August 2023

Tacos are always a great option for dinner, but I always feel like the simple taco made with ground meat and one package of taco seasoning needs a little more elevation to make it a delicious meal. With Cole’s newfound love of putting jalapenos in food, I was able to make the perfect combo of ingredients for a spicy turkey taco meat. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of soft shell tacos, so when we have taco night at our house, I prefer to make them into rice bowls instead. This dish is so easy to cook, and it makes enough for three very large rice bowls or four smaller sized meals. It might be a good idea to supplement the meal with Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins if you are trying to spread this dinner between four people. I’ve split this meal into three distinct recipe components for ease of putting the dinner elements together: Cheater’s Guacamole, Spicy Turkey Taco Meat, and Cilantro Rice. 

I love guacamole, but sometimes I don’t feel like doing all the prep work and chopping onions and peppers. This is my quick-fix/cheater’s version that gives a similar taste of guacamole without all the prep work. If you are looking for a more traditional guacamole approach, check out my recipe for Guacamole with a Zip.

2 Avocados

3 tsp Taco Seasoning

2 tsp Lime Juice

1. Cut the avocados in half and scoop the insides out, throwing out the pit. 

2. Pour the taco seasoning and lime juice over the top of the avocado.

3. Mash the avocado until it has a creamy texture.

Kitchen Tip: Before storing the guacamole in the fridge, push cling wrap down over the bowl until the wrap is physically touching and creating a layer directly over the guacamole. This helps to keep the oxygen from touching as much of the avocado and will keep the food green longer. 

While it’s very easy to make turkey tacos by simply subbing in ground turkey for ground round, the extra ingredients in this recipe help move these tacos from good to great!

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 ½ tbsp Taco Seasoning

¼ cup Diced Jalapeno Peppers

½ tsp Hot Sauce (I always use Crystal’s Hot, but Tabasco also works)

1 tbsp Lime Juice

2 tsp Garlic

¾ cup Water

1. Heat a large frying pan on medium to high temperatures. Put the turkey in the pan and brown it. 

2. Strain the grease from the meat, then pour it back into the pan with all of the other ingredients.

Kitchen Tip: Whenever I strain meat, I like to put a layer of tinfoil in the bottom of my sink, almost forming a cup in the sink with it, then I leave the grease to cool and harden. This makes it much easier to throw out at the end of the night, and it keeps the pipes clean, since grease isn’t good for them. 

3. Stir until the jalapenos look like they are starting to saute, then move the temperature down to low and let it simmer for 20 minutes. 

Cilantro Rice is one of my favorite ways to change up a rice bowl, it provides the ease of Minute Rice while adding in extra flavor to step it up a notch. 

2 cups Minute Rice

2 cups Water

2 tsp Chicken Bouillon

1 tsp Dried Cilantro

1. Follow the directions for making Minute Rice according to the box, but add chicken bouillon to the water and rice before cooking. This can be done on the stove or in a rice steamer in the microwave. 

Kitchen Tip: I always keep chicken, turkey, and beef bouillon on hand so that I have an easy way to make broth. Since this is a dish made with turkey, I actually used the turkey bouillon in my rice, but if you prefer to keep only chicken bouillon on hand since it is a more common ingredient, chicken also works since both turkey and chicken are forms of poultry. If you do not keep bouillon in your kitchen, you can simply use store bought broth instead of water mixed with bouillon.

2. After the rice is cooked, mix in the dried cilantro and let it rest covered until the meal is ready to be served. 

Once all three of the portions of this meal are cooked it’s time to throw it all together to make a beautiful, filling bowl. I’ve listed all the ingredients below that I like to use to make a perfect meal, but there are many other taco toppings that you could also include to make your idea of the best bowl, or you could be like Cole and keep things simple. He likes to stick to just rice, meat, and cheese. 

Note: The more ingredients you add, the less spicy your bowl will be because the other ingredients will provide some cover to  the spicy addition the jalapenos bring to the dish.

½ cup Rice

¼ cup Turkey Meat

⅓ Black Beans – I use my recipe for Slow Cooker Jalapeno Black Beans 

¼ cup Pepper Jack Cheese

1 tbsp Sour Cream

2 tbsp Salsa

2 tbsp Cheater’s Guacamole

Some families have tacos every Tuesday, and others have them occasionally, but no matter what your schedule is, Spicy Turkey Jalapeno Taco Bowls are a great way to change up a meal that is typically made with beef and served in a shell!

Ribs are a food that I have long dreamed of making at home, but have hesitated to work with because I was afraid that they wouldn’t taste as good if they weren’t done in a smoker. However, after craving them for quite some time, I decided to see if I could make fall-off-the-bone ribs in the oven instead. Luckily, this was one of the recipes that I was instantly happy with, and it needed no trial and error! By roasting this rack of ribs low and slow, I was able to achieve a fall-off-the-bone perfection, topped with a caramelized BBQ sauce. 

1 Rack Baby Back Ribs

1 ½ tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Minced Onion Flakes

¼ tsp Celery Salt

2 tsp Paprika

2 tsp Ground Mustard

1 tsp Lemon Pepper

Olive Oil

1 Batch Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Possible Step: Depending on where your ribs were purchased, there might be a membrane layer over the bone side of the ribs that needs to be removed. I purchased my ribs from a meat market where the butcher had already taken care of this step for me. If you are unsure if your meat has a membrane that needs to be removed, or if you know it needs to be removed, I highly recommend using YouTube as a helpful guide for this step of the process. Personally, I was super glad my butcher took care of this step for me, because I know this prep work is supposed to be slightly challenging. If you have a butcher shop near you, I would suggest buying your ribs from them so you could discuss this with a professional.

Kitchen Tip: If you own a convection oven, make sure you are using the regular bake mode instead of the convection bake mode. Convection mode usually makes the oven slightly hotter, and it is essential for ribs to be done low and slow.

2. Mix all of the spices to create a dry rub, then rub both sides of the ribs generously with the spices until all of the rub is used up. 

3. Cut the rack of ribs in half to ensure that it fits on your largest baking sheet pan. 

Kitchen Tip: Make sure the baking sheet pan you are using has some lipped sides to catch any grease or BBQ sauce. 

4. Line the entirety of the sheet pan with tin foil. It is smart to double layer the tin foil to avoid any difficult to clean up messes. 

5. Drizzle both sides of the ribs with a thin layer of olive oil and rub it into the meat. 

6. Place the ribs meat side down on the tin foil, and bake for two hours. 

7. While the ribs are baking, use this time to make a batch of Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce, and let it simmer for at least 25 minutes before taking it off of low heat. 

8. Once the two hours of baking has been completed, switch the oven to a low broil. If the oven has a low and high option, use the low option. If the oven can be programmed for a specific temperature of broiling, set it to 450 degrees. 

9. Baste the bone side of the ribs first with enough sauce to do a thin layer on all of them, about two large spoonfuls,  and broil them for 5 minutes.

10. Flip the ribs and put a generous layer of sauce on the meat side, about two, large, heaping spoonfuls, then broil them for 7 minutes. Repeat this process two more times, with the last time using up the rest of the BBQ sauce with its most generous layer. Between the three times basting, the meat side of the ribs should be broiled for a total of 21 minutes, and the entire batch of BBQ Sauce should be used up. 

Kitchen Tip: Keep an eye on the BBQ sauce during each 7 minute interval of basting. You should be able to notice the BBQ bubbling and caramelizing as each layer of the basting process cooks. The last layer will caramelize a little less since you will be using up the remainder of the sauce and it will be slightly thicker than each of the other basting processes. However, even though it will not be quick as caramelized as the first two layers, it should still achieve a sticky texture. 

11. This is a food that needs to rest 15 minutes before serving. Do not cover the ribs with tin foil during the resting process, or the tin foil might trap too much of the heat, causing them to continue to cook longer. 

Kitchen Tip: The resting time can be used as a perfect time to prepare a side of cob on the corn! Ribs and corn go great together! 

After the ribs are done resting, they are ready to be served! I’ve found that a rack of ribs can serve 3-4 people depending on how big of portions people want. Four people could each get about 4 ribs off a rack. This is a decent number if serving this dish with both a side of corn on the cob and a Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffin!