Navajo Taco Meat

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 small onion

1 can chili beans with sauce

1/2 can of diced tomatoes and green chilies

1 pkt. of taco seasoning

Recipe:

1. Brown the beef and add onions.

2. Drain the fat off. I do this by placing the meat in a strainer and then run it under hot water.

3. Add taco seasoning and stir around until meat is evenly coated.

4. Add chili beans and tomatoes. Let simmer for a few minutes.

5. Serve on Navajo fry bread.

Rating: 4 of 5

This was much closer to how I remember Navajo taco meat tasting. Everything, but the meat sauce, I used came from the previous Navajo Taco recipe posted.

Source: my own. Used what I had on hand in the cupboards.

Won-ton Taco Cups

Ingredients:

won-ton wrappers

1 lb. ground beef

taco seasoning

large tomato, chopped

cilantro, chopped

cheese, shredded

sour cream

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

2. Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning. Let simmer for a few minutes.

3. Press 2-3 won-ton wrappers into cupcake tin or mini cupcake tin. Where the separate won-tons met, I lightly brushed with water. Place in oven and cook for 5-8 minutes (the tops with be golden brown and the bottom should be bubbly.

4. Chop tomato and cilantro.

5. Place beef, cheese, tomato, cilantro, and sour cream in won-ton cup. Serve!

Rating: 4 of 5

I was on a cooking strike tonight. But after LaDon repeatedly stated that he wanted to eat some good food I felt bad letting the 27-year old man starve! We were out of tortillas so I mixed this little guys up. Quick and delicious. I think next time I might brush the won-tons with some olive oil before cooking. While eating these we decided you could make the cutest little taco shells with the round won-ton wraps for little kids, or as a taco appetizer of some sort.

Source: it's a Jamie creation

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Ingredients:

1 T. chili powder

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. onion powder

pinch of cayenne pepper

1.4 t. dried oregano

1/2 t. paprika

1 1/2 t. ground cumin

1 t. table salt

1/2 t. black pepper

Recipe:

1. Mix all spices together until well combined. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in your spice cabinet and use as needed.

Rating: 4 of 5

This isn't exactly the taste that I like for tacos, but it's close enough and good enough that I've been convinced that making taco seasoning is easier than buying it.

Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe, Homemade Taco Seasoning

Navajo Tacos

Ingredients:

Meat mixture:

1 onion, chopped

1 lb. ground beef or turkey

3/4 c. water

1 envelope taco seasoning

1 15-oz. can whole kernel corn, drained

1 16-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

up to 1 T. chili powder, optional

Fry bread:

3 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 1/2 c. warm water

2 c. vegetable oil, for frying

Toppings:

lettuce

tomato

sour cream

salsa

refried beans

shredded cheese

avocado

cilantro

Recipe:

For meat:

1. Crumble together onion and ground beef. Cook over medium-high heat until meat it cooked through.

2. Add 3/4 c. water, taco seasoning, corn, and black beans. Allow the mixture to simmer while you make the fry bread.

3. Add additional chili powder, if desired.

For fry bread:

1. In a medium size bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

2. Add water and stir together. Dough may be slightly sticky.

3. Pour the vegetable oil into a medium size saucepan and heat the oil over medium heat.

4. Divide dough into 6 pieces. On a generously floured surface, pat the dough pieces into a flat round shape about 5-6 inches across.

5. When oil is hot, carefully place dough round into the hot oil until the bottom side is golden brown. With a metal set of tongs, flip the round, and cook the other side until puffy and golden brown. Remove the bread and place onto a paper towel lined plate.

6. Pile meat and toppings on the fry bread and enjoy!

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Ok, first off, I thought the fry bread was really good. Definitely hit the spot for me. But, the meat sauce is not what I normally have for Navajo Tacos. When I think Navajo tacos, I think a bean and meat chili type topping. So, the fry bread, great. Meat, not so much and need to hunt for the perfect recipe.

Source: Recipe Shoebox, Navajo Tacos

Chicken Ranch Tacos

Ingredients:*

3 c. cooked chicken, cut up

1 pkt. taco seasoning (chicken or beef)

1/2 c. Ranch dressing

taco shells **

To Garnish:

lettuce, finely shredded

cheese

Ranch dressing

tomatoes, chopped

avocado, chopped

cilantro, chopped

sour cream

salsa

* I went the crockpot way for this recipe. Here's what I did as mentioned by those who commented on this gal's blog. I used a pkg. of taco seasoning, a pkt. of dry ranch dressing mix, and about 3/4 c. chicken broth, 4 chicken breasts(defrosted).

** I went with corn tortillas and soft fried them (aka: fried them in oil but didn't let them get crispy and kept them pliable.)

Recipe:*

1. Heat a skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and warm it for a few minutes.

2. Sprinkle on the dry taco seasoning. Do NOT add any water.

3. Heat for 5-7 minutes until all heated through and powder is stuck to the chicken.

4. Add Ranch dressing, heat an additional 2-3 minutes to warm through.

5. Serve in taco shells with all the fixings you love - plus an extra squirt of Ranch.

*Crockpot version: put the chicken breasts in the pot. Sprinkle taco seasoning and ranch mix on top. Pour chicken breasts on top of that. The water is just barely enough to cover the chicken breasts so I rolled mine in the mixture a few times. I turned mine on high(I was in a bit of a time crunch), for 2 hours. At 2 hours I took the chicken out and shredded it. I then put the chicken back in for another hour. When it came time to serve the chicken I drained it of all the juices that collected at the bottom and served it in a new bowl. That amount of chicken fed LaDon, two missionaries, and myself about 16 tacos.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

In all honesty, I couldn't separate the chicken taste from the whole taco. So.....the chicken, plus the shells and everything I put on it was so delicious. I didn't put any ranch on my taco, though. Too much Ranch reminds me of my morning sickness with Ally and then all those sick-y feelings come rushing back. Anyways....I think the boys each averaged about 5 tacos, so it made a pretty good amount. The only thing I would have added is a lime wedge for a few squirts of lime juice. Yum! There is something absolutely delicious about cilantro and lime together. Oh, I'm sure that the way this recipe is supposed to be prepared is great, but it sure is nice being able to do everything in the crockpot. Especially when company is coming over.

Source: Do You Smell That!!?, Chicken Ranch Tacos

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

I'm pretty much failing at taking pictures. I just get so excited to taste the food that I forget to snap one!

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, defrosted *

1 24-oz. jar medium or milk salsa

juice of one lime

1/4 c. cilantro, chopped**

1 package taco seasoning

2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped (optional)

*which, of course, I just threw in frozen

** we love cilantro so I put in about 1/2 c.

Recipe:

1. In a slow cooker, mix together salsa, lime, cilantro, taco seasoning, peppers.

2. Add chicken and coat with salsa mixture.

3. Cook on low heat for 6 hours.

4. Serve as a whole breast, or shred and serve in tacos.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

This is a pretty average dish. It's not bad, but it didn't blow our socks off like I thought it might. We ate it shredded in tortillas. If you eat it with fresh cilantro, then it begins to rise to the "knock your socks off" levels. It was super easy though. So, you can't really taste the lime or the cilantro, and the taco seasoning taste is low too. Basically, you could really taste the salsa. I think next time I would double the lime and cilantro.

Source: PipandEbby.com, Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

Barbecued Beef

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. ketchup

1/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

2 T. prepared Dijon-styled mustard

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 t. liquid smoke flavoring

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. ground black pepper

1/4 t. garlic powder

1 4-lb. boneless chuck roast, cut in half

Recipe:

1. In a slow cooker, combine ketchup, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, Dijon-style mustard, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, salt, pepper, and garlic powder; stir well.

2. Place chuck roast halves in slow cooker. Turn meat to coat with ketchup mixture. Cover and cook on High for 1 hour. Reduce heat to Low and cook 7-8 hours.

3. Remove roast, shred with two forks, and return to slow cooker. Stir meat to evenly coast with sauce. Continue cooking on Low for about 1 hour.

Rating: 4 of 5

I love crock pot recipes for several recipes. One reason that I love them is because I can cut the cook time in half by turning the heat from low to high. Cutting the time worked perfectly today. The meat in this recipe turns out nice and tender. Easy to shred. The flavoring was good, but it wasn't out of this world good. Oh, and just FYI, the meat doesn't taste like barbecued beef until after you've shredded it and put it back into the crock pot. I tasted it while shredding and thought the recipe was a total flop (as in tasted like plain roast beer instead of barbecued) so I made up a batch of mashed potatoes and served the meat on top. It wasn't bad. This would definitely be best in sandwich buns, but I think it would probably make for an interesting taco with a little bit of lime juice, cilantro, cheese, and tortilla strips. Actually, now that I think taco, it did taste similar to Cafe Rio's Pork Barbacoa. Except that's better than this.

Source: AllRecipes Dinner Tonight, pg. 22

Beef Chimichangas

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t. taco seasoning mix, or more to taste *

1 t. dried oregano

1/4 c. sour cream

1 4-oz can chopped green chilies

2 T. distilled white vinegar

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 c. margarine

6 7-in corn tortillas

* I didn't have any taco seasoning on hand, so I just substituted it with ground cumin and a little ground red pepper

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Brown the ground beef, onion, garlic, taco seasoning, and oregano in a skillet over medium heat, breaking the meat up into crumbles as it cooks, about 8 minutes.

3. Drain off excess fat. Stir in sour cream, chilies, and vinegar until well mixed. Remove from heat, and mix in the cheese.

4. Melt margarine in a small skillet over low heat. When melted, dip each tortilla into the margarine for about 30 seconds, or until soft. Place the softened tortilla onto a baking sheet, and fill with about 1/3 c. of the meat mixture.

5. Fold the right and left sides of the tortillas over the filling, then the top and bottom, making an envelope that completely encloses the filling. Flip the tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.*

6. Bake in the preheated oven until the tortilla is crisp, about 15 minutes.

* I think the next time I make these I will either get bigger corn tortillas, or not fill them as full, or just use large flour tortillas. The 7-inch ones are so small that I could hardly wrap around the prescribed 1/3 c. filling. Also, rather than dipping it in butter next time, I think I will just spray the chimichangas with cooking spray before they go in the oven.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

I thought the taste was "authentic" enough. We didn't do any garnishing like tomatoes or guacamole, but we will next time. I didn't really think to get any toppings when I went shopping. Daniel loved the chimi which is great since all the beef cooking I do is to raise his iron levels. Dipping the tortillas in the butter did make them turn out nice and crispy, which is why I love chimichangas in the first place. I love that I was able to get the crispy aspect without having to fry anything.

Source: AllRecipes, Dinner Spinner iPhone app

5 Can Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 pkgs. taco seasoning

1 large can tomato juice

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can kidney/red beans, drained

1 can garbanzo/navy beans, drained

1 can corn, drained

Recipe:

1. Brown ground beef with 1 chopped onion. Drain. Put in crock pot and add the remaining ingredients. *

2. Allow soup to simmer for several hours then serve with grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips. Feel free to substitute the vegetables with ones you like best.

* Instead of browning the beef before hand, I just threw it in the crock pot and mushed it with a spoon after a few minutes. Worked for me, but if you're going to be gone all day I would brown it before hand.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

We really liked this soup. And talk about easy! I love crock pot meals. If you liked the Chicken Tortilla Soup, then you'll probably like this. It tastes very similar to the Chicken soup, but with beef! We also added sour cream to the garnish list. Cilantro also would have tasted good, but the cilantro in the garden has gone to seed.

Source: Jamie's Cookbook, Recipe by Mickey Pulsipher