Chorizo, Bean and Cabbage Tacos / Tostada / Nachos

Occasionally I order from Chef's Plate or Goodfood which are meal delivery services. They provide easy to follow recipes and all the ingredients you need (except for things like salt, pepper and olive oil). I normally pick recipes that are things I wouldn't typically make or that have fun ingredients I wouldn't typically buy as to expand my cooking horizons. 

The following recipe is inspired from one of the dishes I got from them. To be honest, I don't think I ever made their exact version as it was vegetarian and Conor is usually against that. I happened to have some Chorizo sausage on hand when I went to cook this so I added it. We were not disappointed. 

Since the original recipe was vegetarian, this could easily be made back to being so by omitting the sausage! 

The original recipe was done on tostadas shells (flat crispy taco) and I've also made in soft tortilla wraps and in regular crunchy tacos. For left overs the next day, I normally eat it with a few tortilla chips so it makes me think this would be a very good nacho topping option as well! 

If you're looking to change up taco night, this recipe is for you! :) 

Ingredients

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced (or for convenience sake you can use half a bag of pre-shredded cabbage)

1 can of diced tomatoes (14 oz)

1/2 white or Spanish onion ,diced

1 tsp each of oregano, onion powder, cumin, chili powder

1 lbs Chorizo sausage (you want the raw soft kind… I use “Spanish Chorizo” from Selections by Compliments found in the regular meat section at Sobeys. Confusing because Spanish Chorizo is normally cured like a deli meat… and the raw crumbly stuff is normally Mexican Chorizo, but as long as you can cook it like a regular sausage it will work)

Toppings (optional, but suggested):

Lime

Avocado

Salsa

Radish

Cilantro

Cheddar cheese

12 corn tortillas or tacos or tostadas shells

Directions:

Cook chorizo in a large pan over medium-high heat breaking it down as you cook. Once browned (10-15 minutes) remove from pan. I don’t normally need to add any oil, but if the pan is dry add a little splash of olive oil. In the same pan used to cook the sausage, add onions and cook until translucent (4-5 minutes). Add can of tomatoes and it’s liquid. Cook for 10 minutes until liquid is mostly absorbed. Add sausage back. Add spices and mix. And cabbage and stirring frequently cook for 3-4 minutes while the cabbage wilts. Add beans and cook for 5 minutes.  The filling is done!

Heat your tortillas or tacos or tostada shells and top away!

Tex-Mex Lasagna

I've only ever had a few "Italian" lasagna's that I really liked, but I was oddly in the mood to make one tonight. When I started to google recipes, I came across Rachael Ray's Mexican Lasagna and decided tonight would be Mexican night, not Italian.

This can legit be ready in 30 minutes and is very delicious.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons EEVO
2 lb ground chicken breast
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tbs chili powder (I mixed chipotle and regular)
2 tbs cumin (her recipe calls for 2 tsp... I did tbs by accident and I'm not mad about it)
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 can beans (black beans, kidney beans, whatever you've got!)
1 cup medium or hot taco sauce
1 cup frozen corn kernels
8 (8 inch) flour tortillas, halved or quartered for easier placement (we used a mix of spinach flavour and tomato basil, because why not?)
2 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar

sour cream and green onions for topping

Preheat oven to 425. Heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the ground chicken. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the chicken is almost completely cooked. Add chili powder, cumin and red onion. Continue cooking for a minute or 2. Add taco sauce. Add beans and corn. Season with salt. Cook for another two minutes or until mixture is heated through (especially the beans and corn). 

Coat a shallow baking dish with the remain olive oil (approximately 1 tbs). Build lasagna in layers of meat mixture, cheese, tortilla and repeat. End with a layer of cheese on top of the last tortilla layer. Back for 12-15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. 

Black Bean, Corn and Chicken Quesadillas

Original recipe from this website. Their original version is vegetarian (with the possibility of becoming vegan with the removal of cheese).

I really like cheese, so there was no way I was omitting that. And I, at first, thought the quesadilla would be missing something without chicken. The addition of the chicken was wonderful, but I would still have eaten it without the chicken!

Ingredients: in order of appearance...
servings: two quesadillas
- 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels (thawed or slightly thawed)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1/3 chopped onion (purple or white, I used white)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (approximately 2 cloves)
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I used closer to 3/4 teaspoon... next time may even add 1 teaspoon)
- 1/3 cup black beans (from a can)
- 1/3 cup diced tomato
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- salt
- 2 flour tortillas (plain or whole wheat, original recipe says to use 8-inch tortillas, I used 'large' tortillas... I'm not sure how many inches they were)
2/3 cup cheddar cheese (this is the one ingredient I didn't measure because I love cheese and did not want to be limited)

If adding chicken to your quesadilla...
- 1/2 uncooked chicken breast, cut into small thin pieces (a whole chicken breast will work too, I just didn't want the quesadilla to get too full)
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- squeeze of lime juice

Instructions:
1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kernels begin to brown slightly (approximately 3-5 minutes); transfer to medium sized bowl.
3. Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, approximately 3 minutes.
4. Add garlic and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute; stir in beans and tomato and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
5. Return corn to the skillet and toss to combine for about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to empty bowl. Stir in lime juice and season with salt.
6. If using chicken... Mix chicken, chili powder, garlic, and lime juice in a bowl. Heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in original pan over medium heat. Add chicken to pan and cook until done, mixing around to cook all sides, approximately 5 minutes. Add to bowl with bean and corn mixture.
7. Carefully wipe out skillet with paper towels and return to medium heat. After hot, add 1 tortilla and toast until soft and puffed slightly at edges, approximately 2 minutes. Flip and do the same to the other side.
8. Remove first tortilla from skillet and replace second tortilla and repeat above step.
9. With the removed tortilla on a plate or clean surface, sprinkle shredded cheese and 1/2 the bean/corn/chicken mixture on half the tortilla, leaving 1/2-inch border around the edge. Top with a little more cheese and fold.
10. Put folded quesadilla in skillet over medium heat and allow to crisp. After about 1-2 minutes, carefully flip over to crisp the other side.
11. Cut and enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad

My favourite quinoa salad, by far! Found the recipe on pinterest and I instantly wanted to make it. I was home alone today and found out I had all the ingredients so thought why not! Its really flavourful and delicious. I didn't have any BBQ chicken laying around so I lit up the BBQ and cooked that up while the quinoa was cooking. I didn't have white cheddar, so I used normal cheddar. I only used half and avocado because I'm still working on my self to love avocado... I'm getting there!

I mixed in a little cheddar and BBQ sauce instead of just topping with it.

Very quick and easy to make!

Chili

Tonight I made chili. I looked at a few websites for recipe ideas, but didn't really use a recipe when I made it. I also didn't measure any of my ingredients because I did it by taste. The ingredients were: ground beef, onions, garlic, yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, corn, beer, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper.
First I cooked the beef and once that was basically done I added the onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic. Once those cooked for a bit I added chili powder, cumin, oregano and mixed it around. Then I tossed in about 2/3 of a beer that I found in my fridge and let that boil down a bit. Then I tossed in the beans (which were drained and rinsed first) and diced tomatoes. There was too much liquid at this point, so before adding the corn (which only needs to be heated up) I let it boil down for approximately 30 minutes. I tasted it and then added a little more of each of the spices to taste. I topped it off with some sour cream and some shredded cheddar cheese. It was pretty good! My housemate took a bite and then asked to have some herself! Definitely will make this again.