Leftover Ground Beef Tacos made into Taco Pasta

I'm writing this from my phone app for the first time, so I apologize if there are a lot of mistakes.  I'm, also, making dinner as I type.  

So, you're here because you're curious about how I used my taco leftovers.  Perhaps a taco omelette?  No. Maybe tacos part deux?  No.  Well, I'll tell you... Taco Pasta!  Two of my favorite dishes mashed together to make one yummy leftover dinner.  I hope it ends up as tasty as it sounds!

Here's a lovely picture of my cold beef taco.  My gourmet version from your normal fast 30 minute dinner.  You know, when we just dump the pre-pack mix and sauce and throw on the toppings. Yesterday's late afternoon was used to cut up red, green, and jalapeño peppers, a white onion, plum tomatoes, cilantro, and a juicy lime.  All to accomplish the above picture.  The beef taco and homemade salsa/ pico de gallo. Yum!

To my chagrin, the avocados weren't ripe enough to use so I bought the closest to homemade I could.  It was tasty. It didn't have too much garlic which ruins most "freshly" packaged Mexican items. This guacamole had all the promise of homemade, but it had that chemical citrus taste of the asorbic acid. Boo!  Cutie-pie enjoyed it so that was good. 

1.   On goes the water for the pasta.  We like it al dente. 

2. Warm up the taco mixture in microwave

4. Chop the fresh cilantro. It's optional to use lettuce so chop that now if you'd like.

5.  Crush some Toritilla chips and/or tacos. 

6.  As you can see, the meat, fresh veggies, and tomatoes make a nice broth.  If I had bought chicken broth I'd use a little of it in this recipe and I'd warm it up in with the meat in the microwave. 

7.  Let my pasta (mixed with taco mixture) sit a bit.  I do around 5-10 minutes.  My logic is the same as cooked meat. It lets all the juices and flavor settle into to pasta dish. 

Yummy if I do say so myself. My tab for these two dinners was around $30. This did not include the chicken broth or the jarred salsa ( to add to the meat and fresh veggies & fresh pico de gallo.).   Yes a bit pricy but for a 3 person family with 2 lbs of ground beef but the fresh taste is worth it and 

Little  Cutie-pie loves to help out in the kitchen more and more. He's 6 so this is a great dinner for him "make."  He builds his tacos and now he can "build" his pasta, too

Of course, The Little One does not take the cilantro. Oh well, maybe next time?  He says, "my plate, your plate, Mommy."  LOL!

Enjoy!

Easter Eggs & Fun Pancakes

Oliver's Super Hero

"Spark"

Rainbow Jello Cups Birthday Treat

Rainbow Jello Cups

So what does one do when you have a classroom of peanut allergy kids… How about a cup of whipped cream and jello?  Who doesn't like the colorful sugary treat?  Looks beautiful but be warned,  it'll shimmy away a whole day to create this bright and cheery treat.  It took me from 9:30am -6:00pm without a break.

Items needed:

29 Cups = 9 fl oz plastic cups

Jello in rainbow colors

3 (3oz boxes) Cherry Red = 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Orange 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Lemon Yellow = 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Lime Green = 3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Berry Blue =3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Berry Blue + Black Cherry = Purple =3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

 2 Quarts Heavy Cream

Powder Sugar

Patience & 9 hours

*Optional*

Vanilla Pudding Jello Mix

Granulated Sugar

Viola.  Yum.

I made my cups for my little kindergartener.  He needed 24 cups so I made extra just in case of a mess.  29 total rainbow cups were made in 8-1/2 hours.  To say it was time consuming is an understatement.  However, it went over well and the kids with peanut allergies could eat them, too.  That made the Cutie-Pie happy and me.  It was nice and a privilege that the peanut allergy kids' parents allowed their kids to enjoy the treat.

1.  In a bowl mix the 2 boxes Blue Berry + 2 boxes Black Cherry jello to make the color PURPLE.  Separate 3 heaping TBLS of the mix into a smaller bowl.  Then put 2 heaping TBLS into a bag for a rainy day.  (Each 3 oz jello box = 6 TBLS of mix) This makes the PURPLE layers equal to the other bottom colors in flavor.

2.  Boil 2/3 Cup water and then add 3 TBLS Jello (from small bowl)  Mix and set aside for 20 minutes.

3.  Make homemade whip cream.   (1 pint heavy cream =  2 TBLS of powder sugar)  I normally make my whip cream with a 1/2 pint cream + 1 tbls powder sugar + 1 capful vanilla  + 1 tbls white sugar.  This recipe was too sweet.    With a classroom of kids I did not use vanilla extract.  THE POWDER SUGAR IS TO KEEP THE WHIP CREAM STABLE.  You can also add 1 tsp of vanilla pudding if you want to keep the vanilla flavor.  Not a problem if you don't want to make homemade whip cream, the original recipe uses cool whip.  Crazy me, I used a hand mixer since mine broke at Christmas time making cookies.  It took me 20 minutes to whip each quart of heavy cream.  If you whip 2 quarts of cream together, use an extra large bowl.

4.  Pour cooled PURPLE JELLO liquid into 4 C measuring cup.  Add 1/3 cup tap water.  Mix thoroughly then add whipped cream until you reach 3 cups.  Mixture should be slightly runny to pour into your cups.

5.  Refrigerate cream for 30 minutes

6.  Rinse out measuring cups.  Make PURPLE jello mixture.  Boil 2 cups water and pour into large bowl with jello.  Stir.  Let cool for 40 min.  Pour into 4 C measuring cup.  Add enough tap water to make 3 cups jello mixture.  Stir.  The tap water cools down the liquid enough to pour into cups.  DO NOT RUSH THE COOLING PART.  You'll have a layer of the cream mixture sitting on top of your jello layer… won't be pretty!

7.  Refrigerate jello layer 20 minutes

8.  Repeat steps 2-5 for all colors.

9.  Rinse out measuring cups and start BLUE whipped cream layer.   Boil 2/3 C water add 3 TBLS cool 20 min.  Add 1/3 C tap water stir.  Move to larger measuring cup (I do this because mine's plastic) add whipped cream.  Continue until you reach the color YELLOW and then make 4 cups.  (1/3 C water +1 TBLS jello = 1 Cup tinted cream mix)

10.  I realize the jello mix does not increase with the increase amount of water for colors: YELLOW, ORANGE, AND RED which use 4 cups of the jello liquid.  This is fine.  Boil 2 cups water pour into bowl with jello mix.  Cool for 40 minutes.  Add tap water until it measures 4 cups.  If you want, add an extra box to these colors.  I did not taste a difference in flavor with the same 3 boxes.

11.  Keep refrigerated and covered after all the layers have cooled.  I used mine the next day.  

12.  I also cleaned out fridge and put fresh baking soda boxes into fridge the day before I made the cups.  I didn't want the cups to smell of anything except yummy fruit flavors.  It worked.  Also, I made sure the bottom of refrigerator was level by testing water a few cups before I put all 29 cups in.

Good luck and enjoy!  

Christmas Cookie Life Saver

My Favorite Item of the Week:

During Christmas I made a ton of cookies for the family and for hubby's work.  These pre-cut parchment baking sheets saved me so much time.  No more guessing how big to cut each sheet.  Yes, the sheets were a tad big but all I needed to do is keep them folded in quarters (as packaged) and then cut 3/8 off along the edges.  Viola!  Genius.  Thank you Reynolds for making my holiday baking marathon less stressful than it already was!

Garden Woes

So, every year I plant tomatoes.  Small cherry ones to big sandwich size ones.  Every year the cherry tomatoes bloom but… my large tomatoes never start showing up until late September.  Yes, I do the what is my zone and when to plant.  Tried seeds, and tried seedlings but neither help in the success of getting tomatoes during the summer.  Hmm, I mean the NJ farms can do it so why can't I?  

Could it be that my lazy gardening has caught up with me?  I like to plant, water, and take off the dead leaves.  Nope, no fertilizers except the occasional crushed egg shells.  But, really?  My grandpa would get hundreds of tomatoes without any extra fertilization in the eastern PA area.  There must be trick!

Gorgeous plant filled with an abundance of fruit… but, right in the middle of October!

So, my not too shabby carrots, prolific flat leaf parsley, cucumbers & green beans both which aren't pictured.  Not bad?!.  All in the height of summer.

October Bounty

Still getting red at the end of December.  The taste is not bad and very similar to the chain grocery stores.  Oh, how I long for my grandpa's summer garden!

Favorite Things: My new slow cooker from Hamilton Beach

Dinner made like Mom

My youth was spent at the dinner table eating overcooked… everything.  My mom loved her slow cooker.  She'd say it herself, cooking was definitely not her forté. We'd often have bbq / sloppy joe ground beef or sweet & sour chicken cooked so much it shredded into oblivion.  Thanks to our grandma the pot roast never made an appearance in the slow cooker.  Thank you Grandma for your monthly meals around your table that were tasty, slow, and filled with wonderful memories!  Now that I'm a mom myself, I understand the value of the slow cooker and Mom.  Unlike my mother, I love to cook when I'm not forced to make daily fast, quick, scheduled, boring dinners.  

I'm hoping the slow cooker has come a long way since the 70's and 80's.  One can only hope spring's eternal.  After a long time of wanting one, a generous Santa Claus sent me a Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6-QT Oval Programmable Slow Cooker. I must have been very good this year with my hostess skills!   If you follow me, all my end results are due to this brand and so far the results have been tasty and promising. 

Love the outcome so far.  Pretty.  But, a bit more labor intensive than I thought.  Need to brown meat & vegetables before adding to slow Hamilton Beach 6 QT slow cooker.

End result is a delicious tasty chuck roast with a  yummy broth.