Showing posts with label Mexican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexican. Show all posts

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Tablespoon of Geek: Bite sized tacos


Here we go yet another Thursday and time for me to share my exploits from being in the kitchen. Before I get started sharing one of my many recipes with you let me first start by explaining what the near future will hold. For starters if you have not been keeping up with my blog I am moving to a new house, YAY, this good news bring some other things with it. The moving day is swiftly approaching with only three weeks to pack until we can occupy our new home.

What the move means is that up until that time I will not have full access to my all the things in my kitchen. Therefore until after the big move that is happening on the 15th of November and probably the week after I will not be able to cook anything. Really and truly I hate that I am not able to deliver what I have promised I would with this cooking segment. Sometimes life can really seem to get in the way of the life goals that we set out for ourselves.

Ok now that my sob story is done I can carry onto what I have planned out to show all of you today. Every Friday I tend to have a little geek get together that involves us all throwing dice and end up having a bunch of hungry mouths at my house. We take turns on which one of us is set to provide the nourishment each week and it just so happened to be my turn.

A couple of months ago I re-pinned on Pinterest a recipe for two bite tacos, I remembered this and decided that it would be perfect. One big problem occurred with this plan however when I went back on to Pinterest to find this recipe much to my dismay the link was broken. My only option for making this recipe was to get a little crafty and resourceful with only an image to use as a guide.

Here is my recipe Bite Sized Tacos

For any recipe it is best to start by listing the components that go into making it.
Ingredients:

1 pack of Spring Roll Pastry
1 lb of Ground Beef
½ a Green Pepper chopped
½ a Red Pepper chopped
¼ of a White Onion chopped
2 Cups of Marble Cheese
1 Jar of Salsa (you will not need the whole jar but it helps)


And as Always don’t forget to spice to taste, here is what I use


For starters put a large skillet on the stove element and bring it up to high heat with some cooking oil add turn on the oven to pre-heat at 350 degrees. Once the skillet has reached optimum temperature take the Ground eef and dump it carefully into the pan, and break it up with a spatula. The meat will start to brown and once you have separated it up a bit add the chopped up Green Pepper, Red Pepper and White Onion. Continue mixing it up with the spatula and then add the spices of your choice as well I like to add a little bit lime juice, fresh is best. To help the meat cook nicely you can add ½ a cup of water but this may mean that you have to drain the meat later or make your tack shells soggy.

The meat should be a consistent light brown once this happens then it is time to remove it from the heat. Using a muffin baking pan line all of the cups with the Spring Roll Pastry, one per cup and fold the corners in. Using a common spoon, ladle the cooked meat mixture into the pastry cups eyeball this and try not to have it over flowing. On top of the meat put a spoonful of salsa, I use a corn and bean Salsa because I find it has a little bit more kick to it and is less runny. Top them all of with a sprinkling of the shredded Marble Cheese, this is a to taste type deal so you can add as little or as much cheese as you want.

Take the filled muffin try and place it in the oven to bake for between 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and melted.

And Serve

This is one of those things that takes a lot of prep work to make but is great finger food for parties. The one thing I need to still figure out is what to use instead of the spring roll pastry, any ideas let me know.

Sincerely Urban Yeti

Friday, August 31, 2012

A Tablespoon of Geek: Mexican Vegerarian Pasta Salad


Well I am a day late on my cooking segment and I apologize for that it was because I was sick yesterday. Trust me I tried to type up a post yesterday but I was so tired from illness and the words did not seem to flow in a way that I liked. I may have gotten three paragraphs poorly written before I finally threw in the towel and took a nap to try an feel better.

OK so last week was the last “Cooking Concoctions” post ever and the polls officially closed yesterday for voting on the new name. It seems it was a very close race but in the end it looks like “A Spoonful of Geek” came out on top. It is now time for us to say farewell to the “Cooking Concoctions” it had a good run but it is time for it punch it’s last time card and graciously retire.

So this week is my Mexican Vegetarian Pasta Salad

For this recipe you will need for serving four
1 pound or 4 cups of pasta (I used Conchiglie a.k.a. shells)
2 cups of corn
1 Red pepper Chopped
¾ cup of green onions diced
½ can of black beans drained
1 cup of mozzarella
1 cup of cheddar
1 cup of ranch dressing
Taco seasoning (or Mexican seasonings of your choice)


Step one is to bring a large pot of water to a boil and then cook the pasta. To be honest aside from the chopping and cutting this is the most challenging part of the whole process. Once the pasta is cooked to your liking and the pot is drained, re add the pasta to the pot and pour in cold water.  Drain the pasta and place in a large serving bowl.

Now mix in the vegetables and beans until it is well mixed together, than mix in the ranch dressing and the spices and seasonings. If you wash your hands you can have fun mixing all of this together with your bare hands, let your inner kid get a little messy. Once this is thoroughly mixed together add in the cheeses and you are ready to serve.
 
I initially wanted to use Wagon wheels for this recipe but I could not find any at the store and it made me disappointed. I really felt that the Wagon wheel past would give this Mexican Pasta Salad a real western feel, maybe one day if I can find the wheel pasta I will redo this recipe.


Omg look at this it appears that a certain powerful master jedi joined us for this delightful meal. One Mr Yoda decided that he would like to partake in my delightful pasta dish. I hope that he enjoyed my cooking but he didn't say a whole lot about it, that might be because he is a toy but who can be sure about it


Well this is the first post of the new cooking section of my blog A Tablespoon of Geek, give this a try.



Sincerely Urban Yeti

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Cooking Concoctions: Veggi Quesadillas

this week for my cooking on Friday night i was craving Mexican food but i wanted to keep it as healthy as possible. I pondered upon how to make Mexican food be very healthy for quite some time. Finally the I decided that the best way to make Mexican as healthy as possible is to cut the meat out and make them vegetarian. As per my usual cooking nights I had company, and I soon discovered that one of my guests, Blondie, wasn't very experienced in the kitchen. So I asked her if she would like the opportunity to learn and she agreed.

so Now for my awesome Vegetarian Quesadillas

first thing first the Ingredients

Tortilla Shells
1 lb peeper Jack Cheese Shredded
1 lb Cheddar Cheese Shredded
1 Large Zucchini Cut
2 Cups of Frozen Corn
1 half a Red Onion Diced
1 Red Pepper Diced
1 Jalapeno Diced
1/2 cup of Cilantro Chopped Up
Lime Juice
Lemon Juice
Salt
Pepper
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To start combined all of the veggies, the Zucchini,Corn, onion, red pepper, and the cilantro into a large bowel. Then with your hands mix it all together and spray on the lime juice, lemon Juice, salt and pepper and continue to mix thoroughly until it is a bright and colourful mixture.
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heat up a skillet with some oil. while the skillet is coming to temperature prepare a tortilla shell. On one half of the tortilla cover with the corn salsa and both kinds of the cheese.
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Once the skillet is up to temperature place Tortilla with contents on the skillet and cook evenly. Flip occasionally.
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Serve with Sour Cream and Guacamole and enjoy
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