Delicious Chicken Tacos

Here is another fabulous pioneer woman recipe pioneer woman chicken tacos! Usually I alter recipes a little, but this one didn't need any altering. Bill and I absolutely loved them, and they were easy to make!  We of course had our homemade salsa bill + meggan's salsa and lettuce from our garden! We had plenty of leftovers too, so we had them two nights last week.

Fabulous Chicken Tacos 
16 whole Corn Tortillas (small Size) 
4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Pieces 
Salt, Cumin, Chili Powder To Taste (or Use Taco Seasoning) 
2 Tablespoons Canola Oil 
2 cans (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies 
1-½ cup Finely Grated Cheese  
Sour Cream 
Hot Sauce (Chulula Or Other Brand) 
2 cups Thinly Sliced  Lettuce 
4 whole Roma Tomatoes, Diced 
Canola Oil, For Frying Tacos

Season diced chicken liberally. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes. Dump in the diced green chilies. Stir and cook until chicken is totally done inside. Turn off heat and set aside.

Have all other ingredients—grated cheese, sliced lettuce, diced tomato, sour cream, and hot sauce—ready.

Also have a plate ready, as well as a stack of five or six paper towels to hold in your hand.


Frying the Tacos
BE CAREFUL...THE OIL IS HOT & SPLATTERS (i know from personal experience)
 
To fry the tacos, heat a couple of inches of canola oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high. Place some chicken in the middle of a tortilla, then fold tortilla in half. Clamp the tortilla shut with a pair of heat-proof metal tongs, then carefully lay the taco—one side down—in the oil. As you lay it in the oil, use the tongs to hold the top side down for a few seconds to form it in place. Once it stays put, repeat with two other tacos. Turn tacos after 30 to 45 seconds, or when each side gets light golden brown (not too brown.)

One at a time, remove tacos from the pan with tongs, holding sideways as you remove them to allow oil to drip out of the sides. Place the taco in the stack of paper towels. Fold the sides and corners around the taco to tightly hold it, then give it three or four shakes to remove excess oil. Remove it from the paper towels and place on a plate. Repeat with other tacos in the pan.

As you continue frying the other tacos, have someone carefully place some grated cheese inside the tops of the tacos (gently pry them open just enough to place the cheese in). Then just let them sit until ready to serve—the cheese will melt as it sits in the warm taco.

To serve, garnish in this order: a smear of sour cream, dashes of hot sauce, shredded lettuce, diced tomato. You’ll need to slightly open up the tops of the tacos to get all the garnishes in there.
Tacos will be hot for a minute or two after frying, so don’t rush into eating! They’ll stay nice and warm for a little while after frying. Enjoy!


xoxo

Meggan

Posted by Ree on March 31 2011

Something my dad would cook!

My dad is always finding different healthy recipes to try, and when I saw this my first thought was "my dad would love this recipe!" I originally got this off a gluten free website, but of course I adapted it to make it my own! For all my gluten free friends out there, if you don't follow this site, she has some great recipes! http://glutenfreegirl.com/roasted-vegetable-salad/

I had a ton of vegetables from the farmers market I wanted to use, so I just roasted all of them and added them to the recipe. I had bought kale too for the recipe, but I ended up eating it all before I made it. I am sure kale would be fabulous in this too! I cooked the beets the night before just to make it easier (and I wanted to make sure I did not forget to use them!), but you could cook them the same day, and just put them in a little earlier than the rest of the veggies.

When you cook the brown rice, I HIGHLY recommend using 1/2 water + 1/2 white wine (whatever you have opened). It makes the brown rice even more DELICIOUS! TRY IT...

Try this meal cold too! I had it the next day for lunch, and I LOVED it cold. It reminded me of a nice summer salad I would eat on a hot day ☀

Dad's Vegetable + Rice Salad
4 beets-any color, scrubbed, leaves trimmed
4 carrots, cut into bite size pieces pieces
12 asparagus
3 zucchini, cut into bite size pieces
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
8 pieces kale, stems removed and torn into pieces
Olive Oil
3/4 cup kalamata olives
salt + pepper
cheese- goat or fresh mozzarella (I used my dairy free cheese)


2 cups of cooked brown rice or quinoa


1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
pinch kosher salt and cracked black pepper
red pepper flakes-to taste
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.


Coat beets lightly with oil. Wrap beets in aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet, and roast in the oven until cooked through, approximately 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, and then peel and cut into large slices.

Put the carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini and asparagus onto the baking sheet. Toss them with the oil and salt and pepper. Toss them in the olive oil until they are coated. Put the baking sheet into the oven and roast the vegetables until they are browned on the bottom and softened, about 20 minutes. If you use kale, throw in the kale pieces and toss the vegetables on the sheet again. Roast until the kale is a bit wilted, about 3 minutes.


While the veggies are cooking, go ahead and make the vinaigrette. Grab a small jar with a lid. Pour in the lemon juice, mustard, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Shake the jar. Add the oil. Shake the jar. Taste the vinaigrette and adjust the ingredients if necessary.

Remove the roasted vegetables from the oven and toss them with the brown rice, the cheese, and the kalamata olives. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss. Enjoy!

xoxo

Meggan

We can pretend we were eating somewhere tropic...

Last week, I decided I needed to see what I had in my freezer, and I needed to use it! I found two haddock filets, and I had bought pineapple was on sale ($.99 each) and organic mangos ($1.00 each). I decided I needed to make something tropic! Living in AZ you can always find limes at a good price (usually they are off our tree), and cilantro is always cheap. At the farmers market I had picked up avocados and tomatoes, so I of course added them to the mango salsa. I also picked up kale...all I can say is delicious!

I wanted to marinate the fish in a lime + cilantro marinade. I learned something new while making this dish too...if you marinate the fish too long in the lime juice it will "cook" it and it becomes ceviche! So here it is...Our delicious tropic dinner ☀

Mango Salsa
1 mango-peeled + cut into bite pieces
1 avocado- cut into bite size pieces
Cilantro (handful)- chopped
1 jalapeno- chopped
1 lime- juiced
1 tomato- chopped

Mix all of the ingredients together and put aside.

Lime + Cilantro Haddock
4 limes-juiced
2 garlic cloves-crushed
Cilantro (handful)-chopped
salt + pepper

Preheat the grill. Mix all of the ingredients together and pour over fish. Let marinate for 10 minutes (don't do it more or it will cook it). Place fish on foil and cook over grill for 10 minutes or until done. Let sit for about 5 minutes to let all of the juices rest. When ready to eat, top with with mango salsa. Enjoy!

Grilled Pineapple
1 whole pineapple

Peel the pineapple and cut into slices. Place on grill away from direct heat and cook for 15-20 minutes. Make sure to flip the pineapple half way through. Enjoy!

Lemon Kale
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 bunch of Kale
Juice of 1/2 of lemon
salt + pepper
Nutmeg- just a little-freshly ground if possible

Turn on heat to medium and place olive oil in large saute pan.  Chop Kale into bite size pieces and place into pan. Squeeze lemon juice over kale and stir. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Make sure to mix the kale every few minutes. Cook about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Tip of the Day: Plan your meals around what is on sale!

xoxo

Meggan

Everyone needs a place to make drinks!

Bill and I spent the month of March putting together our bar! For those of you who have been to our house, it is located in the Arizona room (right behind the kitchen wall). This is something we have talked about doing for the last year, and after many conversations (and of course spreadsheets) we finished it last weekend, except for putting on the toe-kicks. We LOVE our new ice maker, and we have found any excuse to use it!

Here it is...with no countertop or ice maker.

 Here it is DONE!

Chili in April???

First of all...I am sorry for my absence on the blog. My computer has been down for the last 6 weeks, and the computer I was using was S...L...O...W! My computer is fixed...and so my blogging will continue!

NOW...Who would of thought that we would be eating chili in April. Usually at this time, we are in the 90s and starting to dread our hot summer months, but today we got a great break. Cold and rainy!! Bill and I had a busy day, so this morning I decided to make some chili in the slow cooker. When we came home late this afternoon, it smelled fabulous! I love my slow cooker, and how easy it can make my life!

 Here is what you need to make this delicious chili...

 Oops..forgot to add the tomato sauce to the picture.

Arizona Chili

1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 lb sweet Italian turkey sausage
2 large garlic cloves
2 jalapenos
1 large onion
1 bell pepper-any color
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
1/3 bottle of beer 
1/2 tsp dried basil
5 (or more) tsp chili powder
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp brown sugar
red pepper flakes-to your taste
red pepper-to your taste
splash of red wine


Cook turkey and sausage. Drain the meat and add to slow cooker. Now, add the rest of the ingredients to slow cooker. Make sure you are tasting the chili as you add spices, to make sure it is to your liking. Cook on low heat 6-8 hours. Enjoy!

You can't have chili without cornbread! I have been REALLY limiting my gluten, and I have been of off dairy since February. The recipe calls for butter and milk, and if you can have those then PLEASE use those instead of Almond milk and non-dairy butter. I LOVE Bob's Red Mill products, and I have not had a mix I have not liked. They even pass the "Bill" test :) We had this cornbread with dinner tonight, which was fabulous!

Cornbread 
Red Mill's Cornbread Mix
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/3 cup oil or melted butter
2 eggs 


Follow directions on package! Enjoy!


xoxo

Meggan