Garden Taco Night

I am happiest when I am cooking. I don't mean that when I cook I become happy, I mean that when I am happy I cook. And I do good stuff. Not the eat for survival stuff. 

The chicken sitting adventure is going well. We got 18 eggs today and rushed home and made thick egg sandwiches on rye before school.

I whipped up some soft taco filling: ground beef, beans that I made today not from a can, the last batch of corn preserved from a local farm last year and diced pepper from the lady who owns the chickens.

Spices for the batch include paprika, cumin, chili powder, hot chili powder and garlic powder. I use a lot of each, to taste.

Taco night

Here's our approach to tacos:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/07/tacos.html?m=1

Tonight I mixed 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, 1 cup local corn (frozen from last summer), and black beans for the filling.

Child soft tacos

We're reinstating the child-makes-one-meal-per-week policy and she opted for soft tacos.

In the skillet, she combined:
- water
- about 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 finely diced garlic clove
- 1 pinch Indian chili powder
- 1 pinch Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

- 1 lb ground beef
- about 16 ounces corn
- about 16 ounces beans
- 1 bell pepper from the garden, diced
Cover with water and boil at medium to medium high for one hour, adding more water and stirring every 15 minutes

Taco 'clearance' feast

We started taco beef in the Le Creuset skillet for our taco 'clearance' feast (so-named for all the goodies we got at Target.)

This is the taco post, though I didn't use beans today since we have refrieds instead of whole.
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/07/tacos.html?m=1

Yesterday we got the following items on clearance or at a reduced cost:
- refried beans
- multigrain tortillas
- Spanish rice
- salsa
- avocado
- bagged salad

Taco rice?

For breakfast, we had leftover scones, bananas and Greek yogurt.

For lunch, daughter requested rice. I put some in the steamer with chili powder and fresh cilantro from the garden.

Then in my skillet I put about a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oiland a teaspoon butter. I threw in frozen corn, the taco meat I made in March (thawed via the microwave)and the last of the black beans I have cooked.

Tacos!!!!!!!!

Health goes out the window... Today ended up being the most stressful day of the week, so I stopped for homemade soup and deep-fried soft tacos at Geakers out in Bethlehem Township. Kevin Geake has worked tremendously hard to flavor his ground beef. His HUGE beef tacos sell for $3.65 each and require a fork to eat. He stuffs them with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and, of course, meat, with hot sauce, salsa and sour cream as desired.  I love them, and I get them about once a year. I con myself into believing the lettuce and tomato counts as a vegetable...