Mexican Taco Rice

I love one-pot meals. Sometimes, I tend to make a bit of a mess when I cook, regardless of how hard I try not to, so the fewer the dishes involved, the better! Awhile back, my brother made a dish similar to this for me when I had gone home to my parents' house for the weekend. I really enjoyed it and ended up asking him for the recipe. He gave it to me, and unfortunately, I lost it amidst four moves and an overflowing box of loose recipes.

My original plan for dinner last night was just to make tacos, something quick and easy that I knew the kids would eat without a fuss. Then, for one reason or another, my brother's Mexican rice, which is usually served as a side rather than a main dish, popped into my head, and I decided that that would be a nice twist on the tacos I was going to make, but without going so far as to make the kids think I was trying to feed them some horrifying new dish chock full of veggies and good-for-them ingredients. I decided that with just a few minor additions, the Mexican rice my brother had made would turn into a delicious filling for burritos or tacos. Enter shredded cheese and sour cream and we have a delicious dinner!

This would make a great side dish, too, if you so desire!

Mexican Taco Rice

- 1 lb. lean ground beef

- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped

- 1/2 tsp. EACH black pepper, seasoned salt, paprika, cumin, and garlic powder

- 1/4 tsp. dried oregano

- 1 tsp. chili powder

- 1 16-oz jar of your favorite salsa

- 1 15-oz can sweet yellow corn, drained

- 1 15-oz can pinto or black beans, drained and rinsed well

- 2 cups instant rice

- 2 cups water

- Tortillas, shredded cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and olives for serving

1. In a large pot, cook ground beef and chopped onion together over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain excess grease and return to stove top. 

2. While meat is cooking, in a small bowl mix ALL of your seasonings together. Once meat has been drained, sprinkle seasoning over meat and stir in, mixing well. You can add a tablespoon or two of water if needed to make sure your meat is well-seasoned and evenly coated. At this point, you have a basic taco meat filling. 

3. After meat is seasoned, stir in salsa, corn, beans, and water. Stir well to combine. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.  

4. Once boiling, turn off the heat and stir in rice. Cover your pot with a lid and let stand for 5-7 minutes to allow rice time to cook. After rice is cooked, use a fork to fluff mixture before serving. 

5. Warm tortillas, either in microwave or stove top, and fill with a scoop of the Mexican Taco Rice. Top with lettuce, cheese, olives, and anything else your hungry little heart desires. Enjoy! 

(You can tell we were REALLY embracing the quick and easy idea-we even used paper plates!)

This meal goes great alongside some tortilla chips and fresh salsa, and is the epitome of the definition of a quick, easy, and delicious weeknight meal. The kids all really enjoyed the variation from our normal taco night, and didn't even complain about the corn or the beans! This one is definitely a keeper. I guess sometimes losing a recipe can end up being a good thing when the end result is a tasty twist on the original idea!

What are some of your favorite quick and easy weeknight meals that you can have on the table in 30 minutes or less?  







Cinnascotch Butter Cookies

So, for those of you fellow food lovers out there, I am sure a lot of you are probably aware of the Picky Palate blog. She is constantly coming up with some innovative and delicious-sounding recipes, especially when it comes to sweets! Last week, I saw that she had posted about Biscoff Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies... I have never tried Biscoff, nor had I ever even heard of it before she started posting about it. Nevertheless, I read this post, thought it sounded fantastic, and decided to play around with it and make it my own, out of both satisfaction for my creative needs and necessity, due to the fact that nowhere in our area sells Biscoff or Biscoff spread.

Seeing as how it is starting to feel like fall out there and I am just LOVING the crispness in the air, cinnamon immediately came to mind, followed by butterscotch. I decided I wanted to add these two elements to the cookie base of the recipe, but then needed to find a way to come up with some sort of delicious filling to stuff inside the cookies. To be honest, I am not really sure where the idea for the filling came from other than I had been snacking occasionally on miniature white chocolate Reese's cups and thought maybe something with peanut butter would be tasty. I ended up mixing peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and cinnamon and using that for the filling. It turned out delicious!

These cookies are seriously decadent, and are PERFECT to help welcome fall with open arms and empty stomachs!

Cinnascotch Butter Cookies (recipe adapted from Picky Palate http://picky-palate.com/)

- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with either a silpat liner or parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer beat together the butter and both sugars until well-combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4.  Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, followed by the white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, mixing until just combined.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and cinnamon.
6. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet 1 inch apart. Using your thumb, make indentations into each cookie for the filling. Using a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon, scoop the filling into each cookie. Top with another small scoop of cookie dough and press edges of cookie dough together to seal. Some filling will seep through.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to wire rack to cool completely. ENJOY!

SO satisfying...sweet, with a hint of salty and a whole lot of richness! 

Even though some of the flavors in this cookie are not necessarily traditional fall flavors, they really felt like fall to me, especially when they were still warm and gooey and just sinfully perfect. There are so many layers of flavor here that it is hard not to find something to fall in love with in these cookies. For me, it was, oh... pretty much everything! I will definitely be making these again. Hopefully, you enjoy them as much as I did! 

P.S. My brother named them.... I decided he needed to start "earning" his beloved banana bread! :)  

New School Goulash

One of my friends approached me about finding a good recipe for goulash because it is her husband's favorite dish. She, however, is not a big fan of it herself, so she was not really eager to get in the kitchen and try to make anything she hadn't had tested and approved by someone else first. I can't say that I blame her. With the abundance of recipes readily available on the Internet today, it can be hard to sort through and find one that you will actually like.

My grandma used to make us goulash when I was younger, so my mind initially turned to that meal and what it consisted of. I mostly remember hamburger, macaroni, and tomato sauce or tomatoes. I didn't remember all that well, but hoped that when I saw a recipe that I thought looked like a good place to start it would be similar to this simple combination. After some searching, I found a recipe by Paula Deen on Food Network's website called Bobby's Goulash. It sounded tasty, so I used this as the basis for the dish I created. 

I am still hoping to come across my grandmother's recipe. I love all of her foods, and the thing I enjoyed more about her version of this classic comfort dish was the simplicity. While this recipe is certainly tasty and filling, it took quite awhile to put together. Hope you will enjoy it!

New School Goulash (recipe adapted from Paula Deen)

- 2 lbs lean ground beef

- 1 yellow onion, chopped

- 1 red bell pepper, chopped

- 1 green bell pepper, chopped

- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

- 1 ½ cups water

- 1 ½ cups chicken broth

- 2 15-oz cans tomato sauce

- 2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes

- 1  tablespoons Italian seasoning

- 1 bay leaf

- 1 tablespoons soy sauce

- 1 tablespoon worchestire sauce

- ½ teaspoon garlic powder

- ½ teaspoon black pepper

- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt

- 3 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked

- Fresh Parmesan Cheese, for topping

In a Dutch oven or large pot, sauté the ground beef, onions, and garlic over medium-high heat until cooked through. Drain excess grease. Add the bell peppers and cook until slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Add the water and the chicken broth, followed by the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, bay leaf, soy sauce, worchestire sauce, garlic powder, black pepper, and seasoned salt. Stir well. Place a lid on the pot and allow to cook for 15 minutes, until steady boiling is reached. Add the elbow macaroni, stir well, and recover with lid. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the bay leaf, then allow to sit for about 10 minutes before serving. Top with grated or shredded Parmesan cheese. Fresh worked really well, but packaged would be fine, too.

We served with a fresh loaf of French bread and a Caesar salad.  Delicious, satisfying meal!

The nuttiness of the Parmesan cheese really went well with the hearty flavors in this goulash!