Low-Carb Tacos

I mentioned the other day I was thinking I could make taco salad like my friend makes (although I was going to go with iceberg shreds instead of a bed of romaine as I already had the shreds), so the boyfriend found this recipe.  Which turned out really quite good.  Love the cheese, sour cream, and salsa mixed in.  I wasn't as sure about the avocado, but it worked nicely.  If you don't want it though, feel free to leave it out.  Oh, and we skipped the jalapeno and used rotel canned tomatoes instead of chopping a tomato, as well as regular cheese and sour cream.  It's not a pretty dish, but tasty.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 onion, diced

1/2 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers

1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

2 cups shredded lettuce

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and sliced

Directions

Cook and stir ground beef, onion, and jalapeno peppers together in a skillet over medium-high heat until meat is browned and crumbly, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir taco seasoning into meat mixture; bring to a simmer and cook until flavors combine, about 5 minutes.

Stir meat mixture, shredded lettuce, tomato, Cheddar cheese, salsa, and sour cream together in a large bowl. Divide taco mixture among 4 bowls and top each with avocado slices.

Chunky chicken soup

I got this recipe from a friend back in October 2012.  I recently asked her where she got the recipe from and it turns out it came from a site filled with more recipes!  It's a low / no carb type of recipe, so good for those trying that out.  But even if you're not, it's an easy way to make chicken soup (I haven't the desire to work with a full chicken)!  This time I used our onion / veggie chopper on all the vegetables except the mushrooms (I bought a package of sliced), so they're all diced instead of chopped or sliced.  And I threw in some egg noddles (about a half package) because I felt like it (and we're not no carb at the moment) (there's also instructions on how to make a carb friendly egg noodle on the site).  Because it's soup, I just approximate on how much of the vegetables I'm putting in.

1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 boneless chicken breasts, diced, 10-12 ounces
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped, 2 ounces
1/2 cup celery, sliced thin, 2 small stalks
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced, 2 ounces or 4 medium
1/4 cup onion, chopped, 1 1/4 ounces
2 cans chicken broth or 4 cups homemade broth
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup carrots, sliced, 2 1/2 ounces or 1 medium carrot
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Salt, to taste
Egg Noodles

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken; cook and stir 4-5 minutes or just until no longer pink. Add the green pepper, celery, mushrooms and onions. Cook and stir 7 minutes or until the vegetables are tender crisp. Add the broth, bouillon, water, carrots, parsley, pepper and salt. Simmer, uncovered, 15-20 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Add the Egg Noodles and simmer a few minutes until heated through.

Makes 6 servings 

Kidney Bean Tuna Salad

I found this recipe to go with our diet.  It's easy to put together after a busy day, which is a lovely bonus.  Also, the red onion flavor isn't overpowering (good for me) and the olives aren't overly noticeable either (good for the boyfriend).  I skipped the cilantro and used tuna in oil.

Ingredients

• 1 can kidney beans Rinsed and drained
• 1 can tuna 6 oz
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 3 tablespoons sliced ripe olves
• 2 tablespoons red onion finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro minced

DRESSING

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 teaspoon dill weed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper

Directions

Ina a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. For dressing, in a small bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, lemon juice,garlic, dill, salt and pepper. Pour over tuna mixture and toss lightly. Serve on a bed of lettuce if desired.

Sage Pork Chops

This recipe is from allrecipes.com. We found it a couple of years ago and have made it a number of times. We have always taken the suggestions that were posted, and use beef stock instead of bouillon cubes, as well as adding a sliced onion and a package of sliced mushrooms. Pictured with the pork chop, with some of the onion and mushroom on top, is Stove Top sage stuffing, and Birdseye steamfresh corn. Also, I use the scaling feature, and scale to whatever number of pork chops I can find in a package, generally four.

Ingredients

* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon dried sage
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 6 center cut bone-in pork chops
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 cup water
* 2 cubes beef bouillon

Directions

1. Combine the salt, sage and black pepper in a small bowl and rub on both sides of the chops. Melt the butter or margarine in a large skillet over medium high heat and saute the chops for 5 minutes per side, or until well browned.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate small saucepan over high heat, combine the water and the bouillon and stir until bouillon dissolves. Add this to the chops, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer chops for 45 minutes.