Lunch Lady!

So, yesterday's post has gotten rave reviews.  I have gotten several messages from readers that are excited to have their own Tuesday tomato soup and grilled cheese dinner at home.  And, I had many readers that loved walking down memory lane with me to revisit school lunches....so in honor of all of you, here's one of my favorite Adam Sandler videos.  And from now on, I am Heids McGhee, aspiring lunch lady.  Are you thinking, "Heids McGhee, unprocessed kitchen, blogger, biker, and lunch lady....how do you do it all?"  Well, the answer is, I am an overachiever by nature.

**sidenote**  You may not want to watch this video with your children.  My kids think it is hilarious, but I have questionable parenting at times.

So, today is Friday.  To me, Fridays scream cocktails Mexican food.  Tonight's dinner is going to be a breeze because the bulk of dinner is frozen in my freezer.  Remember the crockpot bean recipe from last week?  I froze half of that batch.  As I was pulling the beans out of the freezer, I saw a bag of frozen taco meat from a party we had in December and a bag of frozen corn. 

So, I thawed and reheated the frozen taco meat. It was even better this time.  I got the recipe from allrecipes.com.

Taco meat

• 1 (4 pound) frozen rump roast
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 (7.75 ounce) cans Mexican style hot tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons crushed garlic
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro        

**sidenote**  I never found hot tomato sauce.  I used regular tomato sauce and added some diced jalapenos and onion. 

1. Place the frozen roast in the slow cooker. Pour the wine and Mexican style hot tomato sauce over the top. Season with garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Cover, and cook on Low for 9 hours. When done, the roast should shred easily with a fork. Shred the roast into the juices, and mix in the chopped green onions and cilantro.               

Serve on tortillas with cheese, lettuce, tomato, peppers, etc. 

And, even though I am stretching myself a little too thin with the new lunch lady/biker/blogger roles I am taking on, I thought I really should make something homemade for this meal.  So, I decided to finally tackle homemade tortillas.  I got this recipe from my friend, Deb.  Deb has a 7 year old and 5 year old triplets and makes her own tortillas.  We're putting her up there with Astrid, in the "women who have more hours in their day than the rest of us" club.

Flour tortillas

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp veg shortening or lard
• 1 1/2 cups water

1.  Mix.
2.  Knead.
3.  Roll. 
4.  Cook on hot skillet.

Seriously, how can you not love the directions in Deb's recipe?  I'm thinking Deb has triplets, she could assign steps #1-3 to them, step #4 to the 7 year old and pour herself a cocktail fresh squeezed juice and supervise. 

I know if I was going to be all healthy, I would have used whole wheat flour.  But, today is Friday Funday, so we got all crazy in the McGhee house and used all purpose.  And, don't you love the looks of these....screaming homemade!!!!

When I was scrounging in the freezer for beans and meat, I noticed a bag of frozen corn.  Now, this isn't frozen corn you buy in the grocery store...this is corn that I froze.  There's a difference.  Where I live, in the Middle, we have really amazing sweet corn in the summer.  Anytime there is leftovers I cut it off the cob and freeze it.  Brilliant, I know!  So, I got to thinking about what could I do with this corn, and then I remembered this recipe from canyoustayfordinner.com that I have been wanting to try. 

Spicy Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

• 2 small peppers- any kind you’d like
• 1/2 medium sized onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1, 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch cayenne pepper for a little heat
• 1/2 cup sweet corn
• 1/2 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese, or any cheese you like
• fresh cilantro, salsa, and sour cream for serving

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut a slit through the entire length of each of your peppers. Place them on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, until the skins are softened and beginning to blister.
2. Heat olive oil in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add your onion and saute for 3 minutes, until beginning to soften and turn translucent.
3. Add garlic and stir constantly for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
4. Stir in your black beans along with the water.
5. Add your cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and cayenne. Stir, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer the beans for at least 15 minutes, but up to 30 minutes.
6. Stir in corn. Divide the bean mixture evenly among the two peppers and sprinkle with cheese.
7. Broil for 3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Garnish with fresh cilantro, salsa, and sour cream if you’d like.

**sidenote** I brushed peppers with olive oil and broiled after step 1 for a couple of minutes.  I like my peppers a little charred. 


Oh.  My.  Goodness.  These peppers were so good. 

Delish!