taco tuesday: doritos taco salad

Story time!

I know you came here for some Taco Tuesday goodness but hear me out for a sec...

Wanna know a weirdo quirk about me?

...I hate, hate, HATE eating with my hands.

Having to eat something with my hands gives me immense anxiety.

Always has.

To the point that I have 'established protocols' in place when I am faced with potential finger foods, including but absolutely not even closely limited to:

1. MOVIE THEATER POPCORN:  Never, ever, ever will you find me in a movie theater without my hair pulled back in a pony tail. Ever. I have this phobia of my long hair potentially getting into the buttery-greasy popcorn, thus making me smell like greasy popcorn all day long, that I just cannot overcome... so my hair gets pulled up.

Oh, and if you ever go to a movie theater and go to get napkins at the concession area and find that they're out... Sorry, i'm probably in the theater ;)

2. HAMBURGERS: Oh man.  Tammie Gee, I already know what you're thinking and you probably have more anxiety reminiscing about the screaming and crying than I do ;)

Listen...I was a kid that liked all. the. things. on a hamburger.  Not a ketchup only kid... a give me all the condiments, kid. And many times did that almost ruin mine and my mother's relationship, ha!

...nearly every. single. time. I would eat a hamburger, the hamburger would fall apart (because I had small hands, eating a THICK burger, ok?)... and I would cry and get so, so agitated... and pretty sassy about it.

So my mom started cutting my hamburger up for me and the rest is basically history ;)

3. PIZZA: Well I mean it wasn't until I married my husband that I was told that eating pizza with a fork wasn't the 'typical' way of eating pizza... hm... ok? Sure pal.

...cause picking that triangular shaped ball of grease up and just biting from it is just not going to work for me.

...but the most absolutely unacceptable finger food for me? That I do not even eat because of the potential for falling-apart-messiness is just so, so great?

TACOS.

Hi, my name is Emily, and no, I don't want to go to $5 taco Tuesday night with you and your friends.

I'll strongly pass.... or i'll go and cut up my taco and you'll look at me super funny (based on true stories!).

In my defense, my mom never really prepared me for a 'Taco Tuesday' loving society that we live in today.  I honestly cannot remember 'taco night' ever being on a meal rotation growing up (probably because she knew it wouldn't end well...)... but, wanna know what I do remember?

Doritos Taco Salad.

My mom showed up for Taco Tuesday.. in the form of a taco salad, that you ate WITH. A. FORK.

...and i'm forever and always here for that. AND! So are my kids..

9 out of 10 times I lob over making tacos, they chose a Doritos taco salad instead. #raisinggoodmen

So there you have it.  Fellow anti-finger-food-friends, feast your eyes on this yummy, clean, bad boy and add or take away whatever you'd like.. here's our typical go-to's:

this feeds 6 hungry, taco-ish loving folks plus leftovers!

SHOPPING LIST:

2 pounds lean ground beef 

2 packs of taco seasoning

Mexican cheese

Nacho Cheese Doritos (or as my kids call them, the red doritos!)

1 Avocado

Lettuce (we buy the preshredded lettuce)

3 roma tomatoes

Sour cream

Purple Onion (...call it like I see it!)

Mild Ortega Taco Sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Cook your ground beef until crumbly.  Add in your taco seasonings and a cup of mexican cheese.  Stir until combined. Crush up a bag of Doritos and prepare all of your toppings (chop 'em, slice 'em, you do you..), call your kiddos to dinner and 'make to order but-no-Liam-you-can't-just-have-cheese-and-meet-you-have-to-have-a-veggie' their taco salads... 

Enjoy with a FORK and NO MESS ;) #praisehimpraisehim

Until tomorrow,

sheet pan supper: kielbasa, sweet potatoes and snap peas

After sharing my lemon-garlic aioli recipe, I thought I'd lob over a recipe that the aioli ALWAYS accompanies!
My sheet tray suppers are great for a night when you have leftover produce you're needing to cook before it goes bad - my kids call them 'leftover trays' - Ha.  They're not made from leftovers - they're made with the mantra of not wanting to waste food.. which, I guess is the same thing ;)

This dinner is completely customizable to whatever produce you've got on hand!  

On this particular night we had a few of my dad's homegrown sweet potatoes and some sugar snap peas that I decided not to make earlier in the week.

This feeds our family of 6 - plus a little bit of leftovers

SHOPPING LIST:

2 packages of Kielbasa (or any other sausage of your liking - we like the smoked Polska sausage!), cut into portions (or you can cut them into medallions!)

4 sweet potatoes, cut into strips* 

A pound of snap peas*

(*or whatever veggies you have on hand!)
1 lemon
Cinnamon

EVOO

Salt and Pepper 

DIRECTIONS:

Line a baking sheet with foil
In a mixing bowl, coat your snap peas with a little bit of oil, as much salt and pepper as you'd like (I use a generous pinch of both) and the juice of 1 lemon
In another mixing bowl, coat your sweet potatoes with a little bit of oil, S&P and as much cinnamon as your heart desires

Add your kielbasa and veggies onto your lined pan, making sure that all are spread evenly onto the tray (since we're a family of six, sometimes we utilize a few sheet trays depending on what's on them)

Drizzle EVOO and a big pinch of S&P over everything 

Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 50 minutes and enjoy!

Yum, yum, yum - We love to dip our kielbasa and sweet potatoes into my garlic aioli!

Another quick, super easy cleanup meal for you and your family.

smokey egg salad

Got a bunch of dyed Easter Eggs that you don't know what to do with?

Use them to whip up a yummy batch of egg salad!

You can find us devouring these at lunch time on the weekends or if we're trying to rush off to a baseball game on a weeknight.

...or when you're quarantined at home with your family and you cannot take one.more.second. of hearing "I don't want another peanut butter and jelly sandwich!!"

...because how many times have you heard that lately?

(...and all the tired homeschooling parents said  'eat it or starve' 'amen'...)

Egg salad is a 'make to your liking' kind of dish, so usually, I just eyeball it - but, this is pretty darn close.

We usually eat these with some good ole Lays Potato Chips but I had some red potatoes I needed to use, so I roasted them up!

this batch makes about 8 sandwiches

SHOPPING LIST:

White bread (yes, white.. if you insist on using a healthier bread then go for it, but don't say I didn't tell you otherwise), toasted

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled

3  tablespoons of Mayo (we girls in the south use Dukes)

1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon of hot sauce (we use Franks!)

1 teaspoon of Spanish Smoked Paprika (you can use regular Paprika but the smoked paprika makes a HUGE difference)

1/2 tablespoon of soften butter
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

S&P

A handful of veggies (we use green onions and occasionally a little bit of chopped celery!)

DIRECTIONS:

Start by boiling and peeling your eggs

Once you've peeled the shells off, take a box grater and run the eggs against the grater - if you don't have a grater, finely chop the eggs

Put grated eggs into a mixing bowl and add your mayo, softened butter and a really big pinch of S&P and combine well

Add in your white wine vinegar, lemon juice, paprika and hot sauce and stir well

Fold in your chopped green onions (some of my family isn't a big fan of green onions on their egg salad so I usually set these aside and add to the sandwiches accordingly)

Place a big dollop on a slice of toasted bread or in a bowl to dip with crackers - and enjoy! 

Store leftovers for up to 2 days in the refrigerator 

Make this ahead of time for a lunch time change up or a quick weeknight dinner (it's better than a drive thru!)

Super simple, super quick - and NOT A PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH ;)

creamy shrimp linguine

When my kids see a bag of shrimp come home from the grocery store, the first thing they ask is "are you making shrimp linguine?!"

They love it. 

...and probably have no idea it's packed full of green veggies ;) 

This dish takes no time at all to make (I consider it a weeknight meal) 

It's easy cleanup - ONE POT,

It's cozy enough for winter comfort food, but the fresh veggies make it nice and bright for the warmer months,

...and in Liam's words: it's "Hell's Kitchen" worthy ;) 

Make this. I promise you and your family will enjoy it!

This recipe serves our family of 6 - plus enough for leftovers!

SHOPPING LIST:

1 pound of medium sized shrimp, peeled and deveined

EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)

1 pound of linguine 

Salt and Pepper

4 tablespoons of butter

5 garlic cloves, minced

A *dash* of red pepper flakes

3 cups of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup of white cooking wine

1 cup of heavy cream

2 lemons

5-6 cups of a leafy vegetable (my husband likes spinach, I like kale!)

1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan (plus more for garnish!)

DIRECTIONS:

Get those noodles cooking! 

Grab your dutch oven (or a large skillet) and heat about a teaspoon of EVOO over medium-high heat

Add shrimp, season with S&P and cook until your shrimp are nice and pink then move them to a plate

Add your butter to the skillet and once it's mostly melted, add your garlic and a dash (or more if you like it HOT) of red pepper flakes and cook until your house smells like heavenly garlic butter goodness (when you know, you'll know...)

Add in your tomatoes and add a little more S&P - once your tomatoes soften, throw in your wine

Let this simmer until the wine is mostly reduced 

Add your heavy cream, lemon juice and Parmesan - let this simmer until the sauce is nice and thick

Add your pasta and your leafy greens and toss. 

Top with extra Parmesan (duh.) and enjoy!

So, so light, fresh, bright and YUMMY!