For any of you who have been exposed (unwillingly or not) to Lego Movie, this title was supposed to be a joke… kind of. Truth is, dinnertime around here is not always the most relaxing, easygoing time of day for us. What I imagine will eventually be a time filled with discussions about the day and the occasional eating-while-sitting-down is currently a time of gentle reminders Oliver eat your dinner Milo eat your dinner Emil sit down and eat your DINNER!
So we’ve started letting the boys choose a dinner every week and I’ll make them whatever they want (except cake, cookies, ice cream, candy, hot dogs, etc.) within reason. Taco Tuesday is a common request, even though last week we had Taco Tuesday on a Wednesday. It’s actually awesome because everyone likes tacos and can add (or omit) anything they like, so everyone’s happy and sitting and eating! Hooray!
Chicken Tacos with Creamy Avocado Sauce & Caramelized Onions
- Trader Joe’s Pollo Asada (a couple of slightly spicy marinated chicken breasts — I appreciate the already-seasoned, time-saving feature here)
- cilantro (a handful)
- chopped tomatoes
- creamy avocado sauce (find recipe here) — great to make ahead
- half red onion, sliced thinly
- crunchy taco shells
- shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Chop the raw marinated chicken into cubes and cook in a lightly oiled cast iron skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and cooked through. Set aside. Add a bit more oil to skillet and red onion, stirring well. To caramelize onions, continue to stir and add small bits of water to deglaze pan. The onions should turn a nice dark brown/purple color as they soak up all the browned bits from the pollo asada. When fully cooked, remove from heat.
Assemble tacos: first spread a spoonful of the avocado sauce onto a shell, followed by chicken, cheese, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and top with cilantro. Eat, enjoy, and repeat!
We eat a lot of tacos in our house. It’s a great way for everyone to customize their dinner a little bit. It does seem to distract the little one enough to keep her in her seat. I hear you on the SIT DOWN sister.
For Christmas I gave M and the girls stainless steel taco holders – like the ones they use at Mission Taco and other taco joints we love around town. We like soft tacos best, but it’s really hard to get them filled and not fall apart (at least for little ones), and these can flip over and hold two or three, so we get through the managed chaos of customization and then everyone sits STILL for a bit and enjoys dinner.
I try very hard to not have too many kitchen gadgets, but these things take up such little space, and they’ve made our taco nights a lot more fun. (One word of caution though – they are heavy, and look like they could be brandished as a weapon because the edges are thin – not sharp like a knife, but you know what I mean!)
We’ve really been loving roasted cauliflower in tacos lately. Delish. I almost always make a red cabbage slaw too, I love Mission Taco’s fish taco with slaw. Yum.
Kristin, those taco holders sound really cool. I am also giggling at your foreshadowing about the weapon thing. It is surely something that would be wielded as an object of harm (or defense) around here! Maybe when they’re older!
Oh, and YES to Mission Taco’s fish taco with slaw. My favorite. Also, their street corn… hungry now.
Street corn should be listed under “Desserts”.
Ha! Totally!