Wordless Wednesday

A Take on Tacos

We will occasionally have Taco Tuesday around our house.

Tacos get boring, don’t you think? I do. Especially if you have kids who think tacos should only have ground meat. You can do chicken or steak…if you are luck enough to have children who are willing to try new things.

I am not that lucky.

So, in an effort to dress up my tacos one night, I tried something different. It turned out okay. But I tweaked it a bit last night and it was wonderful!

Here is the recipe.

A Take on Tacos

2 lbs ground turkey (As I always tell you, I use ground turkey, but you can use ground beef if you so choose.)

1- 5.5 fl oz can Spicy Hot V8 Juice (These are sold in packages of 6 in our local store)

1-10 oz can Ro-Tel tomatoes

1- 15.5 oz can chili beans, drained

1- 11 oz can Mexicorn, drained

1 package taco seasoning

In a large Dutch oven, brown the ground meat (season with Lawry’s season salt, or salt and pepper) over a medium high heat. Add the next 5 ingredients and stir. Watch closely, and stir as necessary to keep from burning. Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer until heated through. If it appears “soupy,” then allow it to simmer a little longer to reduce the liquid. It will thicken up upon standing, also.

I heated tortilla shells and served the tacos with shredded cheddar cheese ( not the bagged kind! I bought a block of cheese and shredded it myself), fresh jalepeno peppers, chopped green onions, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, salsa, and sour cream.

What wasn’t eaten will be frozen and used as a base for taco soup!

Wordless Wednesday 8.25.10

Creamy Chicken Spaghetti

4 -6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 boxes chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

1 box spaghetti (I use whole wheat spaghetti)

Salt, to taste

1/2 block Velveeta, cut into cubes

1 small can cream of chicken soup

1 small can cream of mushroom soup

1 can Ro-tel tomatoes

In a large Dutch oven, bring chicken and broth to a boil. Allow the chicken to cook, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil, salt and add spaghetti. While the spaghetti cooks, shred the chicken. Place shredded chicken in a 9×13 baking dish. Cube Velveeta and set aside. Remove spaghetti when it reaches al dente. You want it just a little undercooked….so it still has a bite to it. It will finish cooking in the oven.

Right now, start preheating the oven to 350*F!

Okay…. put the spaghetti on top of the chicken in the 9×13 pan. Add 1/2 the Velveeta. In the saucepan with the water from the spaghetti, add the cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soups. Whisk together and bring to a boil. Pour 1/2 over the spaghetti and chicken, and add the Ro-tel tomatoes. Gently toss the mixture around in the 9×13 dish. Add the remaining cheese. Place in the preheated oven and bake about 20 minutes. Half way, stir the mixture so it doesn’t burn. You may need to add more water…use the remaining chicken broth. Not much, just use your eye.

Remove from the oven when all the cheese is melted.

Some like to top this with crushed tortilla chips before serving. If you want, add those the last minute or two of baking. Watch carefully, the chips will burn fast! Also, for a little extra, add black olives. (I don’t do this because there would be mutiny in my house. The ChemE hates olives.)

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday ~~ Bye, Bye Summer

Blog Giveaway!!!

I have some pretty awesome friends!

One couple have a blog called “This Dish is Vegetarian.” Even if you are not a vegetarian, you will find some delicious recipes here. As well as some very informative articles!

Daelyn and Eric are having a giveaway on their blog this week! Here are the details….

Sprout Wellness Vegan Lip Balm and Mini Cream

As a small company, started by a personal trainer and holistic health counselor, Sprout Wellness is determined to “detoxify your life” with their all-natural beauty products. All the items sold at Sprout Wellness are created from scratch using basic ingredients that can actually be pronounced by the customers. Additionally the company is dedicated to being environmentally friendly and using organic and fair trade products.

The Giveaway
One vegan lip balm and one all-over mini cream

All-over Mini Cream (1/4oz) ingredients:

• wildcrafted, fair-trade shea butter
• organic extra virgin coconut oil
• organic extra virgin olive oil

Vegan Lip Balm ingredients:

• candelilla wax
• organic cocoa butter
• organic extra virgin coconut oil

The Sponsor
Sprout Wellness: sproutwellnessnyc.com

How To Enter
Choose one or more of the options below to enter the contest:

1. Leave a comment on “This Dish is Vegetarian”  telling them how often (if ever) you purchase natural beauty products. If you use this option, you must include some way to get in touch with you via email, Twitter, or Facebook.
2. Follow “thisdishisveg” on Twitter and tweet this message: Follow @thisdishisveg & RT for a chance to win a Sprout Wellness vegan lip balm and cream http://t.co/OPlUMWU
3. Join “This Dish is Vegetarian”  Facebook page and leave a comment under this story or on the wall.
4. Send in a vegetarian or vegan recipe for the No Meat Zone.

Items 1-3 each receive 1 entry in the contest. Item 4 receives 2 entries in the contest.

Deadline
Friday 8/18 at 9 p.m. ET

Winner
A winner will be chosen at random by entering names into a spreadsheet as the entries are received. Every entry is assigned a number. The number of the winner will be chosen by using Random.org’s True Random Number Generator.

Notification
The winner will be notified within 24 hours of the contest end and will have 48 hours to send his/her mailing address. Prize will be shipped by Sprout Wellness.

U.S.A
This week’s giveaway can be shipped within the U.S..

Good luck!

Silent Sunday

Fabulous Friday!

Happy Friday the 13th!

I love getting stuff in the mail. Especially if I have ordered something. Last week, I ordered some jelly from one of my favorite stores in Natchez, MS,  The Old South Trading Post. It is a really neat store, just before you go down to Natchez-Under-the-Hill. This past spring, I found a Raspberry Jalapeno jelly that was delicious! I wanted to get more, and just happened to get a sales paper in the mail from the store! I quickly ordered 4 jars of jelly.

I ordered 2 of the Raspberry Jalapeno!

You can find more at http://oldsouthtradingpost.com

Pizza MeatLoaf Cups

1.5 lbs ground beef (I use ground turkey)

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 tbs Italian seasoning (I would use a little more…maybe 2 tbs or 3 tbs. It was a little bland for us with just 1)

1 egg, beaten

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine meat, egg, pizza sauce, bread crumbs, and Italian seasoning. Divide among 12 muffin cups, making a well in the center of each cup. Place shredded cheese in center of each cup. (I overfilled each cup so that cheese was on top of the “muffins.”)

Bake at 375*F for about 15-18 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink. Serve immediately with additional pizza sauce on top of the cheese. (I added more cheese on top before serving.)

***EDIT*** If you don’t want to add pizza sauce, or if you don’t have pizza sauce on hand, add 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, or 1/4 cup ketchup. This just gives the meatloaf a “tomato-ey” taste.

Wordless Wednesday