Easy Tacos

Here is an easy taco night dish. Left: brown venison (or whatever ground meat you prefer) in a skillet with 1 or 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add chopped yellow peppers and sweet onion and continue to mix until all is done and soft. Game meat won't leave much, if any, grease behind. If you use beef, drain the liquid.

The white tool is a "Chopstir" and is one of my favorite gadgets.

In a smaller skillet (because my daughter is not crazy about mushrooms), I sauteed mushrooms, green chilies, red peppers, garlic and black pepper until soft.

Place ingredients according to who-likes-what on warmed corn tortillas. Top with green chili sauce, tomatoes, lettuce, jalapenos, cilantro or salsa. I like everything except cilantro. I also added prickly pear cactus strips on the far right taco.

Speaking (or, writing) about cilantro: when you buy herbs from the store, you can make them last longer by cutting off the botton half inch of stems then place the bunch in water and keep in the fridge. This bunch has lasted 6 days.

Quick meal: tuna salad

Continuing with the theme of "what is in the house to eat because everyone is hungry and I have not been to the store"--here is what I found for tuna salad.

Two cans of tuna, mustard, Craisins, green chilies, light Italian dressing, chopped garlic, pickles I canned last summer, the tall bottle of hot peppers mixed with olive oil (far left) I made in August, dried tomatoes from summer and a bunch of celery that I perked up by cutting of the end and setting the stalks in cold water.

We don't use mayonnaise. The mustard and Italian dressing add enough flavor and Craisins contribute an interesting sweetness. Eat with celery or crackers. You can also make this with salmon, turkey, pheasant or chicken.

Quick meal: Breakfast Burrito

What do we do at our house in winter when there is no garden and I haven't been to the store in a while? We have to search the fridge and pantry to see what is still edible.

This morning I found some Mission tomato/flour wraps in the produce drawer, cheese in the back of the top shelf, remnants of the romaine lettuce bag, an onion on the apple bowl, a lonely tomato next to a lonely apple on the table, a new jar of salsa in the garage from the last trip I made to Costco, chopped red peppers and hashed brown potatoes from yesterday. The freezer is always filled with venison.

I sauteed the onion, venison and peppers in a skillet, then spooned all that along with the potatoes and salsa onto the burrito and folded it. I placed in the pan to warm it all together and topped with the lone tomato and bagged salad items. Sometimes I also add black beans.