Tasty Tuesday: Taco Tuesday Nights!

I am a big believer that exercise and nutrition go hand and hand. I am hoping that my tasty Tuesday posts give a little help in the nutrition department to make more meals and snacks at home.

We are a family of 5. With 3 young kids, dinner can be hectic. Thanks to the Lego movie, my boys have requested taco Tuesdays as a weekly meal. We have been having taco Tuesdays weekly since June. They look forward to it every week. It makes meal planning a little easier knowing this meal is always on the menu. It is an easy and quick meal. The taco meat can be doubled or made ahead of time and frozen which makes dinner even easier! The combos of taco night are endless. We typically set-up a taco bar with all the fixings - tortilla chips, lettuce or spinach, cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocados (or guacamole), tomatoes, rice (thanks to our rice cooker!), black beans, and hard or soft taco shells. The kids love deciding on a hard taco or a nacho plate.

Here are our favorite taco night recipes:
Taco Seasoning Mix
2t instant minced onion (I often omit because I add onion to the meat)
1t salt
1t chili powder
1/2t cornstarch
1/2t crushed dried red pepper
1/2t minced garlic
1/4t oregano
1/2t cumin

Mix all the ingredients. Use within 6 months.
This is 1 package of taco mix or about 2T.

Taco Meat
1 - 1.5lbs ground beef or ground turkey
1 taco seasoning mix
1/2 water

Brown the meat. Drain the grease. Add water and the taco season mix. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. (I typically add more seasoning such as the red pepper and oregano as needed. I also dice up some onion to add to the meat instead of using the onion powder. Double the recipe and freeze half to make another night's easy dinner. )

These taco seasoning mix and taco meat recipes are from Make-A-Mix cookbook.

Salsa

2 large cans of whole tomatoes, drained (Dei Fratelli is our favorite brand)

1/2 large sweet onion

1 jalapeno pepper (remove seeds for less heat)

1t salt

3/4 cilantro bunch

lime juice from 2 limes (microwave the limes for 10secs to get more juice)
4-5 fresh garlic cloves
(Feel free to add other green chilies or other peppers - bananas, green etc)

Pile all the ingredients in a food processor. Run the processor until well blended.
Yields about 7-8cups.


Check out the Guacamole recipe on my Tasty Tuesday: Avocados post. 

Chicken Fajitas (when you need a break from the tacos this is a great substitution)

2 green peppers, sliced in strips
1 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts; thinly sliced
4T soy sauce
3-4T lime juice
1T chili powder
1/2t ginger
1-2t crushed red peppers

1) Combine chicken and everything below in a ziploc bag to marinate overnight or at least 2 hours.
2) Saute peppers and onions with evoo and salt. Set aside in foil to keep warm.
3) Chicken and marinate to the pan and cook until done
Salsa and Chicken fajita recipes are from my friend Colleen W.

What are your favorites ways to eat a taco?