Walking Tacos

Food in a bag is fun.  Our church makes walking tacos to sell at our church "tent" in late summer at a local event in a nearby town.  They don't use tomato sauce in theirs but I like it saucy so I added it to mine.  It helps everything blend together when you stir.  If you really want to ditch the clean up, use a plastic spoon or fork instead of a metal one you have to wash. 

Walking Tacos

1 pound ground beef

2/3 cup diced green peppers

2/3 cup diced onion

8 ounce can tomato sauce plus 1 can water

2-1/2 teaspoons taco seasoning

4 dashes cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicy!)

4- 1 ounce size bags of Fritos corn chips or Doritos Nacho Cheese chips

Toppings:

shredded Mexi-blend cheese, cheddar, or Chihuahua cheese

thinly sliced lettuce

sour cream

salsa

cheater's guacamole

Cook beef, green pepper, and onions until veggies are soft and the beef is cooked through. 

Add tomato sauce to pan then fill can with water and dump that into pan also.

Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until liquid is almost gone.  It still needs to a be a little saucy.

Time to start layering. For individual bags of chips* open them on their side with a pair of scissors.   They put so much air in bags anymore you will have plenty of room for your toppings.   If you are using Doritos you will want to give your chips a smash to break them up a little.

Sprinkle in some cheese.  I like to add cheese now so when I add the meat the heat will melt it!

 Next is the meat mixture.

 Lettuce. 

 Sour cream.

 More cheese.

 Salsa and guacamole if you feel like it.

Stick a fork or spoon in it, stir and enjoy!  

If you don't want to buy the bags you can layer all your yummies into a bowl.  Just as good, just not as fun!

*(The best I could find for a single size sack was larger (4 oz) without buying several bags together so I had to cut it in 1/3 and dump out some chips to make it equal an individual size.)

Gluten Free Buttermilk Berry Muffins

These muffins are soft and fluffy.  I send them to school with my oldest daughter as a snack to replace the fruit grain bars that contained gluten. If you aren't watching gluten you should be able to sub you regular flour back in for the amount I put here. 

Gluten Free Buttermilk Berry Muffins

2 cups flour (I used Jules GF flour)

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup frozen berries (I used blueberries and raspberries)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup canola oil

2 eggs

Combine dry ingredients.

In separate bowl mix together liquid ingredients.

 Add berries to flour mixture

 and mix until coated.

Dump into liquid and mix just until dry ingredients are wet.

Scoop into greased muffin pan. (I have not tried these with papers so I don't know if they will work well or not.) I filled mine fairly full. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool in pans for at least 5 minutes then finish cooling on rack.  

Eat now or freeze for another time.

Hot Beef and Bean Dip

Hot Beef and Bean Dip

2 pounds hamburger
1 small onion, chopped
16 ounce jar salsa
1-1/2 teaspoons taco seasoning
2 cups shredded cheddar or 12 ounces Velveeta
1 can refried beans

Cook hamburger and onion. Drain. 

Add salsa, taco seasoning*, cheese, and beans.  If you are using shredded cheese you can dump it into the crock now.  If not melt the Velveeta and then put it the crock. 

This can be made the day ahead and then heated back up in the crock pot.  Serve with tortilla chips. 

*The refried beans and salsa already have seasoning so you may want more or less of thee taco seasoning.

Cheesy Bacon and Ranch Chicken Pasta

Cheesy Bacon and Ranch Chicken Pasta

4 ounces pasta (I used gluten free penne)
8 ounces of bacon
1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4-1" chunks
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 T dry ranch mix
1-1/2 cups milk
4 ounces Velveeta or 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and keep a lid on pot until sauce is ready.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in large skillet until crisp.  Drain on paper towel, reserving 1 Tablespoon of the bacon grease in the pan.

Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.  (My chicken was a little frozen so it gave way to juices and didn't brown as nice as it would otherwise.)

 Sprinkle flour onto chicken and stir to coat.

Add milk, stirring as you go to keep lumps from forming.  I really like my flat whisk for this job!

Cook until thick and bubbly.

Stir in ranch seasoning.   Use more than 1/2 Tablespoon if you like.  

Add in cheese and bacon, stirring until cheese is melted. Stir in drained pasta and serve.

The Ultimate Cheeseball

The flavor combination is one that will make your scratch your head and snub your nose at it.  Try it once and you'll find that you won't be able to keep yourself out of it!

The Ultimate Cheeseball  (Makes 2)                                        Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons diced onion
1 teaspoon garlic salt  (use garlic powder and a little bit of salt)
2 tablespoons diced green pepper
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
2 - 8 ounce cream cheese, softened 
Approximately 2 cups chopped pecans


Pecans should be chopped small enough so there aren't chunky pieces left but not so small it is pulverized. Place onto a medium piece of wax paper.

 These 5 ingredients seem like an unlikely combo.

Mix together with a spoon or small mixer.

 Scoop half of the cream cheese mixture onto pecans.

 Using the wax paper to keep your hands clean, press the pecans into the cream cheese.

 Flip cheeseball.

Press more pecans into cream cheeseball until completely covered.  Without the wax paper use your hands to shape into a ball or disk shape.  Cover with plastic wrap and place into fridge.  Repeat with last half of cheese mixture.  Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend.

Foolproof Hard-Boiled Eggs

Funny thing is that I called them hard-boiled but I don't actually boil the eggs to cook them.  If you want pretty little yellow yolks with no green edges on the yolks this is the way to do it.  

Foolproof Hard-Boiled Eggs

1 Dozen eggs (the fresher the eggs, the harder they are to peel)

Place eggs in a deep saucepan and cover with cold water by 1-1/2 inches.

 Bring to a boil that is really bubbling. Shut off heat. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

 Drain.

 Add ice and water to cool eggs. 

 Perfect!

Baked Curry Cauliflower Bites

Baked Curry Cauliflower Bites

1 head cauliflower, washed and cut into cut bite size pieces

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon curry powder

3-4 dashes cayenne powder

good pinch of salt

10 drops lemon juice

Mix together all but the cauliflower.

Add cauliflower and toss until coated.

Lay on cookie sheet (or I used a baking stone) so the bites are not touching.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes flipping half way through the cooking until they are soft and caramelized.

 Enjoy!