On Daytime Tri-Cities, I shared an old family favorite, plus one that will soon be! First, here’s my simple recipe for Taco Meat. Once made, you can use it in so many ways…tacos, burritos, nachos, taco salad…..at our house, here’s two of our tricks: For tacos, we take a flour tortilla, spread it with refried beans, and wrap it around our crunchy corn taco. This way our crunchy taco does break apart in our hands as we eat it, and we can use any pre-broken shells easily. Our second trick is taco pizzas, where you use a flour tortilla base, spread with refried beans and taco meat, sprinkled with cheese. warm it in an oven until tortilla is browned and cheese melted. Cut into wedges and top with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, salsa….whatever you like.
Taco Meat
2 lbs of cooked ground beef, drained, and rewarm in skillet. On top of meat, sprinkle 2 Tbsp of chili powder, 1 tbsp of cumin, 3 small packets of Goya Sazon, a health sprinkle each of Badia Complete Seasoning, garlic powder, and Goya Adobo. Pour about 1/2 cup of water on top and stir until all spiced evenly mixed. Let water simmer out.
Confetti Beans
Another simple dish is this side dish you can serve cold. It’s also great for vegans!
Take your favorite canned beans…I choose black beans and pinto beans with jalapeno…drain them, and place into bowl. Add cooked fresh corn, fresh chopped tomato, several tablespoons of fresh lime juice, chopped cilantro and salt and pepper, all to taste. Stir it up and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Coco-Banana Topping
This is seriously delicious! And quick and easy. It will take you longer to cut the fruit than to make the sauce. I use fresh fruit and fresh juices in this, not canned. The name? Well, I was thinking of something tropical, like the famous Copacabana Beach…and came up with Coco-Banana! Call it whatever you want, but you’ll call it amazing!
In a skillet, heat together 3 tbsp of unsalted butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar. Add 3 tbsp each of pineapple juice, lime juice, and rum. Add several good squirts (or 2 tbsp) of cream of coconut. Add about 1/2 to 2/3 cup each of chopped mango, pineapple and banana, adding the banana last. Sprinkle sauce with a little cinnamon and stir in. Remove sauce from heat and let cool slightly. Serve warm over vanilla ice cream, garnished with toasted coconut and cinnamon sugar tortilla chips. (Tortilla spread on one side with butter, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, cut into wedges and toasted until brown.)
