My oh My...It's Lentil Frito Taco Pie!

I have always been a big fan of the homemade taco salad. We had Old El Paso Tacos on a regular basis in y childhood. I always crumbled mine to make a salad...

It's hard to find a good replacement for real ground beef in a taco salad. I am not a big fan of TVP (texturized vegetable protein), even though it's the easiest to use and comes frozen already crumbled for about 4 bucks. Our current fav beef substitute is the Quorn brand crumbles. Quorn is made with fungus, like mushrooms. Sounds gross, but it's magically delicious. They're fake chicken is the closest I've ever come to chicken without actually eating chicken. 

Anyway. Lentils are another good substitute for beef in tacoy things. Good for you. Filling. Easy to cook. 

Like the recipe below....

Lentil Frito Taco Pie

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed and picked over

2 cups salsa

1 pack taco seasoning

Corn chips

Taco toppings (lettuce, tomato, more salsa, sour cream, cheese, olives etc)

Place lentils in a saucepan with 2 to 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and simmer, covered, 25-35 minutes, until tender. Drain and return to pan. 

Stir in salsa and taco seasoning. Simmer 5 minutes to heat through. 

Serve lentils over corn chips and topped with taco toppings. 

Dig in!

Asparagus, Tomato and Egg Salad

I know other bloggers always have something interesting to post about before they put up their purty pictures with their recipes....but I do not really get the 'purty pictures' others get and my life consists of sitting in a recliner and caring for small children at the moment. Kevin and I are going on a Dolphin Cruise for a good friend's bday this weekend....so I look forward to that....

The salad below was very satisfying. And easy. You may have to reduce the roasting time if you have itty bitty skinny asparagus, just keep an eye on it. 

Asparagus, Tomato and Egg Salad

1 pound asparagus spears

6 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced into eighths

Vinaigrette 

Preheat oven to 400. 

Break of woody ends of asparagus and line up on baking sheet. Drizzle spears with olive oil and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender. Cool. When cool enough to touch, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces. 

Combine asparagus, eggs and tomatoes in a bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to coat. 

Dig in!

Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Spread

Hope the Mommy's out there had a good Mother's Day! We had Olive Garden to go...it was delicious. I love some carbs! I picked out my own present, a while bunch of my favorite lotion Au Lait. Cooper picked me out a super-cute owl and a nice card. I spent most of the day watching DVDs and painting my nails on our bed. Ah...a day without too much childcare, is it sad that's all I really want for Mother's Day? :)

NOW...this recipe...

Yummmmm....

A smooth, spicy and healthy spread for pita or a dip for chips. We had it on pita that night for dinner and I sampled some later on tortilla chips. I recommend both ways. 

Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Spread

2 cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Pinch of salt

Half a block of cream cheese (4 ozs), softened and cubed

1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Salt to taste

Pita bread for serving

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Chill 1 hour before serving. 

Dig in!

Cake Mix Hack: Streusel Muffins

It's a rainy day and I am watching Dexter while the boys nap....

It's still funny to say 'the boys'. I have more than 1 child now!

This is my latest cake mix hack, you can find the others in my recipe archive up top. Ya  ya ya yummy!

Streusel Muffins

1 spice cake mix

1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs

3 eggs

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. 

Combine cake mix, graham cracker crumbs, eggs, oil, and water. Mix until blended on medium for 2 minutes. Divide into 24 paper lined or pan sprayed muffin cups. 

Combine butter, brown sugar and walnuts to make crumb topping. Crumble over each muffin. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until set. 

Cool for 5 minutes in pan before transferring to a cooling rack. 

Dig in!