Chicken Tacos with Pickled Beet and Corn Salad Recipe

We love chicken tacos; actually we have not made beef tacos since we discovered how good chicken is in tacos. There are a few different ways that we prepare the chicken tacos, some the original way that they have printed on the box, and others with whatever we can find: just like our other dishes we refer to as "pantry diving". This past week my fiance had been begging me to make chicken tacos. As I said in a few other hubs, we recently just moved to Wisconsin from Vermont, so everyday we find ourselves lacking a key ingredient to a favorite dish, or most importantly our food processor. The key to making these tacos to perfection, is pouring the chicken and sauce into the food processor and shredding it until the meat and sauce create a nice even mixture. By doing it this way, you also only need to use half a packet of taco seasoning for every 2 chicken breasts.

We bought what we thought was everything that we needed to make the tacos, and at the last minute found out that we had forgotten the lettuce. I looked around the pantry to find something else, and came across a can of corn. I love corn salsa, and love it on my tacos; but of course did not have any in the house. So I created a very simple pickled beet and corn salad to top off our chicken tacos. Be sure to make the pickled beet and corn salad first because it needs to sit in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. It is also very tasty to eat on its own as a salad.

Pickled Beet and Corn Salad

• (4) whole pickled beets
• 1/2 Cup Whole Kernel Corn
• 1/4 Cup pickled beet juice
• 1/2 Tablespoon Seasoning Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cilantro finely chopped

Directions:

1. Mix the beets, corn, beet juice and seasoning salt together and let chill for 20 minutes.
2. Add Cilantro and mix into the salad right before serving.
3. (Don't be alarmed when the corn turns bright purple, this means that the corn has soaked up the pickled beet juice successfully)

Chicken Tacos:

• (2) Boneless chicken breasts cut up into 1"-2" cubes
• Half a packet of Taco Seasoning (or make your own using MGWhite's Recipe here)
• 1/3 Cup Water
• 1 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• (1) medium size tomato cut up into 1/2" cubes
• (4) Medium Flour Tortillas
• 1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese
• (4) Tablespoons sour cream

Directions:

1. Over medium heat cook the chicken with the olive oil, butter and 1 Tablespoon of seasoning salt until the chicken is fully cooked. (Using both olive oil and butter reduces the spatter of the oil)
2. Reduce to medium-low heat and add the taco seasoning and water. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken.
3. Shred the chicken with two forks, and mix in with sauce until completely covered. (or pour sauce and chicken into a food processor and shred until fully mixed together)
4. Heat (4) Flour tortillas in the microwave for 15 seconds (or in the over at 350 for 5-7 minutes)
5. Build your tacos using the shredded taco meat, tomato, shredded cheese and sour cream.
6. Top with Pickled Beet and Corn Salad
7. Enjoy!