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Coming Out Of My Shell {Baked Tacos & Hibernation}

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Hey y’all!

I’m here and I’ve missed you…

Seems like I’m just popping in again real quick to share a fun little recipe with you. It looks like that’s my M.O. lately….say Hello and remind you I’m here with a token post and some good food.

Yesterday was busy ~ we had church class and soccer simultaneously and that meant Elliott skipping out just this once on CCD and going to her 4:00 soccer practice. So it was drop off Holden at church, take Elliott to practice, run into Ralphs {and forget 2 items}, go pick up Holden at church, go back down to pick up Elliott, start dinner, call Jay to retrieve 2 forgotten items at the store, snap pictures of Holden’s class Terrific Tiger to document his {boring} evening with us, come to realize that Terrific Tiger should probably be thrown into the wash {aka given a bath} and spritzed with antimicrobial Febreeze before going into bed with Holden, blah. blah, blah.

However, amongst all this stuffed animal chaos and documentation for the class journal, I was excited about dinner because my IG friend, Elizabeth, posted some Baked Tacos earlier in the day. We had a box of taco shells in the pantry and a pound of ground turkey thawed ~ perfect!

Guys…..these are awesome! They kiiiinda remind me of the Jack in the Box tacos {which I haven’t had in a million years} that are a little softer at the bottom, but they are made with real, legitimate meat and equally as delish.

We had them last night and again tonight!

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This is the recipe I followed. I just Googled {Baked Tacos} and went to the first one that popped up. The lineup sounded good {except that I had to have Jay stop for black beans} so I decided to go with this one.

Super easy…just sauté half an onion and a couple minced cloves of garlic. Add ground meat of choice {I used 1 pound ground turkey} and brown. Add a package of taco seasoning and a little water and let simmer on low for a bit. Drain and rinse a can of black beans and add to the meat along with a small jar of salsa {I used peach/pineapple and didn’t quite use the whole jar}. Preheat your oven to 400* and line up an oven safe dish with taco shells {I used foil tonight for easier clean up}. Fill shells with meat mixture and top with a little shredded cheese. Place into preheated oven for 6-8 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove and top with your favorite taco fixins {we used light sour cream, shredded lettuce and chopped tomato}. I added a slice of ripe avocado this evening and they were out of this world!

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Just a fun twist for your average taco night.

They were most definitely missing some Cholula, but we were fresh out.

Next time.

Note: you will need a fork to scoop up all the good stuff that spills out onto your plate.

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I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

Hoping to come out of hibernation now that the holidays are FAST approaching. This is my most favorite time of the year and I have a lot that I want to share so {fingers crossed} I will make time to blog more.

I really do miss it and just need to get my priorities straight…..

Easier said than done, right.

Happy Friday!

We have early morning soccer, another birthday party tomorrow afternoon and then hopefully hit a few of the bigger coasters at Magic Mountain after church with our new season passes.

Have a blessed weekend, friends!

XOXO

Rummage Sale

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A random pile of facts from our weekend…

1. Made {Baked Oatmeal} for our Saturday breakfast.

{followed the link above, but subbed almond/coconut milk and coconut extract}

Such a fun twist on regular ‘ol boring oatmeal…next time I’m adding some fresh berries to the mix.

2. We had an impromptu garage sale on Saturday morning. It was more like a rummage sale. I just threw a bunch of stuff out there and came up with a price when they asked!

Made about $20 an hour for stuff that I would have driven to Goodwill…I’ll take it!

3. Holden cried when a woman walked off with his Baby Bjorn potty chair. He said, “You’re selling all my stuff!” About broke my heart, but he wasn’t about to coax me into keeping stuff that I’m trying to get rid of, so he went inside and watched a movie while mama purged!

4. Fun bowling birthday party with this delicious pizza for lunch.

5. Little Church and my scripture study were cancelled for Sunday morning, so we went to Saturday evening mass instead.

6. Made Rachael Ray’s Buffalo Chicken Chili Mac for dinner.

Super yum and lowfat. I used reduced fat cheeses for the top ~ blue cheese and mexican blend.

7. Sunday morning was lazy with clouds, rain and Pioneer Woman’s Super Sonic breakfast burritos!

I think I got a little too aggressive with the fillings, but they were to-die-for.

8. Kids talked me into taking them to Elliott’s new dance studio’s grand opening in the POURING rain just to jump in the germ infested bouncy….

Chaos.

Waste. Of. Precious. Gas.

9. Jay didn’t like the quote the dealer gave him for new brakes on his Jeep, so he did it himself.

{We did have to make one minor trip to a “professional” for a quick fix-it, but other than that we saved a ton of cash. Thanks Pep Boys for the parts and YouTube for the brake changing tutorial!}

10. Had the Sushi Bake again for dinner last night. We’re hooked.

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And that was our weekend, folks.

Hope yours was just as random and nice!

XO

Bribe

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This afternoon I bribed the kids with Blow Pops to go up and watch Mars Needs Moms {lamest movie on the planet [no pun intended]} so I could hang out with my girl, Jill, and get my shred on BEFORE I made this scrumptious dinner.

Yes.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos.

This one has been on the radar for some time now…

I served it with this quinoa.

YUM to the millionth degree.

I used half corn {on left} and half flour {on right} tortillas. I prefer the flour, which are a little more pliable and turned out prettier, but the corn were almost equally delish. You really need to follow the directions and warm in the micro between two damp paper towels to get them limbered up or they will crack and crumble and turn out not so pretty. Delicioso, si. Muy bonito, no.

I used a rotisserie chicken which made the filling even more flavorful. Served with light sour cream, salsa and jalapeños.

15 minutes in my oven was just perfect.

When our Mexican food cravings call and we don’t want to eat out, we will most definitely be making these again.

Gracias, {Our Best Bites & Peas and Crayons}!

Amyberto’s

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I grew up in San Diego.

Mexican food is everywhere. I would say that the original taco shop was Roberto’s.

Then there was Alberto’s.

Royberto’s.

Rayberto’s.

Adalberto’s.

Ronberto’s.

Juanberto’s.

Sombrero. El Cotixan. Cotijas.

There are gazillions.

I miss having them on every street corner. But I’m glad because I’m afraid I’d be driving through for 5 rolled tacos with guac or a carne asada or California burrito or better yet some carne asada nachos.

Yesterday I spotted this recipe for {Baked Chimichangas} on my friend, Leah’s blog. I knew we were going to have them this weekend! I was cheap and bought the tortillas that were on sale and they turned out to be too small for the chimichangas, so I sorta made fat taquitos or flautas instead.

They were delish and certainly satisfied the Mexican food craving, but were much healthier since they star ground turkey and fat free refried beans {I used Rosarita green chile & lime}. I also served lowfat sour cream and some avocado on the side. I did cheat and use the packaged Spanish rice….

Thanks for the recipe, Leah! Next time I’ll spend the extra money and get the BIG tortillas!

How ’bout them Packers!

Un{brie}lievably Amazing

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When we lived in San Diego {and before kiddos!} we’d go wine tasting in Temecula quite a bit.

There was always one stop we had to make, but it wasn’t for the wine…it was for the sourdough baked brie at Maurice Car’rie Winery.

Oh. My. Word.

Amazing!

Their wines are nothing to write home about, but we’d go in and taste while we waited for our garlicky brie goodness {it takes like 20-30 minutes after you place your order to get your bread!}

So, naturally I think of this deliciousness from time to time and did a little Google search to find a recipe that sounded just like what I remembered:

Baked Brie With Roasted Garlic

{I got the LAST triple cream brie at Trader Joe’s!}

{Fresh out of the oven}

{Then cut into wedges, serve and get weak in the knees!}

Please make this.

Please.