Today’s recipe for s homemade taco salad bowl is a favorite go-to recipe at our house. It is cheap, easy, tasty, and since the tortilla’s are baked instead of fried it is healthier than the store bought versions.
Basically all you are doing is lightly rubbing oil on flour tortillas, forming them slightly, and then baking them until crisp.
I have tried just about every method of forming the shells (except the store bought formers), and find that taller forms such as mason jars give a better defined shell, but I like the shallower and wider shells that are made by using ceramic bowls.
If you are having difficulty forming your shells, you can try to microwave the tortillas for 30 seconds. This will make them much more pliable, but I think this is unnecessary.
For those that want directions here they are:
Ingredients/Tools
Burrito-size flour tortillas
Olive oil or Canola oil
Oven-safe bowls or canning jars
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
On a rimmed baking sheet, place the bowls or jars upside down, evenly spacing them to make room for the tortillas that will be draped over them.
Microwave the tortillas for about 30 seconds, until they are soft and pliable.
Rub a teaspoon or so of oil on the front and back of the tortilla. It doesn’t need to be a heavy coating of oil, just enough to help the tortilla crisp up and not stick to the form.
Drape each tortilla over a bowl
Gently press the sides down to help them form more of a bowl shape.
Today’s article on Bung sizes is more for me, than it is for you.
I need a handy reference of what the numbers on the sides of the rubber stoppers mean in relation to size.
The other day I needed a stopper for a non-standard (meaning scrounged) glass carboy. The jug was bigger than my number 9 stopper so I went to the store to get an 8.
When I got home I was quite surprised my 8 was much bigger than my #9 – turns out it was a 6. A 5.5 stopper fit perfect.
If you are going to experiment with fermented goodies, your going to have to plug up some holes at one point or another.
Hopefully this chart, and the few tips I put below will help you get the stopper you need.
Tips:
#00 Stopper fits and plugs the airlock hole in a drilled stopper so it can be used as a solid stopper
#2 Stopper fits standard wine bottle opening
#6 Stopper fits wine making and beer brewing industry ½ and 1 gallon jugs
#6.5 Stopper fits standard 6 gallon glass carboys
#7 Stopper fits standard 3, 5, and 6.5 gallon glass carboys
#10 Stopper fits standard 3, 5, and 6 gallon plastic carboys
This post is about how to make your own curing chamber.
Our ancestors cured meat to survive, so it can’t be that complicated, right? Well, as humanity has advanced so has the science of food preservation. Curing meats is part of the cooking field called charcuterie.
Curing Process Basics
A combination of spices and drying methods preserve meats. Modern technology allows chefs to finely tune the environment used for curing meats.
Bacteria is unable to survive once the water content in a meat reaches a low lever. This is also helped by having a high salt content.
However, the ability to monitor the conditions of a curing chamber does not necessarily boost taste or quality. Although it can help the novice charcuterie chef to develop a safe and efficient methodology.
Control the Conditions:
Even without modern technology, curing meat requires a certain control of environmental factors. The conditions that must be controlled during the meat curing process are temperature, humidity and air flow. Although you may be able to use a storage room, basement or other area for curing meat, the ideal area will be isolated from volatile external elements. For example, curing meat in a garage can expose meat to exhaust fumes as well as various temperature and humidity changes.
For most people, building a meat curing chamber is the best option. The chamber protects meat from fluctuating conditions and can be closely regulated. Surprisingly, a meat curing chamber is relatively easy to construct. It is between the beginner and intermediate DIY level. Luckily it is also extremely inexpensive.
Materials:
An old frost-free refrigerator
Search your local classified listings or Craiglist for an old refrigerator. Free is the best price and $25 should be the maximum. Remove the shelves as needed. Perhaps leaving the top shelf as a hanging mount. There should be enough room in the bottom of the refrigerator for additional equipment.
A Freezer Temperature Controller
Those old refrigerators produce temperatures much too cold for curing. A Freezer Temperature Controller regulates the temperature of a refrigerator. It works by turning power on and off to achieve the pre-set conditions.
A Humidity Controller and an Ultrasonic Humidifier
A Humidity Controller measures and regulates the power needed to reach the ideal humidity levels in your curing chamber, As that occurs, the Humidifier adds moisture to the air. Only add distilled water to your Humidifier. Also, choose one that will power up automatically in response to the Humidity Controller.
A Fan
Humidity Controllers are built with a power outlet, and by connecting a power strip to this outlet, you can simultaneously power the Humidifier and a Fan. The Fan will circulate the air and disperse the moisture in the air.
A Dual Temperature and Humidity Sensor
This tool makes it easy to monitor the conditions of your curing chamber and can catch any discrepancies between measurements from your Freezer Temperature Controller or Humidity Controller. Additionally, a Calibration Kit is an inexpensive, optional tool that will ensure accurate measurements.
Additional Notes: Recipes and Rodents
Curing chambers are located in areas without a lot of activity. However, this positioning, paired with food, can be rather inviting to rodents.
If you are concerned about rodents, you may want to drill holes in the side of the chamber to run all electrical cords. Small mesh openings provide airflow.
In conclusion, your curing chamber is going to look awfully funny without any meat! You can find recipes. on sites like this one as well as Honest-Food.Net. Honest Food has simple, straightforward approach to living and eating as our ancestors have.
I saw this idea for canning meatloaf on YouTube (user BexarPrepper), and wanted to try it out. Her recipe looked really good, but I realize most everyone has a meatloaf recipe so I would not bore you with mine (especially since it has not measurements and changes based upon my feelings and the ingredients in my spice drawer and refrigerator door.
I will say that most meatloaf recipes contain bread crumbs or crackers as a binder and you cannot safely pressure can with them (per the FDA and Dept. of Ag), so leave them out or do so at your own risk.
Once you have your meatloaf recipe made, and your jars and lids sterilized just pack the raw meatloaf into wide mouth jars. If you do not use wide mouth jars you will be making ground beef, as you will never get it out of the can whole.
I used wide moth jars, but they still had a shoulder, and I have to cut around the shoulder to get my batch out – next time I am using smaller jars with straight sides.
This is a raw pack method
Do not cook before canning, or ad liquid. You also want extra headspace for the grease. Use 1” of headspace.
Process Pints with a Pressure Canner for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure
Process Quarts with a Pressure Canner for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure
After processing, remove from boiling water and place the jars on a towel, separated
by 1” to cool naturally as quickly as possible.
I know the cooled jar will look unappetizing, especially as the grease congeals on the outside, but even my picky bride said she liked it once it was reheated and removed from the jar.
Besides on days we both work late, it’s simple to reheat the can and mix up some mashed potato pearls to make a decent “homemade” meal.
This Mason Jar Blender Tip is a simple trick that can make your kitchen life easier. It seems like many/most blender manufacturers designed the threads of their blender jars to match the threads of canning jars.
This means that in many cases (especially with older blenders) you can make a Mason Jar Blender.
Simply can screw the blade into your mason jar and blend your items in the jar. This makes it easy to measure things since many mason jars have cup markings molded into the glass.
If is also great to blend small amounts of things without having to clean the large blender jar.
Personally, I use it to make rubs and spice mixes. Just take your dehydrated vegetables/spices/herbs and blend together to make all sorts of seasoned salt mixes.
It is also a easy way to make single serve smoothies if your into that sort of thing. I use this all the time to make butter and creams. It works great. It also is much easier to clean than a full size blender.
This is one of my favorite tips so far. I how this mason jar blender tip is as useful to you as it is to me.
Those old refrigerators produce temperatures much too cold for curing. A Freezer Temperature Controller regulates the temperature of a refrigerator. It works by turning power on and off to achieve the pre-set conditions.
