Day 2: Beef-and-Mushroom Tacos with Avocado Salad

Day two's meal was DELISH (even though it contained mushrooms)!!!!!  I have always disliked mushrooms for three reasons.

1.  Because I have always hated the idea of eating a fungus that grows on the ground.
2.  I don't enjoy their strange texture in my mouth.
3.  I have always felt they had no flavor.

But, cooked in a lot of garlic and mixed with beef and jalapeno chilis, they were tasty.  If you are looking for a different type of taco to get you out of your traditional taco rut, you should definitely try these.

Now, I did a few things differently than the recipe called for that I think really helped.  First, I actually cooked the onions in a little butter to almost caramelize them.  This made them even sweeter and added a great offset to the saltiness of the tacos.

Second, and this is a must, I bought the flour tortillas that are ready to cook (in an uncooked state).  You cook them fresh within minutes on a griddle or in a hot pan. They are so much better than regular, premade, store bought tortillas.  You can usually find these in the section of the grocery store with the tubes of biscuits and such.  I think that these tortillas make a huge difference.  Once I purchased these tortillas a few years back, I will never go back to the pre-cooked, reheat kind.    They look similar to the package below:

The other thing that I did differently than the recipe-I added a blend of mexican cheeses (Asadero, Manchego and Queso Quesadilla) to the tacos.  The meal took about 10 minutes of prep time and 30 minutes of cooking time.

Now, for the verdict: 

Heather:  LOVED THEM!   You can see the reasons as listed above.  The cheeses added a good salty creaminess to the dish.   I finished both of my tacos before Drew finished his first one.  I rate this dish a 9.5 out of 10.  And, the leftover tacos tasted just as great the next day.

Drew:  I really liked having mushrooms in a dish (Heather doesn't buy them to cook in dishes for me often for reasons as listed above).  I was really surprised that the jalapenos didn't overpower the dish.  Overall, very good flavor.  I would like to try it sometime using skirt steak instead of ground beef.   I rate it a 7.5.

Here is the recipe in case you want to try it:  Beef-and-Mushroom Tacos with Avocado Salad Recipe - Every Day with Rachael Ray