Homemade Baked Taquitos

These are awesome, easy, and a great way to use left over meat. (Sorry no picture, we ate them all and I forgot to take one before we started eating)

You will need:

Shredded meat - We just use whatever leftover meat we have (chicken, pulled pork, a roast, etc)

Shredded cheese

Tortillas (corn or flour, doesn't matter)

Oil

Whatever you like to dip them in (salsa, sour cream, guacamole, etc)

1. Shred whatever meat you'd like to use.

2. If you think the meat needs more of a taco seasoning then just add your favorite taco spices. You can also just mix in salsa. We did that with pork and it turned out good.

3. Shred a bunch of cheddar cheese (or buy a bag of shredded cheese)

4. Warm a tortilla, add about 1/4 cup meat, and sprinkle cheese on the meat. Beware, too much filling will break the tortilla (duh, but I always do this).

5. Roll up tortilla and place on baking sheet seam side down

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you are out of meat or tortillas.

7. Brush oil onto each taquito.

8. Bake at 400 F for about 8 to 12 minutes (until they are as crispy as you want them).

Seriously, these are my new favorite food. You barely use any oil, they are super fast and easy to make, and they are delicious. I could seriously eat 100 if my stomach could fit them all. Lucy loves them, too, which is always good :)

The difference between flour and corn tortillas is just taste. If you warm them up well they both are soft and easy to roll. Flour ones tend to be bigger and taste like the outside shell of a crunch wrap supreme from taco bell if you've ever tried one of those (Ben and I love them I know for sure). The corn ones are smaller and taste more like a traditional taquito and are also really good. We usually make both kinds to use up leftover tortillas we have.

And if I spelled taquito wrong I am sorry. I'm too lazy to go look it up.

best cupcakes ever

Our neighbor just shared this awesome cupcake making secret with us. You can use it to make cakes too. They are super moist and delicious.

Combine:

1 box cake mix

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/8 cup oil

1 1/3 cup water

1 cup sour cream

3 eggs

* if you make chocolate then add some cocoa powder to help it taste more chocolately. The sugar and flour might lessen the flavor. For some reason this only happens with chocolate.

Only fill tins half way at most or they'll overflow when baking.

Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.

Healthy Strawberry Pie

Ingredients:

Crust:
9 sheets honey graham crackers
2 Tbs butter (melted)
2 Tbs sugar
4 tsp water

Filling:
2/3 cup non fat greek plain yogurt
1/4 cup splenda
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla

Topping:
3-4 cups fresh strawberries (cut up)
splash of lemon juice (to toss)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Crumble graham crackers in food processor.  Add butter, water, and sugar and pulse until just moist.  Press crust mixture into greased pie pan and bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely on wire rack before adding filling.

In small bowl mix yogurt, splenda, almond extract, and vanilla.

In another bowl toss diced strawberries in a little bit of lemon juice.

Once crust is cooled add filling then top with strawberries.  Cover and chill for 3 hours.

Nutrition Info (1/8th of pie):
Calories: 130
Total Fat: 4.4 g
Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
Carbs: 20.9 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sugars: 10.2 g
Protein: 3.3 g

Note: You can replace the splenda with sugar and it will add 22.5 calories per slice. The original recipe called for light cream cheese instead of greek yogurt.

Monster Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon corn syrup
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup candy-coated milk chocolate
pieces

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a very large bowl, beat the eggs.
3. Add the remaining ingredients in order, mixing well.
4. Use an ice cream scoop to put on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

That's right there is no flour in these cookies, so that makes them healthy ;) They are awesome and you really do need to use an ice cream scoop to make them turn out right. 

Mini Skillet Meatloaves

A really quick and easy way to make meatloaf.


Ingredients
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced
1 1/2 pounds meatloaf mix (ground beef, pork and/or veal)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup ketchup
1 to 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions
Mix the breadcrumbs, milk, parsley, egg, Worcestershire sauce, onion, chili powder and garlic in a large bowl. Add the meat, season with salt and pepper and mix with your hands until combined. Shape into six 3-to-4-inch oval loaves.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the loaves and brown about 3 minutes per side.

Whisk the ketchup, sugar and vinegar in a bowl and brush a few tablespoonfuls over the meat. Add 1/2 cup water to the skillet, cover and simmer over low heat until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Transfer the loaves to a plate. Add the remaining ketchup mixture to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring, until thick, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve meatloaves with the hot glaze.

Per serving: Calories 380; Fat 24 g (Saturated 8 g); Cholesterol 111 mg; Sodium 800 mg; Carbohydrate 16 g; Fiber 1 g; Protein 23 g

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Per Meghan's request here is the Green Chile Chicken Enchilada recipe that John uses with a few tweaks. They are seriously awesome.

Ingredients


5-6 cups boneless chicken thighs
4 cups shredded cheese (jack, colby mix or just jack)
6-8 diced Hatch green chiles
24 yellow corn tortillas
1 cup sour cream
1 - 15oz can Hatch Green Chili enchilada sauce
10.75oz can condensed cream of chicken soup


How to make it


de-skin chicken, season and bake until done (375deg for approx 1hr). dice chicken.


chop green chilis.


mix chicken, 3cups cheese and green chilis together in a large bowl.


combine sour cream, enchilada sauce and cream of chicken soup.  heat on low until barely simmering.


heat tortillas by running through warm cooking oil until tortillas firm up.


roll each tortilla with chicken mixture.


arrange side by side in 9x13 baking dish 


leftover chicken mix can be used to make more enchiladas or spread over the top of the prepared enchiladas.


cover enchiladas with sauce and the remaining cheese.


cook uncovered at 350deg for 30min or until bubbly hot. 

So are the tweaks: 

We usually use a whole chicken either already cooked from the store or if we have a raw one we throw it in the crock pot with garlic, chicken broth and rosemary. Then you just shred it up. 

John heats the tortillas by running them through warm chicken broth instead of oil

We don't roll the tortillas. We just layer them and make a casserole. 

Request for Enchilada Recipe :)

So, I made enchiladas the other day (chicken), and honestly, I really didn't like them. I have tried making them off and on using different online recipes and it seems like they are a no brainer, but I can never get them to taste REALLY good. Any secrets to making a good enchilada you know of?

Thanks :)