July 20, 2011- Impossible Taco Pie

Our church is a sponsor of Family Promise, an organization which helps homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence.  This week we hosted a family of 7-- mom, dad, 4-yr-old girl, 3-yr-old boy, 1-yr-old boy, and twin 2-month olds.  I cannot even imagine having that many children, let alone having them all under the age of 4 and without a home to take care of them in.  This family from Eritrea, a country just North of Ethiopia, was very happy and friendly, despite their difficult situation. I have to admit that I had not heard of the country before this week.  

Katie and I, along with our friend Nancy and her niece, provided dinner for this family at the church tonight.  I made two Impossible Taco Pies.  The five adults and four children consumed 1.5 of the pies I made.  Guess what Katie and I will be eating tomorrow night? :)  Nancy made a wonderful salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, pumpkin seeds (also called pepita), avocados, and peaches.  The dressing for the salad was delicious too, but I can't tell you what it was made of.  She also made a divine chocolate cake with fresh ginger in it.  Topped with fresh, homemade whipped cream, that cake was a winner. 

After the meal concluded, the kids ran around, played, danced, and colored together for more than an hour.  It was great to see Katie playing with them.  She desperately wanted to be included and didn't want to go home. 

June 20, 2011- Impossible Taco Pie

We had the pleasure of taking dinner to our friends Mike, Naomi, and Oliver this evening. They welcomed Liam into their family on the 7th, and our PEPS group has been taking them meals every couple of days. What a sweet baby Liam is:)  We took two Impossible Taco Pies with us.  We shared one with them tonight and left one with them to eat another time.  We had a salad with romaine lettuce, tortilla strips, Mexican cheeses, and spicy ranch dressing on the side.  I took ham sandwiches, string cheese, and applesauce for Katie and Oliver to eat.  Neither of them ate very much.  Of course, that meant that Katie had to eat once we got home. 

Wednesday, 3/23/2011

Ben and I finished off the Impossible Taco Pie tonight.  Katie first asked for a hot dog with bread and ketchup.  When the answer was no, she asked for chicken nuggets.  I was thrilled that she actually ate them.  

Much to Ben's disgust, the chicken nuggets were drenched in ketchup.  To me, that just makes them complete:)  I'm a big fan of ketchup, but I do have my limits.  The other morning we went out to breakfast and Katie dipped her pancake into ketchup.  The gross part is that it was already drizzled with maple syrup.  Here's her cute little dipping hand in action:

Monday, 3/21/2011

Ben and I ate Impossible Taco Pie for our dinner tonight.  One more meal of it remains for this week.  Katie ate some peanut butter, a bite or two of banana, and a bunch of carrots!!!  I asked her if she would eat some and jumped to prepare them when she said yes.  I pealed one carrot, chopped it into small sticks, and then steamed them until fork tender.  Katie knocked two carrot sticks onto her tray while she was stirring them in her bowl with a fork.  I took the bowl away along with her other food and drink options.  I told her could have them back after she ate the two pieces of carrot.  To our surprise, she at them and then asked for more carrots!  Win!  Win!  Win!  In the end, she didn't want to eat anything else for the night.  Whoo Hoo for steamed carrots!

Friday, 3/18/2011

We made an Incredible Taco Pie for our dinner tonight.  A layer of browned ground beef, seasoned with taco seasoning, topped with green chilies, and covered with a mixture of milk, eggs, and Bisquick.  Baked and topped with shredded cheddar cheese.  YUM!

Katie ate dinner separately while Ben and I prepared the taco pie.  She had grapes, cheddar cheese, goldfish crackers, and some deli turkey.  She was particularly excited about the multi-colored crackers we got at the store tonight.  She was having a meltdown over not getting to sit in a car-cart at the store.  The crackers were the cheapest, fastest bribe I could give her to ensure a tear-free shopping trip. 

And, now that I've mentioned it, I would like to wag my finger at all of the parents who don't take the time to unbuckle the seat belts of car style grocery carts correctly.  I would guesstimate that 90% of the car-carts out there have broken or missing seat belts.  What the heck!  I have used MANY buckling devices in the last two years, and not once have I broken a buckle.  To all of those parents out there who have broken a buckle by being impatient, I would like to thank you for making me disappoint my daughter almost every week at the grocery store.  Unlike you, I don't let her sit in a cart without a working seat belt.  It's just not safe.

Saturday, 12/11/2010

We ate left over Impossible Taco Pie. This is a great meal for left overs.  It reheats really well and tastes as great the last day as it does the first day. 

Friday, 12/10/2010

We ate left over Impossible Taco Pie. 

Thursday, 12/9/2010

I made an Impossible Taco Pie for dinner, baked in a heart-shaped pie pan for fun.  Katie got a kick out of it:)  I was pleased that the pan seemed to have enough room for all the ingredients.  The center of the pie hadn't set up when the pie was supposed to be done.  I baked it for another five minutes, until the center stopped wiggling and the top was getting quite golden brown.  It was done enough to eat, but it was not as done as we would prefer it to be.  Well, I was just about to say it still tasted great, when Ben walked into the room and said it was lacking something.  He often adds hot sauce to this dish and didn't this time. Maybe that is what was missing. 

Thursday, 6/17/2010

Katie and I had a lovely afternoon shopping and visiting with our friend Shellie. We had a little Starbucks treat around 4pm; so, we didn't need a very big dinner. Katie and I finished off the rest of the Impossible Taco Pie. We were on our own for dinner, since Ben stayed downtown after work for an ASNE meeting.

She now knows how to say "bath" and "bathtub". As you can imagine, she is asking for lots of baths:) Thankfully, the bath seems to calm her down, and she is ready for bed right afterwards. I had her in bed before 6:30 tonight!

Wednesday, 6/16/2010

Katie is now officially 18 months old! We had a fun day together. She woke up early, so I took her out for breakfast. We tried Endolyne Joe's, but it was not open yet. We ended up sharing a breakfast sandwich and mini chocolate donut at Starbucks instead. It was a nice way to start the day:)

After lunch, we colored with crayons and danced to Casper Babypants- More Please. For dinner we had left over Impossible Taco Pie with delicious young, white corn on the cob. Katie couldn't wait for dinner; so, she happily munched on cheese and blueberries until dinner was ready. I was pleased that she still ate all of the pie that I prepped for her. It was fun watching her figure out how to bite into the corn cob!

Monday, 6/14/2010

I had to strap Katie into her high chair so that I could make dinner. She seems to be cutting a tooth, which has made her very whiny, clingy, and kind of frantic today. Thankfully, she was mostly content being up higher so that she could see what I was doing from a distance.

I made Bisquick's Impossible Taco Pie tonight. We have a busy week ahead of us and it is a good meal to reheat as left overs. Here is the recipe we use. I'll share my notes at the end of this post.

IMPOSSIBLE TACO PIE

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 ( 1 1/4 oz.) envelope taco seasoning mix
1 can ( 4 oz.) chopped green chiles, drained
1 1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup Bisquick
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese

Preparation:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease glass pie plate, 10 x 1 1/2 inches.
Cook and stir ground beef and onion in skillet until beef is brown;drain. Stir in seasoning mix, dry. Spread in pie plate; top with chillies. Beat milk, eggs and Bisquick baking mix until smooth. Pour into pie plate. Bake 25 minutes. Top with tomatoes and cheese. Bake 8-10 minutes. Longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream, tomatoes and shredded lettuce if desired. 6-8 servings.

I opt out on the onions for this dish. I don't think they are needed, and it cuts down on my prep time. I skip the tomatoes and instead top the pie with hot sauce for a little more kick. When we make beef burritos, we always use 1.5 packets of taco seasoning for one pound of ground beef. I use the same amount for this taco pie. And, I think 1 cup of shredded cheese isn't enough. Try 2 cups:) By the way, this is a great dish to take to a potluck. Hint: save a couple of those plastic pieces they use in delivery pizza boxes that keep the cheese from sticking to the box. You can use them in this dish to keep the melted cheese from sticking to the tin foil.