Taco Tuesday

To begin, I am sort of bragging, but my boyfriend and I passed the Ohio Bar Exam and were sworn in on Monday.  Now me and 900 or so others are about to start our careers as Ohio attorneys!  Obviously I will keep from discussing anything legal in the blog :)

Tim (my BF) and me in Columbus with our certificates of admission!

Moving on to more important things.....

Tex Mex food is probably one of the easiest types of food to prepare.  Don't get me wrong.  I appreciate traditional Mexican cuisine, but I know that I don't have the knowledge or skills to do real Mexican food justice.

For my take on the taco night I decided to try a few new things to spice things up.  The usual taco night for us consists of  ground turkey or strips of chicken, cheese, some veggies, salsa and sour cream.

First, I made my own refried beans.  I was reading an article today which said to be careful of the canned version of refried beans because they usually contain lard.  Lard definitely has a place in traditional cooking, but for the everyday meal at my house it's best left out.  Here's the recipe I ended up using.

Refried Beans

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• a few grinds of fresh black pepper
• 15 1/2 ounce can pinto beans with liquid

Heat the two tablespoons of oil olive and add the onion, and cumin until everything gets lightly caramelized.  While the onions are heating, put the pinto beans in the food processor and pulse them until they are mashed and smoothish.  Head back to the pan and add the garlic, cooking until fragrant.  Add your beans in and stir often.  You will cook the beans for about 5-6 minutes, but don't let them burn or get crusty.  Add the salt and pepper in to taste.

I also tried to get fancy with the traditional soft taco shell and make it look more like a taco bowl.  I didn't want to fry the taco shell so I baked them in the oven.  I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and placed the shells in ramekins.

This is a ramekin

This is a ramekin with a soft tortilla shell in it

I ended up with some cute little tortilla bowls after about 10-15 minutes in the oven.  I also turned the shells over (on a baking sheet) to make sure the bottoms got crispy too.

Overall it was a nice way to spice up taco night, and a fun way to eat tacos!

How do you "spice up" taco night?

-Looking forward to a wonderful Wednesday!