Tacos have to be one of the easiest dishes for ground beef.  They are also great for parties and get-togethers since everyone can top them as they please!

The most important part: forget the pre-made taco seasonings.  They contain things like Silicon Dioxide and Ethoxyquin, the purpose for which only a chemist can figure out.  Instead, just mix together all the seasoning ingredients listed in the recipe.  It tastes just as good (or better in our opinion) and can be made nearly for free.

If you want, put them in a mortar and pestle to get a finer texture like you’d find in the pre-made packages, but this really isn’t necessary in our opinion.

Next, add the beef to a pan over medium heat.  The purpose here is just to get it brown, so don’t worry if the meat isn’t fully cooked.  Lastly, add the water and seasoning and wait until the sauce thickens.

Bam!  You have perfect meat for tacos which you can now top however you’d like.  This meat also works well for burritos! You can even make it spicier if you like by adding in red pepper flakes, hot sauce or your favorite spicy condiment.

We had never cooked short ribs before, and decided to try them sous vide.  They pair really well with a side of our crispy polenta, as pictured above.  First, season, seal, and cook the short ribs at 135° F for 72 hours.

It’s possible that 48 or less would be sufficient, but 72 seems to be the most recommended.

Then sear them, place them on top of the polenta and top with the wine reduction sauce.

These meatballs pack some serious spice with both habaneros and dried chilies.  Served in a thick tomato sauce with plenty of veggies, this is a seriously filling dish.  Enjoy with a side of good toasted bread!

First we make some meatballs.

Crush some whole dried chilies with a mortar and pestle.  Adding some salt helps with the grinding.  Simmer the peppers in vinegar until fragrant.  The fumes from this process are quite potent, so watch your eyes!  Then brown the meatballs in the spicy vinegar liquid.

Add the meatballs to the veggie and tomato sauce to let simmer!

Beef Wellington is generally prepared by wrapping beef tenderloin in pâté, mushroom duxelles, and puff pastry.  This recipe attempts to create a similar dish without the expensive ingredients.  First, mushrooms and onion are sautéd with with salt and pepper and then mixed with ground beef to create a roll.

Next, the beef roll is covered in the brown mustard and rolled in slices of prosciutto. It’s easiest (and much cleaner!) to place the prosciutto on plastic wrap before rolling.

And then rolled into pastry dough…

Then a quick egg wash and into the oven for half an hour. You can also be fancy and use a knife to cut lines in the dough for an interesting pattern when it is done.

And the final product:

Overall it is a delicious dish and not too difficult on a budget.  Our rendition resulted in some juices flowing out of the beef, making the bottom part of the pastry less crispy than the top. To fix this, perhaps use leaner beef, or even ground turkey.