I Bet You've Been Wondering if we Still Eat

I mean, it has been awhile since I've posted about food. Which is abnormal. And unacceptable.

Perhaps it's a certain little nugget of love that's been keeping me away from the kitchen. He's trying. He crawls multiple rooms using only the sound of my voice and proceeds to pull himself up using the slack of my pants. Then he stands in between my legs and whines until I pick him up.

Food critic, maybe.

Two items on the menu tonight. We didn't actually get to the salad, but since we've had it three times this week and my husband is probably screaming, "Alright already!" I figured I'd share my recipe. The other is what we had for dinner. Like an hour ago.

First up, cabbage salad. I'm the type who really does try to save money and buy in season. I also like fresh produce, and honestly, produce in the Midwest can be a little sketchy especially if you shop at Jewel and buying what is in season is your best bet at getting produce that isn't hours away from spoiling. Cabbage is either in season, or particularly cheap these days. It appears fresh, so I bought a couple heads of it recently.

Ingredients:
1/2 head green cabbage (red works, but it bleeds and isn't as pretty when that happens), sliced thin
1/4ish red onion, sliced thin
Handful of carrot matchsticks
Handful cilantro, roughly chopped
1 inch ginger, grated

Dressing: (It's basically the recipe on the back of TJ's rice wine vinegar)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
Spoonful sesame oil
Dash of soy sauce
Red pepper flakes to taste

I buy in bulk and freeze it. I love ginger and always have it on hand + it's easier to grate when frozen.

 It's even better 2-3 days later after marinating through, but it can be eaten immediately.

I saw a recipe on Pinterest that looked so good, I bundled up the nugget and headed out to the grocery store just for taco shells. I could've made them myself, sure, but I didn't have the tortillas for that either. And I guess I could've made my own tortillas, but gah. I just wanted the boxed kind, okay? And here you have, oven tacos. The mix should be thick and not saucy at all for either meat or vegetarian filling.

Ingredients for meat filling:

1/4 lb taco meat, cooked & seasoned how you like it

1/4 can refried beans (or if you are better than me and avoid the BPA, 1/4 cup of your own)

1/4 cup salsa

Ingredients for vegetarian filling:

If you eat crumbles or tempeh (I don't), use those here... but I used...

1/2 cup refried beans

1/4 cup salsa

1/2 cup quinoa, cooked

Fill taco shells with filling of your choice, top with cheese & bake for 10ish minutes at 400 degrees. When done, top with your favorite taco fillings. Honestly, we thought these were delicious. Like, YUM. Something about the baked shells being sort of crunchy and sort of soft. We will be making these again. I can see myself making these for years to come, especially with kids. The binding of the ingredients means no more crumbly meat on the floor! Well, unless you have a 9-month old and miraculously, everything is always on the floor no matter what.

I love those Crate & Barrel dishes. My food is never tainted by meat juices. I recommend it for long, happy marriages for those vegetarians married to carnivores. The usual suspects: cheese, cilantro, spinach, olives, avocado. Sour cream, salsa, hot sauce are all good things, too, but I didn't include them.

Ready for the oven.

Ready to top & eat!

More depressing posts to come, but until then, how about a happy post all about food?

Mmmmmmmmm.