Walking Tacos and Dirt Pudding Cups

Thursday Night is Kids Pick Night on our weekly menu plan.  Sometimes I actually let the kids pick what we have, sometimes I just pick something that I know they would choose if given the choice.  What's funny is that the things that the kids usually pick are things that are very easy to fix and have very simple ingredients.  Most of the things they pick don't really have "recipes", but maybe we all need to be reminded that kids love simplicity.  This is a simple dinner with a simple dessert.  Add some fresh fruit and you'll have a winner dinner around your table!

Walking Tacos and Dirt Pudding Cups were chosen by me this week based upon what I found on sale at the store this week and what we had in our pantry and freezer, but these two items were well received by everyone at our family dinner table tonight.  These are two easy recipes that kids love to eat and kids love to help make.  I have fixed these two recipes with many young Girl Scouts at Camp KJ over the years. 

I'm not sure where Walking Tacos originated, but I know that we've enjoyed eating them sitting down for many years.  It's kind of like a taco salad, but somehow my kids like eating a "walking taco" over a "taco salad" so we call it "Walking Tacos" at our house!  The 8 year old said, "It's like nachos, only not melted!"  Walking Tacos are usually made with Fritos, but I decided to change things up a bit from our normal recipe by using Doritos instead.  I picked up 2 bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos this week at Meijer for $1.50 each using an instore promotion and a coupon, so I wanted to use some of them for this meal.   I noticed that Taco Bell's current $5 Meal Box Promotion this month is a taco shell made out of Doritos so it must not be too weird of an idea. 

The 3 year old picked out a package of Gummy Worms as her treat at the store this past week, so I wanted to finish up the package before they got too hard to eat.  I had some chocolate pudding mix in the pantry and a container of crushed Oreos in the freezer.  I was trying to clear space in my kitchen pantry awhile ago and we had a 1/2 eaten package of Oreos in there and a cookie jar full of homebaked goodies, so I just crushed them up my blender and threw them into the freezer to use for an occasion just like this one.

Let's just say that it was a 2 Napkin Meal around the family dinner table tonight!  The kids liked their Walking Tacos, but they decided they prefer the traditional Fritos to the Doritos.  I could go either way as Doritos are one of my favorite junk food items.  I think the nacho cheese flavor gives the dish a little zing, but I missed the traditional corny crunch from the Fritos.  The kids put together their own servings of Dirt Pudding right at the table scooping up Oreo cookie crumbs, chocolate pudding, and adding in some gummy worms.  Had I been completely prepared, I would have had them use little flower pots, but my attention has been focused this week on putting together Auction Baskets for the girls' Spring Carnival at School, so we just ate them in mason jars.  I saw The Pioneer Woman fix her chocolate pudding that way and it seemed like a neat idea.

Here are the recipes:

Walking Tacos
Fritos or Doritos or Tortilla Chips
1 lb taco meat (add homemade seasoning or store bought to browned ground beef)
shredded cheese
shredded lettuce 
Tomatoes 
Taco Sauce or Salsa
Sour Cream

Place Fritos/Doritos/Tortilla Chips in bowl or on a plate.
Top with a scoop of meat.
Sprinkle on your favorite toppings (cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, taco sauce, sour cream, etc)
Eat with fingers or a fork.
Have plenty of napkins on hand! 

(Sorry for the sloppy photo; did not notice the mess on the

edge of the dish until I got ready to post the photo!)

Kids Version : "Walking Taco"
Adult Version: "Taco Salad"

Dirt Pudding Cups
Crushed Oreo Cookies
Chocolate Pudding (instant or cook and serve or even a Pudding Cup will work)
Gummy Worms
Whipped Cream

Place some Cookie Crumbs in the bottom of a dish.
Top with a large scoop of chocolate pudding.
Sprinkle with a few more cookie crumbs on top to resemble dirt.
Place gummy worms on top or poke down into the pudding layer.
Make a whipped cream flower bud on top.

Dirt Pudding Cups
Oreo Cookie Crumbs, Rich Chocolate Pudding
Top with a whipped cream flower bud

What's on your Kids' Pick Night Menu?

Homemade Taco Seasoning

I have a completely easy winner dinner that will have all members of the family cleaning their plates without complaint and asking for seconds rather than "how many more bites do I have to eat before I can have dessert?"  It's so easy that's it's almost embarrassing to share - but here I go. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TACOS!

Yep, the go to dinner in the Queen's kitchen is nothing more than simple tacos.  The family likes them any way - hard shell, soft shell, tostada shell, nachos, with chicken, beef, pork, fish, or beans or any combination!

I seem to always have the ingredients on hand in the pantry and the freezer, so it's kind of my back up plan if the planned meal doesn't quite happen.  It's also one of the kids' top picks, so it's usually in the menu plan at least once a month.  We also eat nachos quite a bit on the weekends for lunch or a simple dinner.  Tonight the kids are having nachos for dinner before John and I head out for our (belated) 14th anniversary dinner date.

Well, I always seem to have a packet of taco seasoning on hand because we do eat so many tacos.  Last spring in the midst of our moving experience, however, I found myself with all the taco fixings EXCEPT the seasoning packet.  So, what was I going to do for dinner?!  I was too stressed with all that was going on to think of a plan B and we already had been eating out too much with all that was going on with the house showings. 

I did what all good cooks of the 21st century do. . . . .

I got on Google and typed in "homemade taco seasoning".

I combined a few recipes I found on All Recipes and ended up with this homemade seasoning.  That night, the kids and John devoured the tacos and said that they were so much better than usual.  The kids liked that there were no oniony chunks in the mix.  I noticed that I was not as thirsty as I normally am after eating tacos.  I haven't bought a packet of seasoning since. 

Try it. . . . . . You won't go back.  Not only is it a lot cheaper than the package stuff (which has gone up dramatically in price just like everything else at the store!), but I'm sure it's healthier too.  If you like it spicier, add a few shakes of cayenne pepper.  If you like it saltier or less salty, adjust the salt.

I have a whole slew of recipes that I use with this seasoning mix.  I'll add them in the days to come.  For now. . . . here's the basic recipe.

Homemade Taco Seasoning
2 Tbsp chili powder           2.5 tsp onion powder
5 tsp. paprika                    2.5 tsp garlic powder
4.5 tsp cumin                    1.5 tsp cornstarch
1.5 tsp salt

1. Place all the ingredients in a small bowl.

2.  Whisk together.       

3.  Store in an airtight jar.

                           
4   Add 7 tsp of seasoning mix to 3/4 cup water and 1 pound of cooked meat.




NOTE:  Looks like I need to wipe out my lazy susan once I looked at this picture blown up!  Good thing deep cleaning my kitchen is on my to do list this week!  I'm new to this let the world see how I really live blogosphere.  Just keepin' it real. . .


What's your go to dinner that the whole family will eat without complaining?!