Chicken Taquitos

From Our Best Bites (link)

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated Mexican blend cheese

small flour tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

*I cannot say enough good things about this, we loved loved loved them! Even Carter ate them! I didn't have kosher salt so I just used regular salt. I made the whole batch of filling and just made enough taquitos for us then the next day I used the leftover as filling in quesedillas.

She included a dipping sauce recipe, but its pretty much the same as your Cafe Rio dressing recipe.

*For easy shredded chicken, I put 3 frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot with 1 cup chicken broth and sprinkled some McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning on them, just cook on low all day or until chicken is done. This made about 3 cups so I had some leftover. So now I have leftover to use for BBQ Chicken Pizza!

Taco Macaroni

From Simple and Delicious

* 6 Servings
* Prep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients

* 1 package (16 ounces) elbow macaroni
* 1 pound ground beef
* 3/4 cup chopped onion
* 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
* 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
* 1 envelope taco seasoning
* Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

* Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
* Stir in the tomatoes, soup, tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes or until thickened.
* Drain macaroni; stir into meat mixture and heat through. Sprinkle with cheese. Yield: 6 servings.

I know it sounds kinda weird, but we love this. It makes a lot for just the 4 of us, so I will make the whole batch of sauce and freeze half of it, and then just make enough noodles for us.

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

From my Simple and Delicious magazine...

Shrimp and Avocado Salad
-Serves 4

1 lb uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp olive oil
5 cups of heart of romaine salad mix
1 cup fresh or frozen corn, thawed
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

Cilantro Vinaigrette:
7 TBSP olive oil
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In a large skillet, cook the shrimp, garlic, chili powder, salt and cumin in oil over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine romaine, corn, peas, and red pepper; divide among 4 serving plates. Top each with shrimp and avocado. In a small bowl (or my Magic Bullet) combine vinaigrette ingredient and drizzle over salads.

*I halved it for us. I already had frozen cooked shrimp in the freezer so I just thawed it a bit and then warmed it up in the skillet with the spices.

EASY Peasy Muffins

This is a pretty crappy picture... but I guess its all you get. :)

This recipe was in my Taste of Home Magazine. It was meant to make blueberry muffins with plain ol pancake mix (bisquick or something) and fresh blueberries. I on the other hand had the tasty Raspberry Sour Cream Pancake mix from Prepared Pantry in my cupboard and NO fresh blueberries so I opted to use the above pancake mix and give it a try. YUM. They turned out good. Although I may use a little less pancake mix than it calls for (or add a little extra water) becuase the original recipe calls for fresh blueberries which add a little moisture, which I lacked becuase I didnt use fresh fruit so they could have been a little more moist. ALSO the recipe says to add muffin liners and bake at 400 degrees for 14-16 min. I chose to use mini muffin tins without muffin liners so I bumped down the temperature to 350 and only baked them for 10-12 min. I also added a glaze, just for fun. Anywho - heres the recipe. Give it a try! Its SUPER GOOD and just as fast.

*Ingredients

2 1/2 C. Pancake Mix

1/2 C. Sugar

1 Egg

2/3 C. Water

1/4 C. Canola Oil

1 1/2 C. Fresh or Frozen Blueberries (if frozen dont thaw, or they will turn the batter blue).

*Directions

Whisk egg, water and oil. Then stiry in sifted try ingredients just until moistened. Fold in fruit.

Regular sized muffins (with muffin liners) Bake 400 for 14-16 min

Mini Muffins Bake 350 for 10-12 min.

If you want to put a glaze on... I just mixed milk, vanilla and powdered sugar to make a thin frosting and put on after the muffins cooled a bit. Nothing too exciting, but it sure was good :)

Southwestern Pizza

My pictures just aren't the best, oh well

1 package pizza crust (2 crusts inside)
1 cup jarred tomato salsa
1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
1 1/3 cups black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small sweet red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Heat oven to 450. Coat a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Place crusts on baking sheet. Spread each with salsa, cheese, beans, red pepper, and scallions. Top each with 2 TBSP cheese. Bake at 450 in lower third of oven for 13-15 mins until cheese is melted. Garnish with cilantro.

Now here is the way I did it, haha!

I used this recipe for the crust: Easy Pizza Crust. This time around, I poked with a fork all over (I have no idea why?!) and popped it in the oven at 450 and let it bake for a few minutes while I prepped my other ingredients.
I didn't measure anything, just put some salsa, cheese, and beans on (I didn't use all the beans, that would have been way too much). All I had on hand were mini peppers so I used a red one and a yellow one. I only baked it for about 8 minutes I think. We loved it!