easy taquitos!

...and for the last day of chicken left-overs, I made taquitos! I'm gonna have to start using a recipe book because I'm running out of ideas for chicken; my palate is still somewhat narrow but hopefully that'll change soon...back to the topic, this is another recipe that'll work for those days when there isn't much time for anything fancy. This is also fun finger food for parties or snack time. I made this a meal by serving it with the traditional side of beans and rice...and the not so traditional organic mixed veggies :D... When I can't have veggies in the actual meal, I always make sure to serve them as a side so that I feel like I'm getting meeting some of the food pyramid requirements :P.

So what did I do for the taquitos? I used some shredded chicken, fried it with cubed potatoes, chopped garlic and onion. Of course, a pinch of salt and pepper were thrown in, along with a hearty sprinkle of cilantro and parsley. I put the chicken in corn tortillas, which I warmed up in the micro for about 20 seconds so they'd be soft enough to roll into taquitos without breaking. I also added some colby/jack cheese before rolling everything up and piercing the taquitos with a toothpick (so they would hold when frying). I then fried the taquitos in a covered pan with canola oil for about 1 minute on each side, or until they were slightly crispy/golden all around. That's basically it! This was a very fast meal to whip up; minus the cooking time for the chicken, I was able to finish this in 15 minutes!

fast tacos: college friendly food!

Every once in awhile, either out of pure tiredness, lack of time, or hunger, I need to make something fast. Putting this together reminded me of my college days, when I could eat a bag of Pepperidge Farm Snickerdoodles for dinner, (this was before I had my gallbladder removed) and when eating healthy wasn't a major concern, obviously! But now that those days are over, I'm realizing that even though college kids don't necessarily have much time to cook on a day to day basis, there should still be more recipes available to them that are healthy while also fast and easy to make. The almost-ideal meal would be one that could be prepared in 20 minutes or less while still including more flavor and nutrients than the average college student's boiled water and ramen noodle "specialty" :). (I tended to lean more toward peanut butter and honey sandwiches, but even that wasn't "healthy" since that alone was my dinner when I got tired of dorm food!)

I think these "fast tacos" are both easy to make and healthy to eat. Though a kitchen is required, and sadly they aren't always available in dorms, it's still a generally low-key dish as far as preparations are concerned. I basically used:

about 1 1/2 cup shredded pre-crock-pot-made chicken
1 organic potato, diced
1 roma tomato, diced into squares
1/2 a small green bell pepper
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp epazote
1/4-1/2 tsp cilantro
1/4-1/2 tsp oregano

I cooked the potato cubes first, then added the rest of the ingredients; cooking them all together for about 10 minutes over a medium flame. I also added beans, and even though I usually make my own beans, I didn't have 3 hours to do that today so I used a great organic alternative. Then I just added about 2 TBSP PACE (this stuff is good, I never mind using it :), a pinch of pepper, and a few shakes of mesquite McCormick seasoning. After that, I heated the beans up in the micro and rolled them up with the cooked chicken/spices/potatoes and cheese in a warm whole wheat tortilla! This meal came together fast and it was pretty good; this is my kind of fast food :).

bbq chicken sandwich

We've been buying a whole chicken every time we've gone grocery shopping for the last couple of weeks because it's a great way to save money. The chicken lasts us half the week, and this last one I purchased for only $3.50! It's amazing and I love the feeling of saving money. Today I used the last bit of the chicken to make bbq chicken...it's not really barbecue, considering there wasn't any fire involved...liquid smoke came to the rescue instead :). I made a bunch of quick meals, like stews and pasta dishes, earlier in the week, but this is the first new thing I've made that's semi-exciting because I've never made my own bbq sauce. I've always seen various chefs on Food Network make their version of a good barbecue sauce, so I always made sure to pay attention to the ingredients they added. I don't know why, but barbecue sauce fascinates me because there are so many types of sauce, and a lot of them are pretty good. What I don't like is when anything I'm eating is drenched in sauce, to the point where I can't even taste the meat. So here is a recipe for a light barbecue sauce that's enough for about 1 1/2-2 cups cooked, shredded chicken:

2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
3 TBSP brown sugar
3/4 tsp liquid smoke
1 TBSP water
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 TBSP dried bell pepper

I mixed these ingredients in a small sauce pan with the chicken, then, while mixing, I let the flavors blend with the meat over a medium flame for about 7 minutes.

I also made a southern-tasting bell pepper/onion topping for the sandwich, here's what that consisted of:

1/2 red bell pepper sliced
1/3 small sweet onion also sliced
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp garlic and herb spice

This recipe makes enough for about 4 people :)