Thursday, March 18, 2010

Taco Night


As many parents know, making a meal that the entire family will enjoy can be tricky. Now add the concessions that must be made when certain members of the family have food allergies, and well…what was once tricky is now down right difficult. The food allergy variable alone, often leaves me preparing 2-3 variations of the same meal per evening. BLAH! 

If I added the variable of whether or not my kids will actually enjoy the meal into the difficult mix, I am certain we would all starve. Due to this dilemma, dinner at my house is RARELY catered to my children’s taste buds. I make whatever they can safely ingest and if they don’t like it, too bad for them… there is always breakfast tomorrow.

Tacos are my respite. They are my family’s  PLEASE–ALL–MEAL. (Especially now that I found a recipe for taco seasoning WITHOUT WHEY, and of course, for the smallest of the fam, hold the cheese & sour cream please.)

As with most things that are great, success begins at the foundation, the base, or in the case of tacos, 
the shell. 



Sure it takes a bit of time to prepare the shell from this:




to this:


But as our pleasantly full bellies will attest… 
it’s totally worth it!

21 comments:

Erin said...

Taco night is our fave too! In fact, I think we'll have it tonight.

Jamie G. said...

That's how my dad made taco shells for us growing up. My kids like tacos, but it's not a favorite. I wish it was. I even suggested we have a "taco" night every week, but they all groaned. What is wrong with them? Oh, yeah, they're my kids. Ha Ha

Apron Appeal said...

And Jamie...no onions! (at least not on this batch)

dersley said...

I have tasted this masterpiece of yours and it is delicious. Love how you do the taco shells.

Apron Appeal said...

dersley-I was wondering if you would remember...in fact I almost dedicated this post to you. Its so easy to cook for someone when they have nothing but good things to say, hence, why cooking for kids is no so fun...unless of course it's cookies with candy bits, frosting and more candy then cooking for kids is a joy.

Wilson Family said...

I, too, remember this yumminess! I tried to do it once, but it didn't work :( My favorite tacos!!!

Ju said...

The food allergy thing is annoying, half the family can rat this but the other half can't... And I'm sure my kids are tired of hearing "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit" and "sometimes we have to eat things we don't like" thier two favorite phrases I'm sure! Tacos mmm, wish everyone in my family could have corn, it's just not a taco when it's really a burrito.

Apron Appeal said...

Julie-have you tried frying up a fajita style flour tortilla?

RAL said...

mmm you just inspired me this is what we will be having for dinner tonight for sure! It was the taco shell that grabbed me. Must try...wish me luck :)

Apron Appeal said...

Liz, make sure the oil is HOT (med-high heat..NOT HIGHT). Each shell should take about...1 minute to flash fry. I toss the entire shell in the grease, flip it over and then use the tongs to "shape" the shell. Hold one side of the shell out of the grease while the other side crisps-up and then when it's nice and tanned, cook the other side. Hope this helps...

...Wilson fam, what do you think went wrong?

Wilson Family said...

I might have fried the tortillas too long and the shells were too crunchy and would break easily and it was messy. I think I'm going to try making them again though. It's worth a thousand tries right? :)

Unknown said...

If I were a cooler dad I think I might try this cause it looks yummy and I know my kids would love it. But I'm not so our taco night is the drive through at Taco Bell;)

Apron Appeal said...

Whatever Sapito...cook it with your kids! Nothing like teaching your kids to cook with hot grease and metal tongs! :)

Anonymous said...

The pictures looked yummy but I for one know the finished product was superb!!!!!!!
Great Job.

Elizabeth Downie said...

That looks SO good! I made fajitas for my friend's kids last night. I had them all rolled up neatly and one of the four year old twins started eating it like corn on the cob. Needless to say, everything started falling out. But she didn't care. :)

Aimee said...

Okay so this blog post made me want to have tacos for dinner!:) Yummy! Thanks for the idea. I enjoy reading you posts.
By the way I added another post about your blog on my blog again. ;) Have a great Friday!

Anonymous said...

Happy Saturday Sharefest!

I loved your blog. Would you please come over to my house and show my Mom how to fix dinner? :-)

Anne said...

That looks so delicious, I'll have to try it!

RAL said...

YUM! They turned out great and our friends loved the fried shell idea. We decided to use the flour kind instead of the corn kind and it was very very yummy! Rick and I get to have left overs today...with fresh shells of course :)

Naomi said...

I can't believe i have never tried making my own hard taco shells. These look so tasty! The ones from the store are so not worth it. Okay, Gwenevere, I need you to have your cell handy Thursday night, just in case I run into any trouble!

Apron Appeal said...

Naomi-operators will be standing by.