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?  







Oven-Baked Veggie Fries and Easy BBQ Dry Rub

By now, you all know of our ongoing battle involving getting the kids to eat more vegetables. We are slowly but surely making progress, and I am proud to report that we can at least get them to try a bite of most new things without having to pull any teeth out first. In the midst of this battle, I came up with an idea for Oven-Baked Veggie Fries. My train of thought at the time was that maybe if I cut a variety of vegetables up into the same shape as we cut our homemade oven fries into, and then mix them in with the potatoes, then maybe they would never even think twice about it and just dig in like they normally would with regular fries. Well, it didn't really work like that, but I was really impressed with the end result regardless and am now here to share it with you!

Here are the ingredients we used to create our Oven-Baked Veggie Fries:

-2 zucchinis
-1 yellow squash
-3 russet potatoes
-2 carrots

-1/2 tsp. black pepper
-1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
-1/2 tsp. garlic powder
-1/2 tsp. cumin
-1 tsp. paprika
-1/4 tsp. chili powder
-1/2 tsp. oregano
-Extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray well with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Prepare your vegetables: After washing, peel the zucchini, squash, and carrots. (I like to leave a little of the skin on the zucchini and squash, peeling in a stripe-like pattern, but that is mostly just because they look prettier that way :P) Wash your potatoes, then cut into wedges. Choose any shape you like that resembles a fry of some sort, then cut the zucchini, squash, and carrots to match as much as possible. Place all cut vegetables into a large bowl, big enough so you can easily toss the vegetables.
3. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil, a couple tablespoons or so, over the top of the vegetables, using just enough that all of the vegetables have a nice coating of it without being soaked. Toss around to coat the vegetables evenly.
4. In a small bowl, mix together all of your spices. Pour spice mixture onto oil-coated vegetables and toss to evenly distribute the spices. Tongs work great for the tossing process.
5. Spread the seasoned vegetables out onto your lined baking sheet, trying to make sure that no veggies are overlapping and are in a single layer. Place into the preheated oven for approximately 25-30 minutes or so, until the veggies are starting to crisp up on the edges and are turning golden brown. We like our veggies extra tender, so if you like yours to still have more of a bite to them, you may want to reduce your roasting time.  Let cool slightly and enjoy.

These are great served with barbecue chicken, which is what we ate them with! Our seasoning mix for the oven fries was created to kind of mirror some of what was going into our barbecue chicken rub, so if you are looking for something a little more generic as far as seasoning goes, eliminate the cumin, chili powder, and oregano and add a little bit of Italian seasoning in its place.

In case you are looking for a great dry rub to put on chicken before grilling, here is a very simple, quick, and delicious one that we enjoy! Thank you, Rachael Ray, for giving us a wonderful basis for this rub that we adapted! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/bbq-spiced-chicken-salsa-salad-and-pumpkin-chipotle-polenta-recipe/index.html

Easy BBQ Dry Rub
-1 1/2 tbsp. grill seasoning (we like McCormick best)
-1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder
-1/2 tbsp. paprika
-1/2 tbsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
-4 tbsp. light brown sugar
-1/4 tsp. black pepper
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-1/2 tsp. onion powder

Just rub this all over chicken before grilling, then glaze with your favorite barbecue sauce right before it comes off the grill. Delicious!

Anyways... back to the vegetables! The roasting process really brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables and makes them absolutely delicious. They are tender, juicy, and full of flavor. We really liked them a lot and will definitely be making them again. Like I said before, the kids were pretty unsure about these, but we did at least get them to try zucchini, which was new to them.

Here is a close-up. You can actually SEE the flavor!