Baked Chicken Taquitos

For my birthday, my mom bought me the cookbook Our Best Bites, from the popular blog. This cookbook is chock full of great recipes that are perfect for family and entertaining. All the recipes use ready-found ingredients and are pretty easy and delicious.
I tried this chicken taquitos recipe last week. I used leftover chicken that we had grilled the night before. 

It made for a quick and easy dinner- my kids loved it (especially dipped in ranch dressing). I did make a couple changes to the recipe (noted in red below).

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Recipe by OurBestBites.com

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese (I used sour cream)
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder (I omitted)
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions (I omitted)

2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese (I used mild cheddar)

small corn 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, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or come unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

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.

Carnitas

I love Mexican food. LOVE it. When I was younger, I didn't like it because I thought it was to fattening. Seriously, what was I thinking? Granted, the only Mexican food I'd had at that point was drenched in sauce and cheese (although now,  I think that's heavenly). My favorite Mexican dish of all time is carnitas- pork roast simmered in liquid, and then roasted. I hadn't really had it until I moved to Los Angeles after I finished college. Southern California has so many different little taco shops and restaurants that have amazing carnitas.
I decided to make some myself. I was tempted to go the slow cooker route, but I decided doing it in the oven seemed more authentic. I found David Lebovitz's recipe for carnitas and decided to try it. The recipe is very straight forward and requires relatively few ingredients. After searing the pieces of meat, you simmer them in the oven with water, a cinnamon stick, cumin, garlic, chili powder and bay leaves.

The recipe says to cook it for 3.5 hours, but mine was done after about 2.5. After shredding the meat and putting it back in the oven to crisp up, we had an AMAZING taco dinner. I was surprised how easy and delicious homemade carnitas is. Try this recipe; you'll be glad you did!

Carnitas
Serves Eight
Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
4-5-pounds boneless pork should, cut into 5-inch chunks, trimmed of excess fat
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons canola or neutral vegetable oil
water
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
2 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly-sliced
1. Rub the pieces of pork shoulder all over with salt. Refrigerate for 1- to 3-days. (You can skip this step if you want. Just be sure to salt the pork before searing the meat in the next step.)
2. Heat the oil in a roasting pan set on the stovetop. Cook the pieces of pork shoulder in a single layer until very well-browned, turning them as little as possible so they get nice and dark before flipping them around. If your cooking vessel is too small to cook them in a single-layer, cook them in two batches.
3. Once all the pork is browned, remove them from the pot and blot away any excess fat with a paper towel, then pour in about a cup of water, scraping the bottom of the pan with a flat-edged utensil to release all the tasty brown bits.
4. Heat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.
5. Add the pork back to the pan and add enough water so the pork pieces are 2/3rd’s submerged in liquid. Add the cinnamon stick and stir in the chile powders, bay leaves, cumin and garlic.
7. Braise in the oven uncovered for 3½ hours, turning the pork a few times during cooking, until much of the liquid is evaporated and the pork is falling apart. Remove the pan from the oven and lift the pork pieces out of the liquid and set them on a platter.
8. Once the pork pieces are cool enough to handle, shred them into bite-sized pieces, about 2-inches (7 cm), discarding any obvious big chunks of fat if you wish.
9. Return the pork pieces back to the roasting pan and cook in the oven, turning occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the pork is crispy and caramelized. It will depend on how much liquid the pork gave off, and how crackly you want them.

Cafe Rio Pork Salad

So any of you who have spent any time in UT, AZ, or Las Vegas have probably heard of Cafe Rio. For those of you not familiar with it, Café Rio is a Mexican-inspired restaurant that opened in St George, UT in the late 1990’s. I didn’t discover it until the early 2000’s after it migrated north to the Salt Lake area. At that time, I almost always got chicken burritos at Baja Fresh/La Salsa-type places, which is what I thought this was. It was ok, but nothing great- there was much better food in LA. Then I was informed that the ONLY thing to get there was the pork salad. So I tried it- it’s marinated, shredded pork on a homemade tortilla with rice, beans, lettuce, cheese, cilantro, lime, guacamole, tortilla strips, cotija (which I always omit- ick), and just about the yummiest dressing EVER. It’s addicting, as evidenced by Café Rio’s HUGE popularity and rapid expansion (as well as imitators!). I got this recipe from a swap at my church and it’s the closest I’ve had to the real thing.

Cafe Rio Shredded Pork
2 lbs pork (I use pork roast)
16 oz. bottle of chunky salsa (pureed until smooth)
1 can Coke
2 cups brown sugar

Place pork in crock pot and fill it 1/2 way up the pork with water. Cook on high for 5 hours. Drain off water. Cut pork in thirds. Mix together sauce ingredients and put on top of pork. Cook an additional 3 hours on high. Shred pork with forks. Keep on low until ready to serve.

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch
1 cup mayo
1 cup cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3-5 tomatillos - peel off paper, chop
1/3 - 1/2 cups buttermilk, to consistency you want (I never need this)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

Put in blender and mix.

For serving:
Warm tortillas (homemade, or we like the fresh ones from Costco)
Shredded romaine lettuce
Lime-cilantro rice
Black Beans (or pinto, if you prefer)
Shredded Mexican-blend cheese
Cilantro
Lime
Guacamole
Sour cream

Pile it up, drizzle with lots of dressing and enjoy!

(I didn't have a pic from when I've made it so I borrowed this one)