Southwest chicken salad

Like most of my recipes, this is a mutt of a recipe that I ate at someone else's home, but had to adapt the ingredients for what happened to be in my fridge. Feel free to do the same to this recipe!  I've got to add that this is one of my first recipes of the year that uses my new herb/veggie garden.  The lettuce and cilantro that you see here have been grown in my own potted patio garden!

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
3/4 cups salsa
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 head romaine lettuce
1/2 cup grated cheese
cilantro as desired
olives as desired
ranch as desired

Directions:
1. Thaw and drain excess fluid from chicken. 
2. Place in crock pot with salsa, cumin, and chili powder on high for 45 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through).
3. Shred chicken in crock pot, allowing chicken to absorb salsa marinade.
4. Chop lettuce and cilantro, spread on two plates.
5. Add cheese, crock pot chicken, olives and ranch.

Serves:
Assemble large salad on two plates: 2 servings.

Time to table:
(Not including crock pot cook time) 15 minutes.  (Including crock pot time) 1 hour.

Fancy Tacos

Not to be confused with Easy Soft Tacos, this recipe involves frying your own tortillas into a hard shell and frying spiced ground beef.  Food for thought: people who buy taco seasoning packets are spending way too much for delicious flavor.  I only ever use generous amounts of chili pepper and cumin.  Maybe throw in some garlic if you like.  Those are the main ingredients in those packets, but for about 25 cents worth of spice from a bottle.

Ingredients:
Corn or Flour tortillas
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 16 oz can refried beans
1/2 lb ground beef
Cumin and Chili Pepper to taste
Cheddar or mexican blend cheese
Salsa
Lettuce

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan at medium heat (I know it's ready when it pops if I put a small drip of water on it.)
2. Using tongs, place tortillas flat on hot oil.  This should lightly brown one side of the tortilla (it will be the inside of the taco shell). Remove that side from the heat and bend in half to brown one half of the opposite side (the first side of the taco shell should be removed while it is still soft enough to be folded without cracking).  The crease should be a soft curve, not a hard fold if possible.  Once the first outter side of the shell is golden brown and crispened, turn the taco shell over to do the same to the second outter side.  Remove from oil with tongs and place on a paper towel covered surface, allowing the excess oil to drip off the taco shell.  Repeat for as many servings as desired.
3. Brown ground beef on frying pan, generously seasoning with cumin and chili pepper.  Remove from pan and cover to keep warm.
4. In the same frying pan as the ground beef, heat can of refried beans, seasoning similarly to taste.  Add 2 tbs of vegetable oil if more spreadable beans are desired.
5. Add servings of refried beans and ground beef to cooled taco shells.  Top with salsa, cheese, lettuce, and other topings as desired (onions, cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, etc).

Serves:
5-7 adults if you use all ground beef and refried beans in an appropriate number of taco shells.

Time to table:
30-45 minutes

Beans, rice, and then some

This was created when I had a avocado, but no tortillas or chips.  This may look too simple for a good dinner, but the corn is an almost cowboy caviar, and the rice includes citrus zest and honey.  It ended up working suprizingly well and was an easy to make, light meal for an evening. 

Simplified version: Beans, rice, and corn, all gussied up.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup uncooked white rice
1 tsp orange zest
1 Tbs honey

1 12.5 ounce can of corn
1 medium avocado
1/2 roma tomato
dill and parsley to taste

1/2 can refried beans
1 1/2 Tbs vegetable oil
Cumin and Chili Powder to taste

Directions:
1. Boil 1 1/2 cups water with honey and orange zest.  Once in a rolling boil, add 3/4 cup uncooked white rice, reduce heat to low, cover and sit for 20-25 minutes until rice grains are fully cooked.
2. Cube avocado and tomato.  Mix corn, avocado, and tomato in a medium bown.  Add dill and parsley to mix, adding olive oil or butter to taste if extra liquid is needed.
3.  Heat vegatable oil in frying pan on medium heat.  Add refried beans, mixing oil into beans.  Add cumin and chili powder and mix.

Serves:
2 large, adult portions.

Time to table:
25 minutes

Quesodilla and sides

Some of the best family dinners are simple.  This post is less to share a recipe than to give a little idea that might be just perfect for what food mood you want to be in tonight.  Many of the ingredients are just what I happened to have on hand and are interchangeable with other ingredients of your choice.

Simple directions: Cheese quesodilla, beans, salsa, sour cream, and fruit salad.

Ingredients:

Flour Tortillas
Cheddar Cheese
Refried Beans
Salsa
Sour Cream
Canteloupe
Banana
Yogurt

Directions:
1. Layer sliced or grated cheese on tortilla as desired.  Place another tortilla on top of cheese layer.
2. Place tortillas and cheese on cast iron skillet set at low/medium heat.
3. Brown to desired crispness, repeat on other side.
4. Microwave refried beans, set beans, salsa, and sour cream on plate.
5. Cube 1/4 cantelope, slice 1 banana.  Add to a bowl and mix in 3/4 cup yogurt.

Here's another version.  Different melon, different side.  This one is a chopped avocado mixed with bottled salsa and salt.  De-lectable!

Serving size:
As many quesodillas as you want to make.

Prep Time:
15 minutes to feed 3.

Easy Soft Tacos

This was the lucky result of a bunch of free ingredients left over from a lunch at work.  Took me 10 minutes to make with the right ingredients.

Ingredients:
1 bag salad
1 16-oz can refried beans
1/3 cup cheese (grated)
1 package small flour tortillas
Salsa, as desired
Sour Cream, as desired
Ranch Dressing, as desired
Guacamole, as desired

Directions:
1. Open can of re-fried beans, microwave them for 1 1/2 minutes on high in a microwave safe dish.
2. Smear sour cream, guacamole, and refried beans on tortillas as desired.
3.  Top with cheese and salsa
4. Open bag salad, add a handful of lettuce to the top of each soft taco.  Mix the rest with Ranch Dressing and serve on the side.

Serves:
5-7 adults (If you're me, 4)

Time to Table: 10 minutes.