Recipe Swap - Sriracha Beef Tacos

As I said in Friday's post, I decided to make one sweet and one savory recipe from Jaida's blog, Sweet Beginnings, for the SRC-style recipe swap. Friday brought you the sweet recipe, now here's the savory.


I decided to go with something from her Taco Tuesday posts and then narrowed it down further by looking for a ground beef taco recipe since I have a bunch of ground beef taking up space in my freezer. I was sold when I reached the first recipe in her Taco Tuesday series, Sriracha Beef Tacos. I loved the Ultimate Sriracha Burger that inspired the tacos and already had most of the ingredients on hand.


Jaida isn't a fan of blue cheese but we are, so I switched the dressing back from ranch to blue cheese. I used cheddar instead of pepper jack because I had some on hand and I decreased the amount of Sriracha because I can't handle as much spice as Jaida.

I think 2 tablespoons of chili powder was too much and, unfortunately, the ground beef was a tad gritty because of it. The flavor was still good but the texture was off-putting. I've decreased the amount in the recipe below. These were still beautiful tacos with great flavor, not to mention a nice change of pace from the usual ground beef taco.

Sriracha Beef Tacos
Slightly Modified from Sweet Beginnings

1 lb lean ground sirloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion or shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon Sriracha*, divided
1/2 cup blue cheese dressing
8-10 flour tortillas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
2 cups shredded lettuce

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, add garlic and shallot and cook for 1-2 minutes, until softened. Add sirloin, stir to combine, and cook until browned. Add water, chili powder, cumin and 1/2 tablespoon Sriracha to sirloin mixture. Stir, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.

While taco mixture finishes cooking, combine blue cheese dressing and remaining 1/2 tablespoon Sriracha in a small bowl. Set aside.

Warm flour tortillas; Spoon taco mixture into tortillas and top with Sriracha sauce, cheese, lettuce and tomato.

*Sriracha is pretty spicy, so adjust the amount according to your tolerance level. If you don’t do well with spicy, you may want to test it 1 teaspoon at a time.

Buffalo Chicken Tacos

These Buffalo Chicken Tacos have been making their way around some of my favorite blogs lately and with good reason. If you love chicken wings chances are you love the flavors in other forms. My Buffalo Chicken Pizza is always a hit and although I've never tried it, I've heard amazing things about Buffalo Chicken Dip (aka Crack Dip).


These were fantastic. I knew we'd like them from the ingredients alone but I ended up absolutely loving them (and eating more tacos then I should have). I cut the spice a bit by omitting the cayenne pepper from the coating and mixing in a little butter with the Frank's hot sauce to cut it like I do when I make baked chicken wings. We had some Marie's blue cheese dressing in the fridge so I used that instead of Ranch dressing, but either would work. And my guilty admission is that I used about 1/4 cup vegetable oil to shallow fry the chicken. I just couldn't see how 1 tablespoon of olive oil was going to cut it. SP's only complaint was the lack of cheese. In his opinion, tacos need cheese. I added Monterey Jack to the ingredient list but leave it off if you don't share his opinion.

Make these soon! If you love buffalo chicken you will love these. I promise.

Buffalo Chicken Tacos
Mrs. Regueiro's Plate

1 pound chicken breasts, skinless, boneless, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/3 cup flour
3 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit if you don't like too much spice)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup Frank’s hot sauce
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 6-inch tortillas

Toppings:
Shredded lettuce
Diced onions mixed with cilantro
Avocado slices
Ranch dressing
Green onions, sliced thinly
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

In a large bowl, combine cornstarch, flour, cayenne (if using), and garlic powder. Dredge chicken in the flour mixture. You could also do what I did - put the flour, etc. in a plastic food storage bag, mix around then add the chicken. Seal the bag and toss to coat. No dredging required and everything is evenly coated, then you toss the bag for easy clean-up.

Add oil to the Dutch oven and once it gets hot, add chicken and cook on both sides – about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Once the chicken is done, drain on paper towels then toss in a bowl with Frank's and the melted butter.

Assemble tacos, dividing the toppings evenly among each taco.

Sweet Pork Tacos with Cilantro Ranch Dressing

I've decided the way to successfully use my crockpot is to only cook with it when I'm home to monitor it. Yes, I realize this defeats the overall purpose of the crockpot, but until I feel like shelling out money for a new one this has become my only feasible option to prevent burnt food. Since I didn't want to miss out on this recipe for Sweet Pork Tacos with Cilantro Ranch Dressing, I made it on a Sunday. It was perfect because I didn't really have to do anything except keep an eye on it and flip the meat over a few times so the side that wasn't completely submerged in the liquid didn't dry out.


With all the Thanksgiving leftovers taking up space in my fridge I couldn't fit the crockpot insert in there as well, so I double-bagged two galloon freezer bags and put them into a Corningware dish to sit in the fridge overnight. I was a little skeptical of the three cans of Coke, but all it added was a nice sweetness. The pork is definitely sweet, but the tanginess from the cilantro ranch dressing helps offset it.

I served my tacos with shredded cheddar and pepper Jack cheeses, with some extra sprigs of cilantro as a garnish. Absolutely delicious and even better the next day. This made a lot of food so I froze about half of it for another time. I'm thinking about making quesadillas with the leftovers - melty cheese, the sweet meat and maybe some tomatoes for freshness, all dipped in the delicious sauce. Yum!

Sweet Pork Tacos with Cilantro Ranch Dressing
Cassie Craves

For the pork:
2 to 3 pound pork roast
3 cans Coca-Cola
1 cup brown sugar
2 cloves garlic
1 can diced green chilies
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 packet taco seasoning

For the dressing:
1 cup salsa verde
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1/3 cup cilantro
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup sugar

Tortillas and shredded cheese for serving

The night before you want to serve, place pork in the bottom of a slow cooker. Mix together all other ingredients for the pork and pour over the roast. Cover the slow cooker and refrigerate overnight.

Cook pork mixture on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the pork shreds easily with a fork. Remove pork from crockpot and shred. Spoon some of the cooking liquid onto the shredded pork to moisten it.

Blend all dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender. Serve drizzled over pork.

Secret Recipe Club: Angie's Chipotle Shredded Chicken Tacos

This is my first time participating in the Secret Recipe Club, a large-scale version of the recipe swaps I do on my cooking board, only instead of being assigned a single recipe you are assigned a blog and asked to pick a recipe, make it and then blog about it on a specific day.

I was assigned Farmgirl Gourmet, written by Heather, a mom of two who loves cooking and lives on 20 acres with 8 goats and 15 chickens. Her blog is full of gorgeous food and recipes, most of which she either grows herself or sources locally. Check it out for more delicious recipes.

I chose her recipe for Angie's Chipotle Shredded Chicken Tacos, partly because I wanted to try an experiment with my crock pot and partly because it looked delicious. We love tacos but I rarely make them so this was a great excuse.


Even though I don't usually cook with chicken thighs I decided to stick to the original recipe. I'm glad I did - the thighs were deliciously tender from the slow cooking. I served the tacos with a lot of toppings:


We really enjoyed this recipe and I had a lot of fun browsing through Farmgirl Gourmet for inspiration. I'm writing this post about 3 weeks after I made the chicken tacos and there are a bunch of new recipes on the blog that sound good. Enjoy!

Angie's Chipotle Shredded Chicken Tacos
Farmgirl Gourmet

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup salsa
2 tablespoons canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, sliced
1 tablespoon chili powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
Warm tortillas
Toppings: Shredded cheddar cheese, lime quarters, sour cream, lettuce, guacamole, tomatoes, cilantro, onion, salsa

In a slow cooker, combine chicken, garlic, salsa, chipotle chilies, chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and salt to taste. Add a 1/4 cup of water if the mixture looks too dry. Cover; cook on low for 8 hours.

Transfer chicken to a serving bowl, shred with 2 forks. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. Spoon onto warm tortillas and add toppings.

Kitchen Tip: If your slow cooker is on the larger size (6-quarts or larger) you may have issues with recipes burning. Most slow cooker recipes seem to be for 4-quart cookers. To make the space smaller, put a Pyrex or Corningware dish into the slow cooker and put the ingredients inside the dish.

Spicy Citrus Shrimp Tacos

I love shrimp and I love tacos, but I rarely make them. That needs to change. Shrimp on a regular basis used to be out of my price range, but lately the price for frozen shrimp at the wholesale club seems to be dropping. I've seen this recipe for Spicy Citrus Shrimp Tacos floating around my cooking board recently, so I thought I'd give it a try.


We thought these were good (and probably would have been better with a squirt or two of lime once the tacos were assembled, which we forgot in our haste to eat), but we both prefer the Shrimp Tacos with Jalapeno-Ranch Sauce I've made a few times before. Citrus will cook the shrimp if left to sit too long, but that means I didn't taste any of the flavors after only 30 minutes. I'm planning to try the marinade with chicken since that can sit longer and really soak up the flavors of the orange, lemon and lime.

Spicy Citrus Shrimp Tacos
Slightly Modified from Pink Parsley

Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lime
2 chipotle chiles en adobo
1 teaspoon adobo liquid
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
Shredded Monteray Jack cheese
8 small (6-inch) flour tortillas
1/2 lime, cut into wedges or slices

Southwest Cream Sauce
1 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

In the bowl of a food processor, combine all the ingredients for the marinade, through the salt and pepper, and process until smooth and well combined. Pour over shrimp in a medium bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, but no longer than 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together all the ingredients for the southwest cream sauce.

Thread the shrimp onto skewers, and grill on a well-oiled grate 1-3 minutes per side, until opaque and cooked through. Use the grill to heat the tortillas as well. You can also cook the shrimp in a skillet over high heat for about 2 minutes per side.

Assemble tacos with shrimp, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and cream sauce. Spritz with lime wedges.

Greek Taco Salad with Crispy Pita Wedges

A woman on my cooking board recently posted a recipe for Greek Tacos that sounded delicious. We are trying to eat healthier these days so I decided to make the recipe into a taco salad instead of using the crispy shells.


I really enjoyed the salad and used the crispy pita wedges as dippers for the tzatziki but SP wasn't a fan. I think he would have preferred these in the crispy taco shells. I actually put some of the leftover meat mixture, tzatziki, feta, and romaine into a pita for lunch the next day and it was fantastic, so that's another alternative to the traditional taco shells.

Greek Taco Salad with Crispy Pita Wedges
Inspired by A Seasoned Greeting

1 pound lean ground beef
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 teaspoons Greek seasoning (see note below)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bag baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 can (2-1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cucumber, diced
2 hearts of romaine, torn into bite-size pieces

Crispy Pita Wedges
2 pitas, cut into 4 wedges
Olive oil for brushing
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Tzatziki
12 ozs. plain Greek yogurt
1 cucumbers, seeded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Salt and a little pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minutes, then stir in the tomatoes, Greek seasoning, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 8-10 minutes. Add spinach and olives; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until spinach is wilted.

Crispy Pita Wedges: Place pita pieces on a baking sheet lined with foil. Brush the tops with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, oregano and thyme. Bake at 300° for 3-5 minutes or until heated through and crispy.

Tzatziki: Peel and seed the cucumber. Shred on the large holes of a box grater and then squeeze in a towel to get rid of as much excess moisture as possible. Mix together the yogurt, shredded cucumbers, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice. Salt to taste. Refrigerate overnight, if possible, or at least 30 minutes for the flavors to meld.

To serve, fill shallow bowls with romaine. Top with beef mixture, feta, red onion and cucumber. Dollop tzatziki on top and arrange crispy pita wedges around the perimeter.

Note: For a substitute for 1 tablespoon Greek seasoning use 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, dried marjoram, garlic powder, lemon-pepper seasoning, ground mustard and salt.

Crispy Margarita Chicken Tacos with Strawberry Avocado Salsa

My friend Jaida recently posted this recipe for Crispy Margarita Chicken Tacos with Strawberry Avocado Salsa, which she saw on How Sweet It Is. I'm always on the lookout for new Mexican recipes and this sounded delicious.


Unfortunately, while I thought they were delicious (especially the salsa) SP wasn't a fan. I didn't even notice this when I was making the recipe, but there's no sauce except for the juices from the salsa. The chicken, while moist and crispy in and of itself, was a little dry when mixed with all the other ingredients. I'm not sure what kind of sauce would go well, maybe sour cream mixed with lime and coriander? If you have any suggestions please leave a comment.


Crispy Margarita Chicken Tacos with Strawberry Avocado Salsa
How Sweet It Is

4 chicken breasts
8 4-inch tortillas (corn, whole wheat, flour)
3 cups panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
Zest of 3 limes
1 teaspoon ground coriander

Marinade:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup tequila
1/4 cup lime juice
Zest of 2 limes
1 teaspoon ground coriander

Salsa:
1 avocado, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
4 large strawberries, chopped
Juice of half a lime
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Toppings: shredded lettuce, freshly grated Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, lime wedges

At least 2 hours, but no more than 24 hours before making the tacos, combine the marinade ingredients in a plastic food storage bag. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then slice it into strips lengthwise. Put the chicken in the bag, seal and let marinate in the fridge until ready to cook.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine panko, flour, lime zest and coriander in a bowl. Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet covered with tinfoil and spray with non-stick spray. Remove chicken from marinade and coat strips in panko mixture, pressing so crumbs adhere. Let them on the baking sheet then give them a quick spray of non-stick spray or olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes, flip, then bake 10 more.

While chicken is cooking, combine avocado, tomato, strawberries and onion. Mix with salt, pepper and lime juice.

Heat tortillas if desired, then serve with crisp chicken, salsa, and toppings. Spritz with lime wedges.

Shrimp Tacos with Jalapeno-Ranch Sauce

My friend Heather, who doesn't have a food blog but really should, raved about these tacos so much I had to make them to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.





I cooked the shrimp on my indoor grill but next time I'll have SP fire up the charcoal grill instead. I know these would be 100 times better with that charcoal flavor, which is saying a lot since these are pretty awesome all on their own. SP added a few drops of Blair's Original Death Sauce to his tacos and said that made them even better. I tried a bite and have to agree. So if you like some spice, add your favorite hot sauce.



Shrimp Tacos with Jalapeno-Ranch Sauce

Recipe by Heather



1lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

Olive oil

Juice of one lime

Chopped garlic

Chili powder or cayenne pepper

1 jalapeno, roasted, peeled and seeded

1 packet ranch dressing mix

1 cup sour cream

Flour tortillas

Shredded lettuce

Diced tomatoes

Shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Your favorite hot sauce



Combine shrimp, olive oil, lime juice, garlic and chili/cayenne in a bowl. Marinate shrimp for up to 30 minutes. Cook shrimp (on a charcoal grill, if possible).



Meanwhile, combine chilies/jalapeno with ranch dressing and sour cream in a food processor and blend until smooth. Warm the tortillas while the shrimp are cooking.



To assemble: smear some sauce on a tortilla, then top with shrimp, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Drizzle with extra sauce and a few drops of hot sauce.

Chicken Tacos with Avocado Cream and Mexican Sour Cream Rice

During my maternity leave I saw Sunny Anderson make this recipe for Chicken Flautas. They looked amazing but I couldn't be bothered actually making the flautas for dinner for just the two of us (I would for a party, though). I made the filling and asked SP if he'd prefer quesadillas or tacos. He said whatever was easier so I chose tacos.


We spooned the filling into warm flour tortillas (sorry, no photo), and topped it with shredded cheese and avocado cream (included in the flauta recipe link above). We're obsessed with this Mexican Sour Cream Rice:


It's easy to make and always delicious. If we have a Mexican-themed dinner SP always asks if I'm going to make the rice.