Stand ‘N Stuff?? Not What You Could be Thinking :)

Again, I have discovered something new, easier and even a bit funny!

Enter Old El Paso …

Ok, so the name sounds funny, but really ... they're kind of awesome!

You’re reading it right! “Stand ‘N Stuff” Soft Flour Tortillas.

All right, I admit it – when I saw them on the shelf, I laughed. I’m sure the other shoppers were wondering about me.

Getting back to the “new tortillas” …

Have you ever tried putting HOT taco meat in a corn shell or in a flat soft taco and burned yourself? :(

Have you ever had all your “goodies” fall out with every bite you took? :(

For a while, Old El Paso has had huge corn/hard shells that stood up for filling. But, what about some of us softies?

Here they are! One for us!

At first I wanted to laugh, and then I thought … hmm, maybe we should try them.

So, I got one pack at the Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market for $2.48. There are eight (8) “shells” per package.

Shells $2.50

Seasoning $0.80

One pound ground beef (Fresh & Easy/double pack) $2.50

Lettuce $1.00

Tomato $1.00

Cheese $5.00 (can do up to 32 or more tacos so $1.25 per 8)                    

$9.05/8 = $1.13 per taco

Okay, that’s slightly more expensive than Del Taco (their “original” tacos can run $0.99 + tax) or Taco Bell (tacos w/o tomato run about $0.79 + tax).  

But, these are prepared with FRESH meat, fresh veggies, and good cheese. Not to mention you can top them with as MUCH veggies or cheese as you please. Also, you do save the sales tax.

As far as the ease of warming them up – instructions state 10-15 seconds on high. For four (4) shells (wrapped in wax paper, which is HIGHLY recommended), I put them on for 20 seconds. That seems to work. My microwave is 1000W so the time might vary for those with higher output or lower.

Warming & storage instructions

Quite simple to warm them up!

Recommendation? Use the lowest time. You can always add more time to get them right; you can never “un-cook” something.

Amazingly once you’ve filled them and sit down to eat (providing you fill them and sit right down); they don’t get tough, chewy or hard. They hold up quite well, so long as you don’t put a TON of meat, cheese, and veggies in them.

If you have some of the “shells” left, instructions state to store them in a food storage bag or container. I chose a container and that works great!

This is how I store them until the next go-around 

They not only look great coming out of the container, but warm up just like they did out of the original package

"Average" depth

Even after 2-3 days in the container, when I warm them up (again wrapped in wax paper, 20 seconds on high), they’re as good as when I took them out the first time. The max time between opening the original container and “leftovers” is usually two (2) days, no more than three (3).

I do that not only because of the shells, but because of the veggies – namely the lettuce. Even fresh lettuce can start going bad within 2-3 days.

Looking "down" at the tacos

Warm, fresh, good-looking and "yummy"!

They hold quite a bit of "goodies" 

As far as seasoning, we like Old El Paso’s seasoning as it doesn’t have onions which requires we “sift” them out. Although if you’re not one for spicy tacos … I’d keep to the mild seasoning. We got “original” one time … just a tad too spicy for us.

Anyway …

These are the new “tortillas” for our household. While they’re a bit more expensive than traditional “Great Value” soft taco size tortillas, they don’t stay around as long. The “taco meat” is sufficient for eight (2) Stand ‘N Stuff tacos, so there is no worry about wasting the remaining tortillas or having leftovers for too long. Two dinners, and it’s time to move on to something else.

For the past few shopping trips, I was lucky to save $1.50 (three $0.50 coupons) on the “shells”, and I saved $0.50 on the packet of seasoning (final cost was $0.28).

No matter how much they cost, to this household … they’re worth it.

While the name sounds funny, and they look odd, the plates don’t need a lot of scraping and we hardly lose our “goodies” :)

That’s the main thing – not losing one’s taco goodies.

Café Mocha at Home

For those of us who LOVE coffee, how many times do we wish we could make a coffee drink at home? How many times do we think “wish I could afford Starbucks” (or coffee dealer of choice)?

During RARE … and I mean RARE occasions, I get Café Mocha from the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I love it.

But, at $5-$7 a pop, it’s not realistic. In addition, the closest one is in a casino that’s about 12 miles away (round trip) from where I live.

Starbucks has a comparable Café Mocha, but normally I get either a Valencia Orange refresher or a Passion Fruit Lemonade Iced Tea when I’m there.

And, I try to go there only as a treat for a workout, as well as a “creative” moment away from home.

Even being a Gold member which allows for free refills – I still have to front nearly $4-$5 per cup, and I can’t pass up those $2 marshmallow dream bars (I suck at making gooey Rice Krispy Treats at home; last three times ended in disaster). That’s $6-$7 per visit :(

Sadly, finances have not allowed that … at least not right now they haven’t.

So, what to do? Of course! Make it at home!

Now I’m not taking credit for the idea. It was the result of a $0.56 Chocolate Mint Truffle hot chocolate packet I picked up at the Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market a few weeks ago.

On the back, as normal, were the instructions to fix it (best recommendations) … and a nice little hint: “can be used as a coffee creamer”.

Really? How the hell did I not figure that out sooner? Oy!

Since I have a lot of ground coffee that I’ve had for a few years, and I do have a reusable “K-Cup” … 

I put the packet of cocoa in my $1 Starbuck reusable hot mug (with a re-usable hot sleeve), popped the K-Cup in and brewed away … 

Not knowing if it was going to be sweet enough, I added a bit of sugar.

WOW!

That is all I can say! It was quite awesome. I was really impressed. Once that worked, I thought I’d try some other cocoas I had …

First one up was “Land o Lakes” Chocolate Raspberry.

Again, used the re-usable K-Cup with the “old” Dunkin Donuts ground coffee … **POOF** …

That was awesome as well.

Moving on … I tried the “Land o Lakes” Mint Chocolate. Again, success!

Now, just so you know, I didn’t do all this in one night or day. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep or think had I done it all in the same day. I actually did this over the course of a few days.

Everything you need to make a "Café Mocha" ... coffee, cocoa, K-Cup, Reusable Cup (with sleeve)

What level do you want your coffee to be?

What flavor? I personally like them all :)

Filter & re-usable K-Cup -- at least I can use that ground coffee I had stacked up

Re-usable cup, sleeve, re-usable K-Cup and DD coffee

Love this idea! 

You can put in as much or as little as you'd like

Coffee is filled and ready to be loaded [yes, I know I need to clean it, going to after this cup]

Loading it in the Keurig :)

The next try was some old packets of Swiss Miss Cocoa. We had Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and Marshmallow.

You can always opt for this ... 

Ending up the Dark Chocolate worked, as did the Marshmallow.  Haven’t tried the milk chocolate as we only have one box. I tend to use what I have more of before moving on to other things I don’t have much of.

Decided to make the second batch of “marshmallow” without putting sugar in the coffee … and there was no real difference in taste, so I can omit the sugar, which is better health and weight-wise.

While the coffee is old (best before 4/2009), and the cocoa was best before 4/2010 … it wasn’t a bad experiment.  I learned that not all food should be tossed past a date stamped on it.

“Food safety experts are saying that you could be throwing away lots of money by tossing food from the fridge that is still good.

Some top safety experts say that just because your food says it's expired, doesn't mean that it necessarily is.

Companies put "use by" dates on their food voluntarily to tell you when it tastes best, not if it's going to make you sick.”

“As for pantry ideas that are either dry or processed; some may be good up to two years after the expiration date has passed.

Experts say to use common sense of course, if it looks or smells funny; toss it out.”

(http://www.ktnv.com/news/actionnewsthismorning/Expired-food-in-the-fridge-may-be-still-good-223340391.html)

You have to use “good sense” – if it smells funny, looks funny, is odd … yes, toss it … please do! Don’t keep it!

As for the coffee and cocoa?

I haven’t gotten sick and neither has my mom. I doubt there is much that could go bad with coffee and cocoa. Yeah, perhaps it’s not as “kick-ass” as it might have been … can you imagine if it were? O_o

But, this new experiment is a good way to get it out of the house.

After all …

I’ve tried flavored creamers in my coffee, and it’s still “eh”. I’ve tried using milk as opposed to water in the cocoa. Again, “eh”.

Cocoa and coffee? YUM!

I’m not advocating drinking/eating spoiled stuff. Please, if you don’t think it is safe … TOSS IT OUT!!

If you have fresh stuff … good.

Me?

I’m hoping this will be the last year that pack of Dunkin Donuts original ground stays in the cabinet, and definitely the last year of the cocoa staying around. I also have a package of coffee that had 2012 stamped on it. Hoping it’ll be gone by Christmas.

Anyway … getting back to “making it at home” …

At least I can have a nice, somewhat gourmet coffee drink at home. I can also have it when I take my mom to work. Winter is coming and I’m going to need to be prepared for those cold mornings.

Now, excuse me … I have another cup of Café Mocha calling my name :)

[Note: I tried the Ghirardelli Peppermint … that definitely kicked me in the butt! Good, but wow!]

Reference:

Lewis, R. (2013, September 11). Expired food in the fridge may be still good - www.ktnv.com. KTNV ABC Channel 13 - Las Vegas, Nevada - Local News, Breaking News, Weather. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from http://www.ktnv.com/news/actionnewsthismorning/Expired-food-in-the-fridge-may-be-still-good-223340391.html