Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I found this tasty recipe over at Best Bites and decided I had to try it. These taquitos are baked not fried like most varieties, so they are substantially healthier and they still taste amazing. I still had some of the spicy chicken I made in the crock-pot stashed in the freezer so I thawed that out to use instead of the plain the chicken the recipe called for. These turned out super tasty and I only made a few modifications to the original recipe (I don't like cilantro so I left that out, and I didn't think the lime juice sounded necessary).

Here is the recipe:

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos (Original recipe is here)
1/3 cup (3 oz) Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Salsa Verde
1/2 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
2 cups Spicy Shredded Chicken Recipe
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese/Mexican Cheese Blend
at least 13 Small Corn Tortillas or Flour Tortillas (Fajita size)
Cooking Spray
Soften cream cheese in the microwave for about 30 seconds or so in a large glass bowl, then mix in the spices, chicken, and cheese. Warm 2 corn tortillas at a time in the microwave (so they don't crack when rolled, the heat makes them pliable) and fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture and roll up tightly (leave ends open). (There is no need to heat the flour tortillas, they are soft enough already). Place rolled up tortillas on a lightly greased cookie sheet (it is better if they aren't touching because it allows the tortilla to harden more), spray the tops with cooking spray and bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.
FYI: I found that it took a little longer than 20 minutes for my batch but I was making a larger batch.

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas

These were heavenly! I am slightly embarrassed to say that me and my boyfriend ate the entire 13x10 inch pan of them in one night (Am I somewhat redeemed if I was drunk?). To be fair my partner had just finished a 60 mile training ride and I had gone running.

On a more recipe oriented note, these are kind of time consuming to make because of all the different steps, however, you can make the chicken filling on a different day (which is what I did) and just save some for this recipe.

Here you go:

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas
Spicy Shredded Chicken
Enchilada sauce (recipe below)
Cheese filling (recipe below)
10-13 Corn Tortillas
First make the cheese filling, then the enchilada sauce. Fill each tortilla with approximately 2 tablespoons or the chicken mixture and 1 tablespoon of the cheese filling.

Assembling the enchiladas

Roll up and put into at 13x10 inch pan (the enchiladas can be squished close together, I packed as many of those suckers in to the pan as I could). Cover with the enchilada sauce and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the enchiladas are heated through. Should serve 4 people depending on how hungry they are and what accompaniments you have to the dish. Total dish has about 2689 calories (about 207 calories per enchilada).

Cheese Filling
1 cup shredded Mexican Cheese
1/2 – 1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I used the 2% reduced fat kind)
2 tablespoons Butter
2 tablespoons Flour
3/4 cups Milk 2 oz Cream Cheese
In a saucepan over low heat melt butter, add in flour and stir until you have a smooth paste-like mixture. Gradually add in the milk, stirring quickly so that no lumps form. Make sure to add in the milk fast enough so that the mixture doesn’t get too thick. (If, while you are adding in the milk the mixture starts to get too thick, pull off the heat and stir the rest of the milk in; then put back on the burner). Once the mixture has thickened to about the consistency of corn syrup add in the cheeses (including the cream cheese) and stir in just until melted. Pull off of heat and set aside.

Enchilada Sauce
Based on enchilada sauce recipe from Nobel Pig's cooking blog
1 Onion chopped very fine
1 1/2 tablespoons minced Garlic
1 15 oz can Tomato Puree
1 cup (approx) Chicken broth
3 teaspoons Chili Powder
2 tablespoons Vinegar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Olive Oil

In a frying pan on medium-high, sauté onion and garlic in oil until the onion begins to turn translucent and caramelize (brown on the bottom). Add in the spices, and cook for a few minutes then add in the vinegar, tomato puree and chicken broth. Cook over medium-low heat stirring frequently. Add more chicken broth if needed to get the desired consistency for the sauce.