The Ultimate Classic Tacos

When I was writing about the Taco Bell lawsuit a couple of days ago, I thought it would be handy to link to my own recipe for meaty, ground beef tacos. If you're craving tacos, you don't have to go out to eat or resort to one of those yawn-inducing taco seasoning packets. You can make them yourselves with my handy recipe! Um, just a second while I find that recipe. It must be crumpled and dog-eared at the bottom of my blog somewhere. Where is that darn recipe? It's not here. It never was. If a tree falls in the forest, or if a recipe is made but never written about on a blog, did it ever really exist? But hang on; we love tacos. We eat them all the time. Why weren't they here? What excuse could I have for this glaring omission? I think this is it: Sometimes I forget to share the everyday classics, maybe because they seem a little, well ordinary. But ordinary food is usually the favorite food, the food you return to again and again and find yourself making for dinner every Tuesday night. It's the food I like to make when people come to dinner because I know the grown-ups and the kids will both love it. There's nothing wildly exotic about these tacos. They're the ultimate classic with fried corn tortillas, chili and tomato flavored ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese and spicy and cooling pico de gallo. They'd be just as heavenly teetering on a plate on your lap while you watch the Super Bowl, as they would be around the dinnertable on a plain old weekday. So here they are, never to be lost forgotten or non-existent ever again. Long live ordinary, extraordinary tacos.

Ground Beef Tacos:

Estimated Cost for Ground Beef: $5.00-enough for 20 tacos

Notes: I love to double this recipe and freeze the leftovers.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 lb ground beef

2-4 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon chili powder

pinch of cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (If you like it spicy, use El Pato)

In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking up with a spoon. When the beef is almost cooked through, drain off the fat. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cayenne, and salt and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.

Serve inside lightly fried corn tortillas with homemade pico de gallo, cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, and sour cream. I like to make refried beans in the crockpot to go along side; they're so easy, it won' take you but a moment.

Up Next: Chinese New Year favorites

Current Obsessions including Grilled Pork and Pineapple Tacos

In case you were wondering about any of my current mania, I've made a comprehensive list. This is only applicable to Summer 2009, because come Fall, a new set of mania will make my eyes turn into flying saucers. For now, my Current Obsessions:

John Adams, the HBO series. Abigail Adams is my new role model. Except I'm not sure that I want to work that hard. Or give up mascara.

Breaking Away. If I wanted to pretend to be someone else, an Italian exchange student would be top on my list too. Except now I'm thirty something and I don't think anyone would buy it.

The Art of Winslow Homer: Makes me want to go run outside and play in the grass. But then I get sweaty and hot and change my mind, and come inside the house and just look at Winslow Homer's artwork instead in the air conditioning.

The Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. According to Gladwell, you have to spend about 10,000 hours on any given activity to become an expert. It's too late for me, but I'll bet the charges are wondering why violin practice suddenly got about three hours longer.

Attack Uno: I just like pushing the card-shooting button. It's thrilling; a bit like Russian Roulette, except with the huge bonus of getting to stay alive. And you get to keep playing Uno for the rest of your life too, cuz you just got yourself 72 new cards.

Scrabble: If you play my mom's way, then everyone gets 10 tiles instead of seven. With ten tiles, the finished board looks like the work of geniuses instead of the average intelligence display that I'm so accustomed to producing. I might use 11 tiles next time, and then email a picture of the finished board to my eight grade English teacher. Wouldn't she be suprised.

Cinnamon Frosted Mini Wheats. They're just like Frosted Mini Wheats. Except they have cinnamon. Cinnamon Frosted Mini Wheats. With Cinnamon. On the Mini Wheats. I never thought I'd get so excited about mini wheats, but did I mention that these ones come with cinnamon?

Ireland: I should have about $1000 saved for our trip by now. Except I keep stealing from myself. But I usually put back what I steal at some point, since I try to at least loosely keep the commandments.

And these Tacos. Well, not just these tacos. Any tacos. I can't get enough. But in all fairness, this is no ephemeral obsession. I think they must have put taco seasoning in the baby formula in the seventies. I'm hooked for life, an inveterate taco chomper. I think you'll love this version too, since it's ready in less than thirty minutes, is a great use of plain old pork chops, and comes with a zippy pineapple slaw. The word "zippy" is from the seventies too, in case you were wondering. What are your current obsessions this summer? Leave a comment and let me know what I should be hooked on next.

Money Saving Tips: I buy pork chops 2 for 1 at Albertson's. If large cans of crushed pineapple are cheaper than the itty bitty ones, buy a big can and throw the extra in your baked beans, zuchinni bread, or morning smoothie.

Pineapple Pork Tacos

Estimated Cost: $5.00 for four servings

1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, juice reserved

1/2 cup sour cream (If you use light, stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil)

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

juice of one fat lime

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 lb. pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick

1 (6 ounce) bag coleslaw mix

1/3 cup sliced radishes

12 corn tortillas

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat grill for medium hot cooking. In a medium bowl, combine the JUICE of the pineapple, sour cream, chili powder, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove 1/4 cup of mixture and rub all over pork chops. Let stand for five minutes. Grill pork chops, about 4-5 minutes per side until only slightly pink in center. Let rest for five minutes, and slice into strips. Meanwhile, combine crushed pineapple with slaw and radishes and reserved sour cream mixture. (Grill tortillas about 1 minute per side and brush with butter and wrap tightly in tinfoil.) Assemble tacos with tortillas, slaw, and pork chops.

Up Next: Summer Thyme Corn Chowder

Grilled Spice Rubbed Chicken Tacos

My goodness, I had no idea so many of my dear readers were in the motherly way. It's hard to notice a bump in your belly from my angle, all the way over here behind my computer screen. For census purposes, if you are pregnant, please remain seated. Holy Toledo, there's more of you than I thought. Please get plenty of rest, drink water, read What to Expect When You Are Expecting obsessively, and avoid cinnamon cake at all costs. Unless you are 41 weeks pregnant, in which case, I offer you not only my deepest sympathy, but also a labor-inducing recipe below.

Oy, what a week I'm having. I've been substituting a few extra classes at the college for a colleague who had a son graduating from Princeton. Some people will use any mundane excuse for a day off. I've also been at girl's camp, where I'm no longer a girl, but a leader of girls, so I have mind my ps and qs. (I apparently left a questionable legacy in some parts of southern California for my behavior at girl's camp. This is why I had to marry someone as far removed as upstate NY.) But I still liked it. Besides, there are no safe pranks anymore, are there? This generation can't even crank call, for pete's sake. And a neighborhood boy almost got sent to juvy for ding dong ditch. Don't even try to raise a bra up a flagpole, or they'll call in the FBI.

So anyway, this has been a busy week. (I'm still waiting for a slow-moving, boring week.) Plus I've got my sister laid up on bedrest, and another sister visiting with her six children, and my own charges who yearn obsessively every moment that they are separated from their cousins. It's kind of handy. Still, I feel sorry for any relative who passes through town; they end up having to babysit for me and generally pick up some of the slack that perpetually overflows from my crammed full life. So by all means come for a visit, but don't say I didn't warn you.

On the bright side, my payback is edible. I'll reciprocate with dinner. Like this for example, that I made last week for a different visiting sister with her four kids. (Don't try to keep track of my mammoth family. One of these days I'm going to post a family tree instead of recipes.) I saw this southwest stunner years ago as a quick dinner party idea from Bon Appetit. I only read the recipe once so I have no idea how close mine is to their original recipe, but I'm surrendering credit just in case. Hubba hubba. I could eat this all summer, and if I do I won't have much left to blog about. It's so fast, you could be eating these babies yourself in about 35 minutes. And since so many of you are pregnant, that gives you plenty of time to make them before your real babies arrive. Have a fantastic weekend, everybody.

Money Saving Tips:

Look for a good deal on chicken breasts and stock them in your freezer. You can make extra spice rub to keep for about a month in the cupboard. Chop your own cabbage or lettuce in place of the bagged coleslaw. Hit up a gardening neighbor for free peppers and zuchinni, or better yet, plant some yourself.

Spiced Rubbed Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Tacos

Estimated Cost: $10.00

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons pepper
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken

1 zuchinni, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices

1 red bell pepper, halved, stemmed and seeded

10 to 12 corn tortillas

1 tablespoon butter

1 10 ounce package cole slaw mix

1 bunch cilantro

juice of 2 limes

2 tablespoons olive oil

shredded cheese, optional but yummy

Preheat grill for medium hot cooking. Combine spice mixture in small bowl. Brush chicken and vegetables lightly with a small amount of olive oil or coat them with olive oil cooking spray. Rub with spice mixture. Meanwhile, spread tortillas lightly with butter and wrap them in a foil bundle and place away from direct heat on the grill to warm.Grill vegetables until softened and tender, about 8 minutes for the zuchinni, 15 minutes for the bell pepper, and grill the chicken until no longer pink, about 8 minutes per side for chicken breasts. Slice veggies and chicken into strips. Combine cole slaw mix, cilantro, lime juice and olive oil in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Up Next:

My friend Michal's Whole Wheat Bread

Pineapple and Green Chile Pork Soft Tacos

It was a miraculous deathbed recovery. We are still cautious, making sure not to tax her too much, and it seems almost too good to believe. Dare I say it? My computer is well again. I've spent hours each day trying to nurse her back to health, but she did not respond to my methods (or the advice or our antivirus software either for that matter.) But this weekend, my little sister Mary Kate came for a visit with her family of five, which includes my ever lucky brother in law Adam (the one who won a trip to the Super Bowl). Last night, he was up with our grouchy patient till at least 2 AM, which is when I had enough and called it a night. But when I woke up this morning, he had revived the cantakerous old hermit, and now I am back in business. Thank you, Adam. Maybe you did deserve that trip to the Super Bowl, after all. It's sunny this morning and I feel an incredible burden lifted off my shoulders. Ten years ago, it wouldn't have made much difference to me one way or the other, but now I can not live without my computer. Take my telephone, my TV, my Kitchen Aid mixer, my college diploma if you must, but leave me my computer.

I'm sure you are all here for the recipes, and not at all for the electronic update, so let's proceed. I've got a yummy dinner to share that is just lovely on so many levels. It's only a handful of ingredients, cooks all day in the crockpot on it's own, is healthy, super delicious, and ideally very inexpensive. I know you're going to love it! Come on back tomorrow for chocolate bread pudding and continued good cheer.

Money Saving Tips:

I buy pork chops when they have two for one deals at Albertsons. Don't eat pork? Don't worry-it works well with chicken also. Don't even bother defrosting the meat if it's frozen; it'll be just fine. If you can't find green salsa, the red variety will be tasty here also. The crockpot uses only about 25 cents of energy for 8 hours of cooking, so plug it in and save some money.

Pineapple and Green Chile Pork Tacos in the Crockpot

1 lb. pork chops

1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple with juices

1 cup tomatillo salsa (green salsa or salsa verde)

1 4 ounce can green chiles, undrained

1/3 cup brown sugar

For serving: warm flour tortillas, queso fresco (or feta), chopped cilantro, lime wedges, more green salsa

Combine all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for four hours or on low for 6 to eight hours. Shred pork, season to taste with salt and pepper and serve in soft flour tortillas with desired accompaniments.

Come Back Tomorrow for....

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Grilled Flank Steak Tacos with Cilantro Slaw

The main event. Juicy, meaty, charred and spicy flank steak tacos, held together by the grilled corn tortillas, crunchy and cool from the cilantro slaw. Slather it with salsa, gorge it with guacamole, soak it with sour cream. While you're at it, sneak some of your rice and beans in there, too. I love a very fat and greedy taco. The bigger, the better, unless....

Once, my little sister Mary Kate and I had a taco eating contest. I was 22 years old at the time, she was only 13. Anyone who knows Mary Kate knows that this pint sized little scrap can pack in grub like Nacho Libre. She deserves to be roly-poly, double chinned and plumpy-gordita; instead she wrangles all that food into her size 2 jeans and begs for dessert. To challenge her to an eat-a-thon was folly on my part, but I'd been out of the country for a year and she's so skinny that I must have forgotten. It was all I could do to keep up, so I made my tacos smaller and smaller. At the end of the night, the tally was seven and 1/2 tacos each. At least that's how it's remembered in the annals of family history. I was too full to do el math-o.

Happy Cinco De Mayo! Enjoy all of your food, especially the tacos. Make them as big and full as you want. No one is counting.

Coming Tomorrow: Dessert

Grilled Flank Steak Tacos with Cilantro Slaw

Estimated Cost: $$10.00

1 -1 and 1/2 lb. flank steak

2 cloves garlic, minced

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup salsa

1 tablespoon oil

3 teaspoons chili powder
8-16 corn tortillas

1 (10 ounce) bag angel hair cole slaw mix

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

juice of one lime

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle steak on both sides with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place steak in zip top bag. Add garlic, lime juice, salsa, oil, and chili powder. Zip up bag and massage mixture (from the outside of the bag) into meat. Let marinate for at least one hour and up to overnight. Grill steak, for about four minutes per side for medium. Let rest for five minutes. Slice on the bias. Meanwhile, grill tortillas and wrap in slightly moist dishcloth until serving time. For slaw: In a large bowl, combine slaw mix, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, divide meat slices and slaw between tortillas. (To be authentic, use two tortillas together.) Add cheese, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole as desired.