Cooking Mommy: Taco Mac

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Taco Mac

This recipe is very easy, quick, easy clean up, and budget friendly. My whole family loves it too!

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey or beef
1 can diced or stewed tomatoes (I get the petite diced)
1 can pinto beans (or really your favorite bean will work)
1 can corn
1 - 1 1/2 cups macaroni (use whole wheat for heart healthy)
1 packet of dry ranch dressing (omit this if you need dairy-free)
1 packet of taco seasoning or Homemade Taco Seasoning

Directions

Brown your ground turkey or beef, drain, return to large skillet. Do not drain your cans of vegetables. Add corn, tomatoes, beans, ranch seasoning, taco seasoning, plus one can full of water to your skillet. Bring to a boil and add your macaroni. Turn down to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until macaroni is tender, stirring occasionally.

Cornbread or corn chips pair well with this.

Crockpot: Add all ingredients to crockpot except pasta. Stir, cover, and cook on high 4-6 hours or high 8-10. Turn crockpot on high and add pasta last 30 minutes of cooking.

Variation: Try Taco Junk which is basically the same recipe but without pasta. Yum!

If you like this recipe, you should try Taco Junk or Santa Fe Soup or Original Taco Soup Crockpot Recipe or The Duggar's Taco Soup

6 comments:

AmberMay 8, 2009 at 9:26 PM
From my friend, Tiffany, "Made Taco Mac! Loved it! Made it with whole wheat pasta and added some cheese to the top! Delish! Thanks again!"
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AmberMay 8, 2009 at 9:33 PM
From my friend, Connie, "Amber! the Taco Mac was so good!! My son cleaned his plate and he doesn't even like corn as weird as that sounds...what 6 year old kid doesn't like corn? Mine has decided he doesn't but he didn't pick through it, he just ate it all! Thank you for adding a new inexpensive meal for our family to enjoy. =)"
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AmberJune 17, 2009 at 7:23 AM
From Paula, "I have gotten to where I am on your cooking blog several times a week, trying something new! I made the taco mac (yum!) and the pumpkin muffins with carrot cake (double yum!) and am making the Feta Chicken tonight! Keep it up, girlfriend!"
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AmberAugust 19, 2009 at 1:44 PM
From Emily, "Made your Tace Mac. Homerun! Super Yummy."
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Teri HumphreysDecember 1, 2012 at 6:19 AM
Looks and sounds yummy! Love that you share your recipes and ideas! :)
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AmberDecember 1, 2012 at 6:22 AM
awww.... thank you, Teri :-)
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Allergies and Intolerances

My son, Daniel previously had allergies to egg whites and peanuts. I am lactose intolerant. My nephews have allergies to many foods. I will try my best to label things to help those with allergies since I know it's difficult finding recipes sometimes when someone in your home has common food allergies. Make sure you check labels yourself. If it's marked soy-free or nut-free, it only means it doesn't have the soy or nut protein in it, not necessarily the oils. Look for dairy-free, egg-free, gluten/wheat-free, nut-free, and soy-free labels.

Egg replacements

If you need an egg free recipe, I have some great egg replacements. Now these really won't work in recipes that require a lot of eggs, like a meringue or cheesecake, but they do work well in most recipes I've ever tried.

Egg replacement #1: use 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 3 Tbsp of water in place of 1 egg. Why this works? I don't know, but flax seed is extremely healthy for you, full of lots of omega fatty acids, so this is my preferred substitute.

Egg replacement #2: Boil 1 cup of water and 1 packet of unflavored gelatin together. In it's liquid state, use 3 1/2 Tbsp of this in place of 1 egg.

I have found sometimes one works better than the other. The flax seed seems to work better overall, I believe, but my mother-in-law made Christmas cookies with the gelatin and you couldn't even tell the difference.