Taco Tuesday

I'm not sure if you have this in your house, but, we have a theme for almost every day of the week. It starts with Meatless Mondays...sometimes this is switched out for Meatloaf Mondays, depending on what I feel like cooking.  Tuesdays are made especially for Tacos!! We have Taco Tuesday every week, no exceptions and why would there be...tacos and Tuesdays are made for each other!

This past week I opted to grab a taco recipe from Pinterest that I've been seeing floating around.  A Taco Muffin.  Um, hello, who wouldn't LOVE a taco muffin.

So, I grabbed up my  muffin pan and went to work.

My Ingredients:

Corn Tortillas
Refried Beans
Black Olives
Prepared Taco Meat (I use turkey burger)
Shredded Cheese (I like colby jack)
Green Onion
Salsa and Sour Cream if you like

Now, you'll have to excuse me BUT my phone ate my pictures so I'm using ones from the site. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

First, place your corn tortillas in your muffin tin.  They'll generally fold pretty easily.  I like to spray the pan with some non-stick spray to help with the crispiness of the finished product.  It is not, however, necessary.



Next, I start layering my ingredient.  I add a dollop of refried beans first (I get mine out of a can but you can be adventurous and make them yourself.  Good luck with that.) 

At this point I throw them in the oven for about 10 min, just until the shells are a little crisp and your refried beans are warmed up.  It may help, depending on the amount of beans you have in your cups, to stir it around a little, just so you can distribute the heat evenly.

I take them out of the oven and start layering the rest of my goodies!  I begin with a GENEROUS helping of taco meat followed by the cheese.  I throw them back in the over for about 5 min just to warm everything up again (remember that your taco meat is already cooked so you're basically warming that up and melting the cheese)  DO NOT keep them in the oven for long or you'll end up with burnt taco shells and that my friends is what I would call a tac-astrophy.

And now for the extra fun part...I say "extra" because aren't we having a blast already!?  :-)

THE TOPPINGS!

Add whatever your little heart desires to make this your perfect taco cup.  I prefer green onion and black olives with a bit of sour cream.  That's my perfect taco...but feel free to add tomatoes, avocado, hot sauce, salsa, pineapple, etc...the possibilities are ENDLESS!

Your finished product should look something like this...

or this

ENJOY!

Taste: A+ (who doesn't love a good taco!)
Kid Friendly: A+++ (loved by children of all ages!)
Ease of Creation: A+ (hello, can we say easy-peasy!)

Giving Sesame Chicken A Try

This week I attempted another new recipe...Sesame Chicken!  I put this pin under my "Healthy-er Recipes" group but the recipe uses more oil than I would normally use and has high sodium content with the soy sauce, so I'd put it in the middle of the road...not exactly healthy but probably not horrible for you.

I made this for dinner Wednesday night.  I have to say that it was easier than I thought.  Henry, my 8.5 month old, wasn't clawing at my legs so maybe that's why I felt the freedom to move around, mix up the numerous ingredients and get this dinner going!

In a previous post, I mentioned that I usually create a new recipe exactly as printed the first time through then make my necessary changes the next time.  Chicken is the one exception I make.  I ALWAYS use chicken breasts, whether the recipe calls for thigh meat, etc.  I find that breasts are easier to use, healthier, and more versatile.  They do tend to become a bit more dry but if you're used to cooking with chicken breasts then you know to make the necessary adjustments, mostly, lower cooking temps, added moisture, etc.

So our first step is dicing up the chicken into 1 inch pieces (I used two chicken breasts) and putting in a mixture of 1 Tbsp cornstarch, one egg and a sprinkling of S&P whisked together

Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally, until it is cooked through (about 7-10 minutes). The recipe says to drain excess oil if you want...I found that it wasn't necessary.  In fact, I recommend keeping any excess oil as I found the end result to be a bit lacking in the sauce department.

 

Whisk together the next 9 ingredients in a small bowl

2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp water
½ Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1½ Tbsp brown sugar
1½ Tbsp rice vinegar
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp sesame seeds 

 (You can grate the ginger with a small-holed cheese grater)

Before I read this last part, of course I took it upon myself to look up how to peel and dice fresh ginger.  My ginger turned out  a bit too "chunky" and therefore we had a very intense ginger flavor.  I definitely recomment grating the ginger as originally stated.

Mix your sauce in with the cooked chicken and toss thoroughly.  Let the sauce heat and thicken (this will happen quickly) then turn off heat.

Cook rice according to package directions.

Serve chicken over rice and top with green onion.

My result is below

(I forgot the green onion...oops)

I thought the recipe was really good.  Despite the numerous ingredients it was pretty quick and easy to make. 

Taste: A (delish!!!!)

Kid Friendly: B - (I think this sauce, especially the overwhelming ginger taste, is a bit much for kids)

Ease of Creation: A

30 Day Challenge

If you know me at all, you know that I hate exercising.  I do pretty much the bare minimum because it's good for my body.  I will bitch and moan about it because that's what I do...until TODAY! 

It's a Monday...you (meaning "I") always have to start any new routine on a Monday.  I can picture these little creature-types roaming around in my head saying:

"NO - we cannot start this new exercise challenge on Saturday...it has to start on MONDAY!!! 

That's the beginning of the week, therefore, that's when we start!"

And that's when he takes his big imaginary gavel and pounds away at my head, giving me a headache, therefore, ensuring that I cannot start my new exercise routine on Saturday.

I digress.

Now it's Monday and I am ready to go.  The Challenge? Thirty days of situps, squats, pushups, and wall sits...the reps increasing as the days go on. (see below) 

My motivation?  My hubby and I decided that we need to escape this cold weather and head down south...aka, I need to look good in a bathing suit.  

My partners in crime?  My pals Megan and Katie.  I expect us to keep each other motivated as we do this...of course, they are both skinny-minis to my "average" but, again, I digress.

The challenge is posted below.  I thought (for about 1/2 second) that'd I'd post my begin and end pics...um, yeah, we'll see if I get around to that...I will keep you posted as to my progress though!



I'm proud to report that Day 1 is complete thanks to a little time in the gym.  WOOHOO!

First Day "Ease" - A+ (see, I'm not as unfit as I claim)

Looking Good in a Bathing Suit - D-

   

Saturday Night and We're Feeling Hungry!

If you're from the Midwest, you know that this winter has been cold, followed by snow, followed by colder, followed by more snow, then cold, then snow and so on and so forth.  Today I was supposed to go to the grocery store to get my meal ingredients for the coming week.  Joseph, Henry, and I, wanted to grab lunch first (Shopping 101 says you CANNOT grocery shop on an empty tummy) before shopping but by the time we went out, stopped at Costco for peanuts (Joseph's midnight snacks) then went and had lunch we were done with people.  It was snowing like crazy, people on the road were acting like they'd never seen snow before and we were all tired...so home we went.  Keep in mind, at this point we have little food, unless you want to count the 2 tons (yes TONS) of chili and cornbread we have leftover from our Super Bowl party, but since we had soup and salad for lunch that was not an option.  Since my menu planning goes from Saturday-Friday we have little to no food in the house. I decided to grab a quick chicken recipe from Pinterest since I had some thawed in the refrigerator.  I opted for Kalyn's Kitchen Baked Pesto Chicken I had pinned earlier in the day.  The recipe called for chicken, basil pesto, salt and pepper, and mozzarella cheese, all of which I had in stock...score!

My normal routine for trying new recipes is pretty easy.  I usually follow the recipe to the letter the first time through, except I usually have to 1/2 the recipe to feed just Joseph and I.  If I deem it good enough for a second run through, I do it my way, which usually involves a few tweeks to the original but the end result is pretty close.  So this recipe is done as the original author intended. 

The ingredients for 2 people (recipe cut in half):

 

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup basil pesto

1 oz mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper to taste

 

 



I started by preheating my oven to 375 degrees.

 

I sprayed the pan with some non-stick spray then spread half the pesto on the bottom of the pan. 

 

I put my strips in on top of the pesto then topped with some salt and pepper (I used garlic salt).  I also cut my strips with the grain.  The recipe pics looked like she cut longways.

 

I topped the chicken with the remaining pesto, covered with foil and put in the oven for 25 min

 



 

I remove the pan from the oven, remove the foil, top with the mozzarella cheese and put back in the oven for 10 minutes (5 min in the heat and 5 min under the broiler to brown)

 

The end result

 

I should have taken a picture of the plate I made up.  We ate the chicken with tater tots and broccoli!  YUMMY!

 

I felt that the chicken was a bit dry but the taste was great.  Next time I make this, and I will make it again, I think I'll cut off 5 minutes of the cooking time.  Overall this was a great, easy dish!  I would recommend this for weeknight dinners as the prep is easy and cleanup is easy as well!

 

 

Taste:  B+ (would be higher but I thought it was a bit dry)

Kid Friendly: B (depending on their like/love of pesto)

Ease of Creation: A+  (can't get much higher than that!)

 

 

 

Pin It To Win It!!!

I, like so many others, have caught the Pinterest bug.  Pinterest, launched almost four years ago by Ben Silberman, has only grown in popularity and continues to inspire our ho-hum every day disciplined self to become eccentric right-brain junkies.  In other words, Pinterest allows us to dream of things we may never have, inspire us to try things we'd never thought of trying (jello shot cake mold anyone?), drop the business suit and become a bit more of the creative and unique creatures most of us never realized we were missing.

After many of my friends have asked about the results of my recipes and creative projects, I've decided it would do me and my creativity good to blog my experiences on Pinterest for all to read and see.  Although I use Pinterest mostly as a way to obtain good recipes, I've also used it as a source for party planning, decorating ideas, and a way to bring out my inner-crafter (wherever she may be hiding).  Most of the "pins" have been a success in some form or another but I've had a few fails as well. 

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I'm sure I'll enjoy pinning and posting.

Happy Pinning!