Something Quick: Samye's Taco Salad

Chase's mom Samye came up to visit us in September (was it really that long ago?) and one night she made this for dinner. Chase of course had eaten it many times before, but I hadn't. I was skeptical of 1000 Island dressing on taco fixin's, although it explained why Chase dips his tacos in it. And yet ... IT WAS DELICIOUS.

Then again, you can't really go wrong with Fritos and a mom's cooking.

I had been craving it since then, and I finally broke one day a couple of weeks ago and told Chase we were having it for dinner. He did not protest.

We use a bit less 1000 Island than Samye does, but it's a recipe that's easily made to any taste.

And just easily made.

Happy cooking!

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Samye's Taco Salad

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat

½ - 1 cup 1000 Island dressing

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 can black beans, drained

1 can black olives, chopped

1 cup chopped lettuce

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 10-oz bag Fritos

1 packet taco seasoning

Directions

1. Brown the ground meat and season with taco seasoning according to package directions.

2. For the vegetarian version, use

½ packet of taco seasoning mixed into the drained black beans.

3. In a large mixing bowl, toss lettuce, tomato, olives, beans and cheese.

4. Add half of the bag of Fritos to the veggie mix, crunching the chips slightly in your hands as you add them.

5. Toss the veggie mix in the 1000 Island.

6. Stir about two-thirds of the taco meat into the mix.

7. To serve, place a handful of the remaining Fritos on a plate. Top with a heaping scoop of the salad mix and sprinkle with extra taco meat.

8. As always, enjoy!

Salad mix, all mixed.

Ready for eating. It's just that easy.

Now that's some happy cooking! :)

Something Savory: Hot German Potato Salad

Chase was a little skeptical of this one, but totally willing to try it. He's not a potato salad fan, but this is something entirely different. It's warm, full of bacon and rich flavor, and topped with delicious smoked sausage.

My mom used to make this one for us growing up. With all the flavors, I expected it to be more complicated. But if you can use a whisk and boil potatoes, you can make this recipe.

We always ate this as a main course, but this also works great as a warm side dish. Just skip the smoked sausage on top (you know, if you want).

Happy cooking!

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Hot German Potato Salad

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes

4-6 slices of bacon

¼ cup chopped onion

2 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp celery seed

Dash of pepper

¾ cup water

⅓

cup vinegar

2 eggs

1 smoked sausage (the big U-shaped kind, Hillshire Farms is best)

Directions

1. Peel and chop potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Cook in boiling water until fork-tender. Drain and place in deep casserole dish.

2. Meanwhile, over medium heat in a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving about 2 Tbsp bacon grease.

3. Crumble the bacon over the potatoes in the casserole dish.

4. Cook the chopped onion in the reserved grease over medium heat until tender but not browned.

5. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, celery seed and pepper in a small bowl. Stir into the cooked onions.

6. Add water and vinegar to the onion mixture. Cook until slightly thickened, whisking gently but constantly.

7. Beat the two eggs in a small bowl. Whisk the eggs into the onion mix.

8. Continue stirring until the eggs are cooked and incorporated into the thickened sauce.

9. Meanwhile, turn the oven on to broil.

10. Pour sauce over the potatoes and bacon and stir gently.

11. Split the sausage down the middle all the way around, but don't cut all the way through. Slice the sausage into 3-4 inch pieces. Place in a circle around the top of the casserole dish.

12. Place the casserole under the broiler for a few minutes, until the sausage is warmed and lightly browned around the edges.

13. Serve and enjoy. It's especially tasty with a little side of mustard.

Prep time: About 45 minutes.

Chopped onion ready for bacon grease cooking, crispy bacon, and dry ingredient mix.

And unrelated cinnamon rolls.

Onion mixture after eggs are whisked in and cooked.

Potatoes and bacon coated with onion and egg sauce.

Happy cooking!

Something Comforting: Chicken & Biscuits

Welcome to the first new recipe in AGES! I could apologize for days for my absence, but that wouldn't be as effective as just posting a recipe again.

I made this one for Chase one day (ages ago) when I was home and he was on campus all day. He came home to the smell of delicious chickeny goodness. I found the recipe in the Gooseberry cookbook Chase's mom gave me for Christmas. It's full of good, easy recipes, and this was the first I tried.

I made a few modifications to the recipe, mostly to add more layers of flavor, but also because the biscuits were overwhelmingly salty. I like salty, but this was a bit ridiculous. Modifications below, as always.

Happy cooking!

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Chicken & Biscuits

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes

2-3 Tbsp vegetable oil

6 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 can cream of chicken soup (10 oz)

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup flour

1

½ tsp baking powder

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup butter, melted

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp dry basil

¼ tsp dry parsley

pinch of dry rosemary, crumbled

2 Tbsp green onion, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add vegetable oil and cook the chicken through.

3. Meanwhile, combine cream of chicken and chicken broth in a greased casserole dish until well blended.

4. Stir bacon, basil and parsley into the mixture.

5. In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and rosemary. Then mix in buttermilk and melted butter. This will make a very thick biscuit batter.

6. Add fully cooked chicken into the broth in the casserole dish.

7. Spoon the biscuit batter on top of the broth, making about 5 large biscuits.

8. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the biscuits are golden.

9. Serve garnished with green onions.

The recipe, plus some.

Cooking the chicken (a wok works even better than a skillet for this!)

Broth, bacon and chicken, looking delicious even in dull light.

Biscuit batter into the broth.

Golden and delicious after a hot half-hour.

Happy cooking!