.navajo tacos.

You know those chalupa things you can get at Taco Bell? I love those. My ultimate favorite was the Santa Fe chalupa, but they stopped making and selling them. What gives? That was my #1 craving when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter.

I remember as a little girl having Navajo tacos, which are really just a chalupa. Indian fry bread with some chili, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, onion and avocado. Mm hmm. It really can't get any better than this!

Making fry bread is very simple. Mix together:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered milk
1 tsp baking powder

Add in 1 cup of warm water and mix it all together using your hands. When it comes together, form into a ball and cover with saran. Let this sit for about 10 minutes to relax the gluten in the flour. Make sure you don't knead this dough like you would bread dough. That will work the gluten too much and you'll have a tougher, denser fry bread.

This recipe makes 4 shells so if you want more than this, double or triple (or quadruple!) the recipe.

Divide the ball into four separate balls. Cover again and let rest 5 minutes.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll each ball of dough until it's almost paper thin. No worries, it will puff up a LOT in the fryer.

While you were letting the dough rest, I hope you put a pot of oil on to heat. You need it at 350*. When the oil is warm and your dough has been rolled out, carefully lower one piece into the oil and fry until both sides are lightly golden. Remove and let drain on a paper towel or newspaper. Repeat until all the dough has been fried.

I used my basic chili recipe for these and all that's left to do is top with your favorite toppings!

**A special tip I like when we have Navajo tacos is to make extra fry bread dough. Fry some up for your tacos, then fry up more and slather with butter and honey, or sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. My fav! Enjoy!

.grilled fish tacos.

I get requests from time to time from blog readers. I *love* these requests because it gives my family the opportunity to try dishes that I probably would never fix. This recipe for grilled fish tacos was requested by Jenni. (Hey Jenni! :D)

If you've had fish tacos, you're probably familiar with how they are made. The fish is usually battered and fried. We were looking for a more healthy alternative so instead of frying, we grilled. Of course, you'll have to overlook the fact that I heated the tortillas in oil, am using Mexican crema, and guacamole. I mean... yah.. it's "healthy". LOL You could probably heat the tortillas in the microwave to soften them up if you want to skip the oil route.



I started with some tilapia. You're going to want a fish that will not fall apart once it's cooked. Sea bass and cod are other options if you can't, or don't like, tilapia.



In a bowl, mix together the juice of two limes, 1/4 cup olive oil, some cilantro, and salt and pepper.



Pour on the filets and let marinate for about 20 minutes. The acidity from the limes will actually start to cook the tender fish, so you don't want to let them marinate for too long.



While those sit, thinly slice or shred some cabbage.



For visual color, shred up a little red cabbage as well.



(I'm going to have to figure out a dish to use up the rest of my cabbage. Hubby is NOT a fan so it'll have to be a)really good that he will love it, or b)something I will enjoy eating a lot of. LOL)



Slice up some red onion.



And wedge some limes. These are to squeeze onto your tacos right before eating, and also to help hold them up on your plate. Pretty cool huh?



Oh and we can't forget radishes. You can slice these nice and thin so you can put them directly on your taco. I left mine halved to eat on the side.



Arrange everything all pretty like on a tray.



Heat a little oil in a skillet and carefully put two CORN tortillas in, stacked on top of each other. We want to fry them together.



After a minute, flip them over and do the other side. Pull from the oil and let sit on paper towels. Do this until you have as many tortillas as you need. If you do this step ahead of time, throw them in the oven to warm back up.



Grill up your fish. Look how yummy that looks.



You're going to want a bottle of this. Mexican Crema. If you can't find it, do a google search for it and you can find easy directions. It takes a day to make though.

Now it's time to assemble. Put some fish on the tortilla, spoon a little crema on top of the fish, then some cabbage and onion. Top with some hot red salsa and guacamole.

I topped ours with fresh pico de gallo instead of salsa. It was very yummy. Serve with beans and rice.