Beef and Black Bean Skillet

This one pan dinner is like Taco Tuesday without the taco! 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

2-3 tbsps taco seasoning (store bought or homemade)

1 cup rice

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

1 - 19 oz can black beans, drained

1 1/2 cups water or beef broth

1 cup kernel corn

1 cup shredded (Jalapeño) Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese

1/4 cup diced green pepper

sour cream to garnish

Link to the recipe for easy homemade taco seasoning:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2016/05/homemade-taco-seasoning.html

In a large skillet, cook the ground beef, onion and red bell pepper until there is no pink remaining in the beef. Then add the taco seasoning (you should really try the homemade one!), rice, diced tomatoes, black beans, water or broth and corn. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is tender. Top with cheese and cover 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese.

Plate and top with sour cream and diced green pepper. This one is going on repeat!

Serves 6

Adapted from: closetcooking.com

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Honey Baked Chicken Burritos

This is a must-share recipe! Using store bought rotisserie chicken saves a bunch of time and I wasn't sure about the amount of honey used but it totally works!

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (about 3 cups)

10 - 6" flour tortillas

1/4 cup lime juice

1/3 cup honey

4-6 tsps minced garlic

1 tbsp chili powder

2 cups shredded jalapeño Monterey Jack cheese, divided

2 cups salsa, divided (you pick the heat!)

1/4 cup sour cream

fresh chopped parsley and/or cilantro to garnish

2 cups cooked lime rice (see below for recipe)

Lime Rice:

1/2 cup white rice

2 tbsps lime juice

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 tsp garlic powder

handful of chopped parsley and/or cilantro

1 cup canned black beans

Prepare the lime rice. Mix the white rice, lime juice, chicken broth and garlic powder together and bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Add the parsley/cilantro and black beans and set aside.

Whisk 1 cup salsa and 1/4 cup sour cream together for the sauce and set aside.

Take a cooked grocery store rotisserie chicken and remove the meat from the bones. I actually had enough meat for this recipe without using the legs and saved them for another meal! Shred the meat with a fork. Whisk the lime juice, honey, minced garlic and chili powder together then toss with the chicken.

Warm the tortillas and lay out on a work surface. Spoon rice/bean mixture on one side and the chicken on the other side in the center distributing evenly between 10 tortillas. Take 1 cup of shredded cheese and sprinkle some on each.

Take about 3 tbsps of salsa and spread on the bottom of a 13 X 9" baking dish. Roll up each tortilla and place in the dish seam side down. Spoon on the sauce then top with the remaining 1 cup shredded cheese.

Bake at 350°F for 20-30 minutes and finish with a couple of minutes under the broiler.

Add chopped parsley/cilantro and serve with sour cream and the remaining salsa. Olé!

Adapted from: ohsweetbasil.com

Follow hotandcoldrunningmom on Pinterest. You can scan the pincode seen here with your phone if you're on a desktop. If you're on a phone just screenshot it, go to the Pinterest app, click camera. Then instead of taking a pic use the option to use one of your photos. Click on the screenshot you just took and go right to my Pinterest profile where you can follow me 🙂

Chicken Crunch Wrap

 Tired of takeout? Try this take out fake out at home. It's delicious and, bonus...there's no delivery charge!

Ingredients:

7 soft tortillas

1 red sweet pepper

1 orange sweet pepper

1 green sweet pepper

1 medium onion

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups (jalapeño) Monterey Jack shredded cheese

a bunch of green onions

fresh parsley or cilantro

10" cast iron skillet

Cut all the peppers and the onion into 1/4" strips and the chicken into 1/2" strips. Toss together with the paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt and olive oil. Cook in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes, stir and return to the oven 5-10 minutes longer until the chicken is cooked.

Before cooking I thought... how is all this and the tortillas going to fit in my 10" skillet? But it did.

 

Anyways, while the chicken and veggies cook, spray the skillet and lay 6 tortillas in the bottom overlapping as they go around and with about half of each one hanging over the edge. Place half the cheese in the bottom.

When the fajita mix comes out of the oven spoon it all right on top of the cheese.

Then top with sliced green onion, chopped parsley...

and the remainder of the cheese.

Place the last tortilla on top and fold each hanging edge of the tortillas over it. Press down firmly and give it a little spray of olive oil.

Bake at 400°F for 40 minutes. Not very pretty, I don't know if I got the folds right. But it tastes good!

We like it served with salsa.

Serves 4

Taco Stack

This Taco Stack is an easy meal for Taco Tuesday or taco any day. And if you are in Covid19 isolation and don't have all the ingredients then I have included plenty of substitutes. Like, if you don't have tortillas you can use pitas. Then, instead of Taco Tuesday it could be a Pita Party. But don't invite me to your pita party...don't invite anyone!! We're in self isolation!!! 

Ingredients:
8 small tortillas (or large ones, or pitas, split)
1 lb ground beef (or pork, chicken or turkey)
1 onion chopped (or green pepper, or leave it out)
2 tbsps taco seasoning (or make your own, recipe link below)
1/2 cup refried beans (or leave them out)
1 cup black beans (or kidney or pinto or whatever)
You can even substitute kernel corn for the beans
1  1/2 cups salsa (or canned tomatoes and jalapeño peppers)
a couple of squirts sriracha sauce (or any hot sauce)
3/4 cup shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar, mozzarella)

Brown the beef in a skillet then add the onion and cook until onion is tender. Add the taco seasoning and remove from heat. Stir in the black beans, sriracha, 1/2 cup salsa and 1/4 cup cheese.

To start the stack spoon some salsa into the bottom of a baking dish. This will keep the tortilla from sticking. Lay a tortilla on top.

Roughly divide the meat in the pan into 6 portions (or 8 if not using refried beans) Add 1/6 of the meat mixture on top of the first tortilla. Add another tortilla and more meat.

After a couple of meat layers add 1/2 the refried beans (or more meat if not using refried beans) and continue stacking... a couple of meat layers and a refried bean layer.

End with meat on top then ladle the rest of the salsa on.

And the rest of the cheese piled high!

Bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes then let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Great with a side of salad!

Serves 4
And don't forget to check out the recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning below ↓

Here's the link to Homemade Taco Seasoning

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2016/05/homemade-taco-seasoning.html

Easy Oven Fajitas

Super easy spicy weeknight supper! (Say that 5 times fast!)

Ingredients:
2 tbsps olive oil
1 small red onion, sliced
2 sweet peppers, sliced
1/2 jalapeño, thinly sliced
10 oz inside round or other lean beef, thin strips
1 tbsp taco seasoning, store bought or homemade
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1  1/2 tbsps lime juice

tortillas, lettuce, cheese to serve

Here's the link to my homemade taco seasoning:
https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2016/05/homemade-taco-seasoning.html

Toss the onions, peppers and meat together along with all the seasonings and lime juice in a large bag. Squish it with your hands to make sure everything is coated well.

Spread the meat and veggies out on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop in a 400 F oven for just 12 minutes.

Warm the tortillas and roll them up with all the goodies and your favourite garnishes.
You can even try some hot sauce with them. I tried a little of my fermented hot sauce... muy caliente!!
https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2019/03/fermented-hot-sauce.html

Serves 4

Baked Pita Quesadilla

When you don't have tortillas in the house but still crave quesadilla...

3 medium pitas, cut in quarters but not split
1  lb ground beef
small onion, diced
some shredded carrot
1 1/2 cups salsa
2 cups shredded cheese
1/2 cup kidney beans 

Break up and brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet.

Remove any excess fat. Remove from heat and add 1 cup cheese, 1/2 cup salsa, shredded carrot and beans.
Spread 1/2 cup salsa on the bottom of a 8 X 8" baking dish and divide the meat evenly between the quartered pitas. I cut them in quarters before assembly which made assembly a little slower than if the pitas were whole. But pre-quartering did make for nice neat serving pieces.

Top with remaining salsa and cheese

Bake, covered, at 375 F for 20 minutes. Then uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Serves 3-4

Easy Burrito Bowls

Simple to make, healthy and customizable. And bonus...you can make the rice and beef ahead of time. Just re-heat when you want to eat, slice up your favourite veggie toppers and go! A great weekday meal.

1  3/4 lb ground beef
1  1/2 cups diced onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup salsa
3 tbsps taco seasoning 
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp lime zest
1 tsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
hot pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup kernel corn

rice pilaf
avocado
tomato
lettuce
cucumber

lime sour cream 

You can use store bought salsa and taco seasoning or try my Cooked Tomato Salsa and Homemade Taco Seasoning. Links to the recipes at the end of this post. You'll also find a link to my No Fail Rice Pilaf.

For this dish I made rice pilaf but replaced half the broth with tomato juice and seasoned it with some cumin and garlic. You can use any rice you like for the base of your burrito bowl. Just prepare it and set aside.

Next brown the beef, onion and garlic in a large skillet. Remove excess fat.

Add salsa, taco seasoning, cumin, lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper (and hot pepper flakes if using). Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes. Add the corn and heat through 5-10 minutes.

Add a good helping of rice to the bottom of your bowl along with a serving of the meat mixture. Now customize with whatever veggies you like. The only thing missing on mine was black beans : ( 

Serve as is or add a little Lime Sour Cream:

1/4 cup sour cream

3 tbsps mayo

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp honey

If you want to make ahead just refrigerate the cooked rice and meat and re-heat at mealtime. 

And here are those recipes I mentioned above.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2013/09/cooked-tomato-salsa.html

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2016/05/homemade-taco-seasoning.html

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2017/04/no-fail-rice-pilaf.html

Beef and Cheese Enchiladas

Easy Friday night supper...

1  lb ground beef
2 cups salsa
1/2 cup niblets corn
2 cups shredded cheese
1/2 cup cooked rice (optional)
1/2 cup black beans (optional)
8 -6" tortillas

Serves 4-6

Brown and break up the ground beef in a large skillet.
Remove any excess fat. Remove from heat and add 1 cup cheese, 1/2 cup salsa and corn. Add the rice and/or beans here too.

Spread 1/2 cup salsa on the bottom of a 13 X 9" baking dish and divide the meat evenly between the tortillas.

Roll them up and place on top of the salsa in the pan. Pour the remaining salsa over top and finish off with cheese.

Bake, covered, at 375 F for 20 minutes. Then uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes.

May be served with sour cream