"Spice" up Taco Tuesdays

Before I moved out of home, I despised Taco Tuesdays.

Don't get me wrong, I love tacos. They're the perfect student meal; quick, easy and very cheap. It wasn't the tacos themselves that I found so offensive, it was simply that my family and I had eaten tacos every Tuesday for as long as I could remember. And it drove me insane.

So before you drive yourself insane with the same old tacos EVERY FLIPPING TUESDAY, try some of these Mexican twists.

The following recipe is my Mum's creation, and my boyfriend's favourite. It might be a bright idea to hide the leftovers in the back of the fridge because it's seriously yummy! 

Mexican Lasagne 

Feeds: Myself and Hungry Boyfriend for dinner, lunch and then dinner the next day

Cooking Time: 20 - 30 minutes

Total Cost: $12.85

Ingredients:
- 1/2 packet tortillas (roughly $1.50 - $3.15 for 1 packet)
- 500g mince, beef or chicken ($3/500g)
- 1 packet Mexican seasoning ($1.55)
- 2 chillies (free - pot plant)
- 1 bottle salsa sauce ($1.70)
- 1 large tub ricotta cheese ($4.20 - you can use cottage cheese, which is cheaper, or sour cream, which is tastier, instead if you like)
- 1 onion (70c)
- Handful of grated cheese (roughly 20c)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Chop onion and chillies finely.
2. Add a little oil to a frypan and gently fry the onions, chillies and mince until the mince is brown and the onions are soft. Add the packet of seasoning with water according to the instructions on the back.
3. Soak tortillas in water for a a few minutes.
4. Layer tortillas, mince, salsa sauce and ricotta until you run out.
5. Top with grated cheese.
6. Bake in the oven until the cheese has melted and browned.


Unfortunately, I don't have a picture for this one since my boyfriend ate it all before I had a chance. I'll throw in a cute picture of my dog instead:

This next one is a variation on a recipe I found floating around Facebook. You may already have the Facebook version, however, I've made a few adjustments to make it more student-friendly and less American (no offense guys!). It looks complicated from the amount of ingredients, but it's actually super-easy!

Taco Pie 

Feeds: Myself and Hungry Boyfriend for dinner with leftovers

Cooking time: 30 - 45 minutes

Total Cost: $7.90

Ingredients:

Base
- 2 tablespoons butter (roughly 10c)
- 1/4 cup plain flour (5c)
- 1/4 self raising flour (5c)
- 1/4 cup boiling water (free, unless you count the electricity used to boil the kettle...)
- 1/2 packet Mexican seasoning ($1.55 per packet)

Filling
- 250g mince ($1.50 - $3/500g packet)
- 1/2 tin refried beans ($1.35 - use the other half for the Frijoles below)
- 1/2 packet Mexican seasoning (as mentioned above)
- 1/2 brown onion (35c)
- 2 cloves garlic (15c)
- 2 chillies (free - pot plant)
- 1 bottle salsa sauce ($1.70)
- Handful of grated cheese (20c)

- Corn, to serve (85c ea.)
- Sprinkle of pepper (5c)


Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees Celsius.
2. Melt butter with the boiling water and mix with the flours and 1/2 packet of Mexican seasoning, reserving the other half. Knead on a lightly floured surface, rolling the dough out thinly (if you don't own a rolling pin, dust a wine or vodka bottle in flour and use that) and press into the bottom of a circular pan. Bake until golden-brown and firm.
3. (Interlude) If you like, butter 2 corn cobs and season with pepper. Place in oven with dough, turning regularly and you'll have a tasty side :)
4. Meanwhile; chop onion, garlic and chillies finely. Fry with mince in an oiled frypan until mince is brown and onion is soft. Add the remaining Mexican seasoning and water as per instructions.
5. By this time, the crust should be finished. Pour the mince mixture into the crust, top with beans, salsa and cheese and bake in oven until cheese has melted.
6. Serve with corn and refried beans on the side.


Finally, I reach my least-creative Taco Tuesday alternative. This one can easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the chicken, or vegan by eliminating the cheese. Again, this one looks complex but in actuality, is quite easy - although you may make a mess!

Fajitas and Frijoles 

Feeds: Myself and Hungry Boyfriend comfortably

Cooking time: 20 - 30 minutes

Total Cost: $8.80

Ingredients:

Fajitas
- 1 large chicken breast, sliced into strips ($2.75 - $11.10/4 breasts)
- 1/2 large capsicum, sliced into strips (25c - 50c ea.)
- 1 packet Mexican seasoning ($1.55)
- 1/2 brown onion, chopped finely (35c)
- 1/2 packet tortillas (roughly $.150 - $3.17 for 1 packet)

Frijoles
- 1/2 tin refried beans ($1.35)
- 1/2 tin diced tomatoes (80 per tin - use the other half for salsa)
- 2 chillies, chopped finely (free - pot plant)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely (15c)

Salsa (optional)
- 1/2 tin diced tomatoes (see above)
- 10 leaves basil/coriander/whatever herbs you have OR pinch of mixed herbs (free OR $2/250g)
- Squirt tomato sauce (5c)
- Squirt lemon juice (5c)

Method:
1. For Frijoles; With a little oil, gently fry garlic and chillies together until fragrant. If you're doing the vegetarian version, you'll want to add you Mexican seasoning here. If not, add the refried beans and tomatoes.
2. Stir well and leave to simmer gently.
3. For Fajitas; With a little oil, gently fry onion and chicken together until the chicken is white all over, but not yet cooked. Add the capsicum and Mexican seasoning with water as per instructions.
4. Continue to stir and fry until chicken is cooked through.
5. For Salsa; Mix all ingredients together.
6. Serve on warmed tortillas.

 Sorry for the crappy photo, it's hard to make look good but it tastes amazing!

As you may have noticed, the secret to great Mexican is chillies. Guys, I cannot stress enough how beneficial it is growing your own herbs and chillies. Stuff like basil, mint, sage and chillies are expensive at the supermarkets and don't last long in your fridge. Yet, they're easy to grow (I should know, I've managed to kill a cactus once) and an inexpensive way to add flavour to your dinners. I'm sure all local markets have their share of seedlings, but West End Markets in Brisbane have stalls upon stalls of baby plants for $2 - $5. You've (almost) literally got nothing to lose!

Seedling - $2.50, Pot - $3 ea, Potting Mix - $4/25L

Having the freedom to add your own herbs to anything - Priceless

All the prices I've listed in this entry are based off Coles Smart Buys where available and the cheapest available option where Coles Smart Buys were not available :)

Best of luck with the recipes!
Lots of love,
(broke) Masterchef Mel

Spoil Mummy!

As I'm sure you all know *cough cough*, Mother's Day is this Sunday. I've heard (predominantly from mothers) that looking after your children is an exhausting job, and that they deserve to be rewarded with loads of flowers, chocolates, pressies, etc on Mothers Day.

While you may think that, like me, you were the perfect child and your mum should be thanking YOU for the privilege of raising you, you'll still be in trouble if you don't manage to produce a Mother's Day present. So what does one do when a Mother's Day present would mean spending all your weekly beer money? One whips up one (or more!) of these super-easy, super-cheap treats for Mum and pretend you put a lot of thought into it.

This following recipe is a My Kitchen Rules creation that I've student-ified. It tastes amazing and is a helluva lot easier than the MKR version! And although herbs like mint and coriander don't come cheap from the supermarket, growing your own in a little pot on the windowsill/balcony/bathtub costs around $2 for the initial seedling and about $3 for a half-decent pot from Kmart.


Breakfast Fritters (serves 2)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup frozen peas & corn
- 2 shallots
- 1 garlic clove
- A few leaves of coriander
- A few leaves of mint
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- Milk, to thicken

Yoghurt:

-  1/2 small carton plain yoghurt (use up the remaining yoghurt from making Tandoori Chicken Skewers from the first post!)

- A few leaves of mint

- A few leaves of coriander

Method:

1. Chop shallots, coriander leaves, mint leaves and garlic finely.

2. Place chopped in a bowl with peas & corn, flour and eggs. Mix well.

3. Add a little milk at a time, until a thick batter has formed. You want it to look similar to pancake batter. Thick, lumpy pancake batter with green bits in it. 

4. Cook on a non-stick frypan or bbq hotplate until golden brown.

5. For the yoghurt, mix chopped coriander and mint into the yoghurt.

6. Serve fritters hot with yoghurt.

Note: If you are like me and don’t actually own a non-stick frypan, cook your fritters on a toasted sandwich machine. This way, you won’t have to use tons of oil on your regular frypan and the mess is minimal! 

This next one is equally delicious as a whole cake or as muffins, but if you don't like coffee you may want to skip out that ingredient or add less.

Mocha Marble Muffins

Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter, softened

- 1/4 cup cooking chocolate (broken into pieces)

- 2 tablespoons strong, black coffee

- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

- 1 cup caster sugar

- 4 eggs, beaten

- 2 tablespoons milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 

Icing:

- 1 cup cooking chocolate (broken into pieces)

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1 tablespoon coffee
- 2 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease muffin tray.

2. Place chocolate and coffee in a bowl and melt over a saucepan of water. Alternatively, melt in the microwave (make sure you use a microwave-safe bowl), stirring every 15 seconds or so. Leave aside to cool slightly. 

3. Mix flour, eggs, butter and milk in a separate bowl. Beat until smooth.

4. Separate this mixture evenly into two bowls. Stir the chocolate/coffee mixture into one, and the vanilla essence into the other.

5. Drop spoonfuls of each mixture into the tin or cases and drag a skewer gently through the mixture to create a marbled effect. 

6. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool.

7. For the icing; melt the butter, chocolate and coffee together (over a saucepan or in the microwave) and stir in icing sugar.

8. Pour over the cooled muffins and leave to set before serving.

And finally, my favourite recipe ever! This one I stole from a friend, who continues to amaze me with her flawless cooking. Thanks Claire!

Claire's Garden-Variety Brownies

Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter

- 1 cup cocoa powder

- 4 eggs

- 2 cups caster sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 3/4 cup self-raising flour

- 1 packet white chocolate chips (or you can use 1/2 cup of broken-up white cooking chocolate for chunkier chips)

Method:

1. Melt butter over a saucepan or in the microwave.

2. Mix in cocoa powder.

3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

4. Beat in sugar and vanilla.

5. Mix in flour and choc chips.

6. Pour into a pan and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 30 - 40 minutes. 

7. Cut into bite-sized pieces and serve with a sprinkle of icing sugar over the top.

Hopefully these babies will get you off the hook with Mum this weekend AND allow you a well-earned night at the pub. If all else fails, french toast is pretty foolproof.*

Lots of love (and a Happy Mother's Day)

(broke) Masterchef Mel

*Mel will not take responsibility if you actually mess up french toast. That's your own stupid fault, you idiot.