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

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

Tuna Boats

This is a fun, light, crisp, easy recipe that is just perfect for summer.  The success of this depends on how fresh and nice your cucumbers are, though.  While this was good, the cucumbers I'd bought were a tad on the bitter/tart side, so I'd imagine with a sweeter one this would be ten times better.  I got the idea for this recipe off of Pinterest, but as so often happens, it didn't link back to a source.

This starts out with the tuna recipe I use faithfully - my grandmother's recipe.  I've had a lot of tuna made by a lot of different people, but nowhere else have I ever seen anyone put apples into it and that is a shame because it is just stellar.

Starting off, you'll need 3 cans of tuna in water or oil, your choice.  Drain it well and put it in a large mixing bowl or container.  I knew there'd be leftovers so I mixed it straight into a Tupperware bowl with a lid to save on dishes.

You'll also need 1/2 of an apple - red is best, but green works in a pinch - and half an onion of any color.  The cucumbers are for the little boats.  I made 4 boats and had plenty of tuna left over and could have made about 4-6 more.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, I couldn't even finish one boat, but the Wookie came to the rescue and ate all the rest!

Other stuff you'll need includes mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip), spicy or brown mustard, salt, pepper, dill pickles or dill relish, and garlic powder, the last two of which seem to have been camera shy on this day.  -.-

Hard boil 3 eggs or one egg per can of tuna and let them cool completely.

Finely dice up the 1/2 onion and 1/2 apple and add them to the tuna along with 1tbsp of the mustard, 1 tsp garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and 2 tbsp of dill relish or finely chopped pickle.  The mayonnaise is up to you.  Some people like their tuna drier than others.  I add mayonnaise until it is to the consistency I like it at, then squeeze in a little more since I'll be adding the eggs in later.

Peel your cucumbers and remove the seeds so they are hollow.  I like to use a melon baller, it gets all the seeds out with one fell swoop.

Next, once they are completely cool, dice the eggs up and fold them into the tuna mixture.  I like to do this after everything else is all stirred up so that some of the chunks of boiled yolks stay intact.  If you mix them in as you mix everything else, they tend to break up and just sort of become one with everything.

Once your eggs are in, pop the whole thing into the fridge, covered, until it is nice and cold, then spoon the mixture into the cucumbers and sprinkle with some parsley.

That's all there is to it!

A close-up shot of the goodness.

Do you have a special tuna salad recipe that's been handed down?

<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

Corn Dog Muffins

These little guys are so cute.

They also may be the easiest thing ever.  I found them just bumbling along one day at My Kitchen Adventures and knew instantly that they fell under the "man food" category the Wookie loves so I figured I'd cook some up so we could try them, although I did modify them some, which, it turns out, may not have been epic.

First off, I used regular muffins because I was too lazy to scrub things and was out of mini liners.  I used regular hot dogs and that cheap-o cornbread mix.

Make the mix according to the directions, then fill 'em up.  I put in a teen bit of batter just to cover the bottoms of the cups, then the hot dogs, which were cut into thirds, then filled it the rest of the way since I didn't want the weight of the hot dogs to offset everything and make a huge mess.

Once they are done, serve them with mustard.  Or whatever.  I like mustard.  Old clearance Halloween cupcake liners are optional, of course.

And here's what they look like from the inside:

They were a pretty good lunch, they made the Wookie happy, my only drawback is that next time I want to make the cornbread part from scratch so I can omit the sugar.  The mix I used was just a bit too sweet for this.  He didn't complain about the tinge of sweetness, but he didn't jump up and down, either.  I did like the large muffins instead of the mini, though, because the batter on the corn dogs is what gets me hot-n-bothered and this way there's more batter-to-wiener ratio.

I'm going to stop now before I go off into some sort of odd, dirty joke tangent.

Give 'em a shot.  They were super easy and pretty fun to make.  I love the idea of non-sweet cupcakes.  Now my brains are turning for what I can make tonight...Dinner from a cupcake tin, perhaps?  MUAHAHAHA.

<3
WookieWifey