It wasn’t until a period of time in junior high and high school that I became aware of the pre-made boxed shells from the grocery store. Though they served their purpose I was never crazy about them, and haven’t bought any since. When my husband and I started cooking together I began making taco shells again like mom did.

Our method for the taco meat evolved as well. Instead of using the ground beef and packaged seasoning combo that we both grew up with, I started to buy a pound of beef stew meat and using a slow cooker. Placing the stew meat, a cup of water, two packets of taco seasoning mix and a four ounce can of chopped green chiles into the slow cooker makes a delicious taco filling.

Cooked on low for about six hours makes the meat tender, and you can either shred it with forks or, if you’re impatient like me, do a quick zip through a food processor with a cup or so of the juice from the crockpot.

We also use this same meat for taquitos and beefy cheese nachos.

What are your favorite methods and recipes for making tacos?

[image: flickr]

Post from: Blisstree

Taco Tuesday

So if you happen to have skirt steak in the fridge that you wish you could grill up, why don’t you just marinate it like usual then broil it?

Broiled Skirt Steak (Image © Dexie Wharton)

INGREDIENTS :
Skirt Steak
2 tbsp olive oil
juice of half lime
dried herbs like parsley, oregano, basil, and thyme
a couple squirt of balsamic vinegar
a couple squirt of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Whisk together olive oil, lime juice, dried herbs, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper in a bowl. Put the skirt steak in a baking pan or container. Coat both sides with the marinade. Store in the fridge and marinade for an hour or so before broiling.

Broil the skirt steak on high setting for about 8-10 minutes or depending on the size of the steak. The thicker/bigger the longer to broil.

Broiled Skirt Steak (Image © Dexie Wharton)

Now doesn’t that look good for dinner even if it’s cold, raining, or snowing outside? You know what else? The heat from the broiler would probably help warm up the house for a few minutes too.

Post from: Blisstree

Broiled Skirt Steak For Fall Season

Also known as samosas, the little pies looked simple enough to make and yummy to boot, which is always good when kids will be eating it too!

It suggested serving the pies with warm chutney but I wasn’t able to find any, so we had it with a side of couscous instead. I also adjusted some amounts to tailor it to the likes and dislikes of my family, and it turned out great!

I’ll definitely try harder to find some chutney next time, though, since they did end up a little dry.

Curried Beef Pies
adapted from Woman’s Day Magazine

2 boxes (15 oz each) refrigerated pie crusts
3 tsp vegetable oil
2 cups diced (small) potatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 lb ground beef
3 Tb curry powder
2 Tb minced garlic
1 Tb minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup chicken brother
1 cup frozen petite peas
1 large egg, slightly beaten

~ Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or coat with nonstick cooking spray. Let pie crusts sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

~ Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Saute potato and onion for four minutes until almost tender; add beef, break up and cook until no longer pink. Drain off excess fat and return to heat.

~ Stir in curry powder, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper and cook for one minute. Stir in peas and chicken broth. Cook two minutes until almost dry and potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

~ Unroll pie crusts, one at a time, on cutting board. Cut into even quarters. Moisten edges of one wedge with water, fill with about 1/2 or so of filling and lay another wedge on top. Press down on edges to seal and place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining crusts and remainder of the filling.

~ Brush lightly with beaten egg and bake 15-20 minutes until golden.

Post from: Blisstree

Curried Beef Pies

Grilled Beef Baja Chipotle (Image © Dexie Wharton)

INGREDIENTS :
beef chuck roast
2 cups of Lawry’s Baja Chipotle Marinade

2 simple ingredients, YES.

First, stab each side of the roast with a fork a few times. This helps tenderize the beef and soak in the marinate as well.

In a container, put the beef, then pour over the Lawry’s baja chipotle marinade. Coat both sides.

Marinate for 30-45 minutes or overnight. Grill each side in medium heat. Brush the marinade on the beef once or twice while grilling. 10-15 minutes on each side would be ideal.

This is very simple, and a quick idea for dinner. While I love making my own marinades, I appreciate the convenience of bottled marinades as well. I served this grilled baja chipotle beef with steamed green beans and potato au gratin.

Post from: Blisstree

Grilled Beef Baja Chipotle

Today I have some fun beef facts and trivia tidbits. Save these bits of beef trivia to dazzle dad at the grill, and have fun quizzing the family to see what they know about beef.

Fun Facts about Beef~ “Beef Trivia,” from Beef From Pasture to Plate

• How beef came to America: Christopher Columbus brought cattle with him to the Western Hemisphere on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, but Hernando Cortez was the first to bring cattle to North America in 1519.

• First hamburger: The hamburger made its international debut at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. Café owner Fletcher “Old Dave” Davis of Athens, Texas, described his early burger as a classic, greasy burger served on just-out-of-the-oven slices of bread and garnished with mayonnaise, sliced onion and cucumber pickles. The people of Athens were reportedly so pleased with Fletcher’s sandwich that they raised a pile of money and sent him to the World’s Fair.

• Beefiest day of the year: More beef is consumed on Memorial Day than any other day of the year. The Fourth of July and Labor Day typically tie for the second most popular beef-eating days.

• Most popular beef cut: Ground beef. Between 40 and 45 percent of all beef sold today is in ground form. This includes fast food hamburgers, ground beef from the grocery store and processed meats such as sausage, hot dogs and lunch meat.

• Beefy nutrients: Beef is the number one source of protein, vitamin B12 and Zinc. Beef is also the number three source of iron behind fortified cereal and grains.

From “Beef Flavor Preferences Study,” Beef Retail

• Favorite flavors with beef: The top five most-liked flavors consumers enjoy with beef are onion (58 percent), followed by garlic (52 percent), herbs (33 percent), Worcestershire sauce (26 percent) and lemon/citrus juice (19 percent).

One last piece of beef trivia from the Guinness Book of World Records

• Largest hamburger on record: The largest commercially available hamburger is 164.8 lbs. and is available for $399 on the menu at Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate, Michigan, as of August 29, 2008.

Wow! That’s one big burger!

Images via Stockman and Dakota

Post from: Blisstree

Fun Beef Facts and Trivia

One of her meals that my family and I really enjoy, though, is her Wayne’s Beef Macaroni & Cheese.

I felt like making something easy last night and even though I didn’t have a bell pepper on hand it still turned out great. I like to add four cups of the crushed tomato, otherwise it gets a bit dry in the oven, and I scale back the chopped onion to about one cup. It’s also really good with ground turkey.

Beef Macaroni & Cheese
from Paula Deen

1-pound box [large] elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups chopped green bell pepper
2 cups chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 pounds lean ground beef
3 cups canned crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon each dried basil, ground cumin, and dried oregano
2 to 3 cups grated Cheddar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook the macaroni according to package directions; drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a skillet; add the peppers, onion, and garlic, and saute until soft. Add the ground beef and saute until browned. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper, to taste, and the basil, cumin, and oregano. In a large bowl, combine the macaroni and the beef mixture. Spread this mixture into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Top with the cheese and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese is lightly browned and bubbly.

Cook’s Note: Ground turkey or chicken can be used in place of beef, if desired.

[image: sxc]

Post from: Blisstree

Beef Macaroni & Cheese

I’m featuring the Paella today because my sister’s friend was kind enough to cook this for my mom’s birthday lunch.

Flickr Image: avlxyz

(I have the photo, Tom, the previous editor of Noodles and Rice, had the recipe.)

I miss Paella! It’s a shame that Spanish is just as unpopular as Filipino cooking is, here in Christchurch.

Post from: Blisstree

Signature Saturdays: PAELLA

This is another one of those favorite meals: Korean-style short ribs. One of the reasons I like it so much is because the majority of it’s done in the crockpot, so a lot of the hard work is done for me and the house smells wonderful all day — how can you beat that? I like to serve it over white rice and garnish wish toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion.

Korean-Style Short Ribs

1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c packed light brown sugar (you can scale it down to 1/3 c)
2 Tb sesame oil
2 Tb rice vinegar
2 Tb minced fresh ginger
4 cloves of crushed garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
5 lbs beef short ribs

3 Tb cornstarch
3 Tb cold water

Mix soy sauce, sugar, oil, vinegar, ginger, garlic and red pepper in a small bowl. Place ribs in a 5-quarter slow cooker and pour sauce over. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours or on low for 9 hours.

Transfer ribs to a platter, and skim and discard excess fat from liquid. Place liquid in a saucepan, combine cornstarch and water and add to liquid. Bring to a boil and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove meat from ribs, place over rice and top with sauce, green onions and sesame seeds.

Post from: Blisstree

Korean-Style Short Ribs

I’ve been making this particular recipe for about eight years now. You can use all beef or all turkey, but having tried both I prefer the combination. You can also use homemade pasta sauce, which works really well, but if you don’t have it on hand the jarred kind can be tasty too.

The recipe below makes about 30 shells – or two casserole dishes worth. My family of five gets through about a pan and a half, and the rest go in the fridge for yummy leftovers. If you don’t have that many people to feed it halves very easily.

Stuffed Shells

30 jumbo pasta shells (or one 12 oz box)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 closed finely chopped garlic
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground turkey
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
1 26.5 oz can spaghetti sauce (or about 3 cups of homemade sauce)

Cook shells according to package directions. Drain and set aside to cool a little. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in a large skillet and saute onion and garlic until tender. Add turkey and beef and cook until browned. Drain and mix in basil, oregano and 2 cups of the cheese (it’ll be very cheesy and stringy – perfect!).

Spread about half a cup of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of each 9×13″ casserole dish. Stuff cooked shell with the meat and cheese mixture and place meat-side down in the casserole dish. Spoon remaining sauce over top. Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove foil, add remaining cheese over top and cook for an additional six or so minutes or until cheese is melted.

Post from: Blisstree

Stuffed Shells