Tacos, and Macaroni & Cheese

Its stocktake time at hubby's work, and I can't be bothered to cook a full-on dinner for myself and the kids, so tonight, I'm falling back on an old favourite.

When my husband and I were living in our apartment in California, we didn't always eat the healthiest food. We had a very low income, I couldn't cook anywhere near as well as I can now (partly a confidence issue, partly a complete and utter lack of experience), he worked late, and I was pregnant and therefor having severe problems with what I could actually keep down. Subsequently, a substance called "Hamburger Helper" became a regular in our menus. (For non-Americans, 'hamburger' is the same as mince/ground beef. "Hamburger Helper" is like mac&cheese, with meat. You brown your meat, then do whatever the box says.)

Here in Australia, this doesn't exist - hence the previous explanation. For a long time, nothing similar appeared in our diets. Until hubby had a taco craving. He comes from California. It was bound to happen eventually. So we bought a taco kit, made our tacos, and had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner. We also had so much leftover meat we didn't know what to do with it all. Remembering our prior love of Hamburger Helper, hubby came up with a great idea. Taco Mac. It won't be to everyone's taste, but we love it here, and it's a cheap, easy way to use up leftover taco meat.

We've come a long way since the days of taco-kits and Kraft mac&cheese, however. We now usually buy tortillas instead of using hard taco shells, I make our taco seasoning, and my husband has recently come to appreciate home-made macaroni and cheese - since I discovered how to make it with MILK instead of water, cutting down on 'the grainy factor' that he disliked so much.


TACOs*

In a large jar, combine:

• 10tsp paprika
• 9tsp cumin
• 5tsp onion flakes
• 5tsp garlic powder NOT GARLIC SALT FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!!!
• 4tsp coriander
• 4tsp salt
• 4tsp sugar

Mix well.

Brown your meat in a frypan.
Once browned, for every 500g (1 pound) meat, add about 1Tbsp taco seasoning, and 1/2 cup water, mix till well combined, and simmer to reduce. TASTE IT. You may need to add more, you may decide to use less next time.
Make your tacos, using whatever you like. We use soft tortillas, cheese, salsa and lettuce. My mum adds avocado, hubby adds chili sauce.



MACARONI & CHEESE

milk
butter
macaroni
salt
pepper
cheese

In an appropriately sized saucepan, mix your macaroni, milk, butter, salt & pepper.
How much, you ask? Thats tricky. This is the recipe I found: 2 1/2 cups pasta, 3 cups milk, pinch salt, med-high heat, stir continuously, add cheese when cooked.
DIDN'T WORK. Others have had brilliant results, my milk evaporated away and my pasta was still hard.
So heres what I did:

• 2 cups pasta, 2 1/2 cups milk, knob of butter - about 1tbsp - and a little salt&pepper in a 3L pot.
• LOW-MED heat.
• STIR CONTINUOUSLY.
• Add more milk when it's evaporated down quite a bit and your pasta is still hard as a rock.
• Keep stirring.
• Add MORE milk.
• KEEP STIRRING!!!!!!!!!!!
• Finally, CHEESE!!

What I recommend (serves 2 adults, 5yr old boy and 1yr old girl, with plenty left over. I need to work out better proportions for the 4 of us):

2 cups pasta, 3 cups milk, Tbsp butter, salt & pepper in a pot.
Med-low heat .
STIR CONTINUOUSLY for 10-15 minutes, adding more milk if needed.
When the pasta is cooked and the milk is thickened, add 1cup shredded cheese, stirring til combined and melted.
Taste, add more salt/pepper/cheese as needed.



TACO MAC

Make your mac&cheese.
Once the cheese is melted, add 1-2cups taco meat (depending on what you have available and how meaty you prefer it), stirring over low heat til well combined and heated through.




*We don't like spicy. This recipe is an absolute spicy FAIL, if you like spicy, add chili by all means!

Steak Marinade

• Measurements are mostly guesses
• Adjust to taste
• Good for steaks to eat as steak, and also for meat to go into a stir-fry or fried rice

For 4 steaks:

200ml soy sauce
50-100ml HP sauce
a good slosh of sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced (1tsp minced-garlic-in-a-jar if you're lazy like me)
1 Tbsp brown sugar

Mix well, pour over raw steaks in a container/sealed bag, and refigerate at least 30min. Cook steaks as desired, basting with leftover liquid if you want (works well for BBQing, not so easy in a pan).

Shepherd's Pie

This is a family standard for cold whether, and is so enjoyed that we brave the oven-heat and eat it in summer too.

In reality, I suppose this version is "Cottage Pie" since we use beef mince instead of lamb, but whatever. IS TASTY.

YOU NEED:

• mince meat
• herbs
  
• vegies
• onion
• stock cubes
• water
• mashed potato
• cheese
• flour
• oil
• large, greased, ovendish
  

START:

The best place to start is with your mashed potatoes. They'll boil while you're cooking everything else, so get chopping. MAKE MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU WILL NEED. I'm serious. For Shepherd's Pie I usually use 7-8 good sized potatoes (quite a bit more than I use as a side dish), and theres barely enough. MAKE LOTS.

You could also turn your oven on to about 230 celcius, and grease your oven dish - it makes cleaning at the end a little easier.

Chop your onion as small as you want. I don't like onion so I cut it as small as I can be bothered. Brown it in some oil, then add your mince - we use about 1kg (2lb), and it makes 2 meals for our family of 3 (bub desnt count yet). If you want, you can add a sprinkle of mixed herbs as well. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

While your meat is browning, start making your stock. You want it double strength, which is why we're using stock cubes instead of ready-made. Take 2 cubes of OXO (or wahtever you use) and crumble them into ONE portion of boiling water - usually about 1cup. MIX WELL.

Once your meat is browned, add your stock, and about 1 tablespoon of flour, sprinkled over. Mix it up. If its too liquidy, add a little more flour. Too dry, add more water. Once its as you like it, dump it into your dish, and spread it out evenly.

Add some vegies. We use a frozen bag of peas corn and carrots - about 1cup, mixed through the meat.why yes, that is a patch over on one side with no vegies. I can't stand cooked carrot, and peas make me want to be sick. Want to make something of it?

Now, time to add your mash. Start at the edges. Mush the mash up against the walls of the pan, making a sort of seal. Spread it thickly, and gently, or you'll just end up pushing at around and bringing the meat with it. If it starts to come up, add more. Once you've done the outside, work inwards. You'll be surprised at how much it takes. This is why I said to MAKE LOTS.

Sprinkle some cheese on top, using whatever you have handy - I usually use a combination of mozarella, tasty, and parmesan, but like I said, use whatever. Then whack it in your oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese has browned.

SERVE!!! We eat it as is, but you could add naything you wanted I suppose.

Go! EAT!!