Ground Beef & Chorizo Tacos + some huevos rancheros thrown in :o)

Ground Beef Tacos

As I was preparing this meal and writing this post I had a couple of thoughts in my head.  The first one was that I was spending A LOT of time preparing this meal.  At the over 2 hour mark I finally got tired of it and told Hubby I'd rather go out to eat and we should go out for Japanese/Sushi...lol  His response was "Why?  We went to the grocery store, so you could make dinner."  But then he said "Whatever you want Babe!"...he's the best :o)  We ended up going to this great place near our house called Gonpachi.  It was going downhill for a while, but they got a new Chef and Management Team and now is really good, especially the quality of the sushi/sashimi.

It seems like so many blogs post meals that you can make in under an hour and then there is Rachael Ray with her 30 mins meals.  I'm not sure how it is done because almost all my meals take about 2 hours.  I was trying to figure out why it took me so long this dinner  and this is what I came up with...  I have a very small kitchen, I think most people would call it a Galley Kitchen since it's the size of what you'd find on a boat and it's very narrow, I don't even have a automatic dish washer...shocking!  So I have to clean as I cook otherwise I'd run out of space and I don't want the dishes to pile up too much.  

I first put the groceries away, but I'm very anal about the way I put stuff away which takes up extra time.   Then I made pico de gallo/salsa which I chop everything by hand, chopped up the rest of the ingredients for everything else and fried up tortillas to make chips.  I also had just bought 6 fresh ears of corn which I wanted to cook right away, so the flavor would be at it's peak, so I cut it all off the cob, sauteed it, portioned into baggies and froze it and then made corn cob stock with the rest of it.  I didn't even get to making the ground beef for the tacos or beans, but I did make same marinara sauce with the extra tomatoes I had leftover from the salsa...  Ok, now looking at my list, I guess I did do a lot, but should it have taken over 2 hours ;o)

My second thought as I was posting was I make really unhealthy stuff...lol  The chips are fried, I used Ground Beef & Chorizo, there's bacon in the beans and then  I use the bacon drippings to saute the rest of the stuff AND I fry the tortillas for the tacos.  It all tastes so good this way, but I do feel a little guilty after reading other blogs about healthier, cutting back calories & sodium reducing recipes ;o)  I guess the good thing is that I don't cook like this every night!

In a previous post I wrote about the techniques I use to make the Pico de Gallo/Salsa, Frijoles de Olla, Mexican Rice & Frying Tortillas...

http://myhomecookedmeals.blogspot.com/2011/05/dinner-last-nightenchiladas-frijoles-de.html

Seasoning for Ground Beef...

It has:  A mix of Chile Powders, Paprika, Cumin, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Mex Oregano, Cayenne, Ajishio, Magic Dust, Prepared Mex Seasonings, Bay Leaf, & Masa flour to thicken...

Chorizo

I got this "bulk" Chorizo from Bristol Farms.  I usually get the kind that's in a tube and you can't tell what's in it...it looks like every scrap that the processing plant could dig up was put into it...lol  I really like this one from Bristol Farms, it seemed a little healthier and had a nice texture to it.

Sauteeing Chorizo, Onions, Garlic, & Jalapeno

I first cooked the Chorizo, so I could use the oil from that to saute the onions, garlic & jalapeno with it.  

Ground Beef & Seasonings added...

Next I added the ground beef and cooked that until it was pink and then added the seasonings including the masa, a little water to keep the meat moist and a touch of bouillon paste. I would normally add some tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes, but I just threw in some salsa to the mix.   I cook it all down until the water evaporates.  Some oil may come out from the Chorizo & beef, so I use paper towels to soak that up.  

Served on lightly fried tortillas...

I like to fry the tortillas like I do with enchiladas, it has a little crispiness to it, but it's still pliable.  I then add the meat mixture and top it with cheese & beans so the warmth melts the cheese a bit then add lettuce, salsa, radish, onion, cilantro  & pickled jalapenos to it.

I also made Hatch Green Chile Rellenos w/Beefy Enchilada Sauce w/the leftover Beef/Chorizo Mix...
http://myhomecookedmeals.blogspot.com/2011/08/hatch-green-chile-rellenos-wenchilada.html

Huevos Rancheros

This normally would be breakfast the next day with the leftovers, but since I quit making the food the night before this turned out to be the 1st meal from the cooking process then the tacos were dinner the following night :o)  

This took about 1 1/2 hours to make because I made the meat mixture and I also made the Frijoles de Olla (Soupy Pinto Beans), fried the tortillas, fried the eggs and took pictures of the cooking process.  The good thing was I already had the mise en place ready to go...chopped onions, jalapeno etc.

Love the oozy egg!

Served on lightly fried tortillas topped w/ground beef mixture, beans, fried egg, onion, salsa etc.