Tacos Anyone?

 Home Made Taco Seasoning

Don't buy the pre-packaged taco seasoning. If you make your own at home you know exactly what you are putting in your recipe. A single recipe of this taco seasoning mix works exactly the same as the pre-packaged stuff. Brown one pound of meat and add this mixture along with 1 cup of water and cook the water off to get great taco meat. Works with ground chicken, turkey or beef.

1 tbsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

I found a recipe today for taco chili that I think I will try. I will let you know how it turns out. I have adjusted it to suit my taste but the original recipe was listed in the recipes section of the Whole Foods Market website.

Taco Chili

1 pound of lean ground turkey or chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons taco seasoning

2 cups low-sodium organic chicken broth
1 large zucchini or summer squash, cut into small cubes
1 (15-ounce) can organic black beans

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 cup frozen corn kernels or 1 can corn kernels

1 cup medium salsa 

Brown meat and set aside. Saute onion and garlic until translucent. Add meat back into pot and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.

Update:
We tried this recipe last night and it was great. The only change I made was substituting canned stewed tomatoes instead of the diced tomatoes. The kids thought it was a bit spicy so I'll probably put less cayenne in the taco seasoning next time. I simmered it until most of the chicken stock had cooked off and then it had wonderful flavour.

Go To Lunch Recipes

Here are a couple of my go-to lunch recipes for when we want to eat healthy. My husband could eat these everyday without complaint. We originally got this bean salad recipe from Dr. Ardis Krueger, a naturopathic doctor.


Bean Salad

1 can organic black beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn
1 cucumber diced, peeled if not organic
1 red or yellow pepper, diced
1/4 of small red onion
1 tomato, diced
1 tbsp. parsley, chopped

Dressing
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced

Vegetable Soup

Excellent if made ahead and frozen in single serving portions. We like to freeze it in mason jars, makes it easy to reheat in a glass dish and avoid plastic in the microwave. Recipe easily doubles, you just need a nice big stock pot. This recipe is adapted from an Everyday Food recipe.

2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup diced celery
2 tsp. italian seasoning
course salt and ground pepper, to taste
3 cans (14.5 oz each) organic chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice (28 oz)
1 tbsp. tomato paste
4-6 cups of mixed vegetables (frozen corn, diced carrots, frozen peas, diced zucchini, potatoes, green beans, quantity depends on how thick you like your soup)
1/2 cup small noodles, optional

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot, add onion, celery and italian seasoning. Cook until translucent.
2. Add broth, tomatoes and their juice, tomato paste and 3 cups of water (for richer flavour broth may be substituted - use 2 litres of broth total instead of broth/water mix). Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered.
3. Add vegetables to the pot and return to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. If adding noodles, add just before final 20 minute simmer. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Cool before storing.

A New Way to Eat Salmon!

With fishing season almost over and our deep freeze loaded with salmon fillets it is time to get creative with salmon. We make our fish cakes with sole normally but with so much salmon to eat I thought I would try it. This recipe is a modified version of a Barefoot Contessa recipe from her TV show.

The mayo and bread crumbs aren't really diet friendly but it is needed for flavour. I used Spectrum mayonnaise and cut the normal amount by half. I used Panko (japanese bread crumbs) because they are my favourite. Old Bay Seasoning was tricky to find in Canada so I ended up buying it in the US the last time we went. If you can't find Old Bay Seasoning I think some celery salt and ground bay leaves would add some of the flavour. For a better substitute google "old bay seasoning substitute" and you could make your own version.

Salmon Cakes

Cook approx. 1/2 lb. salmon fillet at 350 to 400 degrees for 20 minutes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Adjust time according to thickness. When done pull the pin bones and then break into chunks. Let cool.

Finely dice and saute:
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 red pepper
2 - 3 celery stalks
1/2 small onion
After  veggies have softened let them cool.

Combine the salmon and veggies with:
1 egg
3 tbsp. mayonnaise
2 tsp. Dijon
A couple shakes of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 tsp. dill
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

If you like things spicy you could add some hot sauce as well.

Form into small patties, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup each and coat with more Panko. Oil a sheet pan covered in foil and place patties on pan. Spray the tops with olive oil spray so they brown slightly. Place in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Turning once half way through.

I eyeballed a lot of the measurements. You just need the consistency of the fish mixture to stick together when making patties. If the patties are not holding together you probably need more mayonnaise.

Sunday is Pancake Day!

My kids love pancakes and on our quest to remove most of the wheat from our diet I have been doing a little research and experimentation. Today we tried spelt pancakes for the first time and they were delicious. I found a great recipe on ourbigearth.com that uses whole grain spelt flour. I added fresh blueberries to the mix and everyone loved them. It is great to have found a recipe that can easily replace the Finnish pancakes I have been making for the last 12 years. I will need to make a double batch though to make enough for everyone.

Spelt Pancakes
1 1/4 cups stone ground spelt flour
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
2 tsp. cooking oil
1 tsp. oil

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside. Combine the wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients all at once. Stir until just combined, batter will be lumpy. Add more milk to thin if desired. Cook on a lightly greased skillet or griddle. Add fruit to batter if desired.

My husband now has requested spelt pizza dough. Since I only made fresh pizza dough for the first time a couple of weeks ago that may be a challenge. I need to find a good recipe that will freeze well. Making pizza dough is time consuming!