of butter
  • 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups)
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions I omitted the whole onions
  • 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

The directions and the full recipe are listed on the food network website.

How do you make your pot pies?

And now a teaser about tomorrow’s post……