Weeknight Brown Rice Tacos with Corn Relish

Here is another super quick meal that I like to rely on when I am "too tired" to cook during the week. I throw on the rice cooker as I walk in the door and complete the ten things I do every day after I walk in from work. [let the dog out, pet said dog until she is satisfied, check the mail, wash my lunch containers and coffee mug, etc. Becoming skilled at multi tasking after work has become an essential skill to learn because as I have grown to notice that once I sit down for the evening, it is all over and my energy plummets! This is the time of day I really get a lot done for my morning routine as well as make a great dinner for myself after a long, long day teaching kids.

As the rice cooker is going [and hopefully at least one other domestic multi task -even if it is drinking a glass of wine] I make up a batch of corn relish. This is a fairly easy and quick topping to tacos that I just love. By the time you are done making the corn relish and the rice cooker dings, warm up two or three flour tortillas and you have a lovely little meal completed.

Weeknight Brown Rice Tacos with Corn Relish [makes 4-6 tacos]

1 1/2 C cooked brown rice [left over rice makes this dinner even quicker]
5-6 flour tortillas [charred on a gas stove burner or microwaved for a minute]
3/4 c queso fresco [omit for vegan tacos]
dash of your favorite hot sauce

Corn Relish:
[adapted from Everyday Food]

3 ears of corn
15 cherry tomatoes
2 green onions
hand full of cilantro
kosher salt + pepper
1 lime

[1] Cut the corn off of the ears, but be careful because the kernels fly everywhere! [which is good for the adorable dog who waits underfoot for anything that might escape] Add to a medium sized bowl.

[2] Dice and seed the cherry tomatoes or one medium tomato from the vine. I highly recommend a tomato from the vine as these cherry tomatoes, although delicious and cute and perfect for my lunch salads, are the most difficult little buggers to cut. Seeds and juice everywhere! Add to the corn in the medium sized bowl.

[3] Chop the green onion to desired size. Add to corn and tomatoes in the bowl.

[4] Chop cilantro. Toss in the bowl with the other ingredients.

[5] Sprinkle the mixture in the bowl generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

[6] Cut a lime in half and squeeze as much juice as you can from it over the mixture in the bowl.

[7] Grab a spoon and stir it up. [fantasize about how great a margarita would be with this]

[8] Take a warm tortilla, add a spoonful of brown rice and top with the corn relish. If desired add crumbled queso fresco and a dash of hot sauce. Eat!