Mexican Food, Taqueria Style!

This one's for you Amy!

I don't really care if this food is super good for me or not. I just know that it's really good! A lot of fresh vegetables are used which means it is at least somewhat good for you. :)This little meal is a family favorite.

Carne Asada Tacos
-3 pounds steak tenderloin
-1/3 cup of white vinegar
-1/2 cup soy sauce
-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-2 limes, juiced
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. pepper
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-1 tsp. chili powder
-1 tsp. oregano
-1 tsp. cumin
-1 tsp. paprika

Mix these ingredients together in a shallow bowl. Marinate the steak for 1-8 hours. When ready to cook it, cut the steak into small bits. Cook in an iron skillet until lightly brown. Serve in small authentic corn tortillas with the following:

-mashed avocado or your homemade guacamole (avocado, cilantro, salt and lemon juice is good)
-homemade salsa (recipe below)
-cilantro

Homemade Salsa
-3 fresh tomatoes
-1 whole yellow or white onion, cut into a few large chunks
-3-4 cloves of garlic
-2-3 serrano peppers, seeded
-1 bunch of cilantro (or less if you aren't a huge cilantro fan)
-2 tsp. of salt (to taste)
-2 tsp. lime juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tomatoes, onion, garlic, and peppers on a pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Roast for about 30 minutes or until softened. Put the roasted vegetables as well as the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and blend to desired texture. Taste and add any extra salt or seasonings.
*If you prefer using the Fire Roasted canned tomatoes instead of fresh you can subsitute 1 can for 2 of the tomatoes and just use 1 fresh tomato instead. Voila! Perfect salsa.

The last recipe is great for tortilla chip dip or to use on basic ground beef or chicken tacos. It's soooooo good.

Cilantro Dip (can you tell we like cilantro?)
-1 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
-1 TB. sour cream
-1 can tomatillo salsa (preferably the green kind)
-1 tsp. pepper
-1 tsp. celery salt
-1/2 tsp. cumin
-2 tsp. garlic powder
-1 bunch of cilantro
-1 TB. lime fresh lime juice

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend well. Put in the refrigerator to allow thickening. Serve with tortilla chips. To die for!

Treating The Common Cold

As the cold season is creeping up on us I thought I would write out the typical routine we use for treating a cold. If you have any other great ideas please add them!

1. Echinacea-Jesse and I take a strong tincture and the girls take a mild sweet echinacea blend a few times a day while sick.

2. Olive oil and garlic-If the girls ears seem to be infected I warm up olive oil and garlic just a little. Let it cool and put a few drops of the oil in each of their ears. Seal with a bit of cotton and let it sit in there for a while. Take the cotton out and most of the oil has already been soaked up by it. The oil and garlic combo is good for fighting infection and drawing it out of the ear. Garlic is also great to ingest while sick. Chop some up finely and add to applesauce.

3. Peroxide-Jesse and I will put about 3 drops of this in each of our ears allowing it to sit in each one for a while. If there is bubbling and cracking we let it sit in the ear until it stops, as it is killing the infection off. If it doesn't bubble much at all we just dump it out of the ear. If there is bubbling we will do this about 3 times a day until it stops.

4. Gargling-Whisky. Not kidding. Jesse will drink it to help his throat but it makes me want to throw up. So I just gargle. If you get a strong enough Echinacea you can use this to gargle too.

5. Probiotics-We take daily anyway but these should help the immune system.

6. Essential oils-We mostly use eucalyptus, lavender and tea tree oil when sick. We will rub a couple drops into the bottom of our feet. This helps the oil go directly into the blood stream and up through the body. For younger children, use eucalyptus radiata. This is what it was called in Switzerland so it may be called something a bit different here in the states. Just want to point out that little people need a specific type of eucalyptus as some are too strong for them. Also, dilute it with coconut or olive oil before rubbing into their body. It's very potent stuff. Lavender is also great. I prefer the smell so I will sometimes rub a couple drops directly onto my neck if I have a sore throat. Of course adding about 5 drops of oil to a warm bath is great too.

7. Raw Honey-First of all never eat pastuerized honey if you can help it! It's pure sugar. But raw honey has great healing properities to it and is highly recommended (in small doses) as a treatment for infection. Feels great on it's own when you have a sore throat or add to a nice tea.

8. Broth- A good homemade broth actually is helpful in healing your body when sick. Go here for real healing broth recipes.

We do other stuff randomly but these are the most consistent things we do. Here's to hoping we will have a healthy winter. So far so good...