Do you ever Pin a recipe and you keep thinking about making it and then a year goes by before you actually try it out? It seems the Oven Tacos have been all over Pinterest for awhile, but instead of trying them out I just kept making my easy go to tacos (which involve only baking the shells, not the tacos themselves!). The kids were with their Dad tonight, so around 2:00 p.m. at work I decided I was going to finally make these darn Oven Tacos from Pinterest. YEP. It was an excellent night to make them for me and Brian, because I knew the sky would have to be falling before the kids would eat these ‘different weird’ tacos. And, since the kids are at their Dad’s tonight, I also have time to blog all about it on the same night. Wow.
Tonight was also the night I finally whipped out my Thirty One Gifts apron. Yes, I bought this apron over a year ago and this was the first time I wore it. Its cute, I just… always forget to put it on, I guess! Plus, I am sure if Autumn had been home, she’d be the one wearing it… not me. That girl will not let me cook anything without her help.
The recipe called for homemade taco seasoning, which I have never, ever done. I did have fun dropping all of the spices in this bowl, so pretty! I have a fellow blogger friend that likes to make ‘faces’ out of ingredients as she dumps them in bowls. I thought that’d be fun to try, but… ohhh. I think I had just a tad too many spices for a face, unless I wanted to give the face 6 eyeballs or something. 😉
Stir the spices… and, ta-da! Taco seasoning.
The oven tacos are really easy to make, but since I was only feeding two tonight, I did cook the 2 lbs. of meat, but I froze half of it to use for something else (spaghetti?). I then halved the entire recipe and it yielded 10 tacos. Enough for dinner and lunch leftovers for two people. I did not need 20 tacos, trust me!
The Cumin Dusted Rice is perfect with these tacos, it is essentially Spanish rice. I got the recipe from my friend Katie’s Mom a long time ago and I’ve made it several times. 
Here are the tacos before they hit the oven. Basically, you cook the meat and onions, add in a few ingredients in a sauce pan, then put a few spoonfuls in each taco and top generously with shredded cheese. Pretty easy.
I kept them in the oven for 10 minutes, not the full 12. I just love melted cheese. And, I love it on tacos. Yum!
The Cumin Dusted Rice finished up at the same time as the tacos. The rice has my favorite ingredient in it, ROTEL. Wait, I take that back. I don’t love Rotel as much as I love Nutella.
I have heard you can substitute the baked beans with rice if you want to in this recipe, it may be worth a try sometime.
Feel free to add any toppings such as guacamole, sour cream, salsa, lettuce. I am sort of odd in that I do not like lettuce on my tacos. I do love me some maters on my tacos, though!
Here is the recipe for the Oven Tacos:
Oven Tacos
from Blog Chef
2 lbs ground beef (or turkey/chicken)
1 small onion diced
1 small can diced green chilies (I omitted this)
1 recipe for Homemade taco seasoning (below)
1 (8 ounce) can low sodium tomato sauce
1 (16 ounce) can fat free re-fried beans
2 cups shredded reduced fat Colby-jack cheese
18-20 hard taco shells
Optional Condiments-
Lettuce (shredded)
Tomato (diced)
Salsa
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Olives, sliced
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large skillet brown ground beef and onion over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Return to pan, add chilies, refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix well and cook for a few minutes if mixture seems runny.
3. Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through. Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving.
Taco Seasoning
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
In a small bowl, mix all together.
Cumin Dusted Rice
2 cups Rice brown or white
2-3 green onions chopped
Ground Cumin (I like lots~2-3 tablespoons)
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and Green Chilies
2-3 tablespoons butter or an oil you prefer
1. Using the butter, brown the chopped green onions
2. Add the rice and cumin. Brown for just a few more minutes stirring constantly.
3. Pour the Rotel in and add 3 2/3 cups of water. Stir, heat to boil then turn the heat down to simmer and put the lid on the pan. DON’T stir again. It should be done in about 20 minutes.
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