[Incredible] Crispy Beef Fajita Wraps.

First of all, this is going to be kind of a downer post, as there are zero pictures. I have reasons for this, though, which are the following: 1) I didn't expect the utter deliciousness that this dish ended up being, and 2) I was entirely too busy. I'm posting the recipe anyway, mostly to have for my own records since all my cookbooks are still in a box somewhere and I have resorted to carrying around recipes on a piece of notebook paper folded inside a book in my purse. Not kidding.

You could make these wraps at 9:30 in the morning or at 9:30 at night and not be sorry. It's that good.

(This is a spin off of this recipe, mentioned here the other day, as featured on this blog. How indirect and six-degrees-of-separation is that? It's a spin off because I used beef instead of chicken (we didn't have any poultry on hand) and it's much more Mexican-y. Yum yum delicioso.)

(Also, can I give a quick second to the greatness that is Pinterest? Please. It's like the Picasa collage things I've been into recently. The organization is just...making...me...so...happy! My meager beginnings can be found here.)

Here you go! Get thee to a kitchen.

Crispy Beef Fajita Wraps

INGREDIENTS:


THE MEAT SEASONING

- 1 to 1.5 lb. flank or strip steak, cut into 1-to-2-inch strips

- 1.5 tsp. garlic powder

- 4 T. minced onions (I used the dry kind)

- 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

- 1 T. coarse salt

- 2 tsp. ground cumin

- 3 T. lime juice (two whole limes)

- a good, generous sprinkling of liquid smoke (~1-2 tsp.?)

- a good, generous sprinkling of Worcestershire sauce (~2 T.)

- drizzle of olive oil

THE RICE MIXTURE (straight from original recipe)

- 1 C rice (I used long grain, brown), already made.

- 1 can drained and rinsed black beans

- 1 to 2 green onions, green + white parts, chopped well.

- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped up pretty well.

- 1/2 bunch cilantro (I use the top half of the bunch, stems and all, just chopped well.)

- juice of 1 lime

- 1/2 T. chili powder

- 1 tsp. cumin

- 1/2 tsp. garlic salt (which I didn't have, so I used half garlic powder, half regular salt. It worked.)


OTHER


- sour cream


- freshly grated cheese (I used colby jack)

- 8-10 medium tortillas

- 1 stick REAL butter (my addition)

DIRECTIONS:

Dump everything in the meat seasoning list on top of the already cut meat on a plate. Mix and rub into meat with your hands.

Melt half a stick of butter (1/4 C) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Throw the meat in and let it sizzle on one side for a good bit, until the red is almost out of the top. Believe me, it tastes good if it gets a little blackened on the underside. The second batch I forgot about got a tad charred, but it was the best. And I don't generally like charred meat. I was also worried about the meat being tough because I didn't have time to marinate it, but it wasn't! It was just right.

Cut up the green onions, bell pepper, cilantro, and mix them and the black beans and the spices (chili powder, cumin, and garlic salt) all in with the rice.

When the meat is finished cooking (make sure the pieces aren't too big!), mix it into the rice too. Now you have one big goulash mixture of everything, which tastes unbelievable by itself.

Heat 1-2 T of butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Take the tortillas and one by one, add sour cream and shredded cheese down the middle, then spoon the rice + meat mixture down over that. Roll tightly and place seam-side-down in the skillet. Repeat for as many will fit comfortably in the pan. The goal here it to crisp them up (or I guess essentially fry the outsides in butter...there's a big clue to their yumminess). When the undersides are nice and crispy golden brown, flip them and do it to the other side. Remove and place on a plate. Slap some more butter in that pan and do another batch and another batch until you use up all your tortillas and rice + meat mixture.

The crispyness combined with the creaminess combined with the caliente-ness is just so delicious. We ate these tonight with a salad and some chips and homemade salsa, which I must have made literally hundreds of times. My recipe mostly follows this recipe, previously praised and featured here, and is something Tony and I crave weekly, if not daily.

Sorry for this extremely loquacious (I love that word!) recipe, but I like recipes that explain things thoroughly. I feel it's better to err on the wordy side, at least for recipes anyway.

Happy Wednesday, and happy eating.

Elizabeth's birthday.

We started the morning with birthday decorations and a few small presents she could open without Daddy (who had had to leave for work already). She got scissors--yikes?--construction paper, stickers, and a small dry erase crayon kit. Then there was this...

Monkey Bread. Too good for its own (or anyone else's) good.

It's the Fisher Family Birthday Breakfast.

[Author's Note: I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the many, many collages that are inevitably coming your way in the future of this blog. They just make everything so...organized. Bliss.]

Then there was the renting of a never-before-seen morning movie (Rio), which they loved and have since watched at least four more times. We definitely get our money's worth out of rented movies.

Then it was on to birthday Slip 'n' Slide fun!

And then there was this:

But I think he's okay....

(Oh hey, Buddy. How could I leave you out?)

After the outside fun, Tony brought home Chick-Fil-A and they had a picnic. (I took my food and the sweating baby inside.) Then there were a few bites of ice cream, a cartoon or two, and then it was naptime. Well, it was naptime for Judah, anyway, as Elizabeth used the "But it's my birthday and I can't sleep" line and got out of it. (Sigh.)

UPS delivered our gift to Elizabeth at around 1:30 p.m. We put the big box on the kitchen table and she endured hours of agony (I tried calling it "practicing patience," to no avail) until Tony and my parents got home and she could open it. Hello Loving Family Grand Dollhouse! I must confess, I was pretty excited to play with it too.

After she opened her "big present," we left to go eat dinner. My parents kept the boys and we took E to Osaka for some delicious hibachi (extra emphasis totally necessary). I was watered up for it all day, and kept thinking how awesome it was that she wanted to go there and not somewhere like Chuck E. Cheese, though I have an ominous feeling that that day's coming.

She fell asleep on the ride home from dinner, but woke up enough to get sung to [sorry; that sounds so grammatically awful] and open up a few more presents from BeBe and Bear. She got three new rooms (the laundry room, bathroom, and living room, which only has one chair [huh?]) to get her dollhouse started. She's been playing with it ever since!

I know everyone says this and that I've said it at least 3 times in my life previously and that I'm going to say it countless other times in the future, but I CANNOT believe she's as old as she is. I can't believe it was four years ago that we were doing the baby thing for the first time: going to the hospital, experiencing childbirth and bringing her into the world, nursing, changing diapers, taking her home ("We're allowed to just walk out of here with her?"), sitting around while she napped and feeling like surely there was more to do with a baby (oh, just wait, little Rachel), watching her smile, sit up, stand, cruise, walk. Hearing her laugh and begin to talk. Those were such sweet days. And now we've had four years of sweet days, and Lord willing, a multitude of sweet days to come. Praise God for such a daughter.

Happiest of birthdays to my best girl!

Make this immediately. Immediately make this. Right now. Go.

I know everyone has a Mexican-themed Easter meal planned, right?

Well happy you, you get an incedible salsa recipe today! What timing!

If you're one of those people eating ham and such, at least make this Monday.

We have recently been addicted--ADDICTED--to this salsa at our house, and of course it's the Pioneer Woman's recipe.

Don't judge me. I'm trying to branch out!

Anyway, it's DELICIOUS no matter whose recipe it is. And minus the chips you eat with it, it's fairly good for you!

The victims:



Plus a lime that I forgot.

And that is a questionable jalapeño, but a regular one will do. Look at the deathly seeds! [They're supposed to be white.]



I gutted that thing. But for the record, I usually leave the seeds in.

Dump everything into a blender:



And disclaimer: I've made this with a food processor and I've made it with a Magic Bullet, and both times I have not liked it as well--it's all about the consistency!

I pulse it pretty well. In this case, I'm with Tony, and prefer "homogenized" salsa (to use PW's description), which lacks the loathable big chunks.

Looks like this in the blender:




And looks like this in the humongous Tupperware container it fills:




And if you're me, you just realized that you forgot the lime juice (your favorite ingredient), so pour everything back in the blender and make things right.



Perfect!

Now some pico. It's my own variation, but it's parent came from you-know-who. I'd link her if I wasn't blogpressing from my phone.

Cast:



I actually only used three Roma tomatoes. And yes, that's fresh AND dried cilantro. Tony's not a fan of the leaves. And to be honest, this was actually the best batch I've ever made.

Cut all the veggies up pretty small; you get a better balance of tastes.




I only add about half the can of the corn and beans:



And stir it up!



So fresh. So clean. So fresh and so clean clean.

Go to PW's site and search her cooking page for these recipes to get exact step-by-step instructions with pictures. Enjoy!

The Year of the Horse.

Here's some belated Christmas documentation, which, I'm sorry, will not be very varied in their subject matter.

Very varied. That's right.

Anyway, these pictures will not be very varied because E got everything horse-related. It was her dearest wish. And grandparents (and aunt, uncles, cousins, and relatives many times removed) were only too happy to oblige! See here:

{1}
{2}

{3}

{4}

1. A stuffed horse from her Uncle Caleb. (That's not him, though; that's Andrew.)
2. A stuffed horse from Aunt Katie and Uncle Andrew.
[She sleeps with both of these now, every night.]
3. A horse dress with horse tights from Omi and Papaw. (That's not him, though, that's Bear.)
4. The piece de resistance--a rocking horse from Omi and Papaw, complete with leather saddle, metal stirrups, the whole bit (no pun intended).

The kitchen set from her BeBe and Bear. She cooks me some stir-fry regularly. And J really likes to chew on that plastic corn.

This is the tent from us to the kids. It has been a huuuuuge hit. We might have even tried to crawl in it ourselves a time or two! Seems we couldn't resist the draw of our childhood tent-love.

I'm sorry. I love hyphenation. Kennings, anyone?

Other presents included: some beads, some striped pants, some boots...

...some hoodies...

...and a My First Christmas present bib from Tony's Meme...

...which my bitty man got really excited about.

And that's the end of the Christmas post. I have solid, dependable internet for the next 3 weeks, so expect lots of posts. You're welcome, Mom!

Big Chunks.

First, how appetizing is that title? Good thing this is a recipe post!

Two soups you need--must--make sometime before this Ice Age ends: chicken tortilla and taco. Both are super hearty and delicious, and also my variations, entirely dependent on whatever I have in the house and/or my ever-changing taste buds.

[Sidenote: I think Tony is growing increasingly offended that I now like "big chunks" of onions, tomatoes, et cetera, in everything (sidenote sidenote: "big chunks," to Tony, are actually minutely diced pieces, which he spends forever picking out of his food) Um, sorry I'm vegetably mature now! Sheesh.]

Also, both soups include this stuff:

Sweet nectar of the gods. If that nectar was Mexican-y. And sold by Tastefully Simple consultants.

So, to commemorate my first recipe post, and because you can't make either of these recipes to their full potential without this stuff, I'm giving one away. That's right, ladies and occasional gentlemen (Dad!), this is officially the Second Doxology Mine Giveaway. I've hit the big time, folks.

Just leave a comment and you're in!

Now, on to the deliciousness.

I apologize for the lack of step-by-step pictures. I am not the Pioneer Woman, as much as I want to be. Too impatient. And my internet is too inreliable. Anyway...here you go!

Spicy Taco Soup

1-1 1/2 lb. ground beef, chuck, whatever.

1/2 medium white onion

1 garlic clove

2 pkgs. taco seasoning

1 can whole kernel corn (drained)

1 can cream corn

1 can black beans (partially drained)

1 can Rotel

2-3 T (or more!) Tastefully Simple Fiesta Party Dip Mix

3 1/2-4 C water.

Brown meat with onion and garlic; drain. Throw into a crockpot with the rest of the ingredients and let simmer on high for about an hour. Taste and see that this is good! And then serve with tortilla chips.

Sorry about the shoddy cell phone picture (and the fact that it's in Tupperware), but if you're like me, you at least need a finished shot to see what the heck it's supposed to look like. Not that this looks as good as it does in real life...in a real bowl.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

8 C water

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken

1 can Rotel

1 can milk

12 oz. velveeta, or 8 oz. shredded cheddar--or whatever--cheese

1/4 C sauteed onion

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 T seasoned salt*

1 1/2 - 2 T Fiesta Party Dip Mix*

1 tsp black pepper

2-3 flour tortillas (torn into small pieces)

*If you don't have the Party Dip Mix, and can deal with lesser quality taste [partially joking], then substitute the Lawry's and the Party Dip Mix with 1 tsp. chili powder and 1 tsp. seasoning salt.

Boil chicken in water. Remove from water and cut into bite-sized pieces. Return to broth and add rest of ingredients, minus the tortillas! Bring to boil, and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Add small pieces of tortillas (however many you may think you'll like) and boil until tortillas are soft.

Yum, yum, and yum.

A couple of notes:

1. I am not a paid advertiser of Tastefully Simple. But if they send me a huge check for my numerous plugs today, I would take it. Giddily.

B. Please look past the fact that the Tastefully Simple website has a spot for Delilah lovers. I saw that tonight and almost renounced my love of the Fiesta Party Dip Mix. I might start a petition for people-who-get-so-irritated-with-Delilah-that-it-almost-makes-them-boycott-Christmas-music-on-the-River-every-year-but-can't-because-that-would-just-be-so-wrong-to-my-soul.

"Or Mr. 152-insights-into-my-soul!" Name that movie.

III. I like to hyphenate things.

And to conclude, I realize that "Fiesta Party Dip Mix" is shamefully redundant, but I promise it does not effect the taste whatsoever. Don't even get me started on the woeful state of general grammar in the US. Or on facebook.

Whew! Do you love me again?

I have never stopped loving you. Ever.

UPDATE: No comments after midnight on Thursday, January 7. Sorry, I forgot that this needs a deadline.

The Finished Product.

Keeping Up.

I just love him. So much.

And them too. Equally as much.

He was fascinated by the trees on our walk the other night.

This is obviously pre-walk because the bow is still in place.
It usually has a life-expectancy of about 45 seconds.

Oh monkey bread, how I love thee.

Alas, it is unrequited.

Just some recent pictures to keep things interesting. The cute children are courtesy of me and my husband, and the monkey bread is courtesy of Pioneer Woman. I'm wearing out her cooking page around here. In fact, the dough for what I'm sure are some a-mazing cinnamon rolls is currently rising. At 4:45 p.m. I just wanted them, ok? Stop judging. We're calling them dessert.

You want some, don't you?

Go make your own.

Broken Promises.

I promised you that I would be better. I promised that I wouldn't make you wait. I promised that no matter how busy I got, I would make time to blog. All those promises...broken. I hope you will choose to look past my failings and decide to stay with me. I can't go on without you!

Would approximately one gazillion pictures help heal the wound? I'll do anything to make it right!

But I've got to make it quick because I've got a date with Hillsong United tonight in T-minus 71 minutes.

This is Elizabeth just chilling, reading the Bible with a headband on her head like it's no big deal.

Here's how we found the stinker eating Oh's a couple days ago. I promise I watch my children.

Oh, what's that? You need a picture of Jude? Ok, but I warn you, the cuteness in large doses can be fatal. Here he is after an apparently pretty tough Sunday.

Elizabeth likes to wear things on her head. And get everyone else to also.

Are you feeling woozy yet? The adorableness getting to you? Well, this picture's blurry, so that cuts down the potency a bit. Just go lie down for a while and recoup. That is, if you can tear yourself away.


My new favorite pastime is pioneerwoman.com. I read her stuff, and then go try to be her. Like baking this HOMEMADE, FROM-SCRATCH rosemary bread. It was beautiful and yummy. Thank you PW, and thank you Megan for making me give her butterflies a second chance.



My Mothers' Day present from Tony--he bought me the matching band for my engagement ring! I love him.



We went to the Zoo in Memphis--we were both pretty excited to ride the merry-go-round.



I mean, how cute is this?!




It takes a manly man to wear a baby carrier. And in public too.

Elizabeth is roaring at the lions. Provoking them. A not-even-two-year-old. As I think I've said before, she's fearless.

AH! Stop the preciousness! I can't take it!

Yes, she falls asleep anywhere.

In Oklahoma, playing with her second cousins (my cousin's kids...is that right? I don't even know.) Oh yeah, and she's got a shirt on her head. Again.

OK, so the story about the next two pictures is as follows: Katie, my dad and I went with Elizabeth and her two cousins, Sunni and Savannah, to go feed the ducks with leftover breadsticks (ducks like garlic, right?). I begin breaking off tiny pieces of bread for them to throw so that it lasts longer. (Mind you, the ducks were no where close to us. Actually they were smack dab in the middle of the pond and ignoring us completely.) Anyway, Elizabeth soon has enough of that, and walks right over to the bread and helps herself. To a huge chunk. Two breadsticks stuck together. Which she procedes to throw about 2 inches away because that's all her little arm can muster under such a heavy load. Into some mud. Giving up on the ducks, she runs her little body right up to the mud and retrieves her bread. And eats it herself. That's my girl.

What a great granddaddy-Bear. I love this picture.

And this one.

Another picture-worthy, if typical, Elizabeth outfit.

Sleeps anywhere. Precious girl.

So now here's some more fun things that have been running around in my head today. Your opinions are welcomed, even wanted! So comment away. Please. Let me know you're out there.

I saw this last night and have been dreaming about it and its cousins (a gold, damask-backed one and a brown, also nailhead-studded one) since. In that dream I also have a house into which to put all this stuff.

I saw the red chair when I was buying this beautiful, gorgeous, handpainted door panel for $150 LESS than it's retail value. Thank you very much.

It is currently sitting in its box, as I have nowhere to put it.

Oh yeah, and I also have nowhere to put this:

But I bought the table and six chairs anyway. I couldn't pass them up. I tried.

I also completed calligraphy-ing (calligraphizing? calligraphamozing?) another wedding recently, but forgot to take pictures of the finished product. I'll try to get some samples up soon though, so go ahead and tell all of your engaged friends that you want them to hire me. Thanks.

I'll also try to post again within days, maybe hours, of this post, just to prove to you that you and the continuance of our relationship means that much to me. Did the ridiculous length of today's blog make it up to you at all? Hope so. As I said, I'll try to be better. But I'm not making any more promises.