Taco Hotdish

 Ah, the hot dish. A Midwest tradition. Well, specifically an Upper Midwest tradition, but a tradition nonetheless.  The concept is simple, it's basically a tater-tot based casserole. You get a baking dish, put in a layer of meat mixed with cream soup and possibly some vegetables, and layer tater tots over the top. Pop it in the oven and *POOF* comfort food. There's really no limit to the variations of a hotdish, which is why I ended up making a taco version. I used Dos Rios heat and eat taco meat, but you're under no obligation. Shockingly, my 5 year old daughter would NOT eat this. She loves tacos, but is morally opposed to tater tots. I'm not sure where that defect came from. My attempt to serve it to her ended up in an absolute scorcher of a tantrum. The Wife, though, declared it a success and gleefully went back for seconds. Give it a spin and see if it causes any tantrums in your home! As always, notes are in blue.

Taco Hotdish

Ingredients

• 1 pound chub of Dos Rios Chile Verde taco meat (if you can't find it or don't want to use it, just use a pound of cooked ground beef with your taco seasoning of choice)
• 1 16-ounce jar of salsa
• 1 10.5-ounce can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 16-ounce can of refried beans
• Nacho chips, broken into small pieces
• 1 bag of frozen tater tots  (you probably won't use them all, but better safe than sorry. Just make the leftover tots for a snack or something)
• Shredded cheddar cheese (I intentionally did not put an amount because there is only one wrong amount of cheese to use and that is "not enough." You're just going to need enough shredded cheese to cover everything. EVERYTHING.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F (177C, GasMark4)
2. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Warm up the refried beans to make them easier to spread, and spread them in an even layer along the bottom of the baking dish
4. Distribute enough nacho chips into the baking dish to cover the layer of beans.
5. In a large bowl, combine meat, soup and 1 cup of the salsa. Mix to incorporate ingredient, then spread in a layer on top of this chips.
6. Place an even layer of tots over the meat. Just lay them in neat, even rows so they cover everything.
7. Spread remaining salsa over the tots.
8. Cover the top with an absolute shit-ton of shredded cheese. Go wild. Use a whole brick. I won't tell anyone. 
9. Put in oven for about 30-35 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Good times!

Slow Cooker Zesty Taco Soup

You are all probably aware of how excited we were about getting a big box of goodies from Dos Rios Taco Meat. We were especially excited about the Chile Verde flavor, since it's not available right now in our area. Keep in mind there's absolutely nothing stopping you from browning up your own ground beef and adding your own seasoning, but I am inherently lazy and am enamored of the concept of heat and eat meat (say that five times fast). This recipe is literally just dumping ingredients into a pot and heating them until it is hot enough to serve. That's the magic. This soup has a little bit of a zing to it as the meat has some jalapeno already in it. Much like anything I cook in the slow-cooker, this is not much to look at. However, it smells and tastes wonderful. This is absolutely a perfect dish for the wet and cold weather we've been having lately. If you live somewhere that is warm and dry, I don't want to hear about it. I'm not sure what else to tell you. If you use the Dos Rios meat, there's virtually nothing to do with this recipe other than throw everything into a pot and applying heat. Granted, that's really all cooking is, but here you at least won't have to cook and drain the beef. Since I'm a swell guy, I included stovetop cooking instructions. I just keep on giving. As always, any notes are in blue.

Slow Cooker Zesty Taco Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Dos Rios Chile Verde Taco Meat, defrosted
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (10.5 ounce) cheddar cheese soup (you could certainly use nacho cheese soup if you had it on hand. We had cheddar, so that's what we used)
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (15. 5 ounces) white hominy, drained
• 8 ounces (about half a jar) salsa (we went with a hot, thick and chunky Chi-Chi's salsa. Feel free to use whatever floats your boat)
• 1-1/4 cup chicken stock (you could use just water, but we've really been enjoying using stock)
• Optional: sour cream and black olives to garnish after cooking.

Directions

1. Put everything in a large (around 5 quart) slow cooker. 
2. Stir to combine.
3. Cook on LOW for 5 hours. 
   
4. Add any garnishes

OR

1. Put everything in a large (around 5 quart) Dutch oven
2. Stir to combine
3. Cook on the stovetop on medium heat until it starts to simmer, stirring occasionally.
4. Add any garnishes

We worked the numbers, and it looks like this is about 275 calories per cup. (This does not take into account any sour cream you add)

Good times!

Too Damned Easy Taco Sloppy Joe

 Sometimes inspiration hits in an unlikely way. In my case inspiration usually comes by way of desperation. Midweek meals are always a challenge during the school year, which is why we usually do a few slow-cooker meals on Sunday and just eat them during the week. However, that strategy often leads to waste, as we get tired of the lack of variety during the end of the week. So if we're cooking midweek, it has to be simple. This week, we could not decide between tacos or Sloppy Joe. I decided in a fit of laziness to combine them. This was made easier by the amazing product Dos Rios Fully Cooked and Seasoned Taco Meat. 

I kid you not. This stuff is $2.50 for a 1lb. chub at our local grocery. You can barely find ground beef at that price. You don't need to season it, you don't need to drain it. It's precooked so you only need to defrost and heat it up. With the addition of two more ingredients you have a sandwich filler, a tortilla filler, a great topping or dip for nachos. Hell, add it your scrambled eggs. Without further delay I present to you (with, as always, notes in blue):

Too Damned Easy
Taco Sloppy Joe

Ingredients:

1. 1 pound chub of Dos Rios taco meat (if you don't have it or can't find it, I weep for you. You're going to have the extra steps of cooking and draining ground beef and adding taco seasonings)
2. 1/2 cup salsa of your choice (we went with Chi-Chi's Thick and Chunky Hot Salsa)
3. 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, add all ingredients. 
2. Heat at medium heat while stirring regularly. 
3. Keep stirring over medium heat until cheese is melted through.
4. That's it. You're done. Go eat.

Good Times!

Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Chicken

     It's always a good thing when a recipe has versatility. When I'm slow-cooking, I'm generally cooking for the week. I want to make something that can be repurposed into a few different meals. This chicken dish from Fix-It and Forget It Lightly has that flexibility. On its face, you could just eat this as is. You could throw it over some rice. The first time we had it, we used it to fill tacos. The next night I baked a couple potatoes and used just the veggies along with cheese and sour cream to top them. This will certainly enter regular rotation in the slow cooker. As always, changes and notes are in blue.

Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Chicken 
via Fix-It and Forget It Lightly

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4" wide strips (Look, we all know the chicken is just going to fall apart from the slow cooking. We threw the chicken breasts in whole)
• 2 tablespoons dry taco seasoning mix (really? I'm going to rip open an envelope of taco seasoning and then just use part of it? Screw that. We used the whole envelope)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 green pepper, cut into strips (you should know by now that the wife doesn't really like green peppers. We used a yellow pepper)
• 1 red pepper, cut into strips
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1-1/2 cups chunky salsa (I used my own proprietary recipe that I would be glad to sell you for an unreasonable price)
• 1 cup nonfat Mexican-Style cheese, shredded (Didn't have nonfat. You'll get over it)

Directions

1. Toss chicken with seasoning and flour in slow cooker.
2. Gently stir in vegetables and salsa.
3. Cook on LOW for 4-6 hours, or on HIGH 2-3 hours, until chicken and vegetables are cooked through but are not dry or mushy. 
4. Stir before serving.
5. Serve topped with cheese.

Good times!