Easy Baked Taco Pie

I don't know about your house, but in mine tacos are always a win.  It doesn't matter if they're beef, or fish or made with ground chicken instead of beef.  Like chocolate, salsa makes everything better.  For me it's a trip back to childhood, Mom made tacos regularly, I think before they were even a "thing".  My dad loved them, and all the particular fillings had to go in in a very specific order.  For the life of me I don't know what that order is, but I know, that while I don't put all the same things in my taco, the order is just a critical.  You have to get the layers right so everything mingles properly.
In any case Sunday night, when it was time for Emily to choose her recipe, she happened upon a handful of taco pie recipes.  One called for perogies.  It did sound good, but awfully heavy.   I dug a little deeper down the rabbit hole of internet recipes and found this one that looked pretty easy and had all the right ingredients but would be a change of pace.
I double checked the pantry and made sure we had everything and we settled into a quiet Sunday evening at home.
Monday night Emily browned 2 pounds of ground bison with a chopped onion.  The recipe only called for 1 pound of meat, but that always seems so scant to me.  But I am a carnivore.  Skip the veg and pass the meat, please.
To the browned meat she added a can of diced tomatoes and 2 cups of frozen corn (again, more than the recipe required but, hey....life is for living).
Once this mixture was heated through Emily layered the meat with tortilla shells, more meat & shredded cheese, and more tortillas.  After it had baked for about half an hour she removed the casserole lid and added another layer of cheese, baking it another 5 minutes.
It was so good I neglected to take a picture.  A salad would have been a good addition, but that called for more organization than I could muster.  We had pita chips & dip on the side instead.  Sour cream and a spoonful of salsa was the perfect topping for each serving of the casserole, adding just a little hit of heat along with the cool creaminess of the sour cream.

Easy Baked Taco Pie

1  (or 2) pounds lean ground beef                 1 - 2 cups frozen corn, thawed & drained
1 onion, chopped                                           6 whole wheat tortillas (6")
1 tablespoon chili powder                              1 cup shredded cheese (we used a mixture of cheddar &   1 can (520 ml) diced tomatoes, undrained       Monterrey Jack, the recipe called for Kraft Mexican                                                                               style shredded cheese)   Use more if you like


Heat oven to 375F.  Brown meat & onions on medium high heat in a large skillet.  Add tomatoes and corn; cook 5 minutes more, until heated through. stirring occasionally.
Spoon 1 cup (2, if you doubled the meat)   into a large, round casserole.  Cover with three tortillas, overlapping if necessary to fit.  Top with 2 more cups of meat mixture and 1/2 cup cheese (or more if desired) Cover with remaining tortillas and remaining meat mixture.  Cover.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until heated through.  Top with remaining cheese; bake uncovered, 5 minutes longer, until the cheese is melted.  Cut into wedges.  Top with sour cream, salsa, chopped green onions and/or cilantro if you like.                                                  

Cranberry Chicken

Another busy week.  It seems they are getting busier all the time, even though I can't quite pinpoint any real changes in our schedules.  Then again lately by 9:15 I'm all in and feeling like it's midnight.  Thankfully Emily is becoming more helpful and lightening the load more than a little.  She balks from time to time, but it is rare, I admit, and usually the reminder that she's got it better than a lot of people pulls her back in line.  She as fretting the other day about her tablet not having enough memory, and wanting me to dash into Staples right now for a new SD card.  I was tired & not a little frustrated when I finally snapped at her, "There are children in this world who don't have a roof over their heads and you're crying because you can't play enough stuff on your tablet!"  A little harsh, but, tears over things that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things irritate me.
Anyway.  Sunday afternoon she began perusing cookbooks and magazines for what she wanted to cook.  She found a recipe for Moroccan Chicken with couscous that sounded pretty good, but I really didn't want to buy a rotisserie chicken.  And, honestly, I wasn't in the mood for couscous.  I flipped through one of my notebooks, looking for something easy.  I suggested Chicken Primavera, or Kung Pao Chicken, then showed her the recipe for Cranberry Chicken.  I was surprised she chose it, since she generally skips the cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Still, it's a good recipe, and easy.  I dug some chicken breasts out of the deep freeze Monday morning, and stopped on my way home for cranberry sauce and French dressing (not something I usually buy, preferring Ranch & Caesar).
When I got home I had her start the rice, since brown rice takes about three times as long as white, but I think it tastes better (ok, it tastes like something.  White rice is only a vehicle for sauce).  Emily stirred together a can of cranberry sauce, a packet of onion soup mix and the French dressing.  She was preparing to line a baking sheet with parchment for the chicken before I pointed out the sauce would be everywhere if she did that.  I handed her a baking dish instead and she arranged the chicken in that, before pouring her sauce over the chicken  and putting it in the oven to bake.

Dinner was very good, again, as always, and we had leftovers for lunch the next day, which is always a bonus.

Cranberry Chicken

1 -16oz can whole berry cranberry sauce                    Juice of half a lemon (about 1 1/2 tbsp)

1 packet onion soup mix                                              2 pounds chicken

10-12 ounces French dressing (1 small bottle)           

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Combine all the ingredients except the chicken.  Arrange the chicken in a baking dish, pour the sauce over.  Bake 30-45 minutes, until done.*

* I used boneless chicken breasts, but bone-in chicken works too.  Boneless chicken needs less cooking time.  This also makes a lot of sauce, so 1 - 250 ml bottle of dressing is ample.

Fish Tacos

Easter week was busy, as holiday weeks seem to be.  We were away at my mother's for Easter.  It was wonderful to spend time with the family, eat well and celebrate the resurrection.  Life is good.  We didn't come home until Monday afternoon, so Emily didn't cook until Wednesday.  Her aunt has been in possession of our Fish Taco recipe for some time, but she wanted to see the method, and try them first, which I absolutely understand.
 I had heard about fish tacos for ages, but, loving beef tacos, couldn't quite imagine them.  Emily talked me into going to Taco Time one day a year or so ago when we were shopping.  I figured for $2.50 I could try a fish taco and not be out much if I decided they were not for me.  As it turned out I thought they were quite tasty and came home and did an internet search for a recipe. When I emerged from the rabbit hole that recipe searching on the internet can be I had found I recipe I thought would work.  It has had a few modifications, but has become a favourite in our household.  I'm not a fan of reheated fish, but these I will do a  leftover lunch the next day.
Emily waited until her aunt arrived to make the marinade, while I assembled the coleslaw for a topping.  I used packaged coleslaw and bottled dressing, but to the dressing I added a splash of lime juice and a generous pinch of chili powder to give the dressing a nice kick.
Once my sister arrived Emily combined vegetable oil (she used canola, but I usually use olive oil) lime juice, garlic, cumin and chili powder.  Into this mixture she added several Basa filets, and after about 15 minutes took them out to the barbecue.
The fish did not take very long to cook and before long we were enjoying our tacos.  Into soft shells (which I prefer to the hard ones, but use what you like) we put a filet half, topping it with peach mango salsa (a nice change, a little sweeter, than traditional salsa) sour cream and the spicy coleslaw.

I suppose you could add in any other toppings you like, but the simplicity of these flavours is rather nice.  I neglected to take a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.  They are delicious, fast and easy.


Fish Tacos

Juice of 1/2 a lime (1- 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 medium clove of garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine & marinate mild white meat fish filets (basa, tilapia, cod, etc) for about 15 minutes.  The marinade can be doubled easily if you are doing more than about 3 filets.  Grill, bake or pan fry the fish until done.  Top with peach mango salsa (or whatever you like) sour cream & coleslaw.