Taco Soup

I saw this recipe on my friend's blog. I tweaked it a bit to better suit our family. It was really tasty! Her's called for ground beef but I liked the idea of using shredded chicken. Use which ever you prefer!! You could also add corn and remove the spinach etc. This is one of those fabulous recipes that you can mix and match to your liking! Go crazy with it!!!

Taco Soup

recipe courtesy of my friends blog

1 1/2 lbs shredded chicken
1 large onion, diced
1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 pkt original hidden valley ranch dressing (dry)
3 cups water, or more
2 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro

for serving:
Tortilla chips
Shredded nacho cheese or sharp cheddar

Saute onion until soft.
Combine chicken, sauteed onions and the rest of the ingredients in a big pot. Simmer for one hour. Stir frequently.

Serve with tortilla chips and cheese.
6 servings

Points per serving: 6

This was so good and hearty and filling I can't even tell you!!! My kids liked it too, which was surprising since I put spinach in it. But they enjoyed it. I'll be making this again for sure!!!

Mexican Pizzas

I love Taco Bell. All things Taco Bell. Unfortunately we don't go out to eat that often so I've been scrounging for copy cat recipes (plus it's cheaper). My favorite thing there I still can't find a recipe for so if you know of a killer copy cat recipe for the Beef Meximelt I'm all ears. But the other night I found a copy cat recipe for their Mexican Pizza. So I decided to try it out. It wasn't a HUGE success but it was tasty. The kids aren't fond of cilantro and tried to be sneaky about not eating it. Otherwise, it was ok. A bit messy but good none the less (at least to me anyway).

Ingredients

• 12 (6 inch) Flour Tortillas, cooked into crispy tortillas
• 1-1/2 cups refried beans, prepared
• 1-1/2 pounds ground beef, chuck, raw
• 1/2 packet taco seasoning
  
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons pizza sauce, prepared
• 1-1/2 cups Mexican Cheese Blend, grated, prepared
• 3/4 cup Roma tomato, fresh, small chop
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, fresh, rough chopped
  

To make the Crispy Tortillas: Place all 8 tortillas directly on the oven rack of a 350 degrees F oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve on your work surface.

1. Heat the 1 cup of refried beans for 1 minute in the microwave to get hot and reserve for the recipe build.
2. Season the ground beef with salt, pepper and taco seasoning and saute for 8 minutes in a non-stick pan, drain and reserve hot for the recipe build.
3. To build 1 Mexican Pizza: Place 1 crispy tortilla on work surface.
4. Evenly spread tortilla with hot refried beans.
5. Evenly top refried beans with of the cooked ground beef.
6. Top ground beef with second crisp tortilla and evenly spread 1 heaping tablespoon of pizza sauce over the tortilla.
7. Evenly top the pizza sauce with grated Mexican cheese blend and 2 tablespoons chopped tomatoes.
8. Repeat steps 1 through 5 for remaining 3 servings.
9. Place all 4 pizzas, at one time, in 350 degrees F oven on a cookie pan/flat pan, and bake for 2 minutes to melt the cheese. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon chopped cilantro evenly over the top of each pizza. Serve each pizza whole.

*We didn't cook the pizzas after assembled. And if I were to do this again I would not cook the tortillas before hand but warm them through after assembled. They were very messy!!

Cafe Rio Inspired Cilantro-Lime Rice

I've had this recipe for a while and i'm not sure why I haven't made it yet. But last night I stumbled upon it and decided to give it a go. Boy was I glad that I did. So good!!!!!!! And so incredibly easy that I might just be doing this more, just because!!!! But since last night was taco night I felt it an appropriate side. YUM!!!!


Cafe Rio Inspired Cilantro-Lime Rice
1C long grain rice (I used brown rice)
2C water
2 chicken bouillon cubes (I used beef flavored)
1 tsp butter (I omitted this)
2 cloves of garlic, minced (I used garlic powder)
1 tsp lime zest
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

In a sauce pan, combine rice, water, bouillon, butter, garlic and zest.
Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until water is absorbed. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar, and cilantro. Pour over rice. Eat and enjoy!!

HAPPY EATING!!!

Fresh Black Been Salsa

Last night we went to a good bye party for a friend who is heading out to TDY at Ft. Hood. (for all you non-military folk TDY is temporary duty). He'll be gone for 2 1/2 months. So his wife through a little party for him. She asked everyone to bring something. So I made some fresh black bean salsa. The only problem with it was that I accidently grabbed the original Rotel instead of the mild. Soooo it was a bit spicey, for me anyway. The husband thought it was great. I ate a bunch of it, but paid for it later by having to sleep sitting up. Oh well, it was totally worth it. So yum!!!

Fresh Black Bean Salsa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans Rotal (mild unless you like it spicey), drained
1 roma tomato, cut up
1/2 red onion, chopped
a bunch of cilantro (use as little or as much as you like, me likey a lot so I added more than the average person probably would have)
2 green onions, chopped
2 generous squirts of lime juice



Mix everything together except green onions. Place in bowl and set in fridge for 2 hours. Just before serving top with green onions. The longer is sits, the better it gets!

YUM!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!

Quesadilla Chicken Burgers

To say i've been out of it lately would be an understatement. I just haven't felt like doing much when it comes to food blogging. I have been cooking and taking pictures, but that's about it. So i'm going to try to make up for it!!

For my daughter's birthday we went out to dinner. I got a quesadilla burger and it was really good. So I came home and thought about how I could do it. This is what I came up with (it's a little different from I what I had at the restaurant because of what I had on hand. Otherwise it was really good!!!

Quesadilla Chicken Burgers

1 pkg chicken burgers (pre made)- can use hamburger but like I said this is what I already had
corn tortillas (about 12 depending on how many your family will eat)
cilantro
2C shredded sharp cheddar
favorite salsa

Cook chicken patties per package directions.

For assembly:
place tortilla on pan, top with a little bit of cheese, chicken patty, salsa, cilantro and more cheese. Top with another tortilla. Continue until all are made.

Bake in oven until cheese is gooey and melted and tortillas are crisp.
Serve with favorite side.

These weren't quite restaurant quality, but they were good.

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!

Easy Cheese Quesadillas and Black Beans

I love Mexican food. One of my favorite places to eat is Cafe Rio. Unfortunately we don't have one where we live and i'm going through some serious withdraws because of it. Luckily I was watching a rerun of Semi Homemade Cooking on Food Network (must say it's one of my favorite channels) and she made a black bean side dish that I just HAD to try. I could have eaten the entire pot I'm not kidding. It was that good and quite possibly could give the Cafe Rio folks a run for their money (maybe). I tweaked it a little bit and here you go!

Easy Quessadillas
flour tortillas
quessadilla cheese blend
sharp shredded cheddar

place cheese on tortillas and fold in half. Use as much cheese as you like. I just grabbed and put on the tortillas. We like things cheesy around here.
once folded place on baking sheet and bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes or until cheesy is melted.

The Best Black Beans You'll EVER Eat
1 -15 ounce can, black beans
1-10 ounce diced tomatoes (I used the fire roasted ones)
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 C finely chopped onion (I used 1/2 an onion and went to town on chopping it)
1/4C finely chopped cilantro

add all ingredients to medium saucepan. stir to combine. bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and cook for about 12 minutes. serve with quessadillas and chips.

this would also make a great room temperature dip. that's how we ate it. seriously---it was DIVINE!!!

Corn Tortilla Taquitos and Spanish Rice

Taquitos
12 corn tortillas
2C shredded chicken
2C refried beans (I used food storage but you can subsitute 1 can)
1 4oz can green chilies
1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
veg oil for frying

Heat beans, chicken and chilies through. Add cheese and allow to melt. Heat oil in med skillet. Add mixture to tortilla and roll up placing seam side down in oil. Fry for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. No need for toothpicks as they will stay closed once fried. Serve with salsa, sour cream, ranch, extra cheese, whatever you prefer!


Spanish Rice
2 bags boil in bag brown rice
1 can white sweet corn
1C rehydrated food storage carrots
1C salsa

Cook rice according to package directions. Drain all water. Add remaining ingredients and warm through. Serve with taquitos!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!

Chicken Taco Pie

A couple of years ago I was part of a food swap. I may have mentioned it before, but basically you make X-amount of one meal and then pass it out to however many are in your group. The group I was in had 5 people participating. So we actually would make 5 each of 2 meals. It was really nice! This was one of the meals I came up with for the swap. Easy and it's really yummy. Might even help with that Mexican craving. ;O)

Chicken Taco Pie (quiche)
1 deep dish pre-made pie crust (baked according to package directions)
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
1 bell pepper, chopped
4-6 eggs (depending on size of crust)
splash of milk
2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided


In medium skillet brown chicken. Add 1/2 pkg of taco seasoning to chicken while cooking. DO NOT ADD WATER. Add bell pepper and cook until tender and chicken is browned.

In a bowl mix eggs with milk. Add rest of taco seasoning. Add 1C of cheese.

Once pie shell is baked, put chicken mixture into pie shell. Top with egg mixture.


Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. After 15 minutes, put foil around edge of pie crust to prevent burning. Cook remaining 30 minutes adding the last cup of cheese the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Serve with salsa, ranch, or sour cream. This was yummy! Perfect for making more than one and freezing for later. If freezing, go through all steps and bake, then when ready to use thaw to room temperature before baking. Then bake to heat through about 30 minutes.

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!

Because I'm all about something easy on a Saturday night, this was perfect. I saw this on my friend's family blog. She mentioned how someone brought it over for dinner and how yummy it was. The part that got me was the EASY part. Hello......you had me at easy.

Mexican Dip in the Crock pot
4-5 thawed chicken thighs
1 jar salsa
2 cans corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 pkg cream cheese
chips
shredded cheese
green onions
sour cream or ranch dressing


Add first 4 ingredients to crock pot. Simmer for 6-8 hours on low or 4 hours on high (personally, the longer the better).
Right before you are ready to eat, take the chicken out and shred it. Add it back to the pot and add cream cheese, let it melt.
Serve with chips, cheese, onions, sour cream or ranch. This is hearty and sooooo good.

It will calm the nacho craving you'll have and this makes a ton, you'll definitely have leftovers to quench your hunger at 11o'clock at night. Me likey, a lot!!!!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Navajo Tacos

When we moved to Utah my husband told me about these little gems. He originally told me about the bread part of them and then added the taco part. There's a place on 3100 South in Salt Lake City that makes these. I believe it's called Navajo Joe's. It's a little part of a larger building so if you aren't looking for it you'll drive right past it. So if you are ever in the area, I recommend it (if it's still there, we don't live in SLC anymore so I don't know.)

These are really good. You can do just about anything to them and they are still good. The bread is also really good with cinnamon sugar and honey on top, perfect for a dessert! Enjoy!

Navajo Tacos
Fry Bread
2C all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
salt
1C buttermilk
oil for frying

Stir together flour, baking powder & salt. Stir in buttermilk and mix until dough forms. Knead dough until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes. Break off 3/4" pieces and flatten into rounds, making it thinner in the center. Fry, turning once, until golden brown.

1 lb hamburger
1 pkg taco seasoning
onions
salsa
shredded cheddar cheese
lettuce
corn

Cook and drain hamburger. Add seasoning. Layer on fry bread and top with ranch or sour cream.

A million different possibilities!

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Taco Rice Skillet

Sorry no picture with this one. I just didn't have the energy to get the camera out. But this one is easy and I'm sure you'll be able to picture the final product.

Taco Rice Skillet

1 pound mild ground sausage
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 pkg mild taco seasoning (get the hot if you like it super spicy)
2 bags boil in the bag brown rice
1C shredded cheddar cheese
2C shredded lettuce
2 tomatoes, chopped

In a pot, boil water and cook rice according to package directions.
In a skillet, brown sausage and add beans and seasoning packet.

Once rice is cooked add rice to meat mixture and then top with cheese. Let the cheese melt.

Top with lettuce and tomatoes.

You could also top this with sour cream, guacamole, ranch salad dressing, salsa. Just use your imagination. The meat mixture is also really good by itself.

This was a hit with the whole family although some were less than thrilled with the black beans.

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Flautas

Have I mentioned that I love Mexican food. Actually I just love food. But I do enjoy some good Mexican on occasion. Lately I've been craving it. So tonight for dinner we decided on flautas. I first saw a recipe for them in the Pillsbury 2008 cookbook. I decided to change it up a bit (cause that just what I do). So enjoy! These are quick and super easy. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish. Not too bad for a late Saturday night supper.

Bean and Cheese Flautas
1 can refried beans
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
1 C salsa
10-6in whole wheat flour tortillas
veg oil for cooking

Make sure tortillas are pliable. Don't want our tortillas breaking in the middle of trying to assemble them. That would be bad! :O)

Heat pan on med. low heat.

Mix the cheese, beans and salsa. Place a spoonful of the mixture in the center of tortilla. Roll up and put a toothpick in to keep it closed (make sure they are wooden as the plastic ones will melt once they hit the pan). Brush tortilla with oil.


Place flautas in pan and cook until brown on both sides. About 3 - 5 minutes on each side. Once browned and warmed through, remove from pan to a plate and remove toothpick. At this point they will stay closed.

Serve with more salsa, sour cream, gaucamole, ranch dressing, whatever your family likes.



We had this with chips and a queso dip. It was filling and really yummy.

HAPPY EATING!!!

Beef Chimichitos with Brown Rice

Hello! I hope everyone is having a good start to their week.
Tonight's dinner is something that's easy, hearty and yummy!! It's a cross between a chimichanga and a burrito. Anyone who has seen JUST COOK THIS on Discovery Health Channel will have seen Sam the cooking guy make this. The original idea is his. I tweaked it a bit with stuff I happened to have on hand. It was really yummy. I also paired it with some brown rice I cooked in beef stock. I am currently stuffed so I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

Beef Chimichito's
1 pound hamburger, browned and drained
1 onion, diced
1 can refried beans (I found
1 -4 oz can green chiles, drained
1/2 C enchilada sauce
salsa
flour tortillas
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
cilantro



Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine hamburger, onion, enchilada sauce, green chiles, and refried beans and cook until heated through.

Heat tortillas in microwave for about 30 seconds until pliable.

Spoon some of the mixture onto the tortilla and fold like a burrito. Place on a greased baking sheet and lightly rub with veg. oil. This will give it a crispy texture in the oven.

Bake until golden brown about 15-20 minutes.

Top with extra sauce, sour cream, and cilantro.

Since I'm not a huge fan of sour cream I used Ranch dressing on mine. I also just happened to have a zucchini in the fridge so I sauteed that up as well. Also if you have any limes, squeeze lime over the chimichitos right as they come out of the oven. Gives them that little something extra.

This really was as good as it looks!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!

Mexican Pasta Casserole

This casserole is very hearty and delicious. I'm a big fan of Mexican food, this hit the spot perfectly. It makes a ton so be prepared for leftovers. Even with big eaters we had leftovers. Perfect for freezing and eating later.



1/2 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
8 ounces egg noodles or macaroni noodles
1 (15 ounce) can chili w/ beans
1 large diced tomato
1/2 (15 oz) can black beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1/4 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 -2 cups shredded mexican blend or cheddar cheese.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
In a large skillet over medium heat, combine the ground beef, onion, pepper, and celery and saute for 10 minutes, or until the meat is browned and the onion is tender. Drain the fat and set aside. In a separate saucepan, cook noodles according to package directions. When cooked, drain the water and stir in the meat mixture, chili, tomatoes, corn, salsa and taco seasoning mix. Mix well and place entire mixture into a 9X13 baking dish. Top with shredded cheese.
Bake at 250 degrees for30 minutes, or until thoroughly heated.


We served this with salad and some tortilla chips. Enjoy!!!