Cheesy Tacos, Two Ways

I'm always on the look-out for great LC substitutes for our favorite foods. With our love of Mexican food (specifically NEW Mexican food, but we'll take what we can get) I've been searching for ways to replace the tortillas that are nearly indispensable for this style of cooking. We have discovered some alternatives for tacos that have us feeling pretty excited, so I thought I'd share them here.

Method #1
What you'll need:
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Taco meat (prepared however you normally make it) *The recipe says to use 1 cup, but I think I used about 3/4 of a pound.
Toppings of choice (avocado, tomato, green onion, etc)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 400*. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, leaving enough on the sides that you will be able to lift the cheese from the pan.
Sprinkle cheese to cover the baking sheet with one layer (you may need more cheese). Bake for about 15 minutes, or until it bubbles and browns on top.
Remove from the oven and see if you can slide a spatula under all the edges. If you can you're ready to go on, if not put it back in the oven for another minute or two.
Spread taco meat and any other toppings over the cheese in a thin layer.
Remove from pan by lifting edges of parchment paper. Roll the cheese up like you would cinnamon roll dough. Slice into desired sized portions (the original recipe says to only make 3-4 slices, but we cut ours into small pinwheels and I think it would be easier to eat this way), top with sour cream, and serve.

Method #2
We discovered this method of making taco shells via Pinterest. The original site is here. These are more of your traditional taco shell.

What You Need:
Shredded Cheese
Your preferred taco fillings

What To Do:
Make a small circle of cheese on a glass plate (ceramic didn't work so well for us). Microwave for 40-60 seconds until the cheese is all melted and starting to brown.
Lift them carefully from the plate and hang them over the edge of a bowl or pan until they have cooled and hardened.
Fill with your favorite taco stuff and enjoy!

***For non-microwave directions check out this site.

Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Soup

If we had different colored bowls, this would look way more appetizing I'm sure, but we have yellow bowls so the yellowish green soup when in the yellow bowls.

We read a few crockpot green chile soup recipes online, but it was already dinner time so we decided to just wing it and make up our own. It hit the spot and was delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups green enchilada sauce
• 1 small can green chile (we didn't actually use this since the enchilada sauce we used had a ton of green chile chunks in it)
• 2 cups chicken broth (we didn't have real broth, so we actually used 2 cups hot water and a chicken bouillon cube)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp chile powder (we have red chile powder and green chile powder so we used green chile powder but all the recipe we read called for red chile powder)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• I'm not going to lie...I just sprinkled the cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder in...I didn't measure...so those are my guestimate amounts
• 3 potatoes, peeled and chopped (we only had 3 small potatoes left in the bag...but you can put more in and it'd taste fine)
• 1 large chicken breast, cut into smallish chunks
• 1 cup minute rice
• 4 oz cream cheese
• A handful (maybe 1/3 c.) of shredded swiss cheese. (optional! I only used this because we had it. This recipe will work fine without swiss cheese)
• Shredded cheddar cheese for top
• Other garnishes could include sour cream, tortilla strips, or cilantro

Directions

1. Combine the enchilada sauce, chile, broth, seasonings, potatoes, and chicken into a saucepot over medium high heat. Bring to a boil. 
2. Boil until the potatoes are half way to tender, and add the minute rice. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through. 
3. Stir in cream cheese (and swiss if you're going to use it). 
4. Serve topped with cheese and any other garnishes you want. 

Makes 4 hearty bowls of soup. 

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Okay, so I know the picture isn't the greatest, but I forgot to take one before we started dishing up. I was looking for something to help fill up our taco bowls, and decided to give this a try. I just threw this together with what I had around the house, but there are lots of fun recipes online for things similar to this online that included yummy things like avacado, fresh cilantro, green onions, etc...

What you need:
1 can black beans
1 can corn
Diced tomatoes (preferable fresh, but canned will work)
1 can green chili
diced onion
salsa
red chili poweder
garlic powder
ground cumin
oregano

What you do:
Dump everything together into a bowl, tasting the seasonings as you add them. Serve with tortilla chips, on tacos, in burritos, or in any other way you think sounds tasty.

Taco Bowls

One of my favorite things to get when we got out for Mexican food is taco salad(I know, not the most authentic thing), but only when it come in a taco bowl. I wanted to make tacos the other day, but decided I was feeling more adventurous than just boring old taco shells. So I started looking around online, and realized that the taco bowls are super easy to make, and are not deep fried, so they're healthy, right?

What you need:
Flour tortillas (you could use whole wheat if you really want to be healthy)
Non-stick spray or veggie oil
An oven safe bowl, about the size you want your taco bowls to be.
Whatever you want to fill your taco bowls with. We used taco meat, lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and a corn and black bean salsa (guess what my post for next week will be). Guacamole would be yummy too!

What you do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray both sides of your tortilla with the non-stick spray. If this sounds weird or you don't have any spray, you can just brush the tortillas with a light coat of oil. 
Place a tortilla into the bowl, arranging it how you want the finished product to be. Bake for 5(ish) minutes, or until the edges start to get brown and crisp. The bottom may not seem totally hard yet, but it hardens as it cools. 
Stuff your tortilla bowl with whatever yummy stuff you want and dig in!

Quesadilla Cups with Nectarine Salsa

It tastes really good when you substitute in mangos and cucumbers, but both are great! I got this at a pampered chef party and love love love it! I bought a mini muffin pan just to make these but I bet you could make them flat on a cookie sheet.

Ingredients

4 oz chihuahua or Monterey Jack cheese

3 6 in flour tortillas

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 medium firm, ripe nectarine (or mango)

1/4 cup roasted red peppers (or cucumbers), drained and patted dry

1 serrano pepper (seeded for hot, take out seeds for mild)

2 TBS finely hopped red onion

2 TBS finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 lime

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cheese into twenty four 1/2 in cubes. Brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Stack tortillas and cut into eight wedges for a total of 24 wedges. Press tortillas into cups of min muffin pan. Place one cheese cube into each cup. Bake 5-7 min or until edges of tortillas begin to brown and cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, for salsa, dice nectarine (or mango) and roasted pepper (or cucumber). Finely chop serrano pepper, onion, and cilantro. Juice line to measure 1 TBS. Combine nectarine, peppers, onion, cilantro, juice and salt in a bowl and mix well.

Remove pan from oven. Cool cups in pan 2-3 min. Carefully remove cups from pan to serving platter. Divide salsa evenly among cups. Sprinkle with addition finely chopped cilantro if desired. Serve immediately.

Image from Pampered Chef Website

Green Chili Burritos

Another of my pork roast meat recipes. Again, super yummy and super fast.

What you need:

1 bag pork roast meat (see Pork Roast post)

1 can green chili, or if you're lucky enough to have it some fresh roasted green chili would be awesome!

2 potatoes

veggie oil

red chili powder

oregano

pinch of cumin

chopped onion or onion powder

minced garlic or garlic powder

flour tortillas

cheese, salsa, sour cream, and any other condiments you think sound good.

What to do:

Peel your potatoes and dice them into small cubes. Start these frying in a little bit of veggie oil. Stir every couple of minutes to prevent burning. Cook until golden brown and crispy.

Meanwhile, thaw your meat enough to get it out of its bag and into a pot. You might need to add a little water to help it thaw the rest of the way. Season to taste with the chili powder, cumin, onion, and garlic. You want the chili powder for flavor, but it will add heat so watch out. It's also easy to get too much oregano, so start with 1/2 a tsp or so and add more if you need it.

A minute or two before your potatoes are done, add the green chili to the meat and let it heat up, adjusting the seasoning if needed. When your potatoes are done, stir them into the meat and you're ready to go.

Pile up the meat and potatoes on a warm tortilla, sprinkle with grated cheese and add any salsa or other toppings that you want. Enjoy!

Enchilada Soup

Cameron's Enchilada Soup

Ingredients:

Stock from 1 largish Chicken

1 1/2 - 2 cups sour cream

1 - 1 1/2 quarts milk

2 cups red chile sauce

1/4 cup oil

1/3 cup flour (can use more)

Lots of red chile (I used Red Chile Puree...you could use real chile powder)

1 cup water

Garlic and Onion

1 can corn, do not drain

4 potatoes, cubed

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken

cooked corn tortillas

1 can beans, or cook your own

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup salsa

Combine them all in the pot and cook! Cameron just threw this together from stuff we had in the fridge. The amounts are approximate, so you'll have to work with it and make it taste good to your own taste buds.

This is super dooper tastey! You can top with cheese, or crumbled tortilla strips (the blue ones make for nice presentation), and/or hot sauce.

Taco Soup

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 cup diced onions

1 can corn

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can kidney beans
2-3 cups water

Taco seasoning to taste

salt

pepper

What to do:

1. Brown the ground beef and the onions. Drain the grease.

2. Add remaining ingredients. Cook until hot enough to serve.

3. Serve over tortilla chips, with grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, or anything else that sounds good on top.