Mama's Tacos and Tortilla Chips

This is the story I was told growing up that goes along with the recipe: Father Hairball was drafted into the Army in 1959 a few months after he and Mama Hairball were married. One of the places he and Mama Hairball lived during the Army years, was Germany. While there, Father and Mama Hairball befriended a young man of Hispanic heritage. The poor man was quite homesick for the tacos that his Mama used to make for him. He didn't cook, but had watched his Mama make them many times and thought he could instruct someone else to make them. A deal was soon struck that Mama Hairball would make the tacos for him in exchange for the recipe.

When Father and Mama Hairball returned to the states, Mama Hairball started making these tacos at gatherings. Everybody who had them was crazy about them. -Have you figured out yet that that my family likes to eat?

Mama's Tacos


I'm going to apologize in advance as this is one those recipes where I can't give exact measurements. Sorry!!

1 pound hamburger
18-20 corn tortillas
canola oil
spatula
paper towels
electric skillet or regular skillet ( if you have one skillet that is deeper than the others then please use that one!)
something lined with paper towels to hold the finished tacos

We will be using hot oil today so lets not emulate Sandra Lee and put on long flowing sleeves and let our hair down while making this, okay? I'm guessing on how many tacos I get out of a pound because I just pull out a stack of tortillas and whatever doesn't end up as tacos is fried up for chips. Tear off about five paper towels and use them to line your container for the finished tacos. If you don't have people coming into your kitchen and stealing them as soon as they are cool enough to handle, let them drain a bit, transfer them into an oven safe container, and keep in a low oven ~200F or so until you are ready to eat.


Divide your *raw* hamburger up into about 18-20 pieces. If you'd like to count I have 19 pieces in the bowl.


Then pat it out onto one half of your tortilla and repeat until you have used up all of your meat.


Add your oil to a large skillet until it is about 1/2 inch deep. Heat up your oil on medium high heat until a tortilla dropped into your oil sizzles and bubbles but the oil is not smoking. If your oil is smoking your heat is set too high so please turn it down. I'm making chips too so that's why the 'good sizzle' pic is of 1/4 of a tortilla.

Now **carefully** slide a tortilla into the hot oil meat side up and use your spatula to **carefully** flick some hot oil *away* from you onto the top of your tortilla. Let it fry for a few seconds and then **carefully** fold the side without meat on it over on the the meat side so it looks like wait for it....a taco. Once again **carefully** flick some oil on top of your taco or use your spatula to push it under the oil for a bit. Let the taco cook for a little while ( I know, I'm sorry!) and **carefully** flip it over and cook on the other side. When they are done, the edge of the meat will look dark reddish brown and the tortilla will be hard.


Here's a quick video I made that you may find helpful. Sadly, my inner Sandra Lee came out as I was addressing the taco. *blushes*


Cook as many at one time as your pan can handle and you feel safe attending to. Don't freak out if your tortilla tears or the meat falls out while cooking them. If you can get the meat back inside with your spatula do so and if not don't worry about it. Just fish it out and plop it on the tortilla it goes with in your holding area. Serve the tacos with whatever you like on your tacos.


Getting them open to put your preferred toppings on can be tricky. Mr. Hairball prefers to just break them open, put on some salt, sour cream, and taco sauce and replace the broken off piece, and turn it horizontal and eat it like a sandwich. If I'm careful, I can get them open enough to stuff in some cheese and whatever else looks good to me that day and eat them like people do normal tacos. It's up to you as to what method you prefer.


If you have any leftover tacos, reheat them on a sheet pan in a 350F degree oven for about 10 minutes. You know how ovens can vary so keep an eye on them so they don't burn! Open up the oven and if you hear sizzling, they are probably done.

Tortilla Chips
tortillas
skillet or electric skillet
hot oil
spatula
paper towels
sheet pan or other container




Take your tortillas and fold or tear them into quarters. (If you want to cut them so they look all pretty then knock yourself out.) ***Carefully*** add several chips to your oil and fry on each side for about a minute or so. Remove from oil with your spatula and place on your paper towel lined containment vessel.


I apologize that this picture is so blurry. Please just try to focus on the color of the chip for reference. Sprinkle your hot chips with salt, garlic salt, etc... if desired. Serve with salsa, guacamole, etc..

Enjoy!

Sandra Lee again...

I want to talk a little more about Sandra Lee and some of the reasons why she drives me bonkers.

Like most people, I do use convenience products in some of my recipes and even have some frozen rising crust pizza in my freezer right now. *the horror!* Does that make me a hypocrite? I don't think so because:

A) I never pretend that I made something from scratch when it's not. I'll tell you straight up that it's frozen pizza, I used store bought bread, etc... In other words, I don't try to "take all the credit" if I didn't do the work.

B) When I use a convenience product, I always try to use it in a logical manner. For instance I have a very simple beef brisket recipe from Mama Hairball where you sprinkle some powdered onion soup mix over the brisket, cover it with foil and bake it in the oven. I don't buy apple pies,
cheesecakes or canned frosting and then try to turn them into something else.

C)When Sandra Lee spouts off about how buying all those seasoning packets and mixes saves you money, I really see red. ( I'm not talking to those of you who live in double or triple coupon land and are skilled couponers/sale shoppers who routinely get stuff for free or almost free.) The average shopper is going to spend more money over time if they rely heavily on the boxes, mixes, and pouches versus learning to make their own. Sandra uses math that focuses exclusively on what she spends today instead of overall spending to make her point. Yes, a five pound bag of flour (when it's not a loss leader item) at the grocery store *will* cost more than a box of cake mix but, you can make a lot more than one cake with that five pounds of flour. One seasoning packet does cost less than five or six bottles of spices but, how many meals can you get out of those five or six bottles versus the seasoning packet??

How the food looks and tastes is much more important to me than "tablescapes" and redecorating my kitchen and myself to coordinate with the food. I think some fresh flowers and pretty plates are a lovely accent to a good meal but, "tablescapes" can never make up for a substandard meal.


My "tablescapes" are more on the order of asking Mr. Hairball to please take the mail off the table and scoot the lamp down to the end so we have room to eat. In other words no chairs on the table!



Lastly, her unrestrained glee over her cocktails is just disturbing to me. She never thinks that some of her adult guests might want an nonalcoholic beverage instead of her drunken delights.

Mama's Enchiladas

No pics yet for the following recipes.

Mama's Red Enchiladas

2 lbs hamburger
2 19oz cans mild red enchilada sauce or the homemade equivalent
1 lb grated sharp cheddar cheese
6-8 tortillas
garlic powder
onion powder

Brown hamburger and garlic and season as desired with onion powder and garlic powder. ( Feel free to use real garlic and onion here. Mama Hairball was feeding some picky folks who didn't like the texture of onion and garlic in their food!) Drain hamburger and set aside. In a large baking dish,(9x13 or so) tear up the corn tortillas into quarters and put half in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover the tortillas with 1/2 the hamburger and 1/2 the cheese. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and hamburger but not the cheese. Pour the enchilada sauce over the layers in the bakng pan and top with the remaining cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Mama's Green Enchiladas

This is comfort food for me so no cracks about the Velveeta and canned soup please!

2 lbs hamburger
2 lbs Velveeta
1 lb grated sharp cheddar
1 10.75 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
1 5 oz can of evaporated milk
1 4 oz jar of pimentos
2 4.5 oz cans of green chiles
6-8 corn tortillas
Garlic powder and onion* See above recipe

Brown hamburger and season as desired with onion powder and garlic powder. Drain hamburger and set aside. Cut up 2/3rds of the Velveeta into cubes and place in top of a double boiler with the cream of mushroom soup and evaporated milk and stir and let melt until smooth. Then add pimentos and green chiles and stir well.(This was written before microwaves were common so you could do this part in the microwave just watch it carefully.)In a large baking dish (9x13 or so) tear up the corn tortillas into quarters and put half in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover the tortillas with 1/2 the hamburger and 1/2 the sharp cheese. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, hamburger and the sharp cheese. Carefully pour the melted cheese mixture on top of the layers in the baking pan. Cover baking pan with aluminum foil and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Bacon on my mind....

After reading 50sgal's post about making pancakes with bacon fat, I've had bacon on the brain.

Part of that was because I knew I didn't have any more squirreled away in the little freezer and was reminding myself to be sure and get out some cash to buy bacon. I do most of the shopping but, Mr. Hairball is usually the one who buys our bacon and hamburger from the local university. Most of the year, they have a store in town open on Friday afternoons that is near his office so it's very convenient for him to go by there. The bad part is that they don't carry the full line at the store in town so depending on what you wanted to buy, you may have to drive out to their lab.

Mr. Hairball checked his email on Thursday and had a email from them reminding their customers that the in-town store will not reopen until the 23rd but, the store out at their lab would be open. We drove out to the lab planning to only buy bacon as we still have several pounds of hamburger in the freezer. After we were warmly welcomed, we were told there had been a run that day on bacon and they only had one package of maple flavored pork bacon and one package of beef bacon left. NOOOOOOOOOO!!! They promised me they would have more available on the 16th. We were told that the beef bacon is lower in saturated fat than the pork, and most customers who try it prefer it to the pork bacon. We decided to go ahead and try the beef bacon as neither of us likes maple bacon. I decided to go ahead and get some flank steak as well. ( I'll make some braciole with it.)

So on Saturday Mr. Hairball made breakfast as usual and served me some of the beef bacon. It was really good so now I have to decide if we should switch to the beef since it's quite tasty and better for us, or stick with the pork bacon. It should be noted that the beef bacon is only available out at the lab so it's not as convenient since one of us would have to make a special trip to buy it. I need to decide by Friday as I'll be going back out there to get some bacon and I'll probably splurge and get some pork tenderloin as I saw a recipe back in November that I wanted to try. Now if I can only find that magazine....

We watched an episode of Iron Chef American Sunday night and the secret ingredient was BACON! Can you say spooky??

I received a ginormous early birthday package from Mama Hairball on Friday. Inside was a bread machine to replace mine that sadly went to breadmaker heaven after 14 years. She had mentioned to a friend of hers that I wanted one to replace my dead one and her friend said she had one that had only been used a few times and would be happy to have it go to someone who would use it. Mama Hairball asked if I would mind if it was used and I chuckled and said that it was not a problem as Mr. Hairball and I love great deals on used stuff and free is a very good price!

I tried it out on Sunday by making a simple cheddar cheese bread and so far so good. The real test is seeing if it can stand up to making 100% whole wheat or mostly whole wheat bread. That's what finally killed my old one off!

Enough rambling for now. Have a good day everyone!

It's alive!!

I'm about 95% well right now and feeling extremely grateful that I can drink something *and* breathe through my nose!

I'm still playing catch-up today as I just haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. In between catching up on my blog reading, I've done some dishes, several loads of laundry, packaged up some mozzarella and smoked sausage for the freezer, organized my coupons and finished my shopping list for tomorrow. We are having unseasonably warm weather today so I have the windows open and the cats and I are enjoying the fresh air.


I need to go and check if the romaine lettuce I have in the fridge is still good. If so, I'll make Rosie Hawthorne's Caesar salad to go with the leftover spaghetti sauce that I pulled out of the freezer yesterday. (Mr. Hairball and myself do not fall into any of the risk groups so we are okay with the small risk of eating raw or almost raw eggs.) I've got some leftover french bread hanging out in the fridge so I'll make some garlic bread to go with it.

Mr. Hairball has requested that I make him a chocolate cake sometime during the next few days. I thought I remembered where the source was for this recipe but, I can't find it right now.

Mr. Hairball's Favorite Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 350F.

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 TB baking powder
1 TB instant coffee crystals
2/3 cup Dutched process cocoa
3 cups bleached AP flour
1 1/4 cups milk

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, coffee crystals, and salt. Beat at medium speed until combined. Add the baking powder, flour, cocoa, and milk. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Pour into two greased and floured layer pans or one greased and floured 9x13 sheet pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes for the layer pans or 35-40 minutes for a 9x13 pan.

Do not pull a Sandy and put canned frosting on this cake. I will come and haunt you when I die!!

Frosting
6 TBS Dutched process cocoa
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
6 TBS or 3/8 cup softened butter
1 1/2 tsps instant coffee crystals
3-4 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything together on lowest speed until combined. Turn mixer to highest speed and whip until fluffy. Frost cooled cake.

Well, I'm still with the living!!

Hope I didn't worry anyone by not posting for so long. I just haven't felt like posting lately as my hobbies have been coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose. I'm getting better so hopefully I'll soon be posting on a more regular basis. Take care everyone!

I don't feel so good...

Forgive my ramblings, I'm not all here right now....
I have come down with the icky crap that is going around Hairballville. I woke up with this mess on New Years Day thinking that if I just got a good night's sleep I could get rid of it as that works for me about 80% of the time. I've been having trouble sleeping all week which is not helping the situation at all!

I decided that no matter what, I was going shopping this afternoon as there were some sales I wanted to take advantage of that end Saturday night. (I'd rather poke needles in my eyes than endure going to the store on a Saturday afternoon as it's just too darn loud and crowded for me!!) I encountered a young man in the dairy section who sounded all snorty, sneezy and congested just like me. (I call that the attack of the bad elves!)By the time I was finished shopping I felt pretty awful. Ugh!

I'm seriously considering taking some NyQuil-like stuff just to get some serious sleep. The problem is I'm one of those who is sensitive to meds so even a 1/4 of a regular dose has me stumbling around and bumping into walls when I need to get up to use the bathroom. I'm a *horrible* patient and I'm always getting out of bed to do stuff which drives Mr. Hairball batty as he tries to take care of me. *grumble grumble*

Hope everybody else that has this gets well ASAP as this stuff really bites! I'm going to finish my tea and try again to get some sleep.

Shoppin' at the Ultra-Super-Duper-Gigantico-MegaMart

Mama Hairball sent us a generous gift card for Christmas this year. [Sandra Lee] Whoot!! [/Sandra Lee] We opened it a week before Christmas and decided to wait till now to go shopping as being surrounded by stressed out Christmas shoppers puts both of us in a really bad mood.

So today we had a late lunch/early dinner at a local deli, returned books to the library, updated our car registration with our new address, and went to the Ultra-Super-Duper-Gigantico-MegaMart (USDGMM). Hells bells, if it was that busy when we arrived today at the USDGMM, did we narrowly miss something like this!?!




So we grabbed a cart, did our stretches and jumped into the fray. So what exciting things did we buy today? We bought some candy canes that were on clearance, a lamp, a lampshade, one of those things that turns on lights when it gets dark, a ceramic crock and stand for bottled water, a plastic storage container, a silicone BBQ brush, a plug in LED light strip for under the kitchen counter, and a bathroom shelving unit. We had a few other things in mind that we were unable to find at our local USDGMM. We talked about maybe going across town to the other USDGMM but, an old injury of mine was starting to hurt so we decided to call it quits for the day.

Tomorrow I'll make some spaghetti and if you are interested in more details about that, then skip down to the last paragragh of this earlier post. *smacks head* In reading over the post I am linking to, I realized that I should be more specific about the garlic bread. Please don't put any almond paste, ricotta cheese, or bizarre extracts on your bread! *grins*

The shrikes are chuckling right now and the rest of you are scratching your heads. Have a good week!!

The day after Christmas

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a wonderful day yesterday!

I did end up including celery in the dressing and Mr. Hairball said it was good. I decided not to put the dressing in the crock pot as I was looking forward to that nice crunchiness that the top layer gets in the oven. I should have put a little more broth on it though since I included some leftover cornbread I had saved in the freezer and decided to go ahead and bake it in the oven. Since I only have one oven, I had to wait till the turkey came out and baked the dressing while the turkey rested. I normally let the turkey rest about 30 minutes as I get everything else finished/plated/reheated. Yesterday it took me a little longer to get everything done, so the turkey ended up resting for about 45 minutes. Mr. Hairball said it was the best turkey he ever had and didn't even want any gravy on it! The man loves his gravy so this was truly stunning news. So from now on I'm going to let the turkey rest that long. It was very moist and juicy so I must have done something right! :)

Here's the link to my original post in case you have no idea what I am talking about

Prepping for Christmas dinner

I'm getting a late start today on cooking as I'm feeling a little under the weather. My throat is feeling kinda sore and scratchy right now. I really hope I don't wake up sick tomorrow! Anyway, today I will :

make a pumpkin pie
start the bread
make the cornbread for the dressing
make the cranberry orange relish
check to see that the turkey is defrosting okay and isn't leaking all over the refrigerator

I forgot to say that I altered the dressing recipe to include celery like in the original recipe. Let's see if Mr. Hairball objects! He's very picky about what cooked vegetables he will eat. Sometimes I just make whatever vegetable I want and he eats his usual salad. I have to remind myself to include salad on the menus I write out as we usually have a big container all washed and ready to go in the refrigerator. Because of that, I don't think about it as something I need to prepare for a certain meal so I forget to include it.

My MIL sent us an Aerogarden for Christmas so we will be eating more fresh herbs in the coming year. I'm excited as I usually just use dried as not having a garden means that we have to buy any fresh herbs and that quickly gets expensive!

Here's the post where I discuss Christmas dinner if you want more details about the menu- clicky