Fingers, Toes, & Tacos

Looking for a gift for the little monster in your life this holiday season? Consider purchasing my children's books including Fingers, Toes, and Tacos on Amazon and selected book stores. Each book includes a delectable and easy recipe.

To make Alex’s soft tacos, here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 roasted chicken or 2-3 cups shredded chicken meat
• ½ bunch of fresh cilantro (If you don’t have fresh, substitute with 1 teaspoon of dried, ground coriander.)
• 1 teaspoon dried cumin seeds (You can use ground cumin if you have it instead.)
• 1 16-ounce container of salsa (Any kind that you have a taste for will work!)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 6 washed and destemmed Rainbow Swiss Chard or Swiss Chard (About 2 cups)
• 1 bag grated mild cheese like Monterey Jack or a Mexican cheese blend
• 8-12 tortillas (Rice tortillas can be used if you need gluten free.)

You’ll need a large cast iron skillet or oven-safe large ceramic or glass pan to heat up the tortillas and filling.

 

Add the oil to the bottom of the skillet. Add a tortilla folded in half and 2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture from the bowl, ¼ cup Swiss Chard, and ¼ cup grated cheese. Now add another tortilla folded in half and fill it up. You want to repeat this process of adding and filling tortillas until the pan is full of stuffed tacos.

 

Turn on the oven to 325 degrees. Put the tacos in the oven on the middle shelf. Bake for 15-25 minutes until the cheese has melted and the chard has wilted.

 

And coming Fall 2022, Whiskers, Wings and Whipping Cream. Bon appetite!

 

Scrappy Grilled Cheese

One of my favorite meals is an array of cheeses - soft, hard, smoked, herby, w/truffles - along with a green salad and an Acme Bread Company sourdough bagget. I nibble through these cheeses for days until I'm down to cheese scraps. Sometimes a bit of mold has grown on them. Don't toss the moldy cheese into your compost. Just scrape off and it's ready to eat.

Another favorite is a grilled cheese sandwich. This is also a great way to use scraps of various cheeses and melt them into a cheesy goodness. I also added the last of the squash blossoms from my friend Musetta's garden. If you have a garden, please add herbs and produce to your sandwich to dress it up.

Here's what you'll need:

• Sourdough bread
• Butter or good olive oil
• Cheese
• Squash blossoms or red bell pepper
• Mayonnaise or Aioli
• Mustard
• Cast iron skillet

Did you know that cooking in cast iron is a natural way to add iron to your diet?

Butter or oil lightly one side of the bread and place buttered/oil side down in the skillet. 

Add sliced cheese(s) and any herbs or sliced squash blossoms or peppers. Cover and cook on medium heat on the stove top until bread is golden and cheese is gooey. 

Serve with a side salad. I usually make my own salad dressing since bagged salads often add sugar to their salad dressing. Totally not needed or heart healthy. But there are some really tasty bagged salads available and they do make it super easy to add a salad to your lunch to munch.

Bon appetite!