The Nifty Foodie

I am a big time fan of Mexican food. I can eat quesadillas, fajitas, queso and rice until my stomach wants to explode. I could probably eat this stuff everyday, but if I did, I’m sure my jeans would tell me to take a hike! One of my favorite things is Mexican rice, especially at this local Mexican joint. I’ve never found an adequate at-home replacement, and I thought I would give this a shot.

I’m so sad that this stuff turned out bland bland bland. I worked on this darn side dish on a work night, only to be disappointed. Maybe it needed more salt? Anyway, I will say it was dynamite when mixed with some carmelized onions and veggies that I cooked for the fajitas.

I don’t even know what went wrong (anyone have tips?), but the search continues….

EDIT: After making this again, I realized I must not have rinsed the rice long enough. The recipe turned out spectacular!

Mexican Rice
Source: Annie’s Eats (originally from Cooks Illustrated)

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
• 1 medium white onion, peeled, trimmed and quartered
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 3 medium jalapenos, ribbed, seeded and minced
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro (optional)
• 1 lime, cut into wedges for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and move a rack to the middle position.  Process tomatoes and onions in the food processor until smooth and thoroughly pureed, about 15 seconds, scraping down the bowl if necessary.  Transfer the mixture a liquid measuring cup; you should have 2 cups (if necessary, spoon off excess or add water so that the volume equals 2 cups).   
2. Place the rice in a large fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Shake rice vigorously in strainer to remove all excess water.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed oven-safe Dutch oven or straight-sided sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the rice and fry, stirring frequently, until it is golden and translucent, 6 to 8 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium; add the garlic and minced jalapenos; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Stir in pureed tomatoes and onions, chicken broth, tomato paste and salt; increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Cover the pan an transfer to the oven; bake until the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 30 to 35 minutes, stirring well after 15 minutes.

We’ve had some skirt steak sitting in the freezer for a couple of months, so I decided to try my hand at making fajitas with this stuff. The meat can tend to be a little tough, so I figured the crockpot would help. I kind of made this recipe up in my head, so it was a big experimen! Luckily, these were very flavorful, and while the meat wasn’t super tender, it was much better than just cooking it on a skillet and serving it!

Crockpot Steak Fajitas

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. skirt steak, cut into strips
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 tbsp. taco seasoning
• 2 tbsp. olive oil (divided)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Add 1 tbsp. oil to a skillet on medium-high and allow it to heat up. Add steak pieces in with the taco seasoning and brown them. Don’t fully cook the pieces, but give it a little sear.
2. In a 2 qt. crockpot, add the water, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Add the seared steak and leftover oil.
3. Cook on low for 2.5 – 3 hours.
4. After the meat is cooked, add oil and a tsp. each of salt and pepper to a skillet and cook down onions and bell peppers on medium-high.
5. Toss in meat with 3 tbsp. seasoned liquid from the crockpot and cook the mixture for another 2-3 minutes or until the majority of the liquid has cooked off.

Serve with warmed soft tortillas and other toppings! Enjoy!

Ok, so I’m gonna give you all a crawfish break today. I just HAD to share this recipe ASAP, because it’s just awesome.

This is a different recipe than the enchiladas I am used to (the ones with red sauce), but I had some leftover crockpot chicken that we used for tacos the night before (which I didn’t photograph, but I will share the recipe) and wanted to make sure that I used up the leftovers. I found this recipe on AllRecipes and thought that it sounded pretty interesting. So, I decided to give it a try!

This recipe is very easy to put together, and was so yummy. My husband absolutely loved these, so I’m definitely going to have to make them again!

Chicken Enchiladas
Source: AllRecipes

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast meat (used shredded leftover chicken taco meat. Recipe below)
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
• 6 (12 inch) flour tortillas
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking dish.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles, cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside. To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.
3. Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.

 

Crockpot Chicken Tacos
Source: The Nest (Houston Nesties board)

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken taco seasoning packet
• 2-3 frozen chicken breasts
• Fresh pico de gallo (12-16 oz.)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Sprinkle the seasoning packet all over the bottom of the crockpot. Lay the frozen chicken breasts on top.
2. Pour the pico de gallo on top and add the olive oil and water. Do not stir!
3. Allow the chicken to cook in the crockpot for 4-6 hours on low. Remove chicken and shred with a fork, then add back in the crockpot, stir the sauce and let it cook for 30 more minutes on low.
4. In a small bowl combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

My husband and I planned on doing a Superbowl Mexican feast (for 2), so I was searching for salsa recipes. I happened to come across this recipe on Delish Blog, and was intrigued. Roasted vegetables are always awesome, so roasted salsa had to be all sorts of amazing.

Roasting all of the vegetables made the house smell so yummy, and I just couldn’t wait to dig into this! It had amazing flavor, but my husband and I agreed that our tomatoes probably weren’t ripe enough. We were craving a more rich tomato flavor in the salsa. I can’t wait to try this again in the summer with fresh local tomatoes!

Roasted Tomato Salsa
Source: Delish Blog

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/2 large white onion
• 4-6 cloves roasted garlic
• 2-3 large jalapenos, deseeded & deveined, cut in half lengthwise
• freshly ground black pepper & kosher salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F . Gently toss the tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapenos with the olive oil in a large bowl. Alternatively, use spray oil to gently coat the veggies (You just don’t want it to burn). Season with a little freshly ground black pepper. After they are nicely coated arrange in a single layer, tomatoes cut-side facing up, across a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet, roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes, (depending upon the size of your tomatoes). You’ll know they’re ready to come out when they start to get a nice color and the tomatoes start to collapse. Remove from the oven and cool.
2. Puree cooled tomatoes, onion, garlic, and jalapenos. Alternatively, puree half of the veggies and hand chop the remainder and combine. Season with salt and stir in the cilantro. Refrigerate.

My husband and I like to make our weeknight cooking as simple as possible. Just lately, we got into making tacos, but were shamefully using the kits for tacos and mexican rice.

After finding this recipe for Taco Seasoning on Allrecipes, I decided it was probably worth a shot to do this without the kit. Not only did we have all the spices on hand, but because it was a mix we made, it felt a little more homemade with not much extra effort!

For the side, I wanted to try something a little different, so I searched for ideas with mexican spiced potatoes and after looking at many ideas, I found a recipe for us to try.

These potatoes had a nice flavor, but I was hoping for more of a kick with them. So, next time, I’m going to probably adjust the spices a good bit or even try putting some of the Taco Seasoning in there with the recipe.

Mexican Roasted Potatoes
Adapted from The Nourishing Gourmet

Ingredients

• 5 medium russet potatoes, diced
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (plus more to sprinkle on top)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1 tablespoon Dijon style mustard
• 1 lime, juiced (or more to taste)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine all of the ingredients, except the potatoes and lime in a jar and shake to thoroughly mix ingredients (or whisk in a bowl).
3. Pour your diced potatoes into a jelly roll pan, and toss with the oil mixture. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.
4. Roast for about 40 minutes, until the potatoes are well cooked, and browning on the edges. Take out of the oven, and sprinkle the juice of one lime over it. Taste test, and add more lime juice or salt, if needed and serve.

The Skinny - per serving, serves 6

Calories 250.5
Fat 12.1 g
Fiber 4 g