Taco Meat

Starting off, I had a hard time deciding how to make taco meat without a taco seasonings packet (which usually contained milk, MSG or other allergen ingredients).  Then I discovered Dora Gonzalez' 'Basic Meat' Recipe.  It helped us decide what worked for us.  It works well in burritos or enchiladas too.

Ingredients:

One pound Basic Make-Ahead Ground Beef
1 T Cumin
3 clove garlic, pressed
1 can Stewed-Diced (or crushed) Tomatoes
A pinch of crushed chili pepper if desired
Salt to taste

Simmer ingredients till hot and serve in corn or flour tortillas topped with fresh diced tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole and salsa.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

This was a creation I came up with, after one of those "what am I going to make for dinner?" moments, when I found a package of corn tortillas in the freezer. My mom always made great enchiladas, and I loved making them in our dairy-days too....but without sour cream and cheese, could I really achieve a similar result? Yes! These were creamy and delicious and "hit the spot" perfectly!

Preheat to 350 degrees
Yield: 10-12 servings

One package 36 count Corn Tortillas

1/2 c. Flour
1/2 c. Smart Balance
2 c. Rice Milk
2 c. Chicken Broth
One can Green Enchilada Sauce (10 oz)
1 c. Cooked Chicken, shredded
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper or to Taste

1.  Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13 pan.  Set aside.

2.  In medium saucepan, melt Smart Balance over low heat.  Blend in Flour till mixture smooth.  Add Salt and Pepper.  Add Milk all at once.  Cook quickly and stir constantly till mixture smooth.  Add Chicken Broth and stir in till combined and mixture thickens and bubbles.  Add enchilada sauce and Cooked Chicken.  Reduce to low heat and simmer, stirring frequently.

3.  Meanwhile, Cut 2/3 of the tortillas (approximately 24 tortillas) into quarters (or tear into bite sizes). 

4.  Spread approximately 1/2 cup sauce mixture on the bottom of 9x13 pan.  Cover this with a layer of tortilla quarters (overlapping slightly if desired).   Cover this layer with 3/4 to 1 cup sauce and repeat with all the remaining sauce and tortillas.  Reserve enough sauce to fully  cover the top layer so the entire pan of enchilladas will be moist, tender and creamy when done.

5.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  (Uncover during the last 10 minutes of baking if a more crunchy crust is desired).  Serve.

Spanish Rice

Simple. Tasty! Cluff Family Cookbook, p. 33-- Shelly Cluff

Yield:  4 servings

1 T oil

1 c. rice

1/2 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1/2 chopped onion

2 c. water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. crushed cumin (opt.)

In medium saucepan, heat oil.  Add rice.  Brown, stirring constantly unitl golden brown.  Add onion, Stir 2 minutes.  Add tomato sauce; stir 1 minute.  Add water salt, pepper and cumin, if desired.  Bring to a hearty boil; reduce to low heat.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes (until water absorbed and rice cooked).  Remove from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Serve.

Note:  If using all supplies from food storage, approx 1 T dehydrated onions with 1/4 - 1/2 cup water = 1/2 onion.

Fajitas

This one is based on another of Dora Gonzalez' sizzlin' recipes.  I love it since I can slice up bell peppers and onions in advance (before I forget I have them in the crisper and they go bad) and freeze them into 'fajita mix' size packages for a quick meal with little prep time.  I love the color and variety of taste when using green, red, yellow and orange bell peppers and will put a little of each into each 'mix' along with 1 to 1/2 sliced onion.   I usually leave out the Worchestershire sauce in the mixture below.  When it's all done, our children eat the chicken part best of course, and we all enjoy it!

2 lb. beef skirt or chicken breast (I usually cook an average of 1 chicken breast per person being served)
oil for panfry
1 large onion
1 large tomato
1 large bell pepper (or more)
Juice of 1-2 lemons
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
salt and black pepper to taste

Mix:  1/2 cup Italian dressing & 1/4 cup Worchestershire sauce

12 flour tortillas
1 recipe guacamole
Fresh cilantro

Marinate beef or chicken with lemon juice, crushed garlic, salt & pepper for 2-3 hours.  Slice onion, tomatoes, bell peppers.  Heat skillet with small amount of oil and brown meat.  Remove meat and marinade sauce from skillet.  Cook veggies 'til tender.  Remove veggies, add meat and layer veggies back on top of meat.  Drizzle on Italian dressing sauce and let sizzle.  Serve with warm tortilla and layer on guacamole, cilantro or other choice of toppings.  Roll, eat and enjoy!

*We've found that sliced raw bell peppers and onions freeze well in advance, as would cooked sliced chicken breast, to make this meal 'fast' and easy to make up.

Basic Pinto Beans

Our recipe for beans comes from a combination of several sources, my Mother, Dora Gonzalez, and a bag of Siler's pinto beans.  It's just a basic recipe (3 c. water to 1 part beans) open to some improvisation with other favorite ingredients.  Serve it with cornbread as a complete protien, serve it over tortilla corn chips with lettuce and tomatoes as Taco Stack, serve it in burritos or drain them and make refried beans. 

Yield: Approximately 12-1 cup servings.

4 1/2 cups dry pinto beans sorted, rinsed and soaked overnight

12 c fresh water; don't keep adding during cooking or beans will turn dark

1/4 c crubled bacon

6 clove garlic pressed

1 T dried onion

1T Salt, or to taste, and Pepper to taste  (add at end of cooking)

1 4oz can of green chilies, if desired (add at end of cooking)

1 can of diced tomatoes, if desired (add at end of cooking)

Pour off soak water and cover in 12 cups fresh water.  Cook at least 4 hours or on high all day in a slow cooker.  Cook on high until boiling then cover and cook on low heat until beans are tender.

We like to top with fresh tomatoes, salsa and lettuce and serve with tortilla chips for the first day, maybe mix it with taco meat for burritos another day or even freeze it for later use.

TIPS:

1. Pouring off soak water before cooking and adding fresh water should reduce undesireable gas and beans should retain their nutrients.  Soaking with a capful of lemon juice seems to soften them even more.

2. Salt and Acid ingredients (like tomatoes, lemon, or vinegar) will toughen beans so add them at the end of cooking. 

3.  It's possible to soak large quantities of beans and freeze in recipe sizes to save future time.

4.  To quick soak, place the washed and sorted beans in 6 cups water per pound of dry beans.  Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, cover with lid and let stand for 1 hour.  Discard soak watr before cooking.  Cover with fresh water and cook til tender.

5.  To pressure cook them, cover presoaked beans with one inch more fresh water than beans.  Follow pressure cooker manufacturer's instructions and cook for 12-15 minutes.

Fresh Salsa

Another winner from Dora Gonzalez!  We like to add in other things we have in the crisper, or out of the garden, like lettuce, spinach, green onions, cucumber finely diced or whatever sounds best for the dinner it's going with.  Our boys enjoy salsa but if you show them something leafy they'll cringe.  So, so long as it is finely diced and they can't see it, they'll enjoy it (though we often omit the fresh onion if we're serving them...since they're getting that in whatever we're serving salsa with usually).  However those add-ins mentioned above are best if eaten right away.  (Yield:  Enough for garnish topping or a 1-2 person appetizer) Add more of everything if you're serving a larger group. 

1     chopped Tomato
1 T. chopped Onion
1     clove Garlic, minced
Salt to taste
Fresh Cilantro!

Mix all together and squeeze in Lemon or Lime Juice.

We really like to use our little 'Kitchen Miracle' gadget to slice dice and mix this all super fast...and the boys enjoy doing the mixing (another trick we use to get them to eat good things....they made it)!

Chimichangas

The basis of this recipe comes from Brent Done as listed in our Scott Family Cookbook, with a few of our modifications utilizing Savory Shredded Pork leftovers.  This works well to make up a double batch, 1/2 for dinner; another pan to freeze for later.  (Preheat to 500 degrees) Yield, 8-10 servings. 

One Batch Recipe

2 c.  reserved Savory Shredded Pork leftovers (or, 1 lb. boneless pork butt or shoulder)

2 T  vinegar or lemon or lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced (we usually add much more)

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1 can green enchilada sauce or 1 c. broth (or 2 c. water if starting with the uncooked pork roast).

3T  canned diced green chilies

1/4-1/2 tsp. ground oregano

Salt to taste

Smart Balance or water to brush on tortillas

8-10 Flour tortillas

If starting with the 1 lb. uncooked roast, Cut meat into 1 1/2 inch pieces.  Put in a 2 to 3 quart pan.  Cover and cook over medium heat to draw out the juices, about 10 minutes.  Uncover and cook on high heat until liquid evaporates and meat browns well in drippings; stir often.  Add water; stir to free browned particles from pan.  Cover and simmer until meat is very tender when pierced, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.  Uncover; over high heat, boil away liquid.  Turn heat to low.

From here the directions should be the same for either meat being used. 

Add vinegar or lemon/lime juice, green chilies, garlic, ground oregano and ground cumin.  Stir up browned bits from pan; remove from heat (when hot throughout if reheating Savory Shredded Pork).  (If using roast, shred at this point by pulling 2 forks through meat in opposite directions).  Add salt to taste. 

Melt Smart Balance (if using).  Brush both sides of each tortilla with melted "butter".   (I learned from Rachel that brushing water on both sides of the tortilla works just as well to seal in the filling...just brush Smart Balnce on top of a finished pan of rolled chimichangas if browning is desired).  Spoon meat filling equally onto center of tortillas and roll burrito style.  Place seam down in a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 500 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Serve hot with your choice of sides and toppings (like Fresh Salsa or Guacamole).

If you need to stretch the filling a bit, toss in a few halved and sliced fresh tomatoes or a can of diced stewed tomatoes (boil off most the liquid during the heating phase).  Yummy!

Dora's Avacado Guacamole

This yummy recipe comes from Dora Gonzalez at church.  We love her recipes!

2 to 3 avocados (Peel, remove seed and mash)
Add:
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/2 lemon, juice of
1/2 t. garlic or 1 clove garlic (we'll often use even more)
Salt to taste
1 jalepeno pepper (if you like it hot)
Fresh cilantro if desired (We think this makes ALL the difference and is the BEST!)

Shredded Pork Tacos

A second meal from the left-over meat from the Savory Shredded Pork. Quoting from The New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, "This recipe is truer to Mexican tacos than the ones often eaten in the United States, which are made with ground meat."  Yield: 8 tacos. 

2 c     Savory Shredded Pork
8        Taco shells or four 6-8-inch flour tortillas
3/4 c  Salsa
2 c     Shredded lettuce
3/4 c  Diced tomatoes
Add homemade taco seasoning (we like to add in a little more garlic and cumin)
Top with guacamole if desired.

1. Prepare Shredded Savory Pork as in the recipe linked above.  Place taco shells on baking sheet and heat in a 350 degree oven about 10 mintues or until heated through (to simply warm tortillas for soft tacos, sprinkle with water and wrap in foil to warm).

2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine Savory Shredded Pork and salsa; heat through (add additional salsa if necessary to moisten).   A pinch of cumin also adds great flavor.

3. Assemble tacos with a spoonful of pork mixture in warm taco shells.  Top with lettuce (cheese if you eat it) and tomatoes.  Serve with avacado or guacamole if desired.