Taco Thursday...

So I've been doing a lot of cooking. Lot's of running around. Some church stuff. It's been a great week. I think at this point I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that there are very few hours in the day and I cannot blog everyday like I had originally intended... not yet anyway.

I've decided to put a limit on the time spent online playing games - yes I play Candy Crush. I do some Facebook and I'm beginning to feel like those time robbers are simply that, time robbers. So with that, I decided I'd like to be more wise with the time God has given me. I couldn't imagine telling God what I did with my day if I should suddenly die... "Oh hi God, I was playing Candy Crush instead of building your kingdom..." That's not going to work for me anymore.

This is my $15 jar of organic coconut oil. So worth it.

Alright, now on to the good stuff, I made this in less than 15 minutes because I did the entire meal in pieces, so really it was more of the finishing touches and reheating that took 15 minutes. I had some grass-fed ground meat that I bought and was excited to use but it had been so long since I had ground meat that I didn't know what to make. It was only a pound so I did my best to make it stretch. I didn't want to make a red sauce because it would mask the flavor so I went with an easy taco dinner. There was enough for my baby boy, my husband and myself to have dinner and for my husband to take lunch. I try to always make enough food for him to take a lunch. I hate the idea of him spending money on food that someone made when I can make it better and healthier. 

Coconut oil in a nonstick pan

I'm a fan of crispy tacos so I grabbed some store bought corn tortillas and fried them in organic coconut oil. I hate overly processed foods and this is way cheaper than paying someone else to do it. $.35 (maybe even $.33) for a pack of tortillas and a few tablespoons of coconut oil and we are on our way! The steps here are pretty simple, fry on one side until it gets noticeably more pliable, fry on the other side for a moderately paced count of three then flip one more time but this time fold it in half and hold it down until it keeps it's halved shape. I like to use a set of tongs while doing this. When it's crispy and a darker shade of yellow, remove them, let any liquid inside of the shell drip out over the pan and repeat for said number of tortillas. I'd like to mention, there is this phenomenon that happens sometimes when you are heating the first side of the tortilla. It begins to puff up and collect air. My mother in law says this is a sign that somebody loves me and it always reminds me of her when it happens. I usually look at my husband and bat my eyes at him and say "somebody loves me!!? The tortilla just told me so..." then we laugh because he know's I'm poking fun at his mom in a non-jerk way. When the tortilla begins to puff I like to carefully deflate it by making a tiny incision by the bubble. VERY HOT STEAM will come from the cut section so be extra careful to avoid getting burned... just like in love... Okay, I'll stop being a dork now. I place the crispy shell on to a drying rack and let any excess coconut oil fall onto a napkin, or if I have it available, a very absorbent newspaper.

Crispy taco shells

I collect Pyrex... I don't just collect pyrex, I use my pyrex!

Reheated and ready to eat. 

So, as I mentioned earlier, I did things at random times. I threw my seasoned meat into a nonstick pan sans oil, as the beef would cook in it's own oils, and added onions, organic mixed veggies and some dehydrated corn. I did this at 10pm the night before I planned to eat this for dinner because I didn't really feel like having my husband fend for himself for lunch. It's one of those things I take to heart, I'm a stay at home wife, at the very least, he should have a nice pseudo healthy lunch made by me! The amount in the picture was taken after his lunch had been removed.

Crock pot pinto beans

Beans are incredibly easy. I like to toss them in some water to soak for as little as an hour and as long as a day. I rinse and throw them into the crock pot and add salt. My mother in law says add some fresh garlic and a little oil for flavor but I'm usually just not paying much attention and omit these steps. Since the beans were in the crock pot all I had to do was mash them. They were hot and mashed up really easily. For some reason I thought I would have to put them into a pot to cook them, probably because that is what I did in the past with canned beans and old habits die hard, but there really wasn't a reason for it. I did, however, use the left over coconut oil from the taco shells to give them more flavor and more of an authentic re-fried bean feel. They were delicious. I highly recommend adding at least a teaspoon of coconut oil to beans. It was really good. Maybe my mother in law was on to something...

Adding some green to my tacos

 Look, I've got a hungry husband and baby. We are on a budget and I needed to make this meal stretch. Lettuce, Greek Yogurt, Avocado with Lime and some sort of Cheese are great fillers. Lettuce and Avocado are the best kinds of fillers because they are so healthy. The yogurt I use in lieu of sour cream. I even buy the cheap one and honestly can't taste a difference.

 I added rice that I had made from the day before from another meal for this meal. I like to cook parts for the week when I can. If I make rice, I make a whole box and use left overs for the next night. And if I can squeeze another night I do it. I hate wasting food and this helps to cut down my cook time as well as have left overs for new meals. It doesn't get old because I think our household just likes rice. It doesn't hurt that I make variations of Mexican rice. It's amazing what a difference it makes to add or omit an onion or tomato sauce. Also, I only use brown rice. People talk about how it cooks differently and it's hard but those people just don't know what they're doing. SOAK YOUR RICE!!!!! It helps with the cook time. Then, cook your rice as normal. 

And after parts of meals are reheated and frying tortillas...

Dinner is served

Generally, the kitchen table is a mess and I usually leave it like that until I decide I need to clean, after dinner. This picture was taken on my bed.