Food Geek

I have made several new recipes lately, and I decided to go ahead and share some with you :)   I had a night full of fun Mexican Food.  I made homemade salsa.  It's really simple- I just grabbed some jalapenos and banana peppers from the garden, some cilantro, tomatoes, and salt and pepper.  I just tossed it little by little in the Mini Chopper (shameless plug here- but SERIOUSLY it works and no pepper hands!!) and VIOLA  yummy salsa!  I may have added more jalapenos than most prefer since I like quite a bit of kick to mine :)

Then I made Chicken Taquitos!  YUMM!!  The recipe I used seemed like it had a lot of ingredients that were easily replaceable so I 'll share my adapted recipe.The original recipe came from pintrest of course!  The perk is that it is really easy to make, kids can help, and it freezes well!  Make a double batch and throw one in the freezer for a night that you don't have time to cook!

               picture of the filling...mouth watering!

BAKED  not fried CREAMY CHICKEN TAQUITOS
Yield: 12 taquitos
12 tortilla flour or corn
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 to 1/2 cup taco sauce
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder or fajita seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cups shredded cooked chicken   (I used chicken from Oscar Meyer, comes in chunks and I just chopped it finely)
1 cup shredded Mexican flavored cheese

Preheat your oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, salsa or taco sauce, ground cumin, chili powder or taco seasoning, onion powder and garlic. Once combined, stir in the cilantro. Add the chicken and cheese; mix thoroughly.
(If you decided to prep this in advance, refrigerate the mixture at this point until ready to continue.)
Working with a few tortillas at a time, heat them in the microwave between two paper towels until they are soft enough to roll (about 20 – 30 seconds).
Spoon 2-3 Tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the lower third of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can. DO NOT PUT MORE THAN THIS AMOUNT, OTHERWISE IT WILL OOZE OUT OF THE SIDES WHEN COOKED
Place the rolled tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the mixture is gone.
Make sure the taquitos are not touching each other.
Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray.Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until crisp and golden.
Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.

**To freeze: Before baking, flash freeze the taquitos in a single layer on a baking sheet then place in a labeled freezer bag and store up to 3 months. To bake a frozen taquito (no need to thaw first): Preheat oven to 425˚F and bake for 20 minutes. (Flash Freeze means freezing the taquitos in a single layer for 15-20 minutes (until hardened) so that when you add them to the freezer bag, they will not all stick together).
Enjoy!

These taquitos were a hit here and were quite delicious :)  I hope you enjoy them as well!

Coming up in recipe land...  french toast casserole (definitely an interesting one) and my excellent zucchini bread, as well as some other dinners I've dabbled in :)

Oh, and good news!  I start school on September 1st to finish my degree in Human Resources!  Very excited to get back on track :)