Mitzi's Taco Salad (gluten free)

I've  been eating this Taco Salad since I was a kid and I love it just as much today as I did then. This was one of my Mom's big "go to" meals especially for Summer. It's one of those recipes that doesn't have any measurements to follow you just add as much or as little as you like of the ingrediants.

Here is what you will need:

A mix of Romaine and iceberg lettuce
Chopped tomatoes
Kidney Beans (drained and rinsed)
Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
Avocado
Ground Beef, Turkey or Chicken
Lawry's Taco Seasoning
Nacho Cheese Dorritos or Taco/cheese flavored tortilla chips of choice
Lite Thousand Island Dressing

(I've also been known to add thawed frozen corn niblets and black olives to this salad...really anything goes!)

I like to brown the meat in the morning with the taco seasoning (follow directions on package). Then I refrigerate the meat all day so it will be cold for the salad that night.

I use a combo of Romaine and iceberg lettuce that I tear into small pieces. Then I add the chopped tomatoes, drained and rinsed kidney beans, cheddar cheese, avocado and cold, cooked meat. Toss all together and then pour on just enough of the thousand island dressing to moisten. Finish with a few handfuls of crushed nacho cheese chips. (I no longer use Dorritos brand because they have MSG in them...I just buy whatever taco or cheese flavored tortilla chips I can find on sale at Whole Foods)

Don't turn your nose up to the Thousand Island Dressing. It is AMAZING on this salad. I've tried making it with Salsa flavored ranch and cilantro dressing but nothing compares to thousand island on this salad. The combination of seasoned meat, chips and dressing are delicious.

ENJOY!

Recipe: Mahi Mahi Tacos (gluten free)

Going forward, all of the recipes I post will be gluten free. However, in most recipes I will give a non-gluten free version of the recipe for those who are not gluten free. I have been gluten free for a year now and Kyle has been gluten free for  over a month. (more on why we are gluten free in a future post)

These Mahi Mahi tacos are one of the easiest, most delicious recipes I have found recently. It comes from a Weight Watcher's magazine and the total point value for 2 tacos is 4 points. One of the things I LOVE about Mahi Mahi is that it is an odorless, mild fish and although I'm not a big fan of fish in general...I love Mahi Mahi. If you don't have access to Mahi Mahi you can use any white fish of your choice....such as grouper, tilapia, cod or halibut.

Here is what you will need:

1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

2 limes: 2 T fresh lime juice (the juice of one lime)

1 lime to cut in wedges and serve with tacos

1/2 t. ground cumin

1/2 t. chili powder

1 t. Mrs. Dash salt-free Southwest chipotle seasoning

1/4 t. salt (optional)

4 (6-oz) Mahi Mahi filets (or other white fish of choice)*I buy frozen Mahi Mahi fillets from Trader Joes

1/4 c. gluten free flour blend (I use Bob's Red Mill All purpose baking flour) if you are ok with gluten than use all-purpose flour

2 T olive oil

8 corn tortillas

1 cup preshredded cabbage or iceberg lettuce

*salsa of choice for garnish*

Directions:

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl; set aside in fridge.

2. Rinse fish fillets and pat dry with paper towel. Cut into strips as seen below.

Generously sprinkle Mrs. Dash seasoning on both sides of fish strips.

Coat each fish fillet in flour twice. Pat the flour in to fish.

Heat 2 T. of olive oil in large skillet. Fry prepared fish approx 4 min. on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove filets to paper towel to absorb any extra oil.

Set your table with condiments for the tacos. ie: cabbage, salsa, lime wedges, cumin/chili powder sour cream sauce you prepared earlier, corn tortillas etc.. I like to serve these tacos with a side of spanish rice and black beans.

Prepare your taco. In a heated corn tortilla spread out 1 T of the sour cream sauce. Place a fish fillet in center of tortilla. Top with cabbage or lettuce and salsa and ENJOY!

Recipe: Quesadilla Casserole (gluten free)

Here is a new recipe at last! Kyle is back to school and I'm LOVING my free time during the day. I'm going to be trying out several new recipes through the end of the Summer and Fall and I look forward to sharing the "winners" with you. What is a winner in my eyes? When both Kevin AND Kyle say to me "yum", " it's so good", or any expression that says they like it AND they go for seconds that makes a recipe a winner. Of course I have to like it too. I made this casserole and all three of us absolutely loved it. It was easy to make, is healthy and I will definately be making it again. Here is what you will need to get started:

You may recall when I made fajitas using one of the Recipe Inspirations Spice Kits. I have found these at Albertsons for $1.99 in many varieties.  I love these spice kits! They come with pre-measured blister packs of the spices you need, a list of the other items you will need to buy and the recipe. The recipe is on a 3 x 5 card so you can hold on to it for the future. In this case, now that I have the recipe card...the next time I make this I will just use spices from my jars to make it since I have the spices. If I did not have one of the spices, I'd just buy the kit again. A jar of spices can cost anywhere from $3-$7 so this would save me quite a bit of money to buy the kit vs a jar of spices that I may not have on hand. In case you can't find the recipe inspirations kit or already have the spices on hand; here are the measurements for the spices.

1 Quesadilla Casserole Recipe Inspiration Kit which includes:
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 t. oregano leaves
1/2 t. crushed red peppers (optional)

1 lb. ground beef OR turkey
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 cans (8oz each) tomato sauce
1 can  (15 oz)  black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8 3/4 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (4 1/2 oz) chopped MILD green chiles, undrained
6 flour OR corn tortillas (I used corn)
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

Brown meat and onion in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. (I use a potato masher to break up the meat into small crumbles)

Rinse and drain the black beans.

Next, add the tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well.

Stir in all the spices (only add the red pepper flakes if you want a medium to spicy casserole..I made it without the red pepper flakes and the result was a perfectly seasoned, MILD casserole that is adult AND kid friendly)

Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Spread 1/3 of the meat mixture on the bottom of  a 9 x 13 casserole dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. (I used my Pampered Chef deep dish baker)

Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed.

                                                           Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese.

Repeat the layers. 1/3 of the meat mixture, 3 tortillas and 1/3 of the cheese.

Complete the casserole by spreading the last 1/3 of the meat mixture on top and the last 1/3 of the cheese.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until bubbling. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream if desired.

ENJOY!!

Recipe: Fish Tacos

I'm so excited about what I made for dinner tonight! It was so delicious, so easy and Kevin, Kyle and I absolutely LOVED the fish tacos I prepared. As I have mentioned on several occasions on my blog, I love to shop for food at Trader Joes. The ingrediants for these tacos all come from TJ's.

Ingrediants
1-2 boxes of battered halibut (each box has 6-8 pieces)
1 pkg corn tortillas
1 jar Cilantro Salad Dressing (Trader Joes has a "great on fish tacos" sign above the display for this dressing.....now I see why, it is yummy and perfect on the tacos!
1 bag Shredded Green Cabbage
optional (salsa of your choice)


Following the  instructions on the side of box of halibut pieces and bake as instructed. When the fish is done cooking,  remove from oven and set aside. Heat the tortillas by wrapping them in dampened paper towels and microwaving for 30-40 seconds. Then put one piece of fish in the middle of a tortilla and pour the cilantro dressing on. This pic shows only about 1/2 the amount we ended up putting on. The dressing is amazing. So yum-O!!!

Then add the cabbage and salsa (optional) I ate one with salsa added and one without. Both fabulous. TJ's battered halibut is seriously delicious. All white meat, not "fishy" at all.  You can also squeeze a little fresh lime juice on as well.

ENJOY!!!

Recipe: King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Here is a kid friendly, crowd friendly all around AWESOME mexican style casserole recipe. Here's what you'll need:

Ingrediants

1/2 c. butter
2. cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2. cups water
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped (I used a 1/2 cup of frozen chopped onion (defrosted)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can 10oz of MILD RO*TEL Diced tomatoes and green chilies (Look for it near the cans of whole tomatoes) If you don't use the mild you will have an EXTREMELY spicy casserole on your hands.
2 cups cubed chooked chicken
12 corn tortillas, cut in strips
2 cups shredded cheddar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* degrees. In a large sauce pan, boil 2 cups of broth with 2 cups of water. Poach the chicken breasts in the boiling liquid for 15-20 minutes. (check the chicken for doneness at 15 min) Set chicken aside to cool. (poaching in chicken broth gives chicken wonderful flavor) When cool enough to handle, cut into cubes. Cook pepper and onion in melted butter until tender (5 min. approx)  Add soups, RO*TEL and Chicken, stirring until well blended. In a 13x9 casserole dish, spray with non stick cooking spray then, alternately layer tortilla strips, soup mixture and cheese repeating for 2 layers of each ending with cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbling. I like to serve this with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Recipe: Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas (gluten free)

For those of you who have been faithfully following my recipes of the week, I apologize for not posting one last week. I've decided to cut back on the recipe posts and from now on will post 2 recipes a month vs

4 a month. This is the time of year we tend to eat lighter...more salads, more grilled meat etc.. Speaking of eating lighter I'm really excited to share this fajitas recipe with you! If you haven't been in the spice aisle of your grocery store lately, then you may not have seen these awesome new recipe/spice packets by McCormick called "Recipe Inspirations" They come in 6-7 different combinations and I plan on trying them all. I will share the ones with you that turn out well. What I really love about these is that they give you a recipe card attached to the back with the exact measurements and spices that the package includes. This is great so that if have the spices on hand, you won't have to spend the $1.99 on the Recipe Inspiration pack next time. Alternatively, if you don't have one or two of the spices that comes in the pack...you will save a lot of $$ not having to buy the jars of the spices and just pick up the Recipe Inspiration pack again.

Here's what you'll need:

1 McCormick Recipe Inspiration Pack for Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas

the package includes the following spices:

1 t. minced garlic

1 t. minced onion

3/4 t. ground cumin

3/4 t. oregano leaves

1/2 t. cilantro leaves

1/2 t coarse ground black pepper

in addition to the spices you will need:

1/4 c. each lime and oranges juices

2 T olive oil

1/2 t salt (optional I did not add)

1 to 1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 medium each green and red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

8 flour tortillas (8 inch size) OR your gluten free tortilla of choice such as corn or brown rice

(garlic bulb is pictured but not needed)

 

Using juice extraction tool of choice, juice 2 limes to produce 1/2 c. of lime juice.

then juice 1/2 of a large orange to produce 1/2 c. orange juice.

Empty each provided spice packet into a bowl.

Then add the juices and olive oil and wisk with a fork to combine. (the dryed garlic, onion and cilantro re-constitutes in the liquid and becomes soft)

Slice the chicken breasts into thin slices.

Reserve 1/4 c. of the marinade for a step later in the prep. Add the chicken breasts slices to the bowl of remaining marinade, stirring to coat all the meat. Refrigerate for a min. of 2 hours or overnight.

Thinly slice the bell peppers and onion. (I prepared the meat and vegies in the morning and refrigerated all day)

Spray a large saute pan with non stick spray. Using tongs or a fork, remove the chicken strips from the marinade and stir chicken on medium-high heat 3 minutes or until lightly browned. (discard the remaining marinade) Remove meat from skillet, leaving the cooking liquid/drippings that are created in the pan.

Add the vegies and the reserved marinade to the cooking liquid/drippings and cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender.

Return the chicken back to the skillet and cook and additional 2 minutes until all is combined and heated through.

Spoon fajita filling into warmed tortillas. Serve with assorted toppings if desired. (I added sour cream, cheese and salsa) These are REALLY yum-O. We love them.

ENJOY!!

Recipe of the Week: Mexican Soup

Recently my friend Beverly posted this recipe on her blog. We've had a lot of rainy, cooler days here in the past few weeks so I thought soup sounded good. Let me tell you this is some of the best soup I've ever tasted. It is fabulous! Kyle, who is normally not a soup kinda guy just loved this soup and gobbled up two bowls of it at dinner the other night. This is a quick fix meal and the results are a mild, mexican spiced thick soup that reminds me a lot of a "chicken tortilla soup". Also, I tweaked Beverly's original recipe which called for a lot of 1/2 and 1/2. I lightened up the calorie content considerably by substituting a lot of the 1/2 and 1/2 with 1% milk. The orignial recipe also called for creamed corn. I substituted with a can of Green Giant niblets.

Heres what you will need:

*3 cloves garlic, minced

*1 onion, chopped

3 T flour

3 14 oz. cans chicken broth OR 14 oz. boxed chicken broth or stock

1 cup 1/2 and 1/2

3 cups 1 % milk

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup salsa (I swear by Pace Picante Sauce: mild)

1 can corn (drained)

6 boneless chicken breasts, cooked

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 pkg. dry Lawry's fajita or taco seasoning

3 tbsp cilantro

tortilla chips

shredded cheese

I love these products from Trader Joes. In the freezer section look for Dorot Crushed Garlic. Each little frozen "cube" is exactly 1 clove of crushed, fresh garlic. I like it better than buying fresh garlic and chopping it or pressing it. It is easier and your fingers stay smelling fresh as you just pop it out, instead of handling raw garlic. I also love the diced frozen onion. I use 1 cup of diced onion in replacement of chopping up an onion and the tears are a thing of the past!

(I like to pre-measure and chop everything before I begin...I halved the recipe for our small family, however we did not have much left over. In the future I will make the full recipe )

The first step is to cook your chicken. I like to poach my chicken breasts in boiling water for 20 minutes. I then remove the breasts from the boiing water, let cool a little then chop up into very small cubes. Next,

in a large stock pot or dutch oven, saute the onion and garlic in butter. Add flour and stir well for one minute. While stirring, slowly add broth, half and half and milk. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Add remaining ingrediants (except chips and cheese) and heat through on a low bubbling simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve the soup with crumbled chips and cheese. The chips will soften as you eat the soup and they add the most wonderful texture. Serve with warm corn bread muffins or with a chunk of Trader Joe's Jalapeno Corn Bread. (another favorite from my favorite grocery store!)

Enjoy!!

Recipe: Chicken Chile Enchiladas (gluten free)

Here is a recipe that I got from my friend Beverly. I have tweaked the recipe slightly from the original and it is a family fav! Pictured above are the ingredients you will need (green chiles not pictured)

INGREDIENTS

3 c. shredded cooked chicken (I shred chicken off one rotisserie chicken from Costco)

1 4 oz can diced green chiles

1 t. salt (optional)

1 10 oz can green chile enchilada sauce

5 oz can evaporated milk

package of 10 corn tortillas (white or yellow)

2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

DIRECTIONS

Shred all the meat off the rotisserie chicken and put into large bowl. Stir in the diced green chiles and salt. Set aside. Take two paper towels, wet and wring out excess water. Take 3 corn tortillas and wrap them up into the damp wet towels. Microwave for 30 seconds. This will soften the tortillas and prevent them from splitting when you roll the meat up inside them. (you may also fry them in oil, my method has much less calories though!)

Take one tortilla at a time and place approx 1/4 cup of the meat mixture in a line in the middle of the tortilla. (as seen above) Fold one side up over the meat and while turning over, roll into a log shape. Place seam side down in a prepared (sprayed with non stick spray) 9x 13 casserole dish. Repeat until all 9-10 enchiladas are prepared and in the dish. (as seen below) Set aside

In a small bowl whisk together the enchilada sauce and the evaporated milk. Pour evenly over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

*tip: If you make this in advance, do not pour the enchilada sauce/milk mixture over the top until RIGHT before you bake. Otherwise, the sauce will be mostly absorbed by the tortillas and you will have a dry casserole.

Recipe: Taco Pie (gluten free)

This is one of Kevin's favorite meals. Lately I've been making with ground turkey instead of ground beef to be healthier. It's great either way. This is also an impressive meal to make for guests. You can double the recipe and put it in a 9x13 casserole dish as an alternative.

CRUST

1/4 cup/plus 1 T cornmeal, divided

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or rice flour, Bob's Red Mill gluten free baking flour...gfree flour of choice)
if you are gluten free

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1/3 c. milk

1 T. vegetable oil

FILLING

1 lb lean ground beef or turkey

1 cup salsa (I use mild Pace Picante Sauce)

1 cup shredded cheddar

1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

1/2- 3/4 c. chopped tomato

1/2 cup sliced black olives

Sour cream to garnish

optional (avocado slices)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Using vegy oil spray (like Pam) spray a 9" round pie plate. Sprinkle 1 T cornmeal evenly onto the bottom and sides of the prepared pie plate. Set aside. In mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 c. cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Add milk and oil, stir with milk until mixture forms a ball. Knead gently to combine all ingredients completely. Dough will be sticky at first. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll out crust to a 10 inch circle. Place in prepared pie plate and press dough in to fit. Press dough up sides of pan and trim excess. Using fork, crimp the edges (see picture for example) Set aside.

Cook and stir the ground meat in frying pan over medium/high heat for approx 10 minutes of until meat is no longer pink and is cooked through. Drain. Add the salsa and stir to combine. Pour meat/salsa mixture into prepared pie crust. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake 12-15 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese melted. Top pie with shredded lettuce, tomato and olives. Garnish with sour cream and optional avocado slices. Serve with additional salsa if required.

I like to serve this with Spanish rice as a side dish. Enjoy!