Recipes Number 18 and 19: Yellowstone Taco Salad and Cowboy Cookies

Every once in a while  I receive an email containing something excellent and worthy of note. Yestreday one came from my sister with a recipe for 'cowboy cookies', which I admitted I had never heard of. The recipe was quite simple enough, and I only needed to pick up a couple of items on the way home to make it work. I had planned on doing my taco salad on the grill that night as well, so it turned out to be one big kitchen and deck extravaganza.

I actually made the cookies first, while I was prepping for the salad; that way the house smelt pretty good before I got the neighborhood smelling like barbecue :-)

For the cookies:

1 c softened butter

1 c granulated sugar

1 c dark brown sugar packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking SODA

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp baking POWDER

2 c AP flour

2 c oats

package of chocolate chips

I creamed the sugar and butter in my stand mixer, then added the eggs, then soda, salt, powder, flour and oats. When all was quite incorporated, I added the chips. Some recipes call for walnuts and coconut. I will rarely put nuts in anything I bake; I will NEVER put coconut in anything I bake. Period.

This recipe did six trays of 11 cookies each: 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

Yummy. I had already eaten several by the time I lit the fire for the grill.

I moved on to the meat for our salad; in my decades-old ten inch cast iron skillet the ingredients: about a pound of ground turkey, onions, bell peppers, and seasoning. (I have no camera, sorry - photos would be nice here.)

Lean ground turkey

Mexican oregano

chili powder

cumin

paprika

garlic powder

onion powder

ground black pepper

a bit of jarred salsa

corn chips

shred colby jack cheese

served with sour cream and guacamole

I cooked the meat, vegetables, seasoning over lump charcoal until the meat was done - about a half hour at about 250, and then added the salsa at the end of cooking. I brought in the pan of meat, and in the kitchen built the salad.

On an old cookie sheet, I placed my 11-inch springform pan. In this I layered busted up corn chips, meat mix, and cheese - twice. I topped it with some chopped green onions and put it on the grill over indirect heat, with the lid closed. I left it in there until the cheese started melting and the whole concoction began to settle a bit - maybe another half hour, while I did the dishes from the cookie bake. 

I spooned up a wedge and topped it with just a dollop of sour cream, and a bit of homemade guacamole. After all the cookies, I could only eat one bowl of this fantastic dinner, but I did find room for several more cookies while we watched Yellowstone later. 

Thank you, Jesus, for a fun night, for the time we could be together, and for always providing for our needs. We love You, too.