Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

This salad was so delicious!  This past summer on our visit home to Idaho we went and saw some friends who live in Utah who we had met when we were stationed at Fort Knox.  We kind of sprung our visit on them with real short notice but they were gracious enough to welcome us in their home and feed us a scrumptious dinner.  Daniel LOVED this salad.  Daniel has suddenly become our picky eater so when he asked me to please call my friend Dee to get the recipe, I figured I better do it and QUICK.  All the boys helped me put this together tonight and it was as good as we remembered. 

Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

8 oz. linguine
1/2 medium cucumber, halved and sliced
4 cups shredded greens; any combo of Napa cabbage, romaine lettuce, or spinach
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups thinly sliced purple cabbage
3 cups diced grilled chiken
1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts (more if you like)
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 recipe Thai Peanut Salad dressing

Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 c roughly chopped cilantro (stems and all)
2-3 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce (start with 2 tsp. and add more to taste)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2-4 tablespoons water

1.  Prepare dressing by combining all ingredients except oil and water in a blender.  Blend for 20-30 seconds.  Turn to low and slowly drizzle oil until combined  Add water to thin dressing to desired consistency.

2.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add pasta.  While the pasta is cooking chop the vegetables.

3.  Drain pasta and run some cold water over it until it's cool.  If not using it right away, add a drizzle of the salad dressing and stir to coat the noodles to prevent them from getting clumpy.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

4.  When you're ready to assemble the salad, place noodles, veggies, and chicken in a large bowl.  Pour the Thai Peanut Dressing over everything, stirring as you go, until all ingredients are coated.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

Homemade Corn tortillas, are amazing and simple to make!  Really, don't be afraid...they are worth the little extra time to make.

All you need is three ingredients...yup..that's it.

Corn Tortillas

2 cups Masa Harina  (I've linked to an explanation and picture of the most commonly used masa harina)

1+ cup warm water

1 tsp salt

Dissolve your salt in your warm water and add to masa harina.  Combine by hand until it forms a ball.  You may need to add a little more water to help the dough to form.  The dough will not be sticky.  Let the masa rest for about 30 minutes.

Get out your tortilla press...oh...you don't have one?  That's okay...simply get some wax or parchment paper and a rolling pin and it works just as well.  

Roll your dough into golf-ball size balls and place in between paper.  Even if you are using a tortilla press, you will want to use some type of paper so it doesn't stick.  Simply place the masa ball in between the paper and press down.  If using a rolling pin, place ball between paper and roll with pin.

Once flattened, peel off paper and place on heated pan.  You might be using a cast-iron griddle pan or skillet, whatever you have will work.

That's it!  So simple and easy!  Enjoy

Crockpot Flank Steak Tacos

This is what we had for dinner tonight and it was FABULOUS!  I found the idea on Pinterest but the recipe was under the name of "carnita beef tacos".  Well this will sound incredibly silly but the name bothered me.  Carnitas are pork and as you can see this is beef...therefore I cannot in good conscious call them Carnita Tacos.  They are now Flank Steak Tacos....doesn't sound as fancy but trust me, when you eat them you won't care about the name!  Now that I have given you a little food lesson, we can continue on to the recipe!

Do not be scared that there is no liquid...your meat will not burn, I promise!

Flank Steak Tacos
2 lbs flank steak (or 4lbs if you have hungry teenage boys like I do)
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped (one works fine if you don't want as much heat and if you want more heat, leave the seeds in!)

Spice Rub

2 tsp chili powder (I like to use New Mexico Red Chili but you can use whatever makes you happy)
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt  (sometimes I like using Kosher salt in rubs, just depends on my mood)
1/2 tsp black pepper

*You can really put any combination of spices you like, it's all about the flavors you like!


Directions:
Mix together all spices in a small bowl. Rub the spices all over your flank steak, really you cannot over spice. Then, place your steak at the bottom of your crock pot.
Cover the steak with the chopped onions, bell peppers and jalapeno pepper. Turn heat on LOW and cook for 8 hours.
After 8 hours, remove meat from crock pot and shred with a fork (honestly by this point, you really don't even need to shred it, it will just fall apart).

Serve with corn tortillas (make your own, they are super easy!)

Top with whatever makes you happy...here are a few variations from our home.

 I simply put the meat on the tortilla, squeezed some lime juice then added fresh avocado.

 Neil put meat, then lime juice, mashed his avocado, added green salsa that you can't see, lettuce and red salsa.

 Daniel just ate his with meat and avocado.

 Michael was the same..meat, lime, avocado and eventually his rice ended up in the taco too.