Chicken Taquitos

So last night for dinner I made some Chicken Taquitos. It was something my mom would always make for us growing up and a big hit! Well I make them now for my little girls and Yeah! they are a big hit with them too!

Chicken Taquitos


Chicken
Whole Cloves
Garlic
Salt
Onions
Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil

Bring 2-4 chicken breasts (depending on the quantity you want to make) to a boil in a pot with 1-2 whole pieces of garlic, a few whole cloves, some slices of onion and some salt to taste. When the chicken is finally cooked remove chicken from pot and allow to cool. You could then strain the chicken stock and freeze for whenever you need some.

Once the chicken has cooled I shred it. Once it is shredded I start warming up some corn tortillas, place chicken in them and roll them up. Warming up the corn tortillas makes rolling them up easier, because if you try to roll the tortillas cold they will crack and break.

While I'm working on rolling the taquitos I pour some oil into a deep pan so that when I am done rolling my oil will be ready for me to deep fry the taquitos. When they turn a nice golden color they are done.

You can then add the toppings! Cover them in cheese, melt it, add some sour cream, lettuce and top off with some salsa.

I hope this makes sense to all of you! If you have any questions feel free to ask! :)

Flour Tortillas

So being Mexican flour tortillas were a big part of our meals growing up. I just loved them! Especially my moms, store bought ones don't even compare. But my mom is not one to use recipes, she has this amazing talent of just throwing ingredients together and the outcome?.... a delicious masterpiece! So trying to get recipes for a lot of her cooking has been quite the interesting task.

Flour Tortillas

4 cups of Flour (bleached)
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Mix all these ingredients together until the shorting has basically disappeared/ worked into the flour really well.

Next you will add 2 cups of warm water. Now this part is kind of tricky, if the water is too cold your dough will come out kind of hard and not easy to knead but if it is too warm or hot it will become so sticky that you will need to add more flour and then if you add too much flour again your dough will just become kind of hard. So you have to be very careful about getting it just right. Now the other thing is I don't add all 2 full cups of water, I start off by adding between 1 to 1 1/2 cups first and need that in and slowly add in more little by little. Then after it is kneaded and well mixed I cover with some plastic wrap and let it '"rest" for about 15 min. (gives me a chance to put everything away, and get things ready). Then you roll the dough out into little balls and then once all the dough is rolled into little balls you can start rolling out your tortillas.

As for making them round, it just takes practice I do keep flipping the dough over and over as when I'm rolling it out and then kind of stretch it out in my hands like the do with pizza crusts (with out the throwing in the air, I think I'd end up wearing the dough if I ever tried that!).

You definitely want a good solid rolling pin, I dislike the ones with handles, I feel that I can't apply even pressure towards the middle. Just a solid piece of wood.

Anyway, I don't know if any of this will make sense. It all looks/reads complicated but it really isn't. If you have any questions feel free to ask. They definitely are something you need to make over and over to get really good at.

Kettle Corn

I love Kettle corn! It's such a great snack and the best part is that all of my kids love it too! I usually have to make 2-3 batches of it. I have an old fashioned hand cranked Popcorn popper and love how popcorn tastes when I make it in this. The girls love to stir it all the time too. :)

Kettle Corn

3-5 Tbsp. oil (I use Olive or Canola oil, whatever I have I hand)
1/2 cup popcorn
1/4 cup sugar
Salt to taste

I pour everything into the pot and just keep stirring so the sugar will keep from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Then when it is all done popping I pour the popcorn into a bowl and add just add the salt to taste.

Chocolate Caramel Euphoria Cake

Chocolate Caramel Euphoria Cake or better known as Better than Sex cake I love this recipe! It was really fast and easy and sooooooo good!!

Chocolate Caramel Euphoria Cake

1 package devil’s food cake mix
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
¾ cup caramel ice cream topping
3 (1.4 oz) *chocolate covered toffee bars, coarsely chopped
1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Bake cake according to package directions for a 9x13 inch pan. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Make slits across the top of the cake, making sure not to go through to the bottom. In a saucepan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping stirring until smooth and blended. Slowly pour the warm topping mixture over the warm cake, letting it sink into the slits; sprinkle the crushed chocolate toffee bars liberally across the entire cake while still warm. Let cake cool in pan completely. Top each slice with whipped topping, more chocolate toffee bar chunks, and swirls of caramel topping if desired. Refrigerate and serve right from the pan.

* Heath or Skor bars are great for this!

Grilled Chicken Breast

This turned out wonderful! It was so full of flavor and was very moist still!

Grilled Chicken Breast

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons dried parsley

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate. While the grill preheats drop the chicken in lemon juice, when ready to grill take chicken out of bowl; discard any remaining lemon juice and then sprinkle with the mixture of onion & garlic powder, ground black pepper, salt and parsley. Cook on the prepared grill 10 to 15 minutes per side, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.