Whenever it’s time to go out to eat my first choice is always Mexican. In an effort to save money I am trying to make more Mexican dishes at home! My kids always order cheesy rice at our local Mexican restaurant so I knew this was one thing I needed to learn to make and in order to have cheesy rice, you need the queso! I didn’t want velveeta queso, but as authentic as possible. You will never believe what cheese you are going to use!
I am going to take you through how I cooked this all up for dinner last night! I will be jumping around from one recipe to another just to show how I was able to get it on the table and keep it all hot.
First step: Brown 1 lb ground beef and drain on a plate. (If you like onion in your beef tacos, this would be a good time to chop one and add it to the beef!)
I highly recommend getting one of these meat choppers from pampered chef if you do not have one yet! I love it and use it every time I brown my beef. It chops it up perfectly in the pan!
Step 2: Start your Mexican Rice!
Run the pan tht you cooked your ground beef in under the faucet for a few seconds to rinse then put it back on your stove to use to make the Mexican rice. Put 3 TB oil (I used coconut but you can use what you have on hand!) in the pan and heat pan to medium. Add 1 cup white rice to pan and stir until rice turns to a light brown.
Step 3: Finish up your Mexican Rice!
Add 2 cloves of garlic (or 1 tsp garlic salt), 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cumin, 1 can of chicken broth (14 0z), 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and 3 TB chopped cilantro (optional). Turn the heat up to medium high and wait for it to boil. Once it boils, turn it down to low- cover- set your timer for 20 minutes to allow it to simmer.
Step 4: Preheat your oven for your hard shelled corn tacos (if you are using these!) and get them set out on a cookie sheet
Step 5: Finish your taco meat
Put your ground beef back on the stove in a smaller pan and add your taco seasonings. You can use my mix or use a prepackaged taco seasoning. (If you are gluten free make sure to double check that your pre-packaged taco seasoning is gluten free.)
Put the above ingredients in with your taco meat. If you added diced onion you may not want to add onion powder. You may also want to start with 1 TB of chili powder if you have kids that don’t like things too spicy. You can always add more spice, but it’s hard to take it away! Taste test and add more seasonings as you see fit!
Now Turn the meat heat on low and keep warm until everything is ready.
Ok, so now your oven should be ready for the taco shells.. go ahead and put them in and set another timer. Check on your rice and give it a little stir.
Last item to make… QUESO!
Step 6: Make Queso
Anyone else crave authentic white queso like me? You are going to love how easy this is! You need 1 lb White American Cheese (i got mine sliced from the deli but you could also grate the cheese), 1 4 oz can green chilies, 1/2 cup of milk and jalapenos (optional- i did not use these in mine so I don’t know how many to tell you to use, I would add a few and taste test as you go!)
So to make the queso it is so simple. Grab a microwave safe bowl, add the cheese (grated or torn up), milk and chilies. Microwave for 45 seconds. Take out and stir. Keep microwaving for 30 seconds at a time, stopping to stir each time. While you are melting and stirring, if you want feel free to add more milk. Some people prefer their queso thick and others like it to be runny.
Keep melting, stirring, adjusting the thickness until you get it the way you want!
*Note, although my kids love the mexican queso- they did not like the chunky chilies that I put in this queso. Next time I will try to chop the chilies smaller and add less or leave it out of the kids’ queso altogether!
Step 7: Put it all together
Take your taco shell, add some meat and toppings of your choice (we used queso and sour cream!), add some rice to your plate and top with queso and then add some chips with even more queso (told you we loved this stuff! haha!).
Cilantro is also yummy on tacos! I didn’t even try to “foodie” this picture up for you all. We are a real family who uses real paper plates every now and then for dinner! Here is proof!
Here are the recipes for each of the components of tonight’s dinner! The beef taco recipe was inspired by “The Joy of Cooking.” The mexican rice recipe can be found here. The queso recipes are all over pinterest and so I just combined a few until I got what I wanted!
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 2 TB chili powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 TB onion powder
- 3 tsp cumin
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- Mix all ingredients with 1 lb browned ground beef.
- Test and adjust seasonings to your taste.
- Cook on low to keep warm until dinner is ready!
- 1 lb White American cheese, shredded or sliced
- 1/2 cup milk (or more depending on your preference)
- 1 4 oz can diced green chilies
- *optional – jalapenos
- Mix all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl.
- Melt in the microwave for 45 seconds.
- Stir.
- Melt again in 30 second increments stirring after each.
- Add more milk if needed.
- Melt until creamy.
- Serve.
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