I LIVE MY LIFE IN THE GREY AREAS

Okay, so I'm about to try and catch up on a lot of your LJ comments (sorry in advance for the spamming to your inbox), but before then, I wanted to post about the meal justben and I just had.

You probably read my last post about cooking a whole chicken, yeah? Well, we're getting to the tail-end [so to speak] of those chicken bits, so we thought something simple to try and make would be burritos. We'd grabbed some tortillas and cheese yesterday, so we had that on hand, plus we had the aforementioned chicken, some onions, and rice [we considered beans as well, but decided to save that addition for a later date].

I was worried at first that I didn't seem to have a packet of 'taco seasoning' on hand, but after some net research, I found a recipe for it to make on our own [which was an awesome use of our massive spice collection, btw]. So, as justben made the rice, I made a big-ish batch of the homemade taco seasoning [so that I could put the rest in an empty spice jar for future use]. We then simmered the chicken, onions, some water, and the seasoning together and then, after the rice was done, assembled all the ingredients together into 4 big burritos [we really cooked way too much, but hey, leftovers!].

Back when I was at TahCha, we had several 'wrap' sandwiches that I had to make for customers, so I was able to not only use my l33t tortilla folding skillz, but when we made the wraps at work, we'd always finish them off by putting them in the pannini grill to seal and grill them slightly, so I put them in our George Forman-type grill to do the same. It was awesome!

Anyway, the burritos turned out very well and were so easy to make. I'm looking forward to experimenting with them more in the future with, say, beans or other meats. Yay!

Here is the taco seasoning mix I made. I quadrupled it to put in a spice jar, but if you use the amounts below that is good for what would usually be in a seasoning packet:

Homemade Taco Seasoning
[makes 2 2/3 - 3 TBSPs]

Ingredients:
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 1 teaspoon black pepper

Obviously you can tweak that to your [or your family's] heart's content, but it's a starting point. After that, you just add it to your cooked meat/beans/veggies/whatever with about 3/4 cup water [we needed more for the chicken, just use your judgment -- the water will mostly be absorbed by the seasoning and meat/beans], bring to a boil, and then simmer for at least 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

While laid out on the couch today, I caught the Rachael Ray daytime show. It had some good recipes that I wanted to put here before I forgot.

( Mediterranean Burgers With Fattoush Salad )
( White Bean Dip )
( Double Chicken Dumpling Stoup )

I just was watching an episode of Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals and wanted to put this recipe somewhere I could find it again. It looked really good, so I am going to have to try it sometime soon. Anyway...

Uptown Down-Home Chili

Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 pounds ground sirloin
2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning) a palm full
1/2 pound baby Portobello mushrooms, chopped
1/4 pound shiitake mushroom caps, sliced
1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped, with their juices or 1 generous palm full ground chipotle chili powder, about 2 tablespoons
1 tablespoon ground cumin, half a palm full
1 bottle imported beer (recommended: Stella Artois (...imported just 'cause we're Uptown and that's all they drink here.)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 cup beef stock (8-ounce box)
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
8-ounce piece smoked Gouda, shredded
1 small white onion, finely chopped

Heat a deep, large skillet or a pot over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and the meat. Season it with grill seasoning and sear it up, browning and crumbling it, for 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer meat to a plate and return pot to stove. Reduce heat to medium- high and add another tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Add the mushrooms and begin to brown them before adding the other veggies. After 2 or 3 minutes the mushrooms will begin to shirk and soften. Push the mushrooms off to one side of the pot and add all the remaining veggies to the opposite side of the pot surface. Once the onions, celery, peppers and garlic have been working for a few minutes as well, mix the veggies with the mushrooms. Add the meat back, season with Worcestershire sauce, chipotle in adobo or chipotle powder and cumin. Add in beer to deglaze the pot, scraping up all the pan drippings. Reduce the beer by half, about 2 minutes. Add the black beans, tomatoes, stock and thyme to chili and simmer 10 minutes for flavors to combine. Taste to adjust seasonings. Top bowls of the chili with shredded smoked Gouda and finely chopped raw onions.