It was a Mexican-themed weekend for me

I cooked up a storm this weekend to make up for not cooking all of last week. I told you about the tacos I made on Friday night, and I decided to make a Mexican casserole on Sunday in the crock pot.

I got up on Sunday morning and started preparing the ingredients I was going to put in the crock pot because this recipe said it needed to cook on low for 8 to 9 hours. Halfway through chopping a green pepper I remembered that I already had dinner plans for Sunday night, so this would be a great lunch. I figured I would cook it on high for half that amount of time. I mean, it’s hard to screw up a crock pot recipe, I didn’t think that would really effect the taste.

To make a casserole you brown ground turkey on the stove with an onion. I did this, but when I went to drain the grease out of the skillet, my grip on the lid slipped and POOF! All of my ground turkey and onion went straight into the sink. I didn’t freak out like I normally would, because moments before, I had gotten the urge to clean the sink out because I knew I was going to have to soak my large skillet in it when I was done. So yes, I picked up the turkey and onion that was salvageable from the sink and put it in the crock pot. Whatever, I wasn’t about to go out and buy more turkey on a Sunday morning.

To compensate for loosing half of the meat in the casserole I added more rice to the pot. Then I added a can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, a chopped green bell pepper, taco seasoning, chili powder, and water. I added more water too since I added more rice.

Three hours later, the rice was very crunchy. Whoops, that didn’t really work out. Then I decided to switch it to low, added some water and another two hours later the rice must of absorbed all of the water because it was one huge clump of rice in the pot. I didn’t really care, I still ate it and it tasted really good. The taco seasoning and the chili seasoning gave it plenty of flavor to the two pounds of rice I ended up cooking. I threw it in a tortilla shell with some cheese and I had myself a nice Mexican casserole burrito.

Chicken and black bean tacos

I have not cooked a thing since Thanksgiving, granted, I did make three things for it so that counts in some way. Normally on Fridays I just put a pizza in the oven, but I was craving Mexican when I got home from work. I found a recipe for chicken and black bean tacos in my WW book and gave it a try. Like all of my recipes, it was easy.

You brown some chicken on the stove. I didn’t mess up the chicken this time because I used thin sliced chicken breats, not the regular kind. I cut it up into strips but then decided to cut it into squares just to avoid any mess ups this time.

After you brown the chicken, add drained and rinsed black beans and salsa. Let that heat up in he skillet and you’re done. I used whole wheat flat tortillas and then chopped up some tomatoes, scallions, lettuce, and low-fat cheddar cheese for toppings.

It was soooo good and easy enough to make for a fun, Friday night dinner. I recommend it — highly!

Oh, a side note. I’m typing this blog post from my wordpress app on my iPhone.

My first Thanksgiving rocked!

Thanksgiving was a complete success this year. My grandfather even said it was the best one yet. I knew it was going to go smooth because the night before I made a killer batch of buffalo chicken dip for my friend’s party. I used the new buffalo sauce I received as a gift and shredded fresh Monterey pepper jack cheese. It was a hit at the party. In fact, my friends and I hardly shared it with anyone else. We huddled in a corner and ate most of it. It was worth it.

The next morning my mom woke me up at 6:45 a.m. to help her stuff the turkey. She woke up even earlier to wash it and prep it, and I just told her what to stuff in it. I did not follow any recipe, we just shoved a cut up apple, orange, a bulb of garlic spilt in half, and fresh thyme into the cavity. Risky, I know, but luckily it worked.

Since we were up we just started cooking. My grandparents like to eat really early so I started on the sweet potato casserole, while my mom started the real mashed potatoes. We were on fire. Helping each other out, cleaning up after one another, we had dinner all ready by noon.

I also made the green beans recipe I picked out, the stuffing (not from scratch, but I still made it), and heated up the corn.

Everything turned out perfectly. The sweet potatoes tasted like candy, but they were healthy. They were sweet, creamy, and the roasted pecans added even more great flavor. The green beans were scrumptious. I’m fine with plain, steamed beans, but the tomatoes in the recipe just made it.

It was a success and I think my mom and I finally found something we can do together, cook.