Homemade Mini Taco Bowls

 Homemade mini taco bowls

These mini taco bowls are easy to make and add a different change to tacos. All you need to do:

 Preheat oven to 375.

Slice a tortilla in half (1 tortilla for every 2 bowls.)

Spray the bottom of a muffin tin with cooking spray

Carefully form each tortilla half in between each muffin cup. You can carefully fold the edges that protrude inside to help create the bowl shape.

Place muffin tin in oven for 10 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

Fill with prepared taco meat, lettuce, cheese, tomato, sour cream, or whichever fillings you desire.

Favorite Steak Marinade/Grilled French Fries

Here it is! Here is the best steak marinade recipe. It is also a family favorite :)

Steak Marinade

1/2 tsp ginger
1 green onion, chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tbsp honey or sugar
2 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (I like to use lemon juice)

Combine ingredients in a large plastic bag or bowl with a seal. Roll steaks in your choice of marinade for at least 20 minutes, but the longer, the better (but no longer than 2 hours for an inexpensive cut of meat. Twenty minutes is usually perfect for me.) While marinading, rotate it every once in a while.
You can broil at 400-450 degrees until desired done-ness, however, I have been raised by watching how broiling has started a fire every time at my house, so I just use my little George Foreman :)

Grilled French Fries

Once again, I just use my mini grill to make these. All you need:

Desired amount of potatoes, 1 per person
Olive oil
Water
Salt

Slice up potatoes and place onto grill. Add 1/4 cup water every few minutes between opening and closing the lid to soften the potatoes. Once they become much softer, spread olive oil onto the top and bottom of the inside of the grill, close again, and cook for a few minutes. Top with salt and serve with ketchup or fry sauce.

Taco Quesadillas

Today I wanted to use up some ingredients, and I couldn't decide between having tacos or quesadillas (oh the problems we face today). So then I had the idea...why not make a taco quesadilla? It worked! I am also picky about my food staying warm, and I get peeved when my tortilla is cold and the filling is hot, and if it's too soft it falls apart. In this case, you don't have to worry. The tortilla is both soft but with a little crisp.

All you need to do for a taco quesadilla is make the taco meat and chop the fillings as you normally would . I used a taco seasoning mix to keep it easy and filled up the quesadilla with tomatoes, cheese, green pepper (which I was unsure about at first, but it tasted great), and the hamburger inside a tortilla (I used whole wheat.)

Taco Quesadillas

Close it up and cook it on a skillet or a mini grill.

Serve it with desired sides, whether it be lettuce and tomato, sour cream, rice, guacamole...you name it. Call it a quick, easy meal (I had 2 because they were that good.)

Chili-Lime Steak

I decided to try a new steak recipe. I'll be honest, I didn't like it as much as my mom's recipe for the steak marinade (which I'll post later once I get the chance to make it), but this was still delicious. I believe that it would be the perfect steak to put inside quesadillas or as steak tacos. I used the Our best bites recipe, but ended up marinating it in Italian dressing first before putting it on the grill. You don't have to marinade it in dressing if you think that's weird to mix the two (somewhat) Italian and Southwestern tastes together, but it made it more tender with extra flavor. I think that next time I will eliminate the dressing, as it was just an experiment. After grilling the steak, I added pineapple on the grill and then topped it onto the steak.

I know, the picture may look weird as my camera isn't the best quality, but that's the grilled pineapple on top, which I highly recommend!

Chili Lime steak

1-2 lbs boneless steak (since I cook for one person, I used one steak and cut the other ingredients in half.)

Rub:
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp oregano
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons lime juice)
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
*Our Best Bites says that for a smoky rub, chipotle chili powder may be substituted for cayenne pepper


If you'd like, marinate each steak in 1/4 cup Italian dressing in a large ziploc bag for 15 minutes while preparing the run
1. For the rub, combine spices in a small bowl. Add lime juice and olive oil and stir to combine.
2. Place the steak in a shallow dish (such as a 9x13 inch baking dish). Pour the spice mixture over the steak and then rub it with your hands. Allow the steak to stand for 15 minutes. While the meat is standing, preheat your grill.
3. Place the steak on the grill over medium-high heat and cook for 5-7 minutes per side or until desired doneness is reached. Remove from grill and allow to stand for 5 minutes before slicing.
4. If you'd like to use the steak in other dishes, slice against the grain into strips about 1/4 inch thick

You can serve with sweet potato fries, as I did. I will post that recipe later on.