Tag Archives: family

It’s Just Taco Night

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I want to apologize for the quality of my photography to this point on this blog.  I’ve been using the camera on my cell phone as the primary source for photography, which hasn’t been horrible.  Next photos should be of a much higher quality!

But I digress…

YUM!

There's no folding this one!

TACO NIGHT!  Growing up, we had taco night quite regularly.  In fact, a memory a friend of mine has of overnights at my house was taco night! Mom would buy these mini-taco shells, and we would have tiny taco nights.

I really wanted Mexican food the other night, and with the MAJOR tightening of the pursestrings at our house (like so many other houses in America), I decided to make Mexican at home.  I had hamburger in the freezer, seasoning in the cabinet, and cheese, tortilla shells and tomatoes in the fridge.  I thought a quick trip into Wal-Mart for lettuce and sour cream would be all we needed.

That was until I got into the store.  All of a sudden, I wanted black beans too.  Thinking my 20-month-old wouldn’t eat black beans, I got refried beans, because I KNOW he loves those!  Then an avocado was a must-have…as well as onion…

Realizing that I needed to get the youngest from daycare, and the oldest out of Wal-Mart, we headed to the check-out.

I didn't think about all the dishes I would have to do though!

Mom's Build-Your-Own-Taco-Bar

Dinner tends to be more family-style in our home, but taco night equals buffet-style!

The countertop became “Mom’s Build-Your-Own-Taco-Bar!”

Dinner was also delayed because I sliced my finger open on the refried beans can.  Finding something to keep the gash closed was tricky (I’m allergic to adhesives on band-aids and tape, but that’s another story for another time), but we managed, without needing to amputate!

This post will probably be more of a list of goodies, rather than a recipe.  The only real recipe will be how I seasoned the beef.

LIST OF GOODIES ON THE BUFFET

Avocado
Onion
White rice
Refried Beans
Black beans
Cheese
Lettuce
Grape tomatoes
Tortilla Shells
Sour cream
Salsa

Taco meat

1 pound ground beef
6-8 ounces water
2 T. Fiesta Party Dip Mix (R) 

Brown ground beef.  Drain any grease.  Add Fiesta Party Dip Mix (R) to beef and stir.  Add water to pan.  Simmer and stir occasionally.  When water has cooked down, serve!

Chicken and Dumplings 2.0

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The more "mature" version

One of my oldest son’s favorite meals would have to be chicken and dumplings.  I had a tried -and-true recipe that I have been using for quite a while, but as I pointed out in the first recipe, I tend to deviate a bit from tradition.

I decided my previous recipe needed to mature a bit, which really just means I needed to add some veggies and stuff.

I tend to use chicken thighs in my recipes.  I know that they aren’t as lean as chicken breasts, BUT I enjoy the flavor of the dark meat as opposed to the white.  I boiled a large package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  I used seven thighs and the stock for this recipe, and I have chicken in a baggie in the fridge for chicken and rice later in the week!

Chicken and Dumplings 2.0

Chicken
Water
1 T. Garlic Garlic (TM)
1 T Onion Onion (TM)
3 stalks of celery, tops and bottoms for stock/hearts for soup
Onion, quartered
4 carrots, sliced
6-8 mushrooms, diced
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
I can refrigerated flaky biscuits
1/2 c flour
1 t. pepper

In a large pot, add chicken, seasonings, celery (tops and bottoms), onion and water.  Heat to a light boil.  Allow to cook until chicken is done.  Scoop chicken out of the pot and place on a plate to cool.  Remove and discard celery and onion.  DO NOT THROW OUT THE WATER!!!  Save that yummy goodness for your soup!

While your chicken is cooking, prepare your veggies and stuff (you know, the things to make this more “mature”)  I cut the carrots and celery into slices on the diagonal, because I just think it looks pretty.  I didn’t really need the mushrooms to look pretty for some reason so I just diced them up.  After removing the chicken and veggies from the stock, add the freshly cut “mature” ingredients.  Let that cook on a slight boil while you shred your cooled chicken.

There have been debates on the best way to shred cooked meats for recipes.  Most people will tell you to take two forks and just pull the meat into pieces.  I say to wash your hands and use your fingers! (this is a common approach for me)  Add chicken back into the pot with veggies.  This would also be a good time to add a can of cream of chicken soup.

I let this cook until the carrots are not quite finished.  Now it’s time to add the dumplings.  These are the secret to quick and EASY dumplings:  Refrigerated FLAKY biscuits.  I used a little can (7.5 oz) of 10 biscuits.  Peel  the dough apart at the layers so that you have two pieces, then I put them apart again.  This is completely up to you, depending on how big you want your dumplings.  Dredge the chicken in a mixture of flour with a bit of pepper.  Then add the biscuit to the pot.

The next statement is one of the most important, so pay attention!  DO NOT STIR THE SOUP ONCE THE BISCUITS ARE IN! This is an incredibly valuable piece of information.  Stirring the soup will cause the dumplings to disintegrate.  You will end up with a delicious dumpling flavored soup…but no dumplings.  Also important, don’t have to heat too high.  A rolling boil would have the same effect as stirring!

To get all the dumplings to cook, using a spoon or ladle or something (this would not be an appropriate place to use your hands…ouch) gently push the dumplings into the liquid.  Just give them a little dunk.  The dumplings need to cook about 10-15 minutes depending on how thick they are.  

“Ruining” A Tradition

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Ruining a Tradition

Deliciously Ruined

Tradition – noun: the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to
generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way

Last night I “ruined” a traditional meal that has been passed down in my
family. You might be asking how I ruined it. Was it burnt? Did I add too
much salt? Neither of those apply in this situation.

I called my mom yesterday evening to tell her that I had ruined Gramma’s
beef stew recipe by adding one simple ingredient…mushrooms.

Gramma doesn’t like mushrooms, ok that’s putting it lightly. I made this
AMAZING pot roast around Christmas. I offered to warm some leftovers up for
her one afternoon. She was quite vocal about her dislike of the fungus.

While talking to Mom, I decided that my secret would be safe if I blogged
this recipe. Usually putting a piece of information on the internet isn’t
the best way to keep something quiet, but knowing that Gramma won’t be
surfing the net anytime soon, I figure it’s a safe-ish bet. (saying all that
was probably all in vain, knowing that Gramma is currently visiting my
technophile Aunt and Uncle in the D.C. Metro area and will probably see it
shortly after posting 🙂 )

So here it is, the recipe that could get me dis-owned.

Beef Stew

~ 1 pound Stew Beef

1 T butter

1 T Garlic Garlic(TM)

1 package Beefy Onion Soup Mix

~ 3 cups Water

Petite Red Potatoes cut in half

Carrot baby or cut into 2 inch pieces

½ pound portabella mushrooms

1 can tomato soup

Brown the stew beef with the butter and Garlic Garlic(TM). Once thoroughly cooked, add the onion soup mix and about a cup of water.  Let that cook down, then add more water.

I usually let that simmer down one more time while I prepare the potatoes, carrots and in this version of the stew, the mushrooms.

I used petite red potatoes in this recipe, so I just sliced them in half.  The carrots were cut into 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces, cut on the diagonal.  For the mushrooms, I removed the stems and cut the caps into quarters.

Place the freshly cut ingredients to the pot with the beef.  Add a can of condensed tomato soup to the pot as well.  Add water to cover the contents of the pot and stir.  Let the stew cook on medium heat until the carrots are cooked through.

I served my stew with a piece of a loaf of bread from Jimmy Johns! (Only 49 cents!)