Noah's Fried Chicken Burritos

Isn't my Noah so cute?  This was his idea for a meal to have, and it was a hit around here, as most burrito recipes are, and when we fry things, people like them even better :).  I did the same thing as these chicken nuggets, just altering the spices and cutting the chicken up smaller.  We all gave this a 9, and the calories per burrito were about 450.  Here's the easy recipe:

oil for frying
12 oz chicken tenders, cut into small bite size pieces and seasoned

1/4 c flour
1 t chili powder
1 t garlic salt
1 t onion powder
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t coriander
pinch of baking soda
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg
1/2 c buttermilk

1/2 c bread crumbs
seasonings to taste (spices, salt and pepper)

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  In one bowl mix together the flour and seasonings, the next bowl mix together the egg and buttermilk, and in the third bowl mix together the bread crumbs and additional seasonings.  Dredge the chicken in the first bowl, then the second, then finally the third.  Drop the nuggets into the hot oil, and fry until golden brown.  These cook very quickly, so just get them brown and serve them.  We like our burritos with refried beans, cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, cheese, and of course salsa :).

Carne Asada Cheese Tacos

So I found this recipe a long time ago on foodnetwork.com, and we just got around to trying it recently, and I wish I had tried it a lot sooner!  These tacos were amazing, not so much the carne asada, but the actual shells.  They are made out of cheese!  Yes, lots of exclamation points :), but I got really excited about these things.  Here's where you can find the recipe from Marcela Valladolid, and for each taco, the calories were 366, with 10 tacos made.  I'll be making these tacos again, just cooking the cheese, adding the ingredients inside, then flipping the cheese over makes a great taco, and I love it.  These were a perfect 10 from us, and so delicious.

The Border Cookbook's Goat Cheese Tacos

So I loved these goat cheese tacos, but the rest of the family didn't love them as much as I did.  Oh well, they are so tasty and fresh, I love me some goat cheese!  These are fairly simple to make, and with the pico de gallo and avocado, these are healthy and vegetarian too :).  Maybe that's why Aaron didn't like them as well :).  Anyway, Aaron and Owen gave these a 7, Noah gave them an 8, and I gave them a 9.  Each taco was 312 calories, and I found this recipe in The Border Cookbook.  Here's what to do:

8 flour tortillas
4 oz creamy goat cheese at room temperature
1 c refried beans, warmed
4 oz Monterey Jack cheese

avocado/guacamole
pico de gallo

Spread each tortilla with goat cheese, refried beans, and Monterey Jack cheese.  Cook them in the oven or in a pan until melted through.  Top with avocado and pico de gallo, and more jalapenos if desired.  Serve.

Yammie's Noshery Chipotle Chicken Bacon Tacos

So although the boys didn't love these, they only gave them an 8 because of the spice, Aaron and I loved these.  We gave them a 9, and they are so great.  As you can see from the picture, we didn't use flat bread the way the recipe suggested, we just used tortillas, and I made my guacamole the way I like to rather than following the recipe.  Otherwise I followed this recipe exactly.  Each taco was kind of high in calories, about 490 a taco, but they were worth it.  Try this, it's so good!

Picky Palate's Tilapia Tacos with Cilantro Cream

Picky Palate came up with this recipe, and it is fast, easy, and healthy.  The recipe comes together in about 15 minutes from start to finish, and it is super tasty.  The cilantro cream is good, and the fish is light and easy.  We all gave this a 9, and the calories per taco are only 197, and it makes 10 tacos.  I think we needed more spice rub for the fish, but it was alright the way the recipe stated it.  Here is the recipe:

1 t olive oil
1 T plus 1/2 t lime juice
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t salt, divided
1/4 t garlic salt
4 tilapia filets
4 oz sour cream
1/2 c chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 t Tabasaco
10 corn tortillas
2 c shredded cabbage
2 large avocados, peeled and diced

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 T of the lime juice and swirl to coat the pan.  Add the cumin, 1/8 t of the salt and the garlic salt to a small bowl, mix to combine, and rub over both sides of the tilapia filets.  Cook the fillets through, the remove and cut it into bite size pieces.  To make the sauce, add the sour cream, cilnatro, Tabasco, and 1/2 t lime juice and 1/8 t salt.  Stir to combine, then serve with the fish and cabbage and avocados.

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Pork

We had this Creamy Black Bean Salsa Pork the other night, but if you follow that link, you'll see it's supposed to be chicken.  Either way, this turned out really well, and everyone liked it.  I think it got 8's all around.  We made at least 16 servings out of this, and the calories are 85/serving.  I'll post the recipe the way I made it, it really is great for nachos and tacos.

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Pork

2-3 lb pork loin
2 cans kidney beans (or any beans you want)
1 can cream style corn
1 packet taco seasoning
1/2 c chicken broth
1 c salsa (I used homemade)
4 oz (a little less) cream cheese

whatever you want to serve it with

Place pork and all other ingredients except cream cheese in crockpot.  Cook most of the day on low.  1/2 hour before serving, stir in the cream cheese and let the crockpot cook on high with the lid off.  If desired, thicken the sauce with cornstarch and water and let cook on high with the lid off.  Serve.

Super easy and delicious!

Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

We found this recipe for Spicy Pulled Pork in the Pioneer Woman's 2nd cookbook, and it is also on her website.  I cooked it in the crockpot, so the directions I posted are just a little different, but if you want to make it on the stove, just click on the link.  We all gave this a 9, it's great, has some kick, and sweetness too, and it tasted great.  The calories for 1/10 of the total are 222.


1 whole Large Onion
1 whole Pork Shoulder ("pork Butt") - 5 To 7 Pounds
Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 can (7 oz) Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce
2 12 oz cans Dr. Pepper
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of a large crockpot.
Generously salt and pepper the pork roast, then set it on top of the onions in the pan.
Pour the can of chipotle peppers over the pork (include the sauce.) Pour in both cans of Dr Pepper. Add brown sugar to the juice and stir in.
Place lid tightly on pot, then cook all day. Cook for at least six hours, turning roast two or three times during the cooking process. Check meat after six hours; it should be absolutely falling apart (use two forks to test.) If it's not falling apart, continue cooking.
Shred the meat and return it to the sauce.  Serve. 

We made burritos out of this and they were awesome.  We are now done with pork for the time being :)

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken Tacos

Today we had Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken and made them into tacos.  These were good, but not fabulous.  The calories were 235 for 1/6 of the total, which is a very generous portion.  I used creamed corn and homemade salsa in this, and we used kidney beans rather than black beans.  We gave them 6-7 stars.  Being in Mexico limits how much we can post, but hopefully this will work!  Tomorrow we're having a Greek Couscous salad from Ourbestbites.com.