March 11
Not Real Thundercake
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- Ground Sirloin Tacos [View Recipe]
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Ingredients
- 1 package taco shells
- .5 tablespoon oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 medium bell pepper
- .75 teaspoon chile powder (divided)
- salt
- .5 tablespoon oil
- 1.5 pounds beef
- 1 clove garlic
- .125 teaspoon onion powder
- .125 teaspoon cumin
- cheese (freshly grated)
- lettuce (cleaned and sliced)
- tomato (chopped)
- cilantro (cleaned and chopped)
- yogurt
- avocado
- lime (sliced)
- salsa
- hot sauce
Instructions
We start by preheating the oven to <temp val="325"/>. On a foil-covered cookie sheet, we put the separated taco shells - enough for the family. The remaining taco shells (just 2 for us) are re-wrapped and set aside.
While the oven preheats, we put a large pan on the stove and begin heating over medium heat. We peel, halve, and thinly slice the onion. Adding the basting oil to the hot pan, we stir in the sliced onions. While the onions cook, we thinly slice the green pepper, and then add to the onions. We stir in ¼ teaspoon each of the chipotle and ancho chile powders, and a sprinkle of salt. After just a few minutes, the onion and green pepper are tender. We spread next to the taco shells on the cookie sheet.
We heat in the preheated oven for less than 10 minutes while we cook the meat.
In the same pan we cooked the peppers and onions, we add the grapeseed oil and the ground meat. We cook over medium heat, breaking up the meat with our heat-safe spatula. As the meat cooks, we press in the garlic, and add the onion powder, 1/8 teaspoon each of the ancho and chipotle chile powders (the reserved chile powders), and ground cumin. We keep stirring until the meat is no longer pink. We season with salt, about ½ teaspoon to start. We taste for seasoning. We drain the meat on a paper-towel lined plate and then serve in a bowl.
Meanwhile, we get plates ready with the fixings. We have cheese, lettuce, tomato, cilantro, and yogurt. We halve the avocado, cube the flesh, and with a spoon, remove the avocado from its shell. We sprinkle the cubes with lime juice and salt. We also have the salsa and hot sauce on the table.
When the taco shells are crispy and the sirloin cooked, we build the tacos at the table with the meat, peppers and onions, and all of the fixings.
- Chips and Salsa
Robin went into our son's school yesterday to read to the class. The two of them had decided upon Thundercake, which the class seemed to appreciate.
After the reading, she was chatting with the kids, asking if any of them had lost any teeth yet (because our son's tooth was loose). One classmate answered no, but that our son had. Robin turned and saw his tooth in his hand.
Robin asked our son if he wanted to make Thundercake today. It seemed only fitting after reading to the class yesterday and in honor of his first lost tooth. Apparently he paid too much attention to the book because, as the book says, it is not real thundercake without thunder. Robin tried to reason with him, arguing that it would still taste good. But our son refused.
Our daughter had lacrosse practice today. It was a very nice day for it—after all, there was no thunder. Afterwards, she and her mom went to the mall to meet up with Grammy and Aunt Erin to shop for First Communion dresses. They got a very pretty one. A fashion show is scheduled for tomorrow so that Grammy can see the look on Chris's face when he sees it for the first time.
After all this, we enjoy a simple meal of tacos, chips and salsa. And no thundercake.