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

Slow-cooker pork tacos

I love slow cookers, but I do not use ours enough. Our slow cooker is definitely temperamental...it cooks way warmer and faster than any recipe calls for. I am still trying to figure ours out, but in the meantime, I did cook a fabulous meal on Sunday! Not only did Bill think it was good, but Curt (brother-in-law) came over for dinner and enjoyed it too!

I have had this recipe on our fridge since Thanksgiving, and finally I got around to cooking it! I don't usually like recipes that call for "random" ingredients...ie...Mexican oregano...do they make their oregano special down there???, but Sprouts does have spice-by-the-bulk, which means you can buy the only what you need of the "random" spice! Also, we bought two pork shoulders at Costco in January and had one in the freezer. Have I told you how much I LOVE Costco...especially when there are coupons (which there were for the pork!). We made more salsa (http://eatplaysave.blogspot.com/2011/03/salsa.html), but added the left over chipotle chillies in too. Definitely made it more spicy, but it was delicious!

Slow-cooker tacos 

3lb pork shoulder, trim excess fat
1 yellow onion, sliced
4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/2 can chipotle chilies in adobo
2 large dried chilies (ancho, guajillo, New Mexico, pasilla)
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
2 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. Mexican Oregano (go to a place where you can buy just what you need of this!)
1 cup broth (beef or chicken)

1. Put all ingredients into a slow-cooker. Cook on high for 5-6 hours (we did ours 2 hrs. on high...3 hrs on low...temperamental slow-cooker), stirring and flipping meat occasionally.
2. Remove meat and set aside.
3. Strain remaining liquid into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce liquid until noticeably thickened.
4. While liquid is reducing, shred meat into small pieces.
5. After liquid is thickened, add meat back into liquid.
6. Serve in steamed corn tortillas with normal taco toppings (tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream & salsa).

Tip of the Day: Buy your "random" spices from place that buy in bulk. It will save you money when you only have to buy what you need!

xoxo

Meggan

salsa

It has been a very busy week here in Arizona! My aunts came in the last weekend of February then Bill's parents on Wednesday...on top of that my computer broke for the second time this year.

We ate out a lot over the last week, but I did get some cooking in. On Wednesday as Bill worked a long night, I decided I need to make some salsa because 1.  we LOVE salsa 2. we were out of salsa. Our original salsa recipe came from non other than the pioneer woman, but as we have perfected and adapted it, we made it our own.

Salsa is very cheap to make, and when you make a big batch it is even more cost effective. Our entire cost for meggan + bill's salsa was under $3. I always keep my eyes open for sales of the canned tomatoes because I know how much we love our salsa. The other day at Frys the cans of Rotel, plum tomaotes and fire roasted tomatoes (all brand names) were $.50 a can! The other ingredients are all things we have keep in our pantry besides cilantro, which is $.60 a bunch.

meggan + bill's salsa
1 can (14.5oz) Whole Tomatoes With Juice
1can (10 oz) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
1 can (14.5oz) Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1/2 cups Chopped Onion
2 clove Garlic, Minced
2 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
¼ teaspoons Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Ground Cumin
½ cup Cilantro or more to taste
1 whole lime, juiced or more to taste

This is a very large batch. We use a 12-cup food processor, but you could use a blender too.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, fire roasted, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like—we do about 10 to 15 pulses. Make sure you have a whole bag of tortilla chips ready for testing because once you start, you won't be able to stop. Adjust as needed with seasonings. 

Our FAVORITE chips with salsa is Kirkland Organic Corn Tortilla chips. Once you try them, you won't eat anything else!

meggan's mango salsa
1 mango, chopped
1 avacado, chopped
1 plum tomato, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoon honey
1 lime, juiced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon tabasco or more to taste


Combine all ingredients. Test with tortilla chips and adjust as needed. 

Tip of the Day: make your own salsa!


xoxo

Meggan

Fish Tacos

I think I have said it before, but Bill & I love mexican food! We definitely have mexican food at least once a week, and tonight was the night. We had our favorite Fish Tacos (Entire meal $5)!

Today I was at Whole Foods, and discovered they have organic corn tortillas for $.99 (12 count).  We also buy cheese from Costco (2 1/2lb. Tillamook medium chedder $6.79). We shred the cheese when we need it, which is much more cost effective (and when you buy pre-shredded cheese they have to add more preservatives to it...boo!)

Fish Tacos

corn tortillas
Fish (we buy breaded cod from Trader Joes, but you can use whatever is on sale).
Organic black beans ($1.19 at Trader Joes)
shredded cheese
tomatoes
avocados
sour cream
Bill's Sauce (the best thing about the tacos...recipe below)

Prepare fish as indicated on box. Cook black beans. Spread Bill's Sauce on tortillas and place fish on top. Place the toppings on. Enjoy!

Bill's Sauce
1/8 cup Mayonnaise (we scoop & don't really measure)
2 tbls. Ketchup
2 tbls. Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1 tsp. Srirachas or more to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together. Bill says "it should be pink, not white, not red...pink"


Tip of the Day: Buy your cheese at Costco...it will save you a lot of money!

xoxo

Meggan

I ♥ Frys

If you have not been to Frys this week, you need to check it out! There are some great deal out there, my favorite being "Buy 1 get 1 for a penny deal!" for alcohol. Who doesn't love a crown and coke, especially when you can get two bottles (750ml) for $28. This should last us for awhile!

Since moving to Arizona, I have fallen more in love with Mexican food. I would eat it everyday if Bill would eat it too, but he likes some variety in his meals :) This week at Frys, you can buy Mission Flour Tortillas and Herdez Salsa for $1.88. Foster farm chickens are $1.77lb, and Kraft shredded or Bar cheese 3 for $5. Perfect ingredients for Grandma's Chicken Enchiladas...


Grandma's Chicken Enchiladas
3-4 cups cooked chicken
1 16oz jar salsa
1 8 oz pkg. cream cheese
grated cheese
6-8 tortillas

Preheat oven: 350 degrees


Place chicken, cream cheese, 1/2 of salsa and 1 cup of grated cheese in a microwave-safe dish. Place in  microwave on high 2 minutes. Stir and place chicken mixture in tortillas, fold over and place seam side down in dish. Cover with remaining salsa and cheese. Cook for 30 minutes or until cheese is completely melted and enchiladas are heated through.

This is one of my favorite recipes and it is easy to make! You will get plenty for leftovers, so really you are getting at least 2 meals out of the one recipe. This is my favorite way to cook! Can't wait to make these soon!

Tonight, we are heading to dinner club at the Itule's...another great way to try new recipes. More on this tomorrow :)

Tip of the Day: Make enough food so you can take some to lunch the next day!

xoxo

Meggan