Non "Taco Seasoning" Tacos... or how to lower your blood pressure.

As some of you know, I have low level high blood pressure.  It's partially geneitc, since a good deal of my mom's side of the family have some sort of the heart condition.  But it's probably because I like food too much and don't have a lot of willpower.  I take meds to keep it under control, but the doctor says to stay away from excess salt.  Too much of it and my heart gets the nice, tight, warm hug of excess water retention.  You'll notice in most of my recipes that I don't add excessive amounts of salt, and if I do call for salt, it's just enough to bring out the other flavors.  It's why I use garlic powder and not garlic salt, onion powder and not onion salt.  In most cases, it's extra salt that's just not necessary.

Now I'm not perfect.  There are times I just need something salty like pretzels or one of those giant kosher dill pickles.  But I try to counteract it by drinking a quart or two of water to flush out the salt.  And I'll do my best to avoid excess salt when I can. You really want to scare yourself, read a few of the labels of the instant noodle dinners in the asian aisle.  Almost an entire day's worth of salt in one small lunch portion.  Does it really need that much salt just to taste good?  And don't look at most of the pre-prepared items in the frozen food section.  Sodium as far as the eye can see.

Another group of perpetrators are the seasoning packets in the spices aisle at the store.  While the seasonings are perfectly porportions, take a look at the nutrition labels next time.  The basic taco seasoning in most stores has at least 450mg of salt in there, 1/4 of your recommended daily intake.  You're bound to find salt as the first, second or third  item on the list.  Some even throw sugar in there as well.  Now 450mg does sound like much for a taco, but add the salt in the cheese, the salsa, the tortilla, and any other condiments (olives, canned chiles or jalepeno, etc) and a single taco is way over half your salt intake for the entire day.  Oh, and that doesn't include the salt in the chips and salsa or the rice and beans you may serve as well.

I love tacos.  I could eat tacos all day.  But with the extra salt form the seasoning packets, I'd swell up to the point where people would tie strings to my arms and legs and enter me in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! So in an effort to still eat a lot of mexican food and not gain 2 pounds of water weight, I reversed engineered a few taco seasonings down to what I like.  Someone asked me if that was more expensive to make your own than to buy the packets.  If you're buying the big bottles of regular spices in the grocery stores, then yes, it may be in the short term.  But I've found that there are few groceries stores (Winco, Sunflower Market and others depending on where you live) that sell spices per pound.  For example, 4 ounces of chili powder in a bottle can be as much as $5.00.  If you buy it in bulk at Winco, it's 75 cents.  So buy your spices in bulk and use them to refill your old bottles.

This recipe works well with beef or chicken and should only dirty one pan in the process.   

Tacos

Serves 4

1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef or cubed chicken breast
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons dried onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce (Cholulu, Tapatia, or whatever you like)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup water

Brown the ground beef or completely cook all of the chicken in a large pan over medium to medium high heat.  In a small glass or container, add all of the spices to the water and stir until well blended.  Pour the
spice mixture over the meat and fild in until it has covered all the meet evenly.  Continue to cook, allowing the liquid to evaporate.  When the majority of the liquid is gone, remove the meat from the heat and serve immediately. Garnish with whatever you like; lettuce, cheese, onions, tomatoes, jalepenos, olives, taco sauce, salsa, and for the weird ones, ketchup (ewwww).

As I've stated in the other Mexican recipes, if you can get fresh tortillas from a Latin market, they'll taste great.  If not, go for the uncooked variety and cook them yourself.  It's worth the work. And add a side dish or two, like the Spanish Rice I have posted previously.

So try to create your own spice mixture and avoid the salt-ridden spice packets.  Your heart will thank you for it.

Quick Curry Chicken for people who don't like Curry

Everyone's palette is different.  Some people think that a filet mignon smothered in sauteed mushrooms is a godsend.  Others think an anchovy pizza is manna from Heaven  Some people love Indian food, some people don't.  The combinations of the Asian spices with the occasional heat is one of my favorite things.  I could eat Indian or Thai food every day.  But the taste can be very foreign, scary or intimidating.  Some people are downright scared to try it.

And when you're trying to convince someone to try, and possibly like, a new style of food, the last thing you want is a bad experience.  I took a few of my Seattle coworkers to the wonderful world of Indian food.  Everything tasted great, but the problem was the heat sensitivity of that day's cook.  I think he could have eaten a habenero pepper raw because the curry he served could have stripped paint off a ship's hull.  Needless to say, the coworkers decided that Indian was not for them and I didn't have any willing lunch partners for a while.

So now I use this recipe to introduce people to curry.  It's a little tamer than most, but it still has a large amount of flavor.  The only heat comes from the curry spice and the creaminess can make any level of natural heat tamer.  And it has enough liquid leftover that when you pour it over rice, it will soak into the grains... yum...  Now if you want to heat this up a bit, you can do it a couple different ways.  Basic red pepper flakes added with the other spices will add just heat.  If you want a better taste, add either sambal oolek or srirachi.  Sambal oolek is the chunkier crushed pepper paste that come in the clear containers with the green twist-on lids in the asian section of your grocery store. It's a combination of peppers, garlic, ginger, lime, and a little lemongrass.  I prefer this option myself.  Srirachi is that tall squeezable bottle of asian red hot sauce.  The most popular brand has a rooster on the front. It's mostly pureed peppers, garlic, and vinegar and I'll occasionally drizzle this over Teriyaki Chicken (recipe coming soon).  One other note, you really want to use a high quality chicken broth for the base.  I have used generic before and the flavor just flattens out.

If you're serving rice with this, get the rice to a boil and then start the Curry.  The 20 minutes it'll take the rice to cook will be just long enough to prepare the curry.  And everything cooks in one pan, so there's not many dishes to do.

Creamy Curry Chicken

Serves 4

14 oz chicken broth

8 ounces whipping cream

6 ounces plain greek style yogurt

2 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups julienned carrots

1/2 onion, sliced into moon shapes
Any other veggie you would like, like red or green peppers, asparagus, small bits of potatoes, etc.

1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized chunks
Red pepper flakes, srirachi or sambal oolek to taste (if you want some heat)

In a large saute pan, combine the chicken broth, whipping cream, yogurt and spices and cook over medium high heat until almost boiling.  Add the sliced carrots, onions, and any other hearty veggies you want and cook for 6-7 minutes, allowing it to get to a light boil.  Add the chicken and any tender vegetables you want and cook for another 6-7 minutes.  Remove from heat and serve over rice.

What I like best is the smell left in the kitchen when everything is done.  That sweet spicy aroma will linger for a couple hours.  And when you're done, hopefully you have a few more converts to Indian food. 

Fried Rice and visits to Teppanyaki restaurants

In Salt Lake City, we're seeing a surge of new teppanyaki-style restaurants.  Sure, Benihana has been around for years, but now it seems that every major shopping center has one.  There's Last Samurai, Tepanyaki, T-Koyo, Katana, and on and on and on.  And most of the ones I've tried are pretty good... but it all depends on the chefs.  Half of a Japanese steak house's success is based on their showmanship.

They've got to do all the standards... light the oil on the grill so the fireball makes you touch your eyebrows, just to make sure they're still there.   They have to spin the spatula and knife around the air like a circus juggler.  They've got to spin the egg on the grill, then bounce it into the air and bring it down  on the edge of the spatula, cracking it open in one fail swoop.  Then there's the Onion Volcano and the Shrimp Flip.  For some reason, most of them think I need more than one shrimp thrown at me.  I guess having a few extra pounds is good for something.  And for some reason, I'm pretty good at catching them.  Maybe it's because I get more practice because I get more shrimp because I have a few extra pounds.  And then by getting more shrimp, I get even a few more pounds and then am forced to catch more shrimp, therefore getting more practice...  It's a vicious circle...

Anyway, the theatrics are great, but at the end of the day, the food has to be prepared well.

And one thing I've noticed about the good ones is that every aspect is good.  The soup is flavorful and not just water with a few onions and mushrooms.  The salad is refreshing.  And the fried rice is great.  Now have you paid attention how long it takes to make it?  And how few ingredients there are?  It's just rice, egg, sometimes a few veggies and some soy sauce.  In 5 minutes, they can create a really great side dish on one open grill.

Now we don't have a 4' x 6' grill in our houses with multiple seats around it (and if you do, please invite me over), so we have to deal with it on our little stovetops.  And we can make fried rice that's just as good.  The prep can take a little time, but the actual cook time is relatively short.  To make it a main dish, you can add a little more protein and be fine.  I like to add some ham.  I'll go to the deli counter at the grocery store and ask them to cut an 1/8 inch slab off of the deli ham, then dice it up to the size I want.  But you can use any ham you have access to.  As for the rice, the rice won't be as sticky if you can cook it a day ahead of time, put it in the fridge and pull it out right before you cook the rest of the ingredients.  If not, no worries, cook it right before you prepare the other ingredients and have it cool in a bowl while you cook everything else. This recipe cooks quickly and over high heat, so make sure you have everything prepped and ready to go before you start.

The best part:  This all cooks in one pan.  So beside the little bowls for each component, there are very few dishes.

Ham Fried Rice

Serves 4-6

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots

1/8 cup water

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 to 1 cup diced ham (your preference)

2 more tablespoons oil
3 cups cooked rice
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Put the ham, veggies, eggs and rice into separate bowls.  Have a bowl or plate for the finished dish ready as well.  Make sure you beat the eggs before you start cooking.  Place a large saute pan or a wok over medium high heat.  Once it's fully heated, spray it with non-stick spray and immediately add the beaten eggs.  Spin the pan around the burner so the eggs come up the side a little bit.  Then start scraping them off the sides and keep them moving until they are cooked, which should only take 30 seconds. Dump them out of the cooking vessel and into the finished meal bowl.  Next pour the water into the pan and add the frozen peas and carrots.  The water will steam, helping the veggies to cook as well.  After about two minutes, the water will steam off and help the veggies warm up.  Dump the carrots and peas onto the finished plate.  Next add the single tablespoon of oil, then the ham to the pan and cook for about a minute an a half.  It's long enough to warm the ham and leave some of that ham juice in the container for the next step.  Move the ham onto the finished plate.  Now add the two tablespoons of oil to the pan and let it warm in for a minute or so.  Add the rice and continually stir it so the rice warms up.  Add the soy sauce after a minute or two of cooking and stir the rice until it is an even color.  Finally, add the egg, veggies and ham back in with the rice.  Combine until it's thoroughly mixed together.  Move everything back to the finished meal dish and serve.

You can use any type of meat for this recipe; shrimp, chicken, beef, pork.  Just make sure that you cut it into small enough pieces and that they are fully cooked during the process.

If you're looking for a main dish to go along with the rice, I have an Orange Chicken or Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe that should be searchable on the site.

Fettuccini Alfredo for an unusually cold day

Back on March 7^th, it was snowing…  March FREAKIN’ 7^th and there were flakes the size of quarters falling from the sky.  And the other morning, there was a layer of ice over everything.  My car was frozen shut.

It’s just wrong.  Everyone around here says, “well, you know…  it can snow all the way to May and there’s even a few times it’s snowed in the mountains in June.  It’s just something you have to live wi…”

NO!!  No, I don’t have to just live with it!  I will create my own weather machine and correct nature’s errors!  I shall confine the snow to November,  December, and maybe early January.  Want a white Christmas?  DONE!  Need a little moisture for your garden or to get you out of going to an outdoor party for that annoying uncle that’s just a little too creepy for your taste?  Done and DONE!  You don’t want rain on your wedding day because it’d be too ironic?  Well it’s really not ironic, just unfortunate…come to think of it, most of that song isn’t really ironic…  anyway… NO Problem! 

OK, maybe the technology isn’t available (yet), but it should not snow after President’s Day, plain and simple.  The only good thing about snowy days like this is that I get in the mood for some really warm, thick, and creamy food.

So it’s the perfect day for some Fettuccini Alfredo.  This recipe tastes great and it only takes 15-20 minutes start to finish!  You boil the noodles, make the sauce while the noodles cook and combine them at the end.  Done!  Clap your hands, show them to the players at the table and walk away like a Las Vegas blackjack dealer.

Fettuccini Alfredo

Serves 4

1 pound fettuccini noodles

6 tablespoons butter

1 cup whipping or heavy cream

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large stock pot, bring 4-6 quarts of water to a boil.  Add the fettuccini noodles and let them cook for 10-12 minutes until they are al dente.

During that time, you can make the alfredo sauce.  Cut the butter in small pieces so it melts faster and toss it into a skillet or saucepan over medium heat.  Once the butter melts and starts to bubble, toss the chopped garlic into the butter and let it sauté for about a minute.   Next, add the cream and bring the whole concoction to a simmer, just below boiling.  Add the pepper so it can simmer in for the last few minutes.  One minute before the noodles are done, add the cheese and stir until it’s melted into the sauce.  Strain the noodles and shake out any excess moisture.  Portion the noodles onto separate plates and pour the sauce over the top.  Serve with garlic bread and/or salad and top with more parmesan cheese.

It’ll comfortably sit like a large, warm lump in the middle of your stomach and make you want to take a long winter’s nap, even if it’s FREAKIN’ MARCH!!!

Spanish rice - as easy as the rice in the box, without the rice in the box taste

OK, so I really like Spanish rice. I'm like a long distance runner, I love to carb load... except that I don't believe in running unless I'm being chased by a grizzly bear, land shark or Godzilla, so I guess I'm not like a runner at all...

Anyway, Spanish Rice! I got addicted to great rice when I used to frequent a little hole in the wall taco joint in Seattle. Great street style tacos, but the rice was the perfect. The grains were tender but not mushy, the spices accented the meal well, but weren't too overpowering.

When I moved back to Salt Lake, I attempted to relive the experience but couldn't find something similar anywhere. I tried a number of the boxed Spanish rices for years and none of them were very good. Some were sticky, some were dry, some were the right color, but had no flavor. Some were a nuclear red-orange that looked like sweet and sour rice.

You know... nothing is worse that restaurant Spanish rice that has been soaked in a bland tomato sauce and is passed off as "a delicious side dish". No, Bad tacquiera!!! That kind of rice is just lazy and the affront to the senses should be pulverized and used as a substitute for kindergarten paste.

So I started tinkering with a few recipes that I found on the web and distilled it down to what I like. It has a few more steps than the boxed rice mixes, but has much more flavor. I actually will make extra so I can take the leftover to work the next day. Drench it in hot sauce, salsa and melted cheese, and then spread a little cubed chicken on top. You now have a great Mexican bowl. Here's the details:

Spanish Rice

Serves 4-6


1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups long grain rice
1/4 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
2 14.5 ounce cans of chicken broth
1 tablespoon taco seasoning (or 1+ teaspoons each of chili powder, cumin and coriander)
heaping 1/8 cup salsa
(Spicy version: add any of the following to taste (not all of them unless you want to burn out all of your nose hairs) : a couple teaspoons of hot sauce/habenero sauce, 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or one small minced jalapeno)

Dice the onion into small pieces. Mince the garlic cloves into very small pieces. Place the results of each to the side to add later.

Place a 2 quart or bigger saucepan on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the shortening and allow it to melt. Pour in the rice and slowly stir it until the rice begins to brown. At that point add the onions and stir for another two minutes so the onions start to become translucent. Add the garlic and stir for another 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth (watch out for the steam!), followed by the spices and the salsa. Stir until the concoction comes to a boil for two minutes, then drop the heat to low (add any spicy ingredients at this point too) and cover. Let it cook for another 20 minutes. Do NOT uncover unless it begins to boil over, and then uncover only long enough to let the bubbles subside.

Remove from the heat and let stand for another 5 minutes.

Place the contents into a bowl and fluff slightly with a fork and serve with any Mexican style dish. It pairs up well with the Beef Enchiladas, Tacos, Fajitas or Tequila Lime Enchiladas (coming soon).