Chunky Guacamole Dip

This fresh and easy to prepare dip offers lots of flavor as well as healthy fats. Try this on top of a taco salad, or in a wrap, along with grilled chicken or fish.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large ripe avocados

1/4th lime, juiced

1 clove garlic, mashed to a paste in a mortar & pestle (or dash granulated garlic)

2 vine-ripe tomatoes, diced

1/4 C minced red onion

1/4 C minced fresh cilantro

1/4 t. Onion salt, to taste

METHOD:

In a small bowl combine the avocado flesh with the lime juice and lightly mash together.

Add the garlic and stir well.

Add red onion, tomatoes, and cilantro, stirring to combine.

Season with onion salt to taste.

Serve immediately.

This is a perfect dip for organic blue corn chips!

Enjoy,

Leila.

www.kitchencheetahs.com

Tender Flavorful Beef Carnitas - Clean Eating, Paleo, Gluten Free

Shredded Beef Carnitas served over top a fresh Mexican salad.

These Beef Carnitas are very tender and mildly sweet and spicy. If you use raw or fresh (not cooked or pasteurized) pineapple juice, it will tenderize your meat further by the bromelain content that pineapples contain. This recipe is very similar to my Pork Carnitas, I just added a bit more garlic to the beef version. See my Pork Carnitas recipe on my other blog called BeauteandtheFeast.blogspot.com.

You can make these carnitas in advance but it is super easy to make 4 hours before you plan on eating dinner. You will have a lot of leftover meat, unless you are feeding quite a large family. The left over meat is perfect for filling chimichangas, burritos or tacos, or use in a Mexican-style casserole, or as a Mexican salad topper, ... Yum.

What I love about meats that have been simmered in well-flavored broths or sauces, is that it usually keeps the meat from tasting oxidized when the meat is reheated as leftovers. Oxidation is prevented by the use of herbs and spices. Adequate salt in the cooking liquid helps all the flavors to permeate the meat, bringing the flavor throughout nicely. Reheating the meat on the stove instead of in the microwave keeps the leftover meat tasting fresh.

I am one of the unusual (weird?) people who can taste that oxidized off-flavor in meat. Rarely have I ever met people who can taste that like I can. It's been really annoying actually, because I can't stand leftover roast beef, chicken (strangely, Costco's rotisserie chicken, boned and packaged air-tight has tasted great), turkey (bleh, although brining it with herbs has helped), pork, let alone game meat. Microwaved meat is the worst! I see other people enjoying their leftover reheated whatever, and I can't eat it with out feeling sick, and I have to pick the meat out. It makes it hard for me to get the protein I want. I can usually eat meat if its freshly prepared with out a problem, unless it's old, improperly stored meat. Believe it or not, I do not like being a vegetarian. I will eat that way a lot, but I listen to my body in it's requests for good meat. It took me until I was in my late 30's to even figure out what that yucky "taste" was. I was doing research on professional food manufacturing and how a company was attempting to deal with the off-flavors of oxidized meat, extending it's shelf life. I found out I wasn't crazy after all....I'm just a "Super Taster." I should have a Super Hero cape made for that.

On to the recipe...


Beef Carnitas Recipe:

2 t. chili powder (gluten-free)
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. BioSalt or sea salt
1/2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder (or granulated garlic)
1/2 t. fresh ground black pepper
3 to 4 pound beef roast, fresh or thawed
1 to 2 T. deodorized coconut oil
24 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice (can use 6 oz frozen concentrate plus 18 oz water)


Method:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix the spices and salt together. Rub onto the entire surface of the meat.

Heat a large dutch oven (with a tight-fitting lid) on medium-high, add the coconut oil and sear the roast on all sides until brown, about 2 minutes per side.

Pour the pineapple juice over the roast, cover and place in the preheated oven for about 4 hours, or until the meat is fall-apart tender.

Shred the meat in the pot with 2 forks, stir into the juice and cover to keep warm.

Use in your favorite Mexican-style recipes.

Photos of the process:

Rub all sides of the roast with spice mixture.

Brown all sides of the seasoned roast in deodorized coconut oil in a dutch oven

Pour the pineapple juice over top and place on the lid.

Bake tightly covered at least 4 hours, until fall-apart tender.

Shred the Meat once it is fall-apart tender

Stir the shredded meat into the juice.

Serve hot with your favorite Mexican meal (this salad is dairy-free and grain-free).

Enjoy,

Leila.

Easy Beef or Buffalo Mexican Taco Meat (No commercial flavor packet used!)

Favorite taco meat

Here is our family's favorite taco meat. it is incredibly easy to make and it tastes so much better than taco meat made with those commercial flavor packets you can buy at the store. I actually hate the taste of those flavor packets, but my mom always made hers from scratch...Yes, I know I'm spoiled.

You can make this taco meat with either organic ground beef, ground buffalo, or beefalo. Even ground turkey works.

At times, I have also added up to 30% of a soy protein meat substitute into the mix, to extend the meat. I pre-hydrate the meat substitute first before adding it to the rest of the meat. Then I add the onion, garlic, and seasonings and saute it all together. I do prefer the 100% meat version, but my family hasn't seemed to notice the difference.

I like to make a big batch of taco meat and keep the leftovers in the refrigerator for quick meals later in the week. This meat also freezes well.




Best Taco Meat Recipe:

2 pounds organic free-range ground beef or buffalo
2 onions, minced
8 cloves garlic, smashed with the salt
1 t. sea salt or BioSalt
1 t. onion salt
2 t. Ancho chili pepper powder
2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. paprika
1 t. organic beef base
40 grinds black pepper
1/4 t. psyllium husk powder
1/4 c. purified water


Method:

Brown the meat with the onions and garlic over medium-high heat in a large skillet, until the onions are translucent and the meat is cooked through. Break the meat up as it cooks.

Add all of the seasonings, psyllium, and water and simmer until thickened.

Taste for seasoning and serve while hot.

Serve as a topping for a taco salad, inside organic corn tortillas, or gluten-free flour tortillas.

Saute the meat with the rest of the ingredients.

The finished taco meat- beef in this case.

This large grater is fun for shredding the cheddar cheese.

Heat deodorized coconut oil until a piece of corn tortilla sizzles and quickly browns.

A piece of corn tortilla sizzling away...

Fry your desired amount of corn tortillas.

Fry the tortillas until they start to brown. For stiff shells, bend in the center and fry a little longer.

Place tortillas between layers of paper towel.

Putting the taco fixings on the table.

Start putting on your taco fixings: first the meat, then cheese, then lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, etc.

A beautiful plate of tacos!

YUM!

Enjoy,

Leila.

Leila's Smoky Mexican Chicken Soup - Easy and Delicious!

Leila's Easy Smoky Mexican Chicken Soup

I created this soup after I made a bunch of chicken stock from a couple of Costco rotisserie chickens. I wanted a Mexican-style soup that was loaded with healthy vegetables, had a hit of smoky flavor and was not creamy.

This soup turned out super! our family loves it and we have really enjoyed the leftovers. It is warming for these cool fall evenings we are having.

I really like the zucchini in this soup. I used a huge tough zucchini from our garden for this soup. I peeled it and then removed all the seeds. I then chopped it into small cubes. The older zucchini stay nicely firm in simmered soups. If you have tender zucchini, add it towards the end of cooking time, so that you don't turn it into mush.


Leila's Smoky Mexican Chicken Soup Recipe:

1/2 pound bacon
1 extra-large onion, minced
6 large cloves garlic, smashed
2 stalks celery with tops, minced
3 large mild chiles, fire roasted and then cored, seeded and minced
4 tomatillos, minced
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes with chipotle chiles
1 7-ounce can La Victoria Fire Roasted diced green chiles (this brand has the best roasted flavor)
3 quarts chicken stock (home made is best)
1 bay leaf
1 t. ground cumin
2 14.8-ounce cans Great Northern beans, drained
1 29-ounce can Mexican-style hominy, drained
2 zucchini, cubed
1 T. sea salt, to taste
35 grinds fresh ground pepper, to taste
2 to 4 cups shredded cooked chicken meat
Smokey paprika, optional, to taste


Method:

Over a gas flame, char the whole chiles, then remove stem and seeds and mince. Set aside.

In a large soup pot, fry the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and crumble, then set aside.

With the bacon fat left in the pot, saute on medium-high heat, the onion, garlic, celery, chilies, and tomatillos, until the onion becomes transparent.

Add the canned tomatoes and canned green chiles. then add the chicken stock.

Add the bay leaf, cumin, canned beans, hominy, and diced zucchini. Bring up to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and let it simmer about 30 minutes.

Season the soup with the salt and pepper, to taste. Add the crumbled bacon and shredded cooked chicken meat. let simmer a few more minutes before serving. Check the seasoning.

Garnish the soup with sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, lime wedges, corn chips, as desired.


Notes:

Use gluten-free corn chips if desired.

If avoiding corn, omit the hominy and corn chips.

If dairy-free, omit the cheese and sour cream garnishes.

For a vegan option, omit bacon and saute the vegetables in deodorized coconut oil. Add smokey paprika to give a nice smoky flavor. Use vegetable broth in place of the chicken stock. add an extra can of beans in place of the shredded chicken.

In place of the canned petite diced tomatoes with chipotle chiles, use regular diced Mexican or plain diced tomatoes. Add these additional seasonings: 1/4 t. Mexican oregano, 1/4 t. dried chipotle powder, 1/4 t. additional cumin, to taste.

Enjoy,

Leila.

Crazy Good Vegetarian Taco Meat (Nut-Free, Gluten-Free)

Crazy Good Vegetarian Taco Meat

Meaty, savory, chewy & perfectly salty - that's what this taco meat is! This is a new favorite recipe of ours!

A couple of my daughters took a road trip to go visit my parents. Lucky them, they got to eat grandma's food! My mom created this terrific vegetarian meat substitute on the 25th of this month. Mom will flavor this meat various ways. This recipe is for a taco meat flavor, and it is SO GOOD.

My daughter Lexi has been a vegetarian for a few years. Lexi has recently introduced a little meat to her diet, but is still generally vegetarian. As long as she remains healthy, we support her in her choice. Grandma and Lexi created this recipe together, so it is now officially named "LexiBurger".

This meat is high protein from the tofu and egg, and high fiber due to the perfectly chewy brown rice. You do not need to tell your family that they are eating tofu, because you cant tell it's in there! Freezing extra-firm tofu is a trick our family has used for years. When you thaw it and press the excess water out, it has an awesome meaty texture when you crumble it. Just buy some extra-firm tofu and throw it in your freezer just for this purpose.

The egg helps to bind everything together perfectly, just so you know.

Are you wondering what the "Umami" is mentioned below??? It's another flavor profile that they know about in Japan. It gives amazing full-bodied, rich, complex flavors to savory foods. MSG enhances umami, for example. Umami flavors are found in slow-roasted stews, and sauces made with fond which have been reduced to concentrate the flavors, mushrooms, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, etc. It's a mysterious flavor that you can't quite put your finger on, but you really notice when it's there because the food tastes so amazing, you just want to stuff your face! Look "umami" up online for a more detailed description.

Put this delicious taco "meat" in tacos, burritos, with or without re-fried beans and cheese, on top of nachos, or on top of a taco salad. Lexi brought some of this meat to my house and we made nachos for a tasty filling treat. YUM. I have pictures of our nachos in this post.

 Look at this meat, it tastes even better than it looks!

Crazy good vegetarian taco meat nachos.

Vegetarian Lexi Burger:

1 package organic extra-firm tofu
1 1/4 to 1 1/3 c. chewy cooked organic short grain brown rice
1/4 to 1/3 c. soaked chopped dried onion
2 T. rice oil
1 T soy sauce (Tamari for gluten-free)
1 to 2 T. hot taco sauce, to taste
2 t. sunbutter (sunflower seed butter), up to 3 t., for richness
1 small beaten organic egg
2 t. organic paprika (or ground chili)
2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic salt
1/2 t. mushroom powder (to add full-bodied complex "Umami" flavor)
1/4 to 1/2 t. cumin powder
Chipotle powder, to taste
1/2 c. or more deodorized coconut oil, for browning the mixture.
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Seasonall seasoned salt, to taste
Garlic salt, to taste
1/2 c. more cooked rice, if needed


Method:

Do ahead of time:

1.  Slice and freeze the box of tofu for at least 24 hours. THAW. Press firm to remove excess water and crumble finely.

2.  Cook the short grain brown rice only until it's nice and chewy, then chill at least overnight for best results (over-cooking makes the rice mushy).


The day of making the Vegetarian Taco Meat:

Mix the crumbled tofu with the 1 1/4 to 1 1/3 c. cooked brown rice and soaked dried onion flakes in a medium mixing bowl.

Add the rice oil, soy sauce, hot sauce, and sunbutter, and toss well to combine.

Add the beaten egg and toss well to coat completely.

Toss with the paprika, onion powder, garlic salt, mushroom powder, cumin, and chipotle.

Heat 1/2 c. coconut oil in a large skillet, when starting to sizzle, dump in the tofu mixture and stir-fry it like you would fried rice. You want to brown it a little, but do not over-brown or it can get a little dry. Add more oil if needed.

Season to taste with pepper, Seasonall, garlic salt, etc.

If the vegetarian meat mixture turns out too rich and oily, just work in another 1/2 cup or so of cooked rice.

For the nachos, we melted cheddar and jack cheese over gluten-free tortilla chips. Topped the nachos with the warm "meat mixture, drizzled on salsa and topped with a dollop of sour cream. I was too lazy to go get a can of olives, but we would of loved some along with fresh guacamole!

Enjoy, 

Leila & Nancy.

Mexican Black Bean, Avocado & Corn Salsa

Chow down on this delicious salsa, which is almost a meal in itself!

My daughter brought this to my Mother's Day dinner this year and it was a big hit. She doesn't really measure everything when she cooks (I wonder who she got that from), but I had her write down what she estimated was in her salsa.

The next day, I went about recreating it (because we ate it all - and it was a double batch!), writing down the exact amounts of everything as I went. It turned great, although I liked my daughter's even better - because hers was made with love. Both of my eldest daughters cooked for me on mother's Day and it was wonderful!


Here is my daughter's salsa recipe, with the exact measurements I worked out. This recipe doubles perfectly, if you want a bigger batch.

Feel free to play with the seasonings to suit your tastes.

Note: Her version did not have the onion salt, fresh tomato, lime zest or fresh minced jalapeno. Nor did it have fresh ground black pepper (she was out of it). She used garlic salt instead of garlic and salt.




Black Bean, Avocado & Corn Salsa Recipe:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained (or 1 1/2 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed)
1 can Rotel (Mexican-style tomatoes with green chilies)
Zest of 1 lime, optional
1 lime, juiced
1 avocado, cubed
1 tomato, diced, optional
1/4th bunch cilantro, minced
2 large scallions, minced
2 t. minced jalapeno, to taste, optional
1/2 T. mild flavored olive oil
1/2 t. sea salt or BioSalt, to taste
1/2 t. onion salt
1/4 t. garlic powder (or 1 small clove garlic, smashed)
1/8 t. chili powder
1/8 t. ground cumin
1/8 t. ground coriander
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste


Method:

Dice the avocado and place in a medium sized bowl.
Pour the lime juice over top and lightly toss.
Add the Rotel, oil and seasonings to taste.
Add all of the other ingredients and gently mix together.
Taste for seasoning and adjust as desired.
Let the flavors blend an hour or so before serving with gluten-free corn chips.

Enjoy,

 Leila.

Copy-Cat La Casita Chicken Salad

La Casita Mexican Restaurant has a delicious yet simple chicken salad that I have duplicated here.

I've posted earlier about one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Springville, Utah, La Casita. The restaurant is a quaint hole in the wall but the food is great. I have often ordered this salad. It is a simple salad, yet I love it.

Here is a rare instance where I will use a commercially prepared salad dressing.

This salad is super easy to make at home. I like to gently poach a batch of chicken breasts and then chill them in their poaching liquid. Then the chicken is ready for quick meals later.

A trick for tasty poached chicken is to season your poaching liquid. You can even brine your chicken first in this liquid before cooking it.

Here is another post where I write about poaching chicken that you might like: On-The-Go Grilled Chicken Strips



Copy-Cat La Casita Chicken Salad Recipe:

Serves: 1

1 Poached skinless, boneless chicken breast
1/2 head Chopped romaine lettuce (or mixed greens)
1 Diced fresh tomato
1/2 c. Shredded Jack and Cheddar cheese
House Dressing (Kraft Zesty Italian dressing & marinade)
Black olive, as a garnish


Method:

To poach chicken breasts:

Place chicken breasts into a large pot and pour enough cool water to cover the chicken breasts by at least a couple of inches.

Season the water with some salt, black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, to your liking.

Place the pot on the stove and turn the heat to medium and bring up to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, turn down to a gentle simmer and simmer just until the meat is tender and no longer pink inside. Do not cook the chicken in boiling water or your chicken will become tough.

Let the chicken cool down a little bit before placing meat in a storage container. Pour warm poaching liquid over the chicken in the storage container, until the meat is fully immersed. Cover tightly and chill completely.


To make the salad:

When it is time to make the salad, pull out 1 poached chicken breast and dice it into bite sized pieces.

Pile the lettuce on a serving plate. Top with the diced tomatoes and chicken. Top with cheese.

To serve, drizzle the salad with the house dressing and top with an olive.



Note: The House dressing listed on La Casita's menu now is Ranch. The house dressing they served a few years ago, is what I prefer, and it is Kraft's Zesty Italian.


Here's a secret: 

La Casita restaurant drizzles just a hint of Zesty Italian Salad dressing on all their tacos too. This adds an extra flavor dimension that most restaurants don't have, and it is delicious.



Our recent visit to La Casita below:

My husband Ordered a chimi.

I ordered Chicken Taquitos with verde sauce

My husband enjoyed his Chimi!

Chips and salsa for the road...

Enjoy,

Leila