SRC - Back to School: Lawnmower Tacos

With five Monday's in the month of August, it's time for another themed reveal of the Secret Recipe Club! The theme for this month is back to school, which comes just in time because the nearly all the grades of the schools in my county went back last Thursday.

(I'll never understand going back to school on a Thursday. Or the last week in August for that matter. They're going back to school for two days, then have a full week, then a four day week because of Labor day. Ugh.)

I debated not participating in this themed reveal because I don't have kids in school and I'm not in college, so the "back to school" theme doesn't really apply to me, but I figured I have a pretty decent select of quick recipes that I should still participate. And of course, I was insanely curious to see what everyone else would make. I pack my lunch for work every week so finding some alternatives is always welcome!

I was assigned to I'm Hungry, Words of Growing Boys which is written by Traci. She has two sons referred to as The Wee One and The Imaginative One (how cute is that?) and an incredible collection of recipes, including multiple flavors of homemade coffee creamer.

I went through over two years of recipes before I finally made a decision. At first I really, really wanted to make either the Snickerdoodle Oatmeal or Snickerdoodle waffles because I love the flavor, but then I found a recipe that my husband would absolutely love and I knew it was the winner:

Lawnmower Tacos!

Tom could eat tacos multiple days in a row and any time that I need a quick meal, tacos are my first choice. Brown up some ground beef, add in some flavor and pile on your desired toppings, which for Tom includes cheese, taco sauce and sometimes sour cream, it doesn't get much easier than that. 

Lawnmower Tacos
Source: I’m Hungry
Servings: 4
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Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 ½ cups beef broth
• 2 cups crushed tortilla chips
• 2 cups taco or cheddar cheese, shredded
• toppings: lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, jalapenos, avocado, etc.

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. (Or to make individual portions, spray 4-6 oz. ramekins and place on a baking sheet.)
2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the ground beef. Cook until browned, breaking into pieces. Drain the grease and return the skillet to the stovetop.
3. Sprinkle the taco seasoning on top of the ground beef and stir until combined.
4. Sprinkle the flour over the ground beef, stirring until coated, then pour in the beef stock and increase the heat to medium-high.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium and allow to simmer until the mixture has thickened.
6. Add ⅓ of the crushed tortilla chips onto the bottom of the prepared baking dish (or ramekins). Top with ⅓ of the ground beef mixture, followed by ⅓ of the cheese. Repeat until the chips, meat and cheese have been used.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.
8. Garnish with your desired taco toppings and enjoy!

Lawnmower tacos are referred to as such because it looks like the trimmings that shoot out of the side of the lawnmower. I did my best to make these pretty and opted to make them in individual ramekins so I could pile mine up with veggies and Tom could have his plain.

This is actually pretty close to how Tom usually eats tacos. I eat them on soft shells and he crunches up hard shells and mixes everything together in a bowl. I frequently forget to buy the soft tortillas for myself so I love that I've found a new way to enjoy tacos! 

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