What's Cooking? Tacos!

I have made my own beef taco filling for years. Mostly because tacos are a simple go-to kinda dinner that I can make when there's nothing else planned. We always have shells (hard and soft), cheese, salsa, and sour cream - my minimum required ingredients for tacos. But since taco night usually isn't "planned" I didn't plan to buy a taco seasoning packet.

That's ok. My spice cabinet it stocked and I use my nose (and my trusty chili recipe as a guide) to mix and match seasonings to create my own filling...

But it's nothing to write home about.

And that disappoints me. I am not very inventive. But I can follow a recipe like nobody's business. I am willing to try any recipe once. And I am resourceful. Plus I love making food that you want to tell people about.

So one day I sat down at my computer determined to find a new taco filling recipe. The one that follows is all over the web known as America's Test Kitchen Beef Tacos, but I have tweaked it a bit for our tastes.

First, you'll need:

1 onion, minced
1 T vegetable oil
3 gloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef

Cook your onion in a pan with the heated oil. After a few minutes, when your onions are getting soft - add the garlic. Be careful not to burn your garlic - that's not a good taste (or smell). I try to keep my garlic on top of the onions until I add the beef (now that's a good smell). The garlic just needs a minute in the pan before you add the beef. Break up the meat really well with a wooden spoon.

A note about the beef: I am cheap. I buy whatever is on sale... sometimes that's 90% lean, sometimes ground turkey, sometimes I go for the fatty 70/30. The original recipe calls for the extra lean and there is no step to drain your meat. I guess that wouldn't be an issue, but when I made this step-by-step as originally written and I had added all my goodies to my 70/30, I realized the meat needed to be drained. Bye-bye delicious flavor.

Now the flavor:

1 small can diced green chiles (no need to drain); jarred jalapenos, diced; or fresh jalapeno (or other hot pepper), diced - according to your taste
2 T chili powder
2 t paprika
1 t cumin (or more)
1 t coriander
1/2 t oregano
1/4 t cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (or more)
salt

While your meat is draining, put your choice of peppers in the pan you cooked the meat it. Leave a little bit of the oil from the meat in the pan so your seasonings don't stick. Then add the rest of the seasonings. All of the seasonings are to your taste - use more or less as you see fit. I often toss in some celery salt and dried ground mustard too - about an 1/8 teaspoon each - an ode to my chili.

Next, return the drained meat to the pan and mix it all up then add:

1 small can of tomato sauce
2 t apple cider vinegar (or more)
1 t brown sugar - yes!
splash of Worcestershire sauce

Again, I diverted from the original recipe. I have never added the 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. I buy 8 oz cans of tomato sauce and I just can't see saving half of it for another use. It would end up the the garbage and that's just a waste! So I add the whole can and skip the broth. You could substitute salsa, Rotel, or even diced canned tomatoes with equally good results.

Let the meat mixture simmer on very low heat for about 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Finally add some chopped cilantro - about half a bunch from the store. It makes the mixture so fresh tasting and pretty.

The vinegar and brown sugar just send this taco filling over the top. I don't know about "authentic" but this is Chloe's kitchen and I am not trying to impress anyone other than my family. It's the best we've have ever had and you can write momma about it.

Daily Affirmation - August 3, 2011

Respect your feet. They've mastered the art of staying grounded while moving forward.

My foot on a hot, hot day - red and swollen from walking on the blazing concrete in crummy seven year old Payless flip flops - with a sweet little butterfly tickling the top.

@ Beech Bend Amusement Park - July 2011

Picture Play

Downloaded some Photoshop actions and played around with an already sweet photo of Emeline...




Did some of the boys too...



This could become quite addicting.

Quotable Owen

Owen is one cute and funny kid. He never fails to amuse me with his facial expressions, silly dances, and hilarious conversations.

One of his favorite playtime activities is dressing-up. Usually considered a "girly" thing, Owen does it, but in all boy fashion. His ability to create costumes out of found objects around the house is really amazing. For a 3-year old, he is remarkably creative. Some of the costumes he's made: Puss in Boots, Peter Pan, Captian Hook/Pirate, Cowboy, Football Guy, Yoda... list list goes on. He's a new character every week!

Kids say the darndest things? Owen does!

Recently he was asked, "Are you scared of the dark?"

"No", Owen replied, "not when the lights are on."

On a particularly demanding afternoon, I complained to Owen that he was making me sad because he was being mean to me. He had to explain it to me. In a rather condescending tone he said, "Mom, I am not being mean. I just want you to get me the things that I want when I want them." Oh, silly Mom...

He is so much fun! Every day is full of cute, sweet, silly, tender, crazy moments. Sometimes he wears me out with his constant "I'm hungries" and "Can I have my Star Wars toys?" then "Can I have my cars box?" (the one toy at a time rule combined with his short attention span keeps me hopping). But his unique personality that brings so much joy to our lives makes it all worth it.

Toothless Wonder

Emeline has lost her first top front tooth! It's been slightly loose for a long, long time - since she was three...

...that was when she, while monkeying around, bumped her mouth on the edge of the kitchen table and cracked her tooth pretty hard. She bruised her tooth and it has been a little wiggly since that day, but otherwise healthy.

Fast forward to December 2009: Emeline's upper six-year molars come in. Since she was already clued into the process from her previous lost teeth, she knew that she was due for a loose tooth on the top. Immediately, the search for the best candidate began.

I don't know if it was destined to be that damaged tooth or if it's because it was already a bit loose, but that's the tooth that Emeline focused her attention on. Pushing and pulling on it with her tongue and finger until the point of madness. Finally, she decided it had to come out.

Problem. It was so not ready to come out. That didn't matter to her. She enlisted Daddy in her attempts to loosen and pull that tiny little pearl out. I'll spare you the gory details.

As you can tell from the photo, she was no worse for wear and she was really pleased with the results.

The BEST Apple Crisp

OK so this is a little late...

We made our annual trip to Huber Farm back in October during the kids' fall break. It was a little colder than we would have liked, but we were determined to get our yearly haul of apples, pumpkins, and wine! So we bundled up and braved the wind, rain, and outright cold.

We picked Winesap, Golden Delicious, and Fuji apples. The Fuji were perfect eatin' apples... sweet and tart, crisp and juicy. The Golden Delicious were like a dessert. If Jolly Ranger could mimic that flavor... now that would be a good apple candy. And finally, Winesap... we'd picked them before and while their tart flavor lends them to baking they aren't very juicy and make rather dry pies, crisp, etc. But we had to have some cooking apples because that's the sweetest part of fall... the bevy of baking.

I've never met a baked apple concoction that I didn't like. Mom's apple pie... delicious! Baked apples on pancakes... a delight! Apple cake... apple cookies... apple sauce.... apple butter... it's all food for my soul. Mom made apple dumplins this year for the first time and I was in heaven! How could I have gone 33 years and not had apple dumplins? (Mom and I had a talk about that!)

But there's one apple dessert that I felt could be improved upon. Apple crisp. It never made me swoon the way other apple treats had. Don't get me wrong... I would never turn down apple crisp... come to think of it, no one in their right mind should ever turn down ANY dessert, but it lacked a little something. With a basketful of apples, a serious craving for something sweet, and a weenie roast to attend... it was the perfect time to find just the right recipe.

And that I did! Here it is:

12 cups of peeled, cored, sliced apples (tart cooking apples taste best)
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup water (depending on type of apples you use - a dry apple will need the full amount, a juicy apple will need less)

Place the apples in a deep 9x13 baking dish. Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle evenly over the apples. Pour the water evenly over the apples. Set aside while you prepare the topping.

2 cups of regular oats
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter (yes, two sticks!)

Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and soda. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumby. If desired, you can add 1-1/2 cups of chopped pecans to the topping. Crumble over the apples.

Bake at 350 about 45 minutes, until the topping is browned and crispy.

The topping is truly crisp; almost hard. But that was part of the problem with other apple crisps... the topping just faded away and had lousy texture. The apples are sweet, but not too sweet and there's good balance. I eat it without ice cream, but some wouldn't have it any other way. Fresh whipped cream would be good too.

Here's some more pictures of the fun we had, in spite of the cold...

I Love This: Green Earl Grey

I am on a never-ending quest to add healthy things to my life. And I love when I can do something healthy, but doesn't feel like I am moving mountains.

•30-minutes of walking (and talking with Ben).

•Skipping Starbucks.

•A dropper-full of berry flavored B-Complex under my tongue.

•And my personal favorite... therapeutic massage.

I read a lot of health focused magazines for ideas; the easy ones that is. And I read "green tea" over and over again. Problem is I don't really care for green tea. It's a little, well, green tasting. So I was excited to find Twinings Green Earl Grey Tea at of all places... Big Lots. Traditional Earl Grey tea is my tea of choice so I thought the flavors would mask the greeniness of Green Tea.

It does!

I love this tea!

Be warned: Green Tea does contain caffeine and a day of "being healthy" could leave you with heart palpitations and a late, late night. You can "decaffeinate" your tea yourself by steeping the tea for 30 seconds, pouring off the water, and re-steeping the tea. However, you may loose the healthy you were after in the first place. I just take any "extra" energy I get from caffeine as another bonus to tea drinking.