Tacos with Squash

8:54:00 PM

Can you tell that I've been getting a lot of winter squash in my co-op produce baskets? Squash in chili, squash hash, and now...Tacos with Squash.


Tacos are one of the most requested meals by my husband. I have found that I resist serving them very often. The reason: only the adults in the house will eat any vegetable type toppings (such as lettuce or tomatoes). So the meal ends up looking like a flavored ground beef sandwich with cheese on top. Not exactly healthy.

But I got to thinking...why can't I add some veggies into the beef mixture? My guess was that no one would be the wiser. And the result? My oldest child asked me what the squash was  after dinner (I had an extra one).

When I told her that it was a squash, she said, "Yuck, I don't like squash."

I asked her, "Did you like dinner?" She nodded. Well, there was plenty of squash in that. What do you think about squash now?"

"It's pretty good in other stuff."

My husband also said that it was the best tacos I had ever made.

Tacos with Squash

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (or your favorite ground meat)
1 onion, diced
1 packet of taco seasoning and 1/2 the water suggested on the package
about 1 lb of acorn (or other winter) squash (I used half a squash, reserving the other half for chili)



Brown meat. Drain if required. Add onions.


While meat is cooking, pierce squash in several places and microwave for 6 minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove seeds. Scoop out desired amount of squash and place into frying pan with meat.


Smash the squash in the pan as you saute. Cook until onions are softened. In a measuring cup, measure out half the amount of water called for on the taco seasoning package. Mix the taco seasoning with the water. Pour over the meat mixture and simmer until thickened.


Serve with taco shells or tortillas and various taco toppings.



Enjoy!



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11 comments

  1. I love Tacos so do the rest of the Gadson clan! This is a great way to add veggies. I never thought of that! Thanks for the recipe.

    http://www.kgstyleblogs.com

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  2. My husband loves tacos and I have a ton of squash that I froze. I will have to try this sometime and see if he notices

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  3. What a great idea! I often add grated zucchini and/or carrots to our taco meat, but I've never tried winter squash. It looks like it blends in so well that maybe even my super picky five year old wouldn't spot it! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. What a wonderful idea! Why haven't I thought of that?! We do Taco Tuesday every week and I need to try throwing squash into the meat and see if my boys notice! Thanks for this! P.S. I love your blog and your pictures are really great! I'm excited to follow you and see what other neat ideas you come up with! Hope you're having a great week!

    ~Jen @ Yummy-Healthy-Easy

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  5. This looks so delicious. Perfect fall recipe! I would love to have you come share some of your great ideas at the link party on ‘Or so she says…' There’s one going on right now (and every Saturday – Tuesday). Hope to see you there! www.oneshetwoshe.com

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  6. What a great idea! My family love tacos and I love any way to get more veggies in us... Thanks!

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  7. Thank you so much for this idea. I often puree vegetables (especially squash) into my family's dinners. But I hadn't thought about adding it to beef tacos yet. I added squash to our fajitas the other day and I think they were even better with the squash!
    http://lovin-life-piersons.blogspot.com

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  8. Great idea! We throw in asparagus in our tacos1 The kids love them. (And they think the after effects of asparagus are funny.)

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  9. Brilliant!!! I love adding "extra goodies" in to benefit my kids!! It probably made it the meal go further too!

    My sister and I host a joint party called "Think Tank Thursday". We'd love for you to link up this and any other great creations.
    http://www.saving4six.com/2012/11/welcome-to-think-tank-thursday-4.html

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  10. This looks good. Reminds me of the sneak-chef! Think I'm going to be doing this in the near future (esp with my picky eater toddler) thanks for linking up at Glued To My Crafts. You never disappoint!

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  11. After a week of sick kiddos I am getting my feature post up today and I will be featuring your tacos.

    Cheri

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