Taco Seasoning

I just got my computer back from getting scrubbed!  I have a serious love/hate relationship with technology sometimes!!  When it is all working properly, I love it...but when it is not, it is SO frustrating!!!

Anyway, I finally got it back....just in time to print a bunch of pictures of this little guy for a school project.

Some of his favorites.....hanging with the family - cutting wood, hiking, camping, flying.  He said his favorite food is Hot Cheetos and Donuts...mmm!! :)

 

Anyways....Taco seasoning....

Usually when I make tacos, I just dump in some cumin, chili powder, garlic, onion...ect.  BUT...My sister-in-law gave me an actual recipe to follow!  It is delicious! 

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

 

Directions:  Mix all ingredients together.  I usually use all of the seasoning for ~1 1/2 pounds of ground meat, but add to your taste....more if you like it spicy....less if you don't.

Green Chili Salsa Crock Pot Chicken

You like that name?  Didn't really know what to call this....but I do know that it is DELICIOUS!!  Seriously SO good.  ...and SO easy!  Seriously...dump all the ingredients into the crock pot, cook on low for 5-6 hours and shred...does it get any easier?  This chicken is great for tacos, burritos, served with rice...really just anything :) 

Green Chili Salsa Crock Pot Chicken

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can El Pato (yellow can)

1 bottle of your favorite green salsa (can't remember what size the jars are...12-16 oz..ish)

1/2 cup chopped green chili

Directions:  Place chicken breasts in crock pot.  Dump in El Pato, green salsa, and green chili.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours(depending on size of chicken breasts and if frozen or thawed), until chicken is completely cooked.  Shred your chicken...my favorite method to shred meat with a Kitchen Aid...here.  Serve and enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Ranch Tacos

This is another recipe that I found on Pinterest.  My family LOVED this and it was very easy!!  This recipe was adapted from the skillet Chicken Ranch Tacos at Do You Smell That!!?

Crock Pot Chicken Ranch Tacos

Ingredients:

2 pounds raw chicken (not frozen)

1 packet dry Ranch dressing

1 packet chicken taco seasoning

1 14.5 oz can chicken broth

Directions:  Combine all ingredients in the crock pot and cooked on low for 3 hours.  Shred chicken and cook on low for another 30 minutes.  Assemble taco as you desire.  I always spread my sour cream on my tortilla first when I make tacos...that way I have sour cream in every bite, instead of a few bites with big spoonfuls.

Crock Pot Chicken Burritos

I love dinners that I can throw the ingredients in the crock pot and forget about it!!  When I saw this recipe at A Cookbook Blog, I knew my family would love it!  My crock pot must cook hotter than most...because cooking on low, my chicken would have been cooked through in 3...maybe 4 hours.  I put my chicken in the crock pot a couple of hours before I went to church Sunday and when I got home it was cooked and also a little dry(had been in the crock pot on low for ~6 hours)....SO I ended up adding about a cup of chicken stock so that the rice would have some liquid to cook in.  In the end it turned out great!! 

Crock Pot Chicken Burritos

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast (can be frozen)

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup salsa
1 cup minute rice (or regular rice, but will have to adjust cooking time)
1 can beans (I used black beans, I also rinse my beans first)

Directions:Combine chicken, soup and salsa. Let cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 3-4 (may need to cook longer if you start with frozen chicken). Chicken is done when it falls apart when squeezed with a pair of tongs. Shred chicken up and add rice and beans. If using minute rice, cook for 15 more minutes. If using real rice, you will need to cook for about an hour.

Serve on flour tortillas with lettuce, more salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, and any other toppings you would like.

**I adjusted the cooking time from the original recipe.

Crock pot Burritos

WELL....I'm not sure why this keeps posting with the format all messed up. I'm going to post it anyway. If you have any suggestions on how to fix it, let me know. I found this recipe over at Tried and True with Heidi. As soon as I saw this, I knew my family would LOVE it!! It is really easy too.

Crock pot Burritos

Ingredients:

• 
  
  1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained


• 
  
  1 envelope taco seasoning


• 
  
  2 cans refried beans


• 
  
  1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce


• 
  
  3/4 cup water


• 
  
  flour tortillas


• 
  
  toppings of choice (lettuce, cheese, sour cream, black olives)

Directions: Mix first 5 ingredients in a greased crock pot. Cover and cook on low 6-10 hours. Place in flour tortillas with your choice of toppings. Roll up and enjoy.

Lime Chicken Tacos

My neighbor gave me this recipe and my family LOVED it!! In fact I made this chicken twice the first week I had the recipe, because my 10 year old was BEGGING for it. The picture I took of the tacos was really bad, so I'm just posting a picture of the chicken.

Chicken Lime Tacos

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast - cubed
• 1/8 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1 t. white sugar
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 t. dried oregano

Directions: Saute chicken in medium sauce pan over medium high heat until no longer pink(I poached mine and then shredded it). Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic, and oregano. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Place in tortillas, top with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and salsa. I like to squeeze a little more lime juice into my taco.

Fish Tacos

My husband went fishing and brought home some wonderful crappie. I LOVE crappie!! I can't wait to send him fishing again:) He put all of it in one bag before putting it in the freezer, so when we got it out to cook it...we had A LOT of fish to cook.

First we battered up some fish and fried it. We ate that with homemade french fries and homemade tartar sauce. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that. I will be making that again soon...SO...when I do, I'll share photos and recipes here! It was SO good.

The second day we used up the rest for fish tacos. I had never eaten fish tacos before, but I will be eating them again!! These recipes are adapted from PBS Foods and about.com:Busy Cooks.

Fish Tacos

Ingredients:

• 12 corn or flour soft taco shells
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t paprika
• 1/2 t cumin
• 1/4 t pepper
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 lb. fish fillets

Directions: Combine flour, salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin and pepper in a shallow dish. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Dip fish fillets in flour mixture, then place in hot oil and cook 10-12 minutes until browned and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, turning once. Cut fish into 1" strips and serve in heated taco shells with salsa, cheese, and the red cabbage slaw(recipe below). Serves 6.

Red Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

• 1/4 head of red cabbage, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 4 scallions thinly slices
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds and ribs removed
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions: Combine sour cream, lime juice, scallions, jalapeno, salt and pepper. Mix well. Reserve 1/2 of the mixture to top the tacos. Mix the other half with the cabbage.

Quesadillas

We eat tacos and bean burritos quite often at our house. These are two inexpensive and easy meals. This past week I have tried to make the beans and taco meat into something that looks like a whole different meal:) So hear you go. Next time you make taco meat or cook a pot of beans try serving them up this way:)

Taco Quesadilla Rolls

Ingredients:

• Prepared Taco Meat
• Tortillas
• Cheese
• Salsa
• Sour Cream
• Lettuce

Directions: Warm tortilla on a griddle or a large frying pan. Add cheese and taco meat to the top of the tortilla. Roll the tortilla up and let sit on the griddle/frying pan. Roll until all sides of the tortilla are warm and getting crunchy. Serve with salsa, sour cream and shredded lettuce.

Layered Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

Ingredients:

• Refried beans, or prepared beans(see below)
• Tortillas (I used 5 large tortillas)
• Cheese
• Salsa
• Sour Cream
• Cilantro

Directions: Warm tortilla on griddle or large frying pan and spread with beans and cheese. Top with another tortilla. When the bottom tortilla is warm and getting crispy, flip the 'stack'. Top the crispy tortilla with beans and cheese and another tortilla. When the bottom tortilla is warm and getting crispy flip again. Repeat for desired number of layers. I did 5 tortillas with 4 layers of beans and cheese. These were SO yummy!! We loved the crispy tortilla layers!! For the beans: I cooked a pot of beans and put them in the food processor to make them smooth.

Taco Salad

It sure seems like we eat A LOT of Mexican food!! We love tacos! They are fast, easy and cheap.

Taco Salad

For the shell: Place a flour tortilla over a large(empty and clean) can. Spray the tortilla with cooking spray and bake at 375 for ~10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and when it just starts to turn brown and is crispy. After you take it out of the oven it will crisp a little more, so if it is still a little pliable when you take it out, that's okay.

Taco Meat: Cook 1 pound of hamburger. Drain off grease. While taco meat is cooking mix together the following(or you can just use a package of your favorite taco seasoning). 2 t. chili powder, 1 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. garlic powder, 1 t. corn starch, 1 t. ground cumin, 1 t. cayenne pepper(more or less according to taste). Add the seasoning to the meat and add approx. 1/4 cup water. Cook until hot.

Assemble: Use whatever you like and have on hand. I serve mine with lettuce, meat, beans(if I have them), cheese, sour cream and LOTS of salsa. This would be great with some of Amber's Pico!

We are finally starting to get a lot of tomatoes off our garden plants!! I am so excited to get making salsa, marinara, and spicy vegtable juice!! I have also been given a lot of zucchini! Tomorrow I will share 2 sweet and tasty zucchini dishes! This picture makes it look like I have more cheese than anythings else. Ha, Ha, maybe I do:)