When you cook with booze, which should be often...

If you've taken a look at my recipes, a lot of them include deglazing with wine or beer.  Is this just an excuse to open up a bottle of something on a weeknight?  Well, maybe.  But really the goal is to deepen the flavor of whatever I'm cooking, which brings me to this cooking tip:

Never, EVER,  cook with booze you wouldn't enjoy drinking.  

Seriously.  Never.  If they sell it as "cooking wine" in a grocery store DO NOT cook with it.  Ever.  If you have a can of Natty Light in the fridge that's been there forever DO NOT put it in your food.

Why?  If you don't like the flavor of it enough to drink it, you won't like the flavor it adds to your food.

A lot of the cooking wine I've tasted honestly tastes nothing like wine at all so it doesn't have the same effect as adding a glug of chardonnay.  

Here's my rule:  If you like it and genuinely enjoy drinking it, then it is good enough for your food.  It doesn't have to be expensive.  If you wouldn't drink it, don't let it touch your food.

There you have it.  Now crack open a bottle of something and deglaze a pan with it.  And pour yourself a glass while you're at it.

Go To Taco Meat

This is the recipe for my Go To Taco Meat that I seriously make almost every week.  Beast looks at my weekly menu more on that later for it each week and will ask if it isn't there when I'm making it next.  This recipe makes plenty for dinner and next day lunches too.  And the kids have no idea how many veggies they are eating.   

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 can diced green chiles

1 can black beans

1 box Spanish rice

1 box hard taco shells

1 packet taco seasoning

Beer for deglazing the pan (pretty much anything will work as long as it isn't too fruity)

Cheddar cheese for topping

Other possible additions:

Chopped zucchini
Chopped fresh spinach

Other possible toppings:

Sour cream 

Lettuce

Diced fresh tomatoes

Directions:

• Put on a Sesame Street episode for the kids.  
• Open a beer and take a swig.  You have to make sure the bottle is good before using it in a recipe.  Seriously.  
• Put on your favorite Pandora mix.  I recommend "Ed Sheeran Radio" or "Today's Indie Radio."
• Brown meat.
• While meat is cooking, chop onion, red pepper, and carrots.

• Once meat is browned, drain if there is a pourable amount of fat.
• Add carrots and cook about 5 minutes. 

• Cook the Spanish rice as directed on the box.  Add the diced tomatoes can once the water is boiling.
• Add other vegetables and cook about 5 minutes (until onions are tender).

• Add the packet of taco seasoning to the meat.
• If at any time the bottom of the pans starts to get crusty technical term deglaze the pan with a glug of beer.  Once the beer is in, scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the good stuff off flavor off the bottom. 
• Cook the meat until the carrots are tender.
• Add the can of green chiles.
• Drain and rinse the can of black beans.  Add it to the meat.  This might sound strange but I do this for a couple of reasons: 1) My kids won't eat beans if I serve them on the side but they will eat them in the meat.  2) This makes 1 pound of meat go a long way since the beans act as a cheap additional protein and filler.

• Serve the tacos topped with cheese and any other toppings you like and a side of rice.

• Watch your children eat veggies they have no idea about.  Evil cackle quietly to yourself.

So there you have it.  This is not anything fancy but it goes over really well with my family and tastes great for lunch the next day.  It is also really flexible and you can make it different depending on what you have on hand.

Hope it works for you too!