Taco Crunchwraps

Mexican is always good. I didn't always think so, but as long as it has tortillas, cheese, and sour cream, count me in. It's just as good  since Katherine is eating quesedeas. With that in mind, I thought it would be good to try a second recipe from my fb contact who brought you Dorito Chicken Casserole.


Homemade Crunchwraps (A lot like Taco Bell's but healthier*)

Hopefully my last borrowed picture.
 http://www.culinarycoutureblog.com/2012/02/homemade-crunchwrap-supreme.html

Ingredients:
6 large flour tortillas
6 small corn tortillas (or tortilla chips, which was what I used)
1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
sour cream
nacho cheese (or shredded Mexican blend cheese)
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes/

Directions:.
Brown ground beef in a skillet, then add taco seasoning (according to package directions). Set aside.

Microwave the flour tortillas, one at a time (because they cool off quickly), for about 10 seconds to warm them up; this will make wrapping easier.

Lay out the flour tortilla. Spoon some of the seasoned beef into the center of the tortilla. Top with some shredded cheese. Place the tortilla chips on top of the cheese/beef; spread a dollop of sour cream on top of it, then toss on some diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce.

Starting with the bottom of the tortilla, fold the edge up to the center. Continue doing this in a clockwise or counter-clockwise movement until all of the tortilla is folded over, and the filling is entirely enclosed. If your filling isn't entirely enclosed and you have an open spot, simply cut out a circle from another flour tortilla and place it on the exposed area, then wrap the tortilla again.

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray. Carefully place the Crunchwrap, seam-side down, in the pan. Press with a spatula and cook on medium-low heat, for about 3 minutes, until the bottom is nice and brown. Flip it over and cook for another 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy :D

Results
This recipe started out with some bumps and ended on a very good note. Both time and prep work were more than what I was expecting. Browning the hamburger and setting up for the tacos was easy, but tying to put them together was cumbersome.

For one, medium size tortillas are not large enough for this project. I nearly used up a 10 ct package trying to cover the whole taco. For two, putting the tacos together took a trick. They somehow popped apart despite repeated folding and laying them fold side down. And for three, I had to enlist in Jeb's help frying the tacos up, because Katherine lost patience with me trying to put our dinner together.

The results were well worth the trial. Everyone loved them. The meal was very filling and Katherine ate well without any complaint. I think I found a new family favorite.

All in all, this is a recipe worth trying again. I think if I can keep Katherine involved with the preparation work, this has a potential to be a good recipe. For changes, I try either buying a larger soft tortilla or making a larger tortilla from scratch. By then, I hope to master the art of putting these things together. Until next time keep cooking. :)


*I would like to go on the record saying homemade crunchwraps are healthier than Taco Bell's. The fat was reduced by at least 5 grams and the overall calorie count went down by 100 to 130 calories, regardless of whether you found the recipe on a professional site or in a blog similar to mine.

Dorito Chicken Casserole

Well, I got past my first post. Hopefully it went well for everyone. Now comes the next part of the challenge: figuring out what to post for my first recipe. That actually turned out easier than I expected. I found this particular recipe through one of my fb contacts. After the first read through, I figured it would be worth a shot.

Recipe: Dorito Chicken and Cheese Casserole

image found at: http://jessieheaviland.blogspot.com/2009/08/dorito-casserole.html

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of corn, drained
1/4 cup minced onion
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 medium sized bag of nacho cheese Doritos, crushed


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Spread the bottom of the pan with half of the Doritos . Reserve one cup of cheese. Mix together remaining ingredients in a large bow. Pour chicken mixture over the Doritos. Top casserole with the remaining cheese and Doritos. Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Results

Talk about a good recipe to make. I give a big thumbs up for the time and ease of this recipe.
 All I needed to do to make this recipe was brown up some chicken (I've heard you can use Rotissary Chicken in this. Does any one know if it tastes just as good?), mix ingredients in a bowl, throw it in a pan and bake. I was done in under 20 minutes. The only reason it took 20 minutes was because I had to defrost chicken and hand grind the block cheese we had.

The best part was everyone was willing to try it. My fiance, Jeb, gave it a big thumbs up and went in for second helpings.  My daughter, Katherine gave it a try. However, the only thing she would eat without coaxing was the corn. I thought for sure she would have like the Doritos, but that goes to show what happens when I try to peg her tastes. I did not think it was a bad recipe. Cheese is always good with me and anything that doesn't require a lot of my time gets a big thumbs up.

All in all, this recipe would get another go here. I would probably make a small change to it. I would substitute Tortilla chips in place of the Doritos in order to try get Katherine to eat this casserole. My fingers are crossed that it will help.

As always, feedback, suggestions and comments are always welcome. Until next time, think spring.

Hello, hello. Welcome to my cooking blog. I wanted to use the first post to explain how this blog came about and the format I'm going to use with each post.

You may be wondering why I wanted to put together a blog about cooking. The answer is : I'm trying to find recipes that work with three different people, namely myself, my fiance, and our 4 year-old-daughter. For the most part, my fiance and I are up for trying new foods. Our daughter, however is a different species all together. Comfort foods for her consists of mac and cheese, french fries and noodles. I would like her to at least try new foods and hope some how we can get out of the cooking rut we are in.

The next question I had after deciding on a topic was how to put this thing together. The answer came after looking into different recipes and how to grade each recipe. For now, I'll post the recipe and give credit to whoever posted it or where it was found. After listing the recipe, I'll look at how easy it was to prepare, how much time it took for me to make it, and how each member of the family liked the recipe. Then I'll close with an overall summary of the recipe based on these three criteria.

Hopefully this will be a good experience for both me and whoever is reading this. For future reference,feedback is welcome for any and all posts. If you have a recipe you know works and/or would like to see tried, go ahead and leave it in the comments section as well. With that being said, let the cooking experiment begin. :)