Marvelous Taco Salad

I tried this tonight for dinner and my husband loved it. It is a recipe that I copied from another recipe blog that my friend in my Ward runs. A barefooter's quest to find the better way. She is Vegan so there is no meat in it. However it is extremely tasty and you don't miss it. If you decide that you can't live without meat I believe that it would taste great with some browned hamburger and taco seasoning. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. We have decided to try eating a meatless meal more often. I don't know if it will be once a week, but it sure helps when the recipe is easy and good. Tonight though I cheated and used prepackaged salad and baby spinach. Also I used Corn Tortilla Chips instead of crisping up Flour Tortillas. Below I added pictures from what I made one without cheese and one with cheese. As she says Enjoy!

I've done a few different taco salad blends, but this one took the prize!

2-3 ripe avocados, diced
3 Roma tomatoes seeded and diced
approx 1/4-1/2 cup diced onion (I mixed yellow and red.)
1/4 red pepper, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
approx 3/4- 1 cup corn kernels
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3-4 tbsp lemon or lime juice
sea salt to taste

Flour tortillas
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

Fresh flat leaf or baby spinach
romaine lettuce, washed and shredded
baby carrots, chopped
broccoli, chopped into small pieces
shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)

In a large bowl, combine first 9 ingredients. Stir well.

In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. One at a time, brown tortillas in olive oil on both sides until golden and crisp.

Build taco salads per plate starting with crisped tortilla, spinach and lettuce, broccoli, carrots, avocado mixture and top with a sprinkling of cheese.
Delicious!!

My kids liked a little natural ranch on top. It think the avocado mixture does a beautiful job doubling as a dressing!

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes (from my good friend Whitney)

Ingredients:
1 cup wheat kernels - straight from the bucket
1/4 oil
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tbl. brown sugar (opt)

Directions:
Blend wheat w/ 1 C. of milk in blender on high for three minutes. Add remaining 1/2 C. milk and continue blending for two minutes. Add eggs, oil, salt and sugar.
Add baking powder all at once into center of funnel of mixing batter. It will immediately begin to foam. Stop blending when funnel closes. Let batter rest for 10 minutes before cooking.

Pork Fried Rice

My sister the other night was making this for dinner and I happened to have all the ingredients so I made it to. It turned out really yummy so here is my version of it. We get our Pork loin chops from Costco and they are boneless skinless. Also the vegetables I used the other night were Carrots and peas. If I had it on hand but for some reason didn't have it the other night I would have used broccoli and onions but the carrots and peas were good by themselves. Also if you do frozen vegetables you may want to lower water amount because it will add water to the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 pork loin chops cut up into bite size pieces
1 T olive oil
1 T garlic
3 T soy sauce
2 T lime juice
1 1/2 cups rice
2 1/2 cups water
2-3 cups vegetables

Directions:
In a Frying pan heat up olive oil and garlic on medium high. Add pork. Once pork is completely cooked add soy sauce and lime juice. If you add onions this would be a good time to add them. Stir cooked pork in sauce in pan for a minute. Next add rice and water and stir. On the top of the rice add your choice of vegetables. Put lid on top. Bring water to a boil and then once boiling lower heat to low and cook until water is completely gone. Stir, serve and enjoy.

Cooking tip

So I thought I would share this because it has made my life a bit easier when making dinner. I have started my day by sticking Frozen chicken in the Crock pot. About 2-3 pieces. This way I have already cooked chicken that is easily shredded by the time I prepare dinner. This is great for Enchiladas, casseroles, chicken salad, anything you need shredded chicken for. All you need to do is stick it in the crock pot 3-4 hours before you plan on making dinner and your set. The best part is that you don't have to commit to any dinner specifically except that you are using chicken that night. Hope this helps. It can be used on any meat really. Happy cooking!

Lemon Chicken

This always makes a great dinner. I will actually use the Frozen chicken from Costco and thaw it, cut each breast in half which makes perfect serving sizes and limits how much I actually eat. I have served this with potatoes, rice, and strawberry spinach salad, which have all made lovely compliments. Today I made it with honey glazed carrots and boiled potatoes. My daughter ate it all. I hope that you enjoy it as well.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp garlic
2-3 chicken breasts
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:
Heat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a baking dish place 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp garlic. Place dish in heated oven to melt while preparing chicken. I will then take thawed chicken in it own juices and coat wet chicken in bread crumbs(this step should cut back on fat), but if you prefer you can use one beeaten egg to coat chicken in before coating in breadcrumbs. When butter is completely melted pull dish out of oven and place breaded chicken in pan. Next I usually throw the remaining breadcrumbs on top and then dot top with approx. 4 Tbsp butter. Place chicken in oven for 15-20 minutes. Pull chicken out and flip each chicken breast. Pour Lemon juice evenly on all peices and return to oven for another 15- 20 minutes.
Serve and Enjoy!

Tilapia with Mango Salsa

Ok so this is going to be really easy. I made this the other night and to be honest very pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did. There is no recipe for Mango Salsa but if anyone has a good recipe to share that would be great. I simply bought a container of Mango and Peach Salsa at Costco and used it for the garnish. That part was a great finishing touch.

Ingredients:

3-4 Tilapia Fillets
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup Lime Juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Mango Salsa

Directions:

Pour oil in frying pan and heat up. Sear fish in pan with lime juice, salt and pepper. Sear each side for about 7 minutes each. Fish is done when it starts to flake. Don't overcook. Serve up individual servings and garnish tops of each fish with 1 Tbsp Mango Salsa. Enjoy!

Honey Glazed Carrots

My daughter who has to have all her vegetables(cooked or not)
with ranch enjoyed these enough to forgo the ranch this one time.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Olive oil
3 large carrots peeled and sliced
3 Tbsp lime juice
1/4 cup honey
(more or less based on desired sweetness)
1 tsp dill, thyme, and basil

Directions:
In a frying pan heat olive oil. Add carrots to pan and stir till they get a brighter orange color. Add lime juice, honey, and seasonings. Constantly stirring till glaze is no longer watery and simply coats carrots. Serve and enjoy!