taco salad

This is my favorite way of making taco salad,  it has a lot of ingredients but you can adjust everything to your liking

You will need:

1 bag family size nacho cheese Doritos

2 cups of shredded cheese [your choice]

1 large or 2 small cucumbers

2 pounds of ground hamburger [i use ground chuck]

1 can diced chili tomatoes

2 avocados

shredded lettuce

diced tomato

chopped purple onion

4 cans of beans [i used ranch, chili, dark and light kidney.  use whatever you like and however much or less you want]

1 bottle catalina dressing

begin cooking the 2 pounds of hamburger meat in a hot skillet until it has browned

add the can of chili tomatoes after the meat is browned, continue to cook.  i drained the tomatoes before adding them

in the meantime... drain your beans and cut up your vegetables for the salad.  i bought my tomatoes, lettuce and onion already chopped to save some time and trouble.

you can make this salad with whatever ingredients you prefer

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after the meat and tomatoes have fully cooked and been drained of the grease add both packages of taco seasoning

add water according to taco seasoning packet directions.  simmer until water is cooked out

after water is cooked out add the beans to the meat and continue to cook on low until heated throughout

time to build the salad.  using a large glass bowl begin with chips on the bottom

then add meat and beans..

pour some of the catalina dressing over the meat and chips.. enough to cover it.  [i used two different bowls because this makes a lot of taco salad.  half up your ingredients if you dont have a glass bowl big enough to hold everything at once]

next add about a cup of cheese, save the rest for the top of the salad.  you can use whatever type of cheese you like. I would normally use cheddar but I wanted to try Velveeta pepper jack this time.

more catalina dressing... this stuff makes the salad taste really good.

layer the remaining ingredients on top of the mix.  I put lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, avocado and olives.

serve in a glass bowl so that the layers can be seen.  this dish is good hot or cold.  store leftovers covered in the refrigerator.  

^_^

spicy velveeta taco dip

velveeta dip is good, but its reallllllly good with taco meat and spicy ro*tel!

you will need:

2 cans of Ro*Tel [i used one can mexican and one can chili fixins because i like things spicy.]

2 pounds of ground beef chuck [you can use whatever you like]

1 large block of Velveeta [i used mexican here just to try it, ive used the blanco kind in this recipe before and it was really good too.. just whatever you like]

2 packs of taco seasoning

put the meat into a hot skillet and let it cook until its done, stir occasionally. 

slice the velveeta into cubes

add to double boiler.  i just put a small amount of water in a big pot and a smaller bowl inside.. the heat gets the water hot enough to melt the contents of the bowl without burning them.  scorched velveeta is no good! always use a double boiler or you could even use the microwave.

add both cans of ro*tel.. i didnt drain them fully but pretty much.

the meat should be getting done by now.. time to drain it

i use a colander on a plate

return the meat to the skillet and add both packs of taco seasoning

add water according to the seasoning package

stir

looks good!  let it cook on low for a while

the velveeta dip should be melty by now 

add the meat after it has cooked the water out.. 

stir it up.....

let simmer in the double boiler for a bit longer

these chips looked good, you can use whatever you like.

^_^

smoked brisket

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a great Memorial Day!  We decided to smoke a brisket at my house.  This is my first attempt at smoking a brisket and just my second time using a smoker. 

to get started you will need: 

a brisket

dry rub seasoning

clear plastic wrap

I also used some salt, pepper and garlic powder

after removing the plastic from the brisket I decided to use mustard to help the seasonings stay on the meat better..

.....

all over on both sides.

I bought McCormick's Grill Mates dry rub for this brisket.  I ended up using the Smokin' Texas flavored packs over the Memphis Pit.  It just tasted better to me.  I used two packages on the brisket.

cover both sides with the seasoning

after you've seasoned the brisket to your liking, wrap it up in clear plastic wrap and set it into your refrigerator to chill.  I chilled this one for 6 hours and let it set out at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking.

you could use whatever wood chips you like, we chose hickory.  you will need to soak these at least one hour prior to cooking.. this is a smaller bag of wood chips and we used them all.

just put them into a large bowl and fill with water, I put a heavy plate on top of these to make sure they were properly soaked.

while the wood chips are soaking and the meat is resting at room temperature now is a good time to get the smoker coals going.. we used about 18lbs of charcoal throughout the entire process.

place coals in bottom of smoker pan and use charcoal starter and light them.. let them rest until they become an even gray color and are glowing hot.. have patience!

we decided to use Mott's apple juice during the first hours of smoking the brisket for the moisture pan.  You can use water here or whatever you want.

This is the unwrapped brisket that has set for about 6-7 hours in the dry rub

after you've got your coals hot and wood chips onto the fire and smoker assembled, its time to put the meat on the grill.. let cook for 6 hours without taking the lid off.

6 hours in..  I flipped the brisket at this point and continued to add apple juice or water into the moisture pan as well as new charcoal to keep the fire going.  

Finally done.. we took it off of the smoker after about 14 hours of slow and low cooking.

time to let it rest..  wrap the brisket tightly in aluminum foil..

.....

and then into a towel.. place in cooler or refrigerator for at least an hour.  I think I left mine in about 3-4 hours.

looks great!  slice against the grain and your brisket should be tender and flavorful.

yum.   happy memorial day <3