Triple Post - 3 Ways to "Style" a Chicken Mixture

Seeing as how I've been a very, very bad food blogger, I decided I'd attempt to make up for it with 3 recipes in one...and I even remembered to take final pictures for all but two, so you only have to use your imagination on one.  As a result, this is a *VERY* image-heavy post.

I've been seeing recipes online everywhere for ages on assortments of different fillings for baked taquitos and I've been wanting to try them, but, since I'm me, I forgot all my recipe lists and had to wing it when I got to the store, so I ended up making my own oddball little recipe and finding even more uses for it than just taquitos.

First, I marinated the chicken.  Nothing special, really, just a garlic and black pepper marinade I found on sale.  I'd planned to use two pieces of it for dinner that night and only make taquitos with one, but a friend brought dinner by, so I didn't have to cook, thus it all got turned into the taquito mixture.  Anyway, I let the marinade sit 24 hours and then took the chicken out to temper before cooking.

Heat a large skillet up to medium heat.  I usually prefer cast iron for chicken, but this non-stick pan is the largest skillet I have and the only one all 3 would fit in.

Plop them all in and let them cook!

Flip them over...Yes, my skins stuck.  Again.  Still.

Once they look nice and gorgeous on the outside, you can take them out.  They will be cooked again later, so whether you want to skillet them (new verb!) until they are completely cooked or just nice and pretty on the outside is completely up to you.

While your chickens are cooling enough to be dissected, grab the rest of your ingredients.  For the taquitos, we'll be using one block of softened cream cheese, one can of corn, about 1/2 cup of shredded cheese of your choice (I used colby jack), some taco seasoning to taste - your own or a packet, whichever - and one poblano pepper.  Mine was frozen from where I snagged a bunch on sale, so its in that saran wrap mummy up there.

Go ahead and shred your chickens, discarding the bones and skins, then add a few tablespoons of whatever drippings were on the plate to a skillet.  You could use the same skillet if you're good, but I'm the epic chicken cooking failure, so with the skins all stuck on my old skillet...yeah.

Toss your chickens in the skillet, then add the taco mix and 1/4 cup of water until all the water is absorbed.

You should be left with this.

Once your chicken is taco-fied and in a bowl, add your poblano pepper while it is still nice and hot and stir it around and let it sit for a few minuets so they can soften a touch while the mixture cools some.

While they are softening, open the can of corn, drain it, then stir it into the mixture as well.  Yes, corn.  I feel better if there is a vegetable involved in at least some form, okay?  Don't judge me.  I'd have added black beans, too, if I'd had any.

Next, add about 1/2 cup of shredded cheese...

Then the block of cream cheese and mix it all up!

It should turn into something like this.

Now, to roll the taquitos!  I'd bought these massive burrito tortillas, so I ended up cutting them into halves with a pizza cutter.  I tried thirds first, but there was baaarely enough room to roll, so I swapped over to halves.

Once you have your pieces, spoon a thin line of filling into the middles.  You don't want too much and you want to keep it an inch or so away from the ends to allow room for the filling to move.  Let's face it:  You take a bite of a taquito and if it is over-stuffed, all your filling goes pouring out of the end, usually landing into a molten white-hot pile in your crotch.  Let us spare ourselves that pain.

After the filling is on there, dip your finger in a glass of water and lightly wet the outer edge of the tortilla.  This will help it stick when you roll it and freeze it.

Roll it up and press down where the wet part was so it sticks.

Then, roll them up in wax paper to further hold them together and stack them in the freezer.  Once they are frozen you can put them in whatever container or bag they will fit into, but I laid them flat on a plate to freeze so they stayed all straight and pretty.  We'll see the final results later.  :)

***Part 2***

Now, for the dinner recipe I did with the filling mixture, you'll need a can of chili.

Take about 1/3 of the chili and spread it over the bottom of a loaf pan.

Now, take two full tortillas, stuff them generously with the filling, and add extras if desired.  I had a bit of nacho cheese left over in the fridge that needed to be used up, so I just put a little of that inside.

Roll them up, stuff them in the loaf pan, then cover them with the remaining chili and top with shredded cheese, and bake covered at 350 for 30 minutes.  We'll see the results for this one later, too, and...holy cow.

***Part 3***

After those recipes, I STILL had chicken mixture left.  I was out of tortillas, so I decided to try crescent rolls.
I laid them out...

Spooned in a little filling...

Then, I rolled them up, sealed the edges, and baked according to the directions.  These were pretty good, though my least favorite of the bunch.  These are also the ones I forgot to take final pictures off, but I'm sure we've all seen a stuffed crescent roll anyway, so on to the good food porn!

These are how the taquitos turned out.  Baked, not fried.  I baked them pretty much like you would a store-bought taquito - 15 minutes at 350.  They have a great flavor from the poblanos and are cheesy and quite good.  I've cooked them both in the toaster oven and the rotisserie pizza thingie (14 minutes on that) we have and both work out great.  Despite not being fried, they still have the nice, crispy exterior, but as an added bonus they stay dry and don't get your fingers all slimy when you pick them up.  I figured it up and with prices around here it is about the same cost to make them myself as it is to buy them frozen, maybe a few cents cheaper.  A lot of work, but not bad considering at least I know what's in these.

Now, for the big kahuna...

I'm not really sure what to call these.  I was thinking maybe Wet Hens since they're sort of a wet burrito with chicken.  Either that or "Holy Fuck these Rock".  Seriously, so good.  Unhealthy and evil?  Oh, yes.  But very tasty, especially when you cut off a bite and scoop some of that guacamole up with it.  Not something I'll be making often due to the horrid unhealthiness of it all (even worse than my usual stuff lol), but definitely worth sharing and trying at least once.

<3

WookieWifey

Crustless Mini-Quiche

These are one of my favorite breakfasts/brunches to make on a really lazy day.  They almost always come out great and go wonderfully with coffee or tea.  Most people swear by a crusted quiche, but the first one I ever had was crustless and it has just always been what I've preferred.

Start off with a muffin tin or whatever you want to cook it in.  I use a muffin tin because they come out all cute and finger-food friendly.  Lightly coat your tin in butter, olive oil, or cooking spray.  I usually use olive oil.

Crack some eggs into a bowl.  I use 3 for this tin.  Add about 3 tbsp of milk, some salt and some pepper and stir them up like you're making scrambled eggs.  Chop up whatever else you are adding - I'm using frozen cooked sausage, cheese, and mushrooms in the Wookie's and green onion in mine.  Fold them all into the egg mixture.

Pour into the tins!  I added the cheese as an afterthought, so I just sort of poked it down in there with chopsticks.

Pop them into an oven at 350 for about 20-30 minutes or until they are cooked through, then let them cook a bit before removing and that's it.  These can be made more or less healthy depending on what you have laying around and are great to get rid of leftovers - the spinach and green onion was left over from a previous recipe and I was going to add some spinach as well, but I'd already used all of it.

Are you a quiche fan?  Crustless or regular?

<3
WW

Fully Loaded Cornbread Muffins

These are quite common, but delicious nonetheless, so here we go!!

First step, brown your beef and season it.  Just for shits-n-giggles I used a fajita seasoning instead of a taco seasoning.  Be sure to not get distracted, or you will end up with a few overly-brown pieces like the one that's flipped over and waving at the world above.  Once it is done, take it off the heat and let it cool.

I couldn't make up my mind what cornbread to use, so I used one white and one yellow and mixed them, which turned out to be a good idea.

Next, you'll need one cup of corn (I used frozen), about 2/3 cup of shredded cheese of your choice, half a poblano pepper and half an onion.  Dice up the onion and the pepper, removing the membrane.

Add all the ingredients except the cheese to your meat mixture.  You can caramelize the onions and peppers before cooking the meat if you prefer, but if you don't, it leaves a bit of fresh flavor and crunch to the final product and I like that.

Next, mix up your corn bread mixes according to the directions.

Close-up shot of this little guy because I think he is SO CUTE.  Its a Mini Bakey silicone spatula.  I got a set of two of them off amazon for about 2 bucks and it is some of the best money we've spent as they are always in constant use and they are small enough to scrap peanut butter jars and such clean.  Functional AND cute?  Yes, please!

Anyway, add the skillet mixture and cheese to the corn bread batter, mix it all up, then plunk it in muffin pans.  I used cupcake liners so they wouldn't be a pain to get out.

Bake according to the directions on the corn bread packages.

And NOM THEM ALL!  This made about 2 dozen.  They are freezer friendly and reheat amazingly well - the Wookie took them to work.  He also claims they are great cold, too, but I preferred mine heated or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

<3 WW

Turkey!

The holidays aren't the only time of year to eat turkey.  In fact, we probably eat turkey more when its not a holiday.  This turkey breast I caught on sale and only needed half of it for the recipe I was making for dinner that night, so I decided to just bake the rest up for sandwiches or snacks.

This, admittedly, looks pretty gross.  But do not fret!  The turkey breast was pretty massive and came boneless, skin on.  I peeled the skin off the whole thing, cut it in half, and diced up the half I was going to cook for dinner that night.  The other half, I left in one big hunk, rubbed about 1/4 each of spicy mustard and honey (the real stuff only),  sort of wrapped it back into the piece of skin, then popped it into the toaster oven at 350 for about an hour and I had this:

It was simple, moist, and made one hell of a sandwich and wrap.

As with all poultry, once you take it out of the oven let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes before you slice it up so it will reserve its juiciness.  :)

<3
WW

Breakfast Croissant Pouches

Damn, the things we make when we're REEALLLLY hungry, eh?

Simple one this time.  Lay out the dough and leave it in the 4 big rectangles instead of splitting it into the 8 small triangles.  I suppose you could make your own dough, but I don't have the space for something like that at this particular moment in time.  Soon, though...Soon...

Add turkey sausage (or whatever breakfast meat it is your family enjoys)...I left mine frozen because they were pre-cooked and warmed fine in the oven, but if you were using bacon or uncooked sausages, then cook it first.  Add some cheddar cheese and scrambled eggs (good way to use up leftovers).

Wrap them up.  Its early.  No one cares if they're pretty.  And you need more coffee.

Bake according to directions on croissant package.

Delicious.  Portable.

<3
WW

Venison Lettuce Wraps

This is one of the best things I've made to date.  Now, since I'm still learning so much when it comes to cooking that will probably be an updated statement next week...Or maybe not.  These were so good I imagine they may stay at the top of my list for quite some time.

First, brown 1/2 pound of ground venison in a skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Once its browned, add about a teaspoon of minced garlic, stir it up, and let it sit for a minute or two.  Wipe the grease splatter off the stove before photographing.

While the meat is browning, get your sauce ingredients together (soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, ginger, sugar, and siriacha sauce) and slice up about 1/2 a small onion and one small poblano.  I only chopped up a half and wished I'd put in the whole thing.

Once the beef and the garlic have simmered for a minute, add about 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 2 more tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1 knuckle pinch of sugar, and 2 tbsp of cock sauce.  Stir it up, then toss in your onions, peppers, and whatever other vegetables you want in there.  I used two different stiry-fry mixes I had in the freezer, so we ended up with squash, cauliflower, asparagus, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, broccoli, carrots, and snap peas in addition to the onions and poblano.  It was a delicious enough mix that I'll be making sure to use the same next time.  If you are using frozen vegetables, let them cook for a minute before throwing in the fresh vegetables, otherwise they will get over-done.

While your vegetables are cooking to the desired softness, prep your lettuce.  Peel off the leaves you want to use for wraps, wash them, then cut off the tapering, bitter end so you're left with something roughly oval-ish.  If you're using cabbage you can skip the trimming and just wash the leaf and use as is.

Line them up on a plate so they may await their destiny.

Once the vegetables are to your desired consistency, pile that shit into the lettuce leaves and dig in!  This was incredible.  Now I'm hungry again.  I'm going to have to start posting while I'm eating whatever I've made so it doesn't keep making me hungry every time I post.

<3 The Wookie Wifey