Wok's For Dinner: Taco Salad

This meal was sooo good. I love a good salad, and had been in the mood for a taco salad for several weeks. I had a coupon for Texas Toast Tortilla Strips (next to the croutons at the grocery store) and finally found a store that sells them. I knew that the tortilla strips would make a perfect topping to a taco salad, and I was finally able to use them tonight. Yummy!

Taco Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1 med. green bell pepper, diced

1 med. red bell pepper, diced

1/2 med. onion, chopped

1 jalapeno, diced (seeds removed, of course, unless you like the heat!)

1 pkg taco seasoning

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 can pinto beans, drained

shredded or torn lettuce leaves (I just used a bag of garden salad)

Texas Toast Chily Lime Tortilla Strips

shredded cheese

cherry tomatoes, diced

salad dressing (I used sweet vidalia onion; hubs used ranch)

sour cream

Directions:

Brown ground turkey, bell peppers, onion & jalapeno in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir occasionally until meat is no longer pink. Reduce heat, then stir in taco seasoning and chicken broth. Stir in pinto beans. Let simmer for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place lettuce on plate. Top with meat mixture, tortilla strips, cheese, tomatoes, some salad dressing, and a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!

Conversations With Children: The Nap

"Mommy, I fell asleep at Summer camp today."

"You did? How did you manage to do that?" (This is, after all, the YMCA Traditional Summer Camp, nonstop fun & entertainment.)

"We were playing a game and you had to lay on the floor and the person who was the stillest was the winner and that's when I fell asleep."

He didn't win, but I'll bet he was the stillest. Gotta love it!

Spectacular Sides: Cucumber & Onion Salad

So both our dryer and vacuum fried recently. I've turned our bathroom into a clothes line, hanging the clothes in there to dry. Fortunately, a friend has offered us a vacuum of hers, and we purchased a washer/dryer combo set today which we can pick up later this week. It's a matter of limping along for a few more days while we wait on everything. It's not too fun living without major appliances, believe you me. Maybe this is a way to prepare us for this years' hurricane season...?

Anyways...

This recipe came from my mother-in-law and is a favorite of my husband. I'll promise you'll love it, too. Even me, and I don't care for raw onion. There are no standard measurements to the ingredients--it all depend on how much you want to make. So I'll describe as est I can how much to make for 4 adults. Measurements are approximate and will mostly depend on your personal taste.

Cucumber Onion Salad

Ingredients:

3 medium cucumbers

1 medium onion

water

salt

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4-1/2 cup white distilled vinegar

1 tsp dried dill

Directions:

Day 1) Peel & slice cucumbers. Peel onion, cut in half, then cut both halves into thin slices. Place cucumber and onion slices in a large bowl; cover with water. Stir in lots of salt to make the water salty. No set amount of salt, maybe 1 Tbsp. I always just shake in a lot from the salt canister, then taste a small amount of the salt water to make sure it tastes salty enough. Allow the cucumbers & onions to sit in the salt water bath overnight. Day 2) Drain the salt water and rinse the cucumbers & onions thoroughly. The salt water cures the cucumbers & onions but is not parts of the actual salad ingredients, so make sure to rinse well. Put sour cream into a medium bowl. Stir in enough vinegar to thin out the sour cream so that it's liquidy instead of creamy, but not too liquidy...makes perfect sense, right? Stir dill into sour cream mixture. Add more dill if you feel like it needs it. Pour over cucumbers & onions, then stir mixture. Chill in refrigerator then serve and enjoy.