Street Tacos. Or, I'm Homesick.

I have a weakness for street tacos. I always have. It's one of the things I miss most about my home state of California. I'm sure you can get them just about anywhere these days, but I have fond memories of my dad taking us to work with him and at lunchtime, he knew where his favorite taco stands were. We're talking, taco stands that sold brain tacos, tongue, and whatever else. My dad is an adventurous eater. He eats anything and everything. I don't even want to go into the foods I have tried that I wouldn't now because I know better. But I trusted him. And it makes for some good stories now. Anyway, back to the tacos. I developed a fondness for a basic street taco and I crave often the flavors. It hit me that I could make my own So Cal style street tacos. So I did. And the results are delicious and surprisingly easy to do!

First, I wanted chicken. You want to make Pollo Asado. This usually consists of oil, vinegar, lime juice, garlic, orange juice, salt, spices such as Achiote paste, etc. You can find a good recipe online. I am lazy and lucky because we have a local indoor farmer's market that sells Pollo Asado al carbon by the pound for pretty cheap so that's where I got this. It is delicious. All I had to do was cook it and chop it into bite size pieces.

Here is my chopped white onions and chopped cilantro.

You can leave the tacos as is with just the juicy, flavorful meat and the onions and cilantro, or you can add a dollop or two of guacamole. Some people like to put pico de gallo and queso fresco, but then it turns into something else entirely and not a street taco.

 To make guacamole in a jiffy, just mash the avocados and add salsa to taste and voila. There you go.

 Everything you need right here to compile your tacos.

Mmmmm! These were delicious. Usually I use white corn tortillas, but I was curious about yellow. I would recommend sticking with white. You may also want to use 2 tortillas to make your taco as they fall apart easily. Make sure the tortillas are warm when serving. I'm discovering that putting guacamole on everything is maybe a west coast thing? People always seem weirded out when I offer them guacamole as a topping, and HF's family back east never had it until they visited us here. What do you think? Do you put guacamole as a side with all your mexican food? Also, these can be as healthy or unhealthy as you want depending on the ingredients in your asado and toppings you add. I consider these pretty healthy for a family meal. And HF was thrilled to be eating meat. We average maybe once a week eating meat these days.

talk about comforting

I love the brisk chill of Fall. But after spending long amounts outside, I'm ready to come inside and have something warm and comforting in my tummy. 

The last time we visited my Grandmother, she asked us if we wanted something to eat. She began rattling off the various things she had in her fridge. I had no preference as I wasn't very hungry, but then she said, ". . . leftover Cabbage casserole . . . " and I said, "wait, you mean that stuff made with the cabbage, hamburger, and soy sauce?! I haven't had that since I was a teenager!" My mom made it quite often growing up.

This past week or two, .I've been craving the comforts of home. I pulled out our family cookbook and just like I thought, grandma's cabbage casserole was in there. As I was putting it together and sticking it in the oven, I was filled with so much nostalgia. The smells of a familiar dish, actually brought comfort and happiness to my soul.

This might not be the best thing you've ever had, but for me it tastes every bit of delicious as any of my other beloved favorites. I'm not sure how my grandmother came up with this recipe, but I think what makes it unique from other cabbage casseroles are is its minimal ingredients and the fact that there is no tomato sauce or cheese of any kind. Blech! The combination of ingredients used in this recipe give it an Asian flavor in my opinion.

What are some of your favorite comforting dishes that fill you with nostalgia?

Grandma's Cabbage Casserole

1 lb. hamburger (I used organic grass fed beef)

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 cups chopped cabbage

1-2 carrots, grated

6 cups cooked rice

Sauce:

4 Tbsp. butter

6 Tbsp. brown sugar

4 Tbsp. soy sauce

Saute meat and onion together until cooked. Drain. Mix together with rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Add sauce and combine until coated evenly. Pout into 9x13 casseole dish and bake at 350 for 1 hour. I cover mine for the first 30 minutes and cook uncovered the last 30 minutes.

fajitas

My mom made fajitas at least once a week growing up. I thought it was disgusting! Onions and peppers? I would rather die than eat onions and peppers. Well I don't know how it happened, but the things that I hated eating growing up, are the very things I crave and eat often now. They have become my comfort foods. Fajitas are one of these. Except I never make them the same way. I'm always searching and tweaking to come up with the perfect flavor. Right now, I'm pretty happy with what we've come up with. This is from McCormick’s Garlic Lime Fajitas Recipe Inspirations package. I'm kind of an herb and spice snob and don't like certain things dried like onions and garlic and cilantro. I've included my notes in blue.

Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Marinate: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup each lime and orange juices (I've used lemon juice in place of the lime and it was still good)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic (I used 3-4 fresh cloves, pressed)
1 teaspoon dried minced onions (I used 1 Tablespoon fresh white onion, minced)
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro leaves (I used 1-2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced)
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
(a couple shakes of chipotle chili pepper)
1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 medium green or red bell pepper, cut into thin strips (I use red, yellow, and green, or a bunch of the mini sweet peppers)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced (I always use a big yellow Texas Sweet onion. I really think sweet onions make all the difference, but that's just me)
8 flour tortillas (8-inch) (these are really good on corn tortillas as well)

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Mix juices, oil, all of the spices and salt in small bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade. Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag or glass dish. Add remaining marinade; turn to coat well. Refrigerate 30 minutes or longer for extra flavor.

2.  Cook and stir chicken in large heated skillet on medium-high heat 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from skillet. Add bell pepper, onion and reserved marinade; cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender. Return chicken to skillet. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through. (I always have to cook my chicken much longer than the directions say to make sure they are done)

3.  Spoon chicken mixture into warmed tortillas. Serve with assorted toppings, if desired. (We serve it with sour cream, avocados, salsa, and lime wedges)

pizza quesadillas

Every Friday is pizza night here at the Fuzz household. We love pizza. We either make it at home or we order out from a different mom and pop type place, or papa murphy's. Recently, our daughter said, "I know mommy! How 'bout we make it like a quesadilla but we put pizza toppings inside instead! We can call it a pizza quesadilla!" She's not the first one to think of this, but in her mind she is. I love how creative she is. I remember my mom making us personal pizzas on tortillas when I was little. I loved when she did that. I know this doesn't fall in the super healthy category, but this is how we made ours.

pizza quesadillas
tortillas (any kind)
tomato sauce, pizza sauce, etc.
mozzarella cheese or other lowfat shredded blend
toppings (pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, olives, peppers, pineapple, etc.)
seasonings

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Spray with PAM or other cooking spray of your choice. Spread tomato sauce on half of a tortilla. Top with desired toppings, seasonings, and cheese on top. Fold in half. Place in frying pan and cook on one side until golden. Flip and do the same on other side. Transfer to a plate and cut into triangles with pizza cutter. Easy. And the kids loved these.

Niño Envuelto (wrapped baby)

I am lucky to live where I live. Lots of people from all over the world. For someone like me that loves food, i get to try a lot of things. One of my neighbors is from the Dominican Republic. She is in the process of learning English. She practices with me, and I practice my Spanish on her. From her broken English, you would never guess that in her previous life, she has a law degree and worked as a natural disaster specialist and then for the last decade or two, she worked as a private I (eye?). When she gets talking about that, she gets very excited. I learned she is a good shoot, and in her opinion, women are just as bad as the men when it comes to cheating. Most of her cases were following suspected cheating spouses. Now she's a feisty old granny trying to learn English. Anyway, she taught me how to make these babies. Apparently, there are very similar recipes from Poland and other places.

Niño Envuelto is essentially a cabbage wrapped rice cake.

3 cups cooked rice
1 cabbage (leaves separated, and gently boiled in water and a little salt until tender)
1/2 pound ground beef
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 small red onion
1 green pepper
pinch of oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Tabasco
ground black pepper

1.  Halve the green pepper and remove the seends. Chop into tiny pieces. Do the same with the onion. Combine peppers, onion, ground beef, oregano, black pepper, and salt.
2.  In a pan, heat a little oil. Cook, while stirring, the beef mixture. Add the tomato paste and 2 Tablespoons of water. Simmer at medium heat until water evaporates. Take off heat. Mix in rice.
3.  Put 2-4 Tablespoons of mixture in center of leaf. Wrap tightly. Secure with toothpick if necessary.
4.  At this point you can cover with a tomato sauce of your choosing and bake in oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. These were sauteed in a little oil and served as is without any sauce.

Cabbage

your basic spaghetti bake

This is something I will make when I don't know what else to make and I usually always have the ingredients on hand. Here's what you do.

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey

1 small yellow onion

1 large jar of spaghetti sauce (I like to use Newman's Own Marinara)

1 pound spaghetti

2 cups shredded cheese (can use one kind or mix and match)

desired herbs and spices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely chop onion and brown in pan with ground meat until thoroughly cooked through. While it is cooking, boil the spaghetti until al dente (usually 8-10 minutes). Drain grease from pan. Stir in jar of spaghetti sauce and 1 cup of cheese. (I used cheddar and parmesan for the one pictured above). Add any desired herbs and spices to taste. Combine meat and spaghetti mixture with noodles. Pour into 9 X 13 casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. This is a very versatile dish so you can make a lot of changes to fit your preferences.

chicken salad croissants

There are so many ways of making chicken salad. I have tried so many ways and know for sure that I do not like pineapple in mine. I also don't like pickles or curry or nuts (besides cashews) and please no seasoning salt! But that's just me. How do you like your chicken salad?

4 chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
5 green onions, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2-3 medium red delcious apples, chopped with skin on
1-2 cups green or red grapes
1/2 - 3/4 cup cashews
Best Foods Mayonnaise
salt and pepper

Chop onions, celery, apples, and grapes. Toss with chicken. Add enough mayonnaise to moisten or to taste. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle cashews on top after spooned into croissants.

For this recipe, I left out the cashews and apples, but I would put them in if I had them on hand. You could also skip the croissants, and boil 1/2- 1 package of small shell pasta and stir it into the chicken mixture and serve over greens. This is something we usually eat on Easter for some reason.

Crockpot Curry

We love this curry recipe. We've been making it for years. I'm sorry I can't say where it came from, but it is now part of our permanent recipe collection. We eat it with brown rice and/or naan. It is also optional to sprinkle chopped peanuts over each serving. We have a boy with a peanut allergy so we don't do that. Everyone who has tried this recipe loves it and it does make the house smell wonderful while it's cooking.

CROCK POT CURRY

3 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. curry powder
1 ½ tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ lbs chicken (1 in. chunks)
2 c. potatoes, peeled & chopped
1 ½ c. bias-sliced carrots
1 cup cooking apple, chopped
¾ c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (it is very mildly spicy. You can add more jalapeno if you want more kick)
1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
½ cup water
1 (13 oz.) can coconut milk (in Asian store or Asian aisle in grocery store)
cooked brown rice
Optional: ¼ c. chopped peanuts

In a gallon Ziploc bag, combine flour, curry, cumin, and salt. Add chicken, a few pieces at a time; seal bag. Shake bag to coat. In a 3 ½ - 4 quart crock pot, combine potatoes, carrots, apple, onion, garlic, jalapeno, and bouillon. Top with chicken. Pour water over all. Cover and cook on low setting 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. If using low setting, turn to high at the end and stir in coconut milk. Cover and cook for 30 minutes more. If desired, serve over hot rice.

**Last time I made this I didn't follow the ziploc bag instructions to coat the chicken. I just threw it all into the crockpot together and mixed it together and cooked on low for 8 hours. I did use a crockpot liner and that made for ZERO cleanup (other than the lid).

man-pleasing food: zesty chicken drumsticks

I love mixing my own spices. This "zesty" seasoning mix is made up of garlic powder, cumin, paprika, seasoning salt, and lemon pepper. I usually double or triple the measurements and fill a bag or jar to have this spice on hand. We love it.

These are the spices all mixed up.

1 Tablespoon of oil per 1 Tablespoon of spices.

Trim the fat off of the drumsticks and baste both sides with the seasoning/oil mixutre.

Broil 36 minutes on high, turning every 12 minutes.

Delicious.

For kids and spouses going to work, wrap a strip of tinfoil around the top of the drumstick to keep fingers from getting messy and sticky. They can just hold onto the tinfoil part.

Zesty Seasoning Mix

1/4 cup garlic powder (not salt, the powder! I used the California blend for no particular reason)

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 Tablespoon lemon pepper

1 Tablespoon cumin

1 Tablespoon seasoning salt

oil

Mix all the spices together without oil. This is your "bulk" spice. You can use the desired amount to taste. For about 12-14 drumsticks, I like to use 3 Tablespoons of the spice. The oil to spice ration is 1 Tablespoon of spice per 1 Tablespoon of oil. Mix the spices with the oil and baste over drumsticks.

To make the drumsticks:

1 Family Pack (12-14ish) chicken drumsticks

3 Talespoons zesty seasoning spices

3 Tablespoons canola oil

After basting your drumsticks on both sides of drumsticks, place in broiler on foil-lined cookie sheet with sides, or broiler pan. Make sure they are 1-2 inches apart. Broil on high for 36 minutes, turning every 12 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

mini spinach and bacon quiches

Here is what I did: I started with Paula Deen's Quiche recipe. I didn't do a pie crust. I got a package of Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry (sold in the freezer sections at grocery stores) and let it thaw on the counter for about 40 minutes. Then I unfolded it and cut it into circles with my smallest round cookie cutter. I sprayed my mini muffin pan lightly with Pam and these little circles fit perfectly, just coming up a little on the edges. You'll want to press down lightly to make sure it's gathered in the edges of the cup.

I chopped the spinach extra fine since these are tiny quiches and put a pinchful in each cup. I didn't really do any measurements, just what I thought looked good.

I chopped the bacon as fine as I could as well. I put a pinch in each cup.It probably was about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of bacon.

Then I put 1-2 teaspoons of shredded swiss cheese on top.

For the egg mixture, I actually used egg beaters. I had a case from Costco and we didn't like how they tasted so we decided to use them up in baking recipes. In place of the 6 eggs, I used 1 1/2 cups. I put 1 Tablespoon in each cup.

When you are making miniature appetizers or hor d'oeuvres, you cut the baking time to 1/3. So depending on the oven you would bake these at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are starting to brown. Cook them in the center of the oven and I think that the browning is the best done indicator.

Don't they look good? They tasted so good. I was looking for ways to use up all our spinach before it went bad and this was perfect. I've also made 2 large ones to freeze for a later meal. Everyone loved them. These would also be great in regular muffin tins. You would just cut larger circles out of the pastry and adjust the cooking time. After these came out of the oven I let them sit for a few minutes and then carefully removed them to a cookie sheet to further cool down. We ate a dozen or so and then freezed the rest. We froze them by sticking the cookie sheet in the freezer for an hour or so and then put them in a large ziploc bag all together and stuck it back in the freezer. To reheat you would just put them on a cookie sheet and reheat at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. I think these quiches are hard to ruin. You can do a number of varieties such as mushrooms, diferent cheeses, onions, ham, etc. Oh, and this made about 60 mini quiches!