Mexican Picadillo Tacos

Lets Have Mexican For Dinner Tonight!





Picadillo is an awesome Mexican taco filling.  Hard tacos, soft tacos, corn tortillas, or flour tortillas... whatever floats your boat this will work! 

This meal usually takes 20-30 min for the whole thing... well, that might be a fib... cutting all the side/topping stuff is what takes the longest.  So here we go!

(Yes Momma Lynne this is not a hard recipe and even you can do it!)

This feeds about 6 people
Don't worry, leftovers are wonderful I promise!

2 or 3 lbs. of ground beef
2 or 3 big potatoes (I used big baking potatoes but whatever you have in the pantry will do)
2 med white onions (again just use what you have, 1 onion is for the cilantro and onions)





Throw the ground beef into a skillet on med/high

Dice up the potatoes (don't forget to scrub scrub scrub the potato before dicing)

Dice up the 1 onion

Add potatoes and onion to the ground meat

No reason its separated... I'm just crazy sometimes!





That's more like it!

I love onions!  Well, I love meat and potatoes too! Mmmmm...

If your a spicy kind of person this is where you can add hot peppers if you like!

Cook the meat until its not pink, make sure you stir stir stir...  If there is any grease in the pan after the meat is cooked do spoon it out... 

Now its seasoning time!



2 cans of Enchilada Sauce (whatever brand is on sale) I like to shake things up and use one Mild and one Medium!  I know I break all the rules!

   

 If you like hot get both cans hot! My husband will come to your house because he absolutely loves "Hot".  I'm a little bit of a sissy...  I like sorta hot... Sorta not so hot... Sorta a little hot... OK not really hot... Sissy hot.. My husband can eat food so hot that if i sit next to him my nose starts to run and my eyes begin to water! lol...

OK back to cookin!

Spices time!

2 packets of Taco Spice

1Tbs of Italian Seasoning

2Tbs Chili Powder (I'm going crazy with the hot! Use 1 if your a sissy)

Shakes of Black Pepper

1Tbs of Garlic Powder



Use whatever is on sale

 If your concerned about salt I have seen lower sodium Taco Seasonings





Add your enchilada sauces and your seasonings... Now put your skillet on a lower temp, cover, and let all your flavors dance together!  "Lets have a party" Now let the good times roll!  Its chopping time!

 

 

Doesn't that look good?  Taste time before chopping time... This is where you add a little more of this and that to taste...

Sniff Sniff Sniff

Here comes the family with spoons wondering what smells so good!







All this side/topping stuff is absolutely up to you so be creative!

This is what I added

Fresh Tomatoes

Cilantro

Onion

Shredded Cheese

Head of Lettuce

Jalapenos

Cut, dice, and shred all of your sides





 



Chop up the cilantro and the onion and mix those up in a bowl.

I absolutely love cilantro and onions!

Don't forget the stir the meat!

 

 

 

I have to wear a glove when i dice these... Just don't touch your eyes while chopping them up!

 

 

 

 

I like to use a block of cheese and shred it myself, it just tastes better. 

I like to use a mixture of hard taco shells, flour tortillas, and corn tortillas.  For the hard taco shells I place the shells upwards in a baking pan. 

 

 



Then fill them with the meat and top with your shredded cheese and bake at 350 for 5 min or until the cheese melts.  Don't just put them in the oven and forget!  Set your timer! Trust me on that!

Yes they do fall over, just keep putting them back up...

Hahahaha!

 

 

Did you set your timer?



Start setting the table with all your side stuff, because your almost done...

You don't have to but I like to slightly warm up each of the tortillas.  Place 3 or 4 on a flat griddle and flip them when they are warm and slightly brownish.  Too much toasting will make them hard so go easy your not tyring to make a chip, your just warming them up. 

And that's it!

Enjoy!

True story!  We invited our neighbors over to eat this with us and after we had all finished eating...  My neighbor actually grabbed the left over Picadillo skillet and ran home with it! No kidding!  Skillet and all!  He liked it so much he wasn't going to share anymore with anyone... he wanted it all for himself! I'm telling you, its that good!

 

FYI

If your have leftover cilantro and onion put them in a mason jar.  This will help you in the morning when your half asleep with your cup of coffee reaching into the fridge for your cream.  I'm saving you from passing out because your refrigerator stinks like onions and stinky cilantro!  Not a good way to start your morning!  Coffee and onions is not the breakfast of champions!

Your Welcome!



I hope you love this recipe as much as my family (and neighbors) do!





Cowboy Meatloaf

 

 

 

Cowboy, The Family Will Freak Out, Meatloaf

 

This is the BEST meatloaf ever, I promise!

Just try it!

 

 

This is most the stuff your going to need

 

This recipe is for 2 large meatloafs, mushroom gravy (gravy is the best stuff on earth), creamy wonderful mashed potatoes, and southern style country green beans with potatoes.

If you don't need 2 meatloafs, you can freeze one for another time, or you can have awesome leftovers!

 

 

5 Lbs. of Ground Beef

1 16oz of Ground Pork Sausage

24oz of Thick Cut Bacon

3 Packs of Saltine Crackers

1-2 Cans of Brown Beef Gravy

1 Large (white or yellow) Onion

1 Big pack of Mushrooms

3 Large Eggs

1 20oz Ketchup (your not going to use all of it, but your going to use a lot of it)

Italian Seasoning

Garlic Powder

Chunky Black Pepper

Cajun Seasoning (I make my own but any will do)

BBQ Sauce (I'm using Big Bub's South Texas Ass Slappin BBQ Sauce*)

2 Big Cans of Glory Seasoned Country Style Green Beans with Potatoes

2 Pats of Salted Butter
Potatoes
6-8oz Sour Cream

 

 

 

 

Let's Get Started!

Preheat the oven to 350

 

Your going to need a really big bowl...BIG! Put the ground beef, sausage, eggs, and crackers in the big bowl.

 

 

 

 

 OK... this is almost to the fun part!

 

 

 



Now add

3 Tbs. of Italian Seasoning

2 Tbs. of Garlic Powder

1 Tbs. of Big Ground Black Pepper

1 Tbs. of Cajun Seasoning

 



 

No, were not the fun part yet... Almost... The excitement is building!

 

 

Add a bunch of Ketchup

Not the whole bottle, but over half

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok!Ok!Ok!Ok!Ok!Ok!Ok!

Here it is...

Drink a glass of wine or pull out a cold beer because were about to roll up our sleeves, get dirty, and have bunches of Fun Fun Fun!

 

 



 That's right stick your hands in and start mixing!

 

Oh ya... Dice up an onion and throw it in!

 



 

Mix Mix Mix Mix Mix

If the consistency seems dry then add more ketchup.  You want it to be very moist but not dripping.

 

 

Now comes the tricky part

Were going to weave/lattice the bacon but we first need to talk about bacon



 

 

Bacon is one of the most awesome foods on earth.  If you don't like something, put bacon on it, you'll love it (including, but not limited to homework/paperwork).  Bacon Bacon Bacon! Fried bacon, grilled bacon, baked bacon, just bacon bacon completes everything! 

 

Back to the weaving/lattice bacon thing

 

 

Lay out 6 strips of bacon

 

 

Then lay 1 strip at a time the other way

 



 

 

 The secret to the lattice is work from the middle. 

 Fold back every other horizontal strip.  Lay down a vertical strip in the center next to the fold.  Unfold horizontal strip and back over the vertical strip... I'm sure you need a stiff drink after reading all this horizontal/vertical stuff; me too!  If this makes no sense at all YouTube it, and it will make way more sense!

 

 



 



 



 And........ TaDa!

 

 



 Sprinkle the masterpiece with pepper

 

This is where you take a picture because everyone you know will freak out with bacon envy!

 

 

Top the wonderful bacon and pepper with BBQ sauce
The best BBQ sauce on the planet is *Big Bub's South Texas "Ass Slappin" Sauce!!!!

 

Now time to get dirty again!

 

Take the meatloaf and make a big ball, put it on the wonderful bacon weave thing.  Your going to have enough of everything to make 2 big loafs.  It will take longer if you cook them both at the same time.  If you want to freeze the other one don't wrap it in the bacon blanket.  Freeze the ground meat in a bag, and freeze the bacon in a separate bag...

 



 



 

Keep adding balls to each other sorta making a football shape...sorta...

 

 

 

 Here We Go... Were Almost Done

 

Your going to take the bacon from the bottom and start to roll the hunk of meat, as your rolling tuck in the sides... Go Slow, and its ok if things start to fall apart... just keep going and tuck tuck tuck!  As you get to the end of the football, bacon, BBQ, Wonderful loaf your going to pick it up and put it into your pan with the seam side down...    

 

 

 

And

 



 

 

And

 

 



Now for real tucking begins, you might need to re-weave some bacon slices, just take your time.

 

 

 

 Smile cuz you rock!

 

 

 

 

Thank you Jesus!

Now put that bad boy in the oven! Make sure not to trip over the Big Great Dane who's snoring/helping in the middle of the kitchen floor...

 

 

Now take a breather and wash up.  My wine glass has been empty since the bad directions on "how to weave the bacon"...  It's time for a refill...

 

 

 

 Green Beans Baby! Southern Style!

 

 

 

2 Big Cans of Glory String Beans with Potatoes

Some Chunky Black Pepper

Some Italian Seasoning

Salted Butter

 

 

 

 

Put the 2 cans in a pot and add a touch of water to the empty cans to swoosh around and gather all the good stuff left in the can... dump in the pot. 

 

 

 



 

 

Boil

Boil

Boil

 

After 20-30 min of cooking the beans the juice should be getting a bit thin...

 

 

Add about 2 Tbs. of butter

1Tbs. of Italian Seasoning

A few shakes of Black Pepper

A pinch of Cajun Seasoning

 

 

 

and

 

 

 

Turn the heat down, cover, and let it simmer till your meat is done.

 

 



After 30 min or so check your Meatloaf.  Use "the sucker" (turkey baster) to get the juices out of the bottom of the pan.  This is very important...... are you listening...... under no circumstance ever, never, ever, throw out the grease you sucked out! Never Ever! Put the juices in a bowl, because were going to make some beautiful/sinful gravy with it.  So do not loose the drippings!

 

 



 

Most Awesome Mashed Potatoes Ever

 

Now that your pooped out, and have had more of the bottle of wine than you will ever admit to, Mashed Potato time.

 

 

I'm not good at how many potatoes per how many people, so your on your own on that one...

 

Some Potatoes (whatever you have on hand)

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Sour Cream

Love :)

 

 

 

Boil water, add some salt to the water, cut up the potatoes (I don't peel the potatoes.  I leave the skin on. It tastes awesome I don't care what PaPa thinks) and boil them...

 



 

 

And

 

 

Go check the Meatloaf, and use the sucker...

 

 

Now Multi Task!

 

Gravy Prep Time

 

Time to slice the mushrooms for "the food group of gravy".  Now if you don't like mushrooms I wont hold it against you (as long as your not talking about bacon)... Just skip this part...

 

 

 

Melt a half stick of butter in a pan and add mushrooms with a pinch of salt. 

 

 

 

Stir your beans and check your potatoes...

 

After the first 30min have passed, I check the meatloaf every 10-15 min.  Each time you check the meatloaf suck the grease out AND SAVE THE GREASE!

Were looking for the bacon to be dark and crisp and the inside temp of the meatloaf to be 165F-170F (It takes about an hourish)

 

 

The potatoes should be soft enough to mash

Drain the water off the potatoes. 

 

 

 

Add a half a stick of butter, 6-8oz of sour cream, salt, and pepper

mash mash mash mash

Taste it, you might need to add the other half of butter

 

(don't hold back and start counting calories now... just add it ;)

 

 

As you can see from the blurry picture I was excited... Were getting close!

 

Now its going to get a little crazy, so kick the dog out of the kitchen, take a swig of whatever is left and roll up your sleeves!

 

Here We Go

 

Ok the dog wont get up... Really...

 

The meatloaf should be done by now check the temp

Take it out and suck the rest of the grease out of the pan. 

 

 

 

What's that? I do believe I hear the slight sound of angels singing!

 

Were going to let the masterpiece rest. 

Well, before we let it rest I think we should all take a moment to gaze at the awesome bacon covered blanket greatness you have made...

 

Heat up the mushroom butter stuff and add some of  the drippings from the pan of meat. Dump 1/2 the grease into the bubbling mushrooms and whisk whisk whisk...  Whatever you do don't stop whisking/stirring!  Then add the can or cans of beef gravy (I know it sounds like your cheating, and you are, but its really ok.  At this point its either take a nap on the kitchen floor with the great dane, or cheat...) keep whisking...  This should all be coming together and actually begin to look like gravy.  I usually don't need to add anything but a pinch of pepper, so taste it and see what it needs. 

 

 

Lord Have Mercy Were Finally Done!

 

Pat yourself on the back, and whip out the camera because working this hard needs to be documented and shown off to all your friends whom you didn't invite over for dinner. 

 

 

Congratulations! Time to Shove your Face with the stuff you have been smelling for hours!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*If your interested in the BBQ sauce that was used email BigBubsBBQ@gmail.com

 

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