Taco Night

I don't think I've ever made tacos for our family before.  I think I've always shied away from the crunchy shelled mess that is a taco.  But then I saw the Pioneer Woman recipe for chicken tacos. 

The recipe is technically her brother's, and the tacos are technically fried, but I loved the concept.

Because of our "chicken issues", I decided to make steak tacos.  Kind of.  I'll show you what I did. 

First, I bought a flat-iron steak, about 1.44lbs.  I seasoned it with smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and salt and pepper.  I doused it with mild taco sauce and baked it at 375 degrees, covered,  for about an hour and a half. 

The next step was to shred the meat.

I made the filling: cooked brown rice, shredded "mexican style" cheese, chipotles, salsa, and the meat.

I spread vegetarian refried beans on the bottom of a corn tortilla and topped with the filling.  I folded the tortilla in half and placed onto a baking sheet.  I then brushed the tops of the tortillas with canola oil - just about a half of a teaspoon each.

 I readied our toppings - shredded cheese, lettuce, and sour cream.  That's cantaloupe in the picture, but we just ate that on the side! 

I baked the tacos at 400 degrees for about ten minutes or until the shells were a little crispy.  This is what they looked like.  

To serve, I simply pulled apart the taco (it remains pliable to an extent) - and topped with lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and cheese.  

I think we may have found another meal to put on the [very small] list of meals we all love!  I'm glad I decided to bake the tacos, just because the deep-frying sounded messy and time-consuming.  I bet the deep-fried tacos taste better, but we'll probably never know what we're missing! 

Our tacos were not terribly messy to eat, but they had that nice crunch that I miss with the soft burrito-style tacos. 

Thanks, Pioneer Woman's brother, for the inspiration!  Click on the link at the top of the post to view the original recipe - it looks really tasty!