easy dinner - Eat, Tan, Read

Left Over Brisket Tacos

I dont know about you and your family, but when we make a Brisket, we have a ton of leftovers. I hate eating the same thing over and over again so finding variety is key. These tacos are a great usuage for some leftover Brisket meat. I will highlight making the Brisket the next time I make it. I still had a couple chunks in my freezer to use up first. In the meantime, check out Traeger’s Beginner Brisket recipe.

In a crock pot, I put my chunk of brisket meat, about 1-2 pounds. To that I add about half a cup of beef broth. Low and slow on this one, I set the Crock pot on Low and cook for 7-8 hours. You want to break down all the fibers until it just falls apart.

At the end of the cooking time, take a couple tongs and shred the beef. It should just fall apart. Let is sit and soak up all the juice. Pull out any large pieces of fat that didn’t break down during cooking.

Now that the meat is ready, assemble the taco or burrito, whatever you prefer. I always prefer corn shells. A little oil in a pan, and I lightly brown my shells on both sides. The hubs wanted a big cheezy burrito in a flour tortilla.

I topped mine with shredded cheddar jack cheese. I thinly diced red onions, fresh tomatoes, lettuce and cilantro. A squeeze of lime juice. Definitely some of my favorite tacos.

Grilled Filet Mignon with Oven Roasted Herb and Garlic Parmesan Potatoes

Whatever Wednesday had me trying out some new steaks from Imperfect and a new recipe for oven roasted baby potatoes. Both were successes and made for an excellent meal!

Lets start with the potatoes, as these take longer than the steak to cook so you would need to start these first. OVEN ROASTED HERB AND GARLIC PARMESAN POTATOES by Mom on Timeout. Now she grows her own Yukon potatoes which she used for this and even though I live in Idaho, I do not grow my own potatoes so I used new pototes that I buy at Costco. Any little, baby or new potatoes will work for this, mine is a mix of both Yukon and Red. They were even a little soft but that did not effect it at all so this is a good recipe to use when you have some older potatoes you need to use up.

Fresh herbs are definitely a must for this one too, it makes a huge difference. I have actually started buying the little containers of herbs like Rosemary and Thyme and then freezing what I don’t use. When I need them again, I just pull them out that morning or at least a couple hours before to thaw. Maybe one day I will grow my own and just have fresh herbs on hand at all times.

These turned out to be the best roasted halved potatoes I have ever made, the hubs agrees. They were nice and browned, crispy on the outside with creamy middles. Just perfect!

While the potatoes were roasting, its time for the steaks. Now, I had seasoned these earlier in the day, and put them uncovered in the fridge to dry out a little. This isn’t necessary but it does help with browning. For my seasoning, I used Traeger Anything Rub, Killer Hogs The A.P., and Killer Hogs TX Brisket Rub. The Anything Rub is a mix of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, jalapeno, and lime. The A.P. is an all purpose seasoning, good for literally anything, mix of salt, black and red pepper, garlic, and coriander. The TX Brisket Rub I love to use on beef, its a mix of salt, garlic, onion, and pasley. You can get all these seasonings at Amazon or Walmart.com if you cant find them at your local store. Be careful not to be too heavy handed when using all 3 because they all include salt.

I grilled these steaks at 425 degrees for about 5 minutes a side. They were thinner so this cooked them to a Medium doneness. Let rest for at least 10 minutes.

To finish the dish off, I added just a simple salad of Spring Mix with croutons and feta crumbles, topped with an Italian dressing. This was a super simple, easy meal to make, less than 30 minutes, and it was amazing! Definitely one to satisfy any meat & pototes man, like mine! Enjoy!

Left over Pot Roast Tacos

I had planned on making Brisket tacos for Taco Tuesday this week, however I still had some Pot Roast left over in my fridge from Sunday’s dinner, so I changed it up. Using up left overs is my number goal. Oh man, were they good too!

I literally just took the meat and sauce I had left over and put it in a pot on the stove to reheat. Once the meat had warmed back up a bit, I took my tongs and pulled it apart until it was all shredded. I cooked it down until all the sauce was absorbed but the meat was still nice and saucy.

I used my white corn torillas for these, and I like to brown them a little to bring out the flavor and it crisps them a bit. too For this, I just put a tiny bit of oil in a pan on medium high heat and sauted them for a few minutes per side, just until they start to brown. I also had a couple left over Grain Free Hard Shell Tacos from a previous Taco Tuesday, so I made a couple “double decker” tacos. I took the soft shell, spread shredded cheese all around it, melted the cheese, and then wrapped it around the hard shell. These hard shells have great flavor but they are very delicate, so they break really easy. Hard to eat on their own but perfect to make the double decker tacos with because the soft shell hold them together.

Now that the shells are ready, it was time to assemble. I layered the meat in first, then spooned some warm Queso Blanco dip on top. The store didn’t have regular Queso Blanco or Queso Fresco cheese so I had to improvise. You cant let the little things derail you! Then I added red onions, diced tomatoes, cilantro, and shredded lettuce. Finally topping it all off with a little salsa. I perfer a chunky mild salsa.

End Result was fabulous! I love tacos! Very beefy flavor and I actually really liked the Queso dip on it, so that was a happy accident. I did not add any other cheese to these and I think next time I will. You can never have too much cheese, lol.