Jen’s Taco Salad
My friend Jen from Santa Cruz made this delicious taco salad for me a number of years ago. We’ve been close friends since high school and have been through a lot together. Everytime I make this I think of her 🙂 Thanks Jen!!
There are a lot of options here. Use Smart Ground for vegetarian. Omit cheese to make it vegan.
It looks like there are a lot of steps/ingredients, but it really comes together very quickly. If you have extra taco filling, it’s great in…guess what??…tacos!!! And also good in burritos, quesadillas, scrambled eggs…be creative!
Hungry yet?
Ingredients:
Taco Filling:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1-12 ounce package Smart Ground (regular or Mexican flavor), or 12-ounces ground beef
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup frozen corn kernels
Salt to taste
Salad Assembly:
Tortilla chips (can use baked tortilla chips), slightly crushed into bite-sized pieces
Salad greens
3 tomatoes, chopped, about 3 cups
A sweet salad dressing, such as French or Marie’s Raspberry Vinaigrette
1-1/2 cups shredded cheese
Salsa
1. In a medium sized skillet, heat extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. When hot, add onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until it starts getting soft.
2. Add chopped red and green bell pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes til slightly softened.
3. Add Smart Ground or ground beef and stir to combine. Add cumin, chili powder and oregano and cook either until Smart Ground is warmed through or until ground beef is cooked.
4. Add black beans and corn and cook until corn is heated through. Set aside.
5. On dinner plates or large salad bowls, place a single serving of crushed tortilla chips, about 3/4 cup or as much as is desired. Measurements of ingredients used to assemble the salad below are estimates, use your best judgement.
6. Place about 1/2-3/4 cup of warm taco filling mixture on top of the crushed tortilla chips.
7. Place about 3/4 cup of salad greens on top of taco filling mixture. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of chopped tomato on salad greens.
8. Drizzle desired amount of salad dressing over the salad.
9. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of shredded cheese on top. Spoon desired amount of salsa on top.
My kids love salad if it’s taco salad! Makes enough for at least 6 very hungry people.
Dreamy Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
Last week I made the dreamiest cupcakes ever! Moist vanilla cake with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate frosting.
I love baby cupcakes because they are so adorable and because I always tell myself I’ll just eat one baby one and then I’ll be done. But they are so tiny and delicious, I always end up eating more!
I was experimenting with vanilla cake and chocolate frosting because my older son’s birthday is coming up and I’m baking a cake for his party.
I found a great vanilla cake recipe on Kitchen Simplicity that was very moist and had a nice crumb. Then Savory Sweet Life told me that you could whip chocolate ganache into frosting. Oh. Wow. That sounded incredibly chocolately and oooh so bad. I had to try it.
The chocolate frosting is like pure whipped chocolate melting in your mouth. You should make these; your family and friends will thank you.
Dreamy Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
makes about one tray regular sized cupcakes plus one tray mini cupcakes
Cake
adapted from Kitchen Simplicity
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour milk (1 tablespoon vinegar with milk added to 1 cup) or buttermilk, room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla or other flavoring (almond is nice)
6 egg whites, room temperature
1. Cream butter and sugar (it will be crumbly). Add egg yolks, one at a time (it’s ok if they both fall in the bowl together by accident :)).
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Add alternately with buttermilk to the butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Mix in vanilla and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 egg whites into cake batter to loosen. Fold in remaining egg whites gently until no white streaks remain.
4. Pour into cupcake tins with liners and bake at350 F 17-10 minutes for regular sized cupcakes or 10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes; or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
6. Cool for 5 minutes. Then remove cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool before frosting.
Chocolate Frosting
adapted from Savory Sweet Life
12 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1. Place chocolate pieces in a large mixing bowl. Heat cream on medium high until it comes to a boil.
2. Remove cream from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate.
3. Stir until completely mixed and glossy.
4. Allow the mixture to cool. I put it in the refrigerator to cool for about 20 minutes. It’s good if it’s slightly cold before whipping it.
5. Whip cool mixture until it is the texture of frosting. This can be spread or piped onto the cupcakes after they’ve cooled.
Pumpkin Seed and Green Chile Posole
Warm and hearty, posole makes a great dinner on a cold winter night. The savory combination of slightly smoky and spicy flavors is delicious!
This recipe was in this February’s edition of Sunset magazine and I could not resist making it. Onions, chiles, garlic and tomatillos are roasted first to bring out a smokey flavor and then pureed to make the posole base. I think this may be the first time I’ve ever eaten posole. It’s usually made with pork but I did not miss the meat at all. This can be a vegan dish if you omit the cotija cheese garnish. Posole tastes even better the next day!
Creamy pumpkin seed and green chile posole
from: Sunset Magazine
Serves 8
1 large yellow onion, cut into wedges
3 large poblano chiles (I could not find fresh poblanos so I substituted Anaheim chiles instead)
1 serrano chile (serranos are spicy and I wanted my kids to eat this so I left it out)
1-1/2 pounds tomatillos, papery husks removed and rinsed (I did not know how to pick a tomatillos so here is interesting article on how to pick tomatillos ripe)
4 unpeeled garlic cloves
2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded (I could not find dried anchos so I substituted dried pasilla chiles)
About 1 cup salted, roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas), divided
2 cans (29 oz. each) white hominy, rinsed and drained
5 to 6 cups vegetable broth
About 5 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano, divided (I used regular oregano)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large zucchini, cut into large dice
Accompaniments: corn tortillas, chopped cilantro, thinly sliced green onions and crumbled cotija cheese
1. Preheat broiler with oven rack about 3 inches from heat. Place yellow onion, poblanos, serrano, tomatillos and garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Broil, turning, until vegetables are browned to blackened all over, 15 to 30 minutes, moving them to a bowl as they get browned. Let cool.
2. Toast ancho chiles in a large pot over medium heat until fragrant, pressing down with tongs and turning occasionally, about 3 minutes. Turn off heat.
3. Peel and seed poblanos and serrano. Peel garlic. Whirl serrano, garlic, onion, tomatillos and any juices and 1/2Â cup pumpkin seeds in a food processor until very smooth. Pour into the pot with the anchos (they’ll fall apart as they cook). Coarsely chop poblanos and add to pot (I accidentally pureed the poblanos with the rest of the vegetables from the oven and this was fine too).
4. Stir in hominy, 5 cups broth, 2 teaspoons oregano and the cumin. Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cumin flavor is mellow, about 45 minutes. Discard any large pieces of ancho chile.
5. Stir zucchini into posole and simmer just until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in more broth if you like a thinner soup.
6. Ladle posole into bowls and serve with remaining pumpkin seeds and oregano and other accompaniments to taste.
Greek Salad
Greek Salad…it’s crisp-y, crunch-y, salt-y, a bit tart and herb-y. I crave this salad all the time and make it often!
It holds up great – I’ve been known to make a huge bucket of it to bring on camping trips. The longer the veggies and cheese sit in the dressing, the more flavorful they get!
Greek Salad
6-8 servings
1 large green bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
4 plum tomatoes, diced
half of a large cucumber (that’s been peeled and seeded, if necessary), cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
4-5 oz. feta cheese, crumbled or cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon minced onion (if you like more onion or larger pieces, please do add it! I’m not much of a fan of a lot of raw onion)
Dressing:
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2-1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons oregano
1. Place bell pepper, tomato, cucumber, Kalamata olives, feta cheese and onion in a large bowl and mix gently to combine.
2. Place dressing ingredients in a small bowl and emulsify with a small fork. Pour dressing over the veggie mixture and mix gently to combine.
Oh Chocolate…Will You Be My Valentine?
Last night I brought my son Gabe into Fred Meyer and experienced the panic of last minute Valentine’s Day shopping. I think it was everyone else’s panic, really… candy, valentines, balloons and flowers exploded all over the place like a huge Valentine’s Day bomb! Oh and there was chocolate…TONS of chocolate!!
We picked up some organic strawberries in the produce section and I noticed they had strategically placed some chocolate ‘magic shell’ stuff next to the strawberries. I resisted, knowing that I had a huge bag of chocolate chips at home and could use them make chocolate dipped strawberries for my valentines at home.
delicious chocolate dipped strawberries
Chocolate Strawberries
Strawberries, washed and dried (Make sure they are dry because the melted chocolate won’t stick to a wet strawberry – just pat them with a paper towel)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Sprinkles, if you have them
Equipment: Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
1. Place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and melt them in one-minute increments in the microwave, stirring in-between until melted smooth.
2. Dip and swirl strawberries in chocolate, making sure most of the strawberry is covered in chocolate. Place chocolate strawberry on parchment-lined cookie sheet.
3. If using sprinkles, sprinkle them on the chocolate strawberry before the chocolate hardens.
4. Let chocolate harden a bit and enjoy!
House of Hsiao at Love Craft Fair…this Sunday!!!
I am pleased to announce that House of Hsiao will be at the Love Craft Fair this Sunday, 3-6 pm. See you there!
Sundried Tomato Spread
This delicious savory spread is packed with smokey sundried tomato flavor. Spread it on bagels, crackers, baguette slices, sandwiches, etc.
sundried tomato spread
One of my favorite meals is to have a bunch of snacky appetizer items to choose from. This spread fits in nicely, along with various types of cold cuts or some smoked fish, cheese, crackers or baguette slices, maybe a dip with some veggies or a small salad, and some olives.
Sun-dried Tomato Spread
makes about 2.5 cups
2-8 ounce packages cream cheese
1-8 ounce jar sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
Salt to taste
Equipment needed: food processor
1. Place cream cheese in the work bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment. Add sundried tomatoes, using a fork to fish them out of the jar and letting most of the oil drain into the jar. Having some of the oil in the spread adds to the flavor, but not too much. Add garlic salt, dried oregano and thyme.
2. Pulse the items in the food processor until a rough mixture combines. Scrape the sides down and pulse again until smooth, but flecks of tomato still appear.
3. Season the spread with salt to taste, pulse to combine and place in a serving bowl.
4. If you have time, refrigerate for 2-3 hours to let the flavors combine.