Tequila Lime Chicken Tacos

Those baked chickens in the warmers at the grocery store smell so amazing that sometimes you just can't resist buying one, right? But then you are left with a ton of meat on your bird. This recipe is perfect for jazzing up leftover baked chicken! If you don't have leftovers you can always bake a few pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breasts sprinkled with a little Montreal Chicken seasoning or poultry seasoning. The quantities of tortillas, tequila, and lime you will need depend entirely on how much chicken you have leftover. I will list the basic amounts needed for about 2 cups of chicken. You can increase or decrease to fit your needs. This recipe makes 6-8 tacos.

You will need:

2+ cups of shredded chicken
4 T lime (1-2 limes)
2 T tequila
1 green pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 T oil or butter
6-8 whole wheat tortillas
************
toppings for your tacos:

sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
salsa
anything else you like on a taco!!




Add your tequila to a small bowl and then add your squeezed (or measured) lime juice. I only needed one lime this time around.



Pour the mixture over your shredded chicken and make sure it is evenly coated. You can cube your chicken, of course, but I much prefer it shredded. I think it soaks up the flavors better. Let it sit while you saute the veggies.



Add the oil or butter to a frying pan and then add your veggies. Cook over medium heat until they are a bit colored, but are not completely soft. They will go from this...



to this...



and will be done when they look like this:



Remove your veggies from the frying pan and set them aside.



Add the shredded chicken to the same pan and reheat over medium. You don't need to cook the chicken at all, just warm it up. Doesn't take but a couple of minutes. Stir often.



While the chicken is warming, warm your tortillas in a pan over medium high heat. You don't really need to add any oil or butter to the tortillas, but I sprayed them with a little pan spray on each side. (If you aren't using a nonstick pan then you should probably give the pan a spray, too.) Heat on both sides for one minute each.





When the tortillas are warm and slightly brown, remove them from the pan and immediately flip them in half. If you wait they will harden a bit and you won't be able to fold them in half. Just stack them on a plate.



Now just fill your tacos with the chicken, veggies, cheese, sour cream, whatever you like!






You will turn boring, leftover baked chicken into a whole other meal that is easy on your wallet and tastes amazing! The lime and tequila give the tacos a refreshing bite and the whole wheat tortillas add a nutty flavor. Out of this world!

Enjoy!

Chili

It took years and years of trying different chili recipes and adapting them to our tastes until I found the perfect combination for our family. So, while this recipe is perfect in our eyes (and tastes) maybe it will just be the stepping stone for your new recipe. If chili is done right it will have depth to its flavor--it will taste one way when you take a bite, another when you start to chew, and another level of flavor after you swallow. I'll show you some tricks you can use in your own recipe to get those layers of flavor.

For my family's perfect chili you will need:

4-5 cans Bush's Best Chili Beans, mild (beans are my fav part of chili)
1 can chopped tomatoes with green chilies
Mexene chili powder
1 large onion
1 large green pepper
Tabasco sauce (to taste)
1 cup ketchup
1 pound ground beef
1 bottle beer (I like Bud--not too strong, not too mild)



Brown your ground beef with the onion and 2T chili powder. I add a tablespoon or two of oil, olive is fine. High quality chili powder makes all the difference in the world. After years of trying the different brands of powders I think Mexene is my favorite. You couldn't pay me to put McCormick chili powder in chili.



This is your first layer of flavor and believe me, it makes a difference!

When the meat is mostly brown add your green pepper and a couple of shakes of Tabasco. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Second layer of flavor.



While it is cooking, open up all your cans. I love my One-Touch!



After the meat and pepper is cooked through, add the rest of your ingredients (except the beer) and 1/4 cup of chili powder.



Stir it up and let it cook for about 30 minutes or so. Then add your beer. I use Bud because, well, it's the King of Beers, but also because it has the yeasty flavor without the darkness of a stout.



You only need about half to 3/4 of the bottle. Up to you what you do with the rest of the ice cold beer. :)



Chili is better the longer you cook it, so bring this recipe to a boil and then simmer for at least 4 hours, 6 is better. If you are in no hurry, cook it for a few hours, remove from heat and let it cool a bit, then stash it in the fridge until the next day. Chili is ALWAYS better the next day. This recipe is also fabulous in the crock pot. Brown the meat, onion, and chili powder and add the mix with the rest of the ingredients in your slow cooker. Cook on low overnight and then set to the warm setting in the morning. It's ready when you are!



When you take a bite of this chili you taste the warmth, the tomato, the chili powder, then you chew and taste the beer, the yummy beans, and the beef. The aftertaste is a tangy tomato flavor with a kick of the Tabasco.



Enjoy!

This recipe was featured on blog.recipelion.com!

Taco Soup

A family favorite, I usually make this recipe in a slow cooker, but I made it on the stove top this time because I forgot to start it the night before. :) This meal is easy to make and lasts for at least two nights worth of meals. We usually have one bowl left, which I put in a container and freeze. When we collect enough of these mini meals in the freezer, we have Hodge Podge night and make everything. The kids love it because they can choose exactly what they want. I serve their choices on a cafeteria tray with all those individual compartments. Such fun!



1.5 lbs lean ground beef
1 onion
2 envelopes taco seasoning
3 cans Bush's Best Chili Beans (mild sauce)
1 can light kidney beans
16 oz tomato sauce
1 cup frozen corn (or one can with juice)
1/2 cup water (omit if using canned corn)
sour cream
cheddar cheese
Fritos scoops

Brown the ground beef with the onion and one envelope of the taco seasoning.



At this point you can add the beef and the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker, set on low, and cook overnight or for at least 4 hours. Or just add everything to the pot on the stove and stir. (Do not drain beans.)



Cook for at least 3 hours. The longer the better really as it is even better the next day, like chili and spaghetti sauce. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. We use those large Fritos Scoops to dip, except Tinker Bell who crushes up her Fritos and dumps them in the soup. This recipe is a nice departure from ho-hum taco night. Enjoy!

Fun With Meatloaf

Growing up I hated meatloaf. But you're supposed to as kid, right? Like on The Christmas Story when Randy says, "Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double-beatloaf. I hate meatloaf." Recently I stumbled on an amazing food blog Bake Me More and saw an idea for making meatloaf fun for kids. You'll need to make some mashed potatoes for the fun part of this idea. But first, the meatloaf recipe:
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large green pepper
1 large onion
1 egg
1 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned)
3/4 cup ketchup

I use two pounds of meat so that we will have leftovers, but if you want to use one pound of meat just use smaller veggies, 1 egg, 1/2 cup each of ketchup and oats. Also, you can substitute the ketchup with tomato sauce or even tomato soup. I'm allergic to tomatoes. One touch and I look like I have a chemical burn. Thankfully, all of the acids (or whatever tries to kill me when I touch or eat them) has been cooked away in ketchup.

Mix all the ingredients, except the meat, in a large bowl.







Add the meat and mix thoroughly. I use disposable gloves and mix with my hands. Or let Tinker Bell do it. She loves mixing meatloaf! Sometimes I press the meat into an 8x8 pan, other times a loaf pan. Last night I lined a 6-cup muffin tin with aluminum cupcake liners and pressed a spoonful of meatloaf mixture into each one. I put the rest of the meatloaf into a loaf pan. I like to spread a little more ketchup on the top of the meatloaf. It gives it a nice crust and a prettier color than grey cooked meat.



After baking at 400 degrees for 60 minutes for the loaf and 30 minutes for the cupcakes, allow the meatloaf to sit for 10 minutes. If you use lean ground beef the moisture you see in the pan after baking won't contain much fat. I made the mistake once of draining the moisture immediately and the meatloaf was dry, dry, dry.


Now for the fun! Eyeball enough mashed potatoes to cover the 6 meatloaf "cupcakes" and put the potatoes into a small bowl. Add two drops of liquid food coloring, any color, and mix. Then frost your cupcakes! Bake Me More got creative and used a pastry bag and made the prettiest meatloaf cupcakes. I just spread the potatoes like frosting. Either way the kiddies will be tickled with their meal.






Even my picky eater ate her meatloaf!

Split Pea and Ham Soup

So, you bought a big ham for Easter and have exhausted your recipes but still have a bunch of ham stuck to the bone. What to do? Throw it in the Crock Pot!



You'll need to rinse a bag of split peas, but because they will cook overnight in the pot, there is no need to soak them.



Just dump them right onto the ham...



Add 2 quarts of water, put on the top of the Crock Pot, set on Low, and go to bed. (Don't, however, do like I did and start the soup at 1am because you were waiting for some overnight cinnamon rolls to rise and they were being difficult. That leads to mistakes because you are tired, such as turning the Crock Pot to Warm instead of Low. Not a good thing.) In the morning you can either keep the soup in the Crock Pot or transfer it to a pot on the stove. If you put it on the stove: after adding all ingredients, bring to a boil, turn down heat to low, cover, stir often, and cook all day or at least 3 hours. If you keep it in the Crock Pot: after adding all ingredients, turn pot to high for one hour, then turn down to low, and cook for at least two more hours or all day.

I put it on the stove, but it really doesn't matter. You'll need an onion, carrots, celery, and a small potato. I put my carrots in my tiny food processor and chop them until they cry uncle.





Do the same thing with the onion and celery. OR you can just chop and add. I mutilate the poor veggies in order to fool my oldest daughter, a veggie-phobe, into thinking they aren't there. Chop the potato into tiny pieces and add. It will break down in the soup and help to thicken it. Now toss in a couple of bay leaves. I was going to take a picture of them, but I'm embarrassed by how old and desiccated my leaves look. :) Now here's my secret ingredient...don't tell anyone.



Cavender's. It's a greek seasoning, but I use it in everything, especially on turkey at Thanksgiving. In fact, since I grew up using it, I don't like to eat turkey without it! But, if you don't have access to Cavender's, it is basically a blend of salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, onion powder, and parsley. I would suggest using salt and pepper to taste, a couple of shakes of garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt, and maybe a few parsley flakes. Then taste and see what you think. Here's the finished soup:



Split Pea and Ham Soup

ham
1 16oz bag of split peas
2 qts water
1 medium onion
1 medium potato
1 cup celery
2 cups carrots
2 bay leaves
Cavender's (to taste)


I usually make buttermilk biscuits to go with this soup. But cornbread is great, too.

Enjoy!!

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