Picadillo

Picadillo

Picadillo is a traditional Spanish, Cuban or Puerto Rican dish that is served either with tortillas, rice or plantains. It can also be wrapped inside of pastry dough to make empanadas. This is my quick, easy and fairly healthy version.

-Tbsp olive oil
-1 pound lean ground beef
-1 onion, diced
-1 bell pepper, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-1 Tbsp brown sugar
-3/4 tsp cinnamon
-1.5 tsp cumin
-1.5 tsp oregano
-1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne
-1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
-1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
-2 Tbsp hot sauce
-1/2 c raisins
-1/2 c olives
-(optional) 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Heat olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add beef, onion and bell pepper. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until meat is no longer pink, stirring regularly and breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon while cooking. Drain meat, return to heat and add garlic-cayenne. Cook stirring constantly an additional minute. Add tomato sauce, vinegar, , hot sauce, raisins and olives. Simmer an additional 10 (or more minutes) allowing the flavors to combine. Serve with desired starch and top with cilantro.

Baked Tortilla Chips

Baked Tortilla Chips

These are so quick and easy to make, and are so much better for you than fried tortilla chips. I like to use whole wheat tortillas, but regular flour or corn tortillas would work. You can also season these with any spices that you like, maybe cumin, chili powder, garlic, lime, cayenne etc. I tend to just use salt and let the condiments I have with them do the seasoning. You can also do this same method with pita bread to use in more hearty dips like spinach artichoke and hummus, you might just need to increase the cooking time by a few minutes. I've heard that other people tend to spritz the tortillas with cooking spray or oil prior to baking, but I think they turn out great without the added step.

-tortillas sliced to the desired size (you can stack as many tortillas as you want in a pile and do this quickly with a pizza cutter)
-salt and/ or other desired seasonings

Place tortillas slices in a single layer on as many pans as necessary. Sprinkle with salt and/ or seasonings. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy right away or store in an air tight container for up to 2 days.