Waste Not, Want Yes: Tacos and Taco Casserole

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Okay. Who doesn’t have tacos in their regular menu rotation? It is a staple, right?

I like my tacos finely ground. I also like to make a casserole with the leftover meat the next day. The casserole recipe is from my lovely friend Bridgette! Thank you Bridgette! You’re the best.

Tacos

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. ground meat (I prefer 93/7 ground beef)
White corn tortillas (I buy the 30 count package and make home made tortilla chips with the rest.)
3 cups shredded cheese (I like the Mexican four cheese. It is approximately 1 cup for tacos and 2 cups for casserole, but feel free to use less.)
Taco seasoning (I use around 1/2 more than they recommend. So, for this batch, 1 and 1/2 packets of taco seasoning. I just buy the large jar at Costco and measure it out.)
Water according to taco packet directions
10 oz. green enchilada sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Garlic powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Optional Extras:

Shredded lettuce
Diced tomatoes
Sour cream
Chopped Cilantro

Optional Sides:

Salad
Mexican rice
Refried beans

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Heat vegetable oil in a small skillet on medium heat. Cook corn tortillas until slightly crispy. Fold over after thirty seconds in hot oil. Let simmer in oil on each side until lightly crisp.

Remove tortilla to paper towel lined plate. Repeat until you have enough taco shells that you need. Make a layer with paper towels every four-five tortillas. For my family of 4, I fry up 9. Turn off heat.

Cover tortillas with paper towel. Set aside.

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In a large skillet, brown meat over medium high heat. Add Worcestershire sauce, pinch of salt and garlic powder at this time.

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Mix taco seasoning and water.

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Break meat up with spatula until crumbly and brown. Turn heat to low. Add taco seasoning/water mixture. Use a potato masher to get meat more finely crumbled. Let simmer for 8-10 minutes repeating with the potato masher as needed.

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Turn off heat. Serve meat in taco shells with cheese and optional toppings. And serve with optional sides. I served these with rice and salad.

Now, save the rest of your taco meat for the next day in the refrigerator. You could also prepare the following recipe the same night and just refrigerate the whole casserole until the next day. I vary what I do based on how tired I am.

Taco Casserole

This is my sweet friend Bridgette’s recipe:

The next day,

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you have a convection oven, 325 degrees.

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Take a small casserole dish and pour a small amount of enchilada sauce into the bottom. I prefer green.

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Layer tortillas on top of the sauce. I just tear mine to fit into the pan.

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Layer half of your leftover taco meat on top of the tortillas. Pour 1/3 of your enchilada sauce on top. Top with 1/3 of your cheese.

Repeat with the next layer, starting with tortillas.

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For the final layer. Start with tortillas. Pour remaining enchilada sauce on top. Pour remaining cheese on top.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake covered for 25 minutes. Uncover. Bake 5-10 minutes longer until cheese on top is completely melted and the edges of the casserole are bubbling.

Remove from oven. Turn off oven.

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This is how I served it up. Thank you Bridgette for this recipe! I love it!

Enjoy!

Overheard In September

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I am continuing with my monthly feature, “Overheard in…” It is the tidbits of conversations I “happen” to overhear each month, written down in one place. I only publish the nice ones. If you missed last month’s, here it is. Let’s snoop into September:

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We were at Disneyland on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. There was a row of four little girls behind us ranging in ages of what appeared to be 5-8. Besides pulling our hair, it was cute. If you are not familiar with the ride: As the ride nears the end, your boat travels under broken bits of wood. There is even a chair hanging. This is what I heard two of the little girls say behind me:

“Is that a chair up there?”

“Shhhh. Yes.”

“What’s a chair doing up there?”

“It’s how this place was built. With chairs.”

It was quiet for a moment as they stared at the broken creation above their heads.

This made all of the hair pulling worth it. I missed snapping a picture of “the” chair. However, I did get a picture of the broken pieces of wood overhead. It made me smile to myself imagining these little girls thinking of rickety rides made from broken chairs. And also, thankful that is not truly the case!

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I was at the nail salon and it was packed. Two older women were waiting to get their nails done together.

The owner was ready for them to go to the chairs and they walked over to me.

Then he seated the two sweet elderly women next to me and told them, “Here you go. Seats right next to each other. Now you can hold hands and sing the same song.”

Now, whenever I go out with my girlfriends, I secretly think of this phrase and laugh to myself.

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At a winery, two middle aged men were standing next to us trying to muddle through a conversation.

One turned to the other and said, “I love the decor in here.”

It was all wood. Stuffy. 1980s lodge feeling.

The other one said, “Me too…But…Wait is that a stuffed cat?”

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Our bug man (exterminator) came around the corner and stopped when he saw us. He paused sheepishly.

“Oh!” He exclaimed. “I hope you did not hear me cursing over there. I saw two alligator lizards on the side of your house. Those things are scary.”

This did not give me faith in my exterminator. My husband said, “Yes, but they eat the bugs.”

The exterminator responded, “They’ll eat ANYTHING!”

I went into the house chuckling. These are the times when growing up in the country pays off.

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We were at a wedding and two young men (in their twenties) were having an interesting conversation regarding the timing of the wedding:

“I can’t believe they are starting the wedding at 6:00,” one young man said.

“Why?” Asked the other young man.

“You should never get married on the hour, because the only direction for the marriage to go is down. A wedding should always start on the half hour, so the hand is moving upward.”

They pondered this for a moment.

“Well,” started the second young man, “I guess she could be late.”

Hmmm. I had never heard of this before. Have you? I honestly cannot remember what time my wedding started. I should have consulted the first gentleman prior to the day (of course, he would have been about ten years old, so who knows what help he would have been)!

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And one last small one. I was at the post office waiting in line to send back two returns and the music got very loud. Who even knew the post office had music? This is what was playing at our local post office:

“Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-Alot.

Yup.

There was a local police officer talking to a postal worker when the song came on.

The police officer looked at the postman and said, “Interesting choice of music you’re playing here.”

His comment was ignored. But not by me. I smiled…And tapped my foot to the beat.

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Have you heard any funny or nice conversations lately? I would love to “hear” them!

Selecting Eyewear

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Raise your hand if you have “bad eyes.”

Yep! That is a lot of you. Do you find it hard to pick out frames? I do.

Throw in a teenage daughter also picking frames out on the same day. And a bored nine year old boy (who was so good, the sweet sales lady gave him a pair of free sunglasses. If you remember this post, you can see why this thrilled me.).

And you get a three hour eye appointment.

Which is exactly how I like to spend my beautiful summer days.

I typically wear contact lenses. So does my daughter. But every couple of years, it is time to fork over some money for some new eyewear. You can’t wear contacts all of the time.

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I think my daughter tried on every giant pair of glasses they had in the store, until she finally settled on some men’s Fendi ones. I am clueless. I had no idea Fendi was expensive. And after an hour of choosing, the sales lady could have sold me glasses made out of hot dogs. I would have eaten them and been out of there. And I would have paid the same amount for the privilege. I will repeat: Shopping for eyewear with a teenager = insanity…You’d eat them, too.

The lady did give us 50% off after the insurance paid their share. But, ouch!

She does look adorable in them. I am really happy she found a pair she will wear to school.

I texted my husband pictures of my daughter and myself in various eyewear.

He wrote back, “She looks great in anything.”

“You look good in the first pair.”

; )

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Here are some quick pics of me trying on the glasses. These are Michael Korrs. This is the pair my husband liked.

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These are Betsey Johnson more librarian.

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And these are the Betsey Johnson ones with GLITTER! Which I did not even know I wanted or “needed” until it was a choice. They are the ones I bought. Strictly based on the fun factor. Which is how all decisions in life should be made.

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I like them. I just think the office could have achieved a thinner lens. I have horrible eyesight. So, making the situation prettier is always a bonus. I just wish they were thin enough to wear out of the house.

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I will say, before this, I have picked my eyeglasses out for the last four years from Costco. I had always used my insurance allowance for contacts, and paid a reasonable amount at Costco for a cute pair. But this year I chose the doctor’s office.

My belief is you should shop around. It is kind of a big decision!

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Costco has some really great frames right now! I love so many of them!

What eyeglasses have you purchased lately? Have you jumped on the oversize bandwagon?

A Crime Committed

I have been in a slightly manic state this week. I have wanted to do nothing but projects. However, instead of starting one project. Well, I started three. One project I had not started were the cardboard ornaments I had purchased for my children to paint. I thought they would be adorable Christmas present toppers for relatives.

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Well, the other day, I came home to find a pile of cardboard all over the bedroom floor. It took me a bit to realize one of the dogs had gotten into my “craft” bag and ripped apart a cardboard star ornament. I figured it was Ollie, but I had no proof. And Ollie would have no recollection of the situation. His charm is in his looks, not necessarily his brains.

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I left the house for an hour. When I came back, this is what I found.

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Apparently a new crime had been committed in my absence. I guess what Murphy would have me believe is that someone came in and killed my dog and murdered my Christmas ornament.

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But I could see him blinking.

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Do you see the guilt in those eyes?

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I couldn’t get mad. The situation is too funny.

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Do you think our relatives will appreciate Murphy’s version of “art” on their presents?

Darn. Me neither.

I shared this on Savvy Southern Style

And My Romantic Home