Taquitos

I had this really out of the blue craving for taquitos the other day. Which is funny, because I absolutely HATE the store-bought frozen kind. They have zippo flavor and are just icky. Plus they're not very good for you. I decided to make my own, more healthy, version -- baked, not fried. It's really a very simple concept, and they turned out a million times more delicious than the pre-made ones.

Another bonus. It really impressed my husband. He came home from work, walked in, said, "Taquitos, huh?", put one in his mouth and then stopped dead in his tracks. Then he said, "Wait a minute. These have salt on them. These have flavor........Did you MAKE these? Like, from SCRATCH?" Why, yes! Yes, I did! :) I didn't tell him how ridiculously easy they were to make. I wanted all the brownie points I could get.

I won't tell if you won't! :)

This is another "recipe" that's just a method. This is just how I did mine, but you can season it however you want, use chicken or pork instead of the beef, use a different cut of beef, etc. I used the cut I did because I found a really good deal for a GINORMOUS roast that week.

Ingredients:
1-2 pound eye of round roast
2 teaspoons each of garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup salsa
8 ounces cream cheese, softened and cubed
2 tablespoons butter, melted
corn tortillas

Put the roast in the crock pot and season well. Pour salsa over the top and cook on low for 6 hours.

When meat is falling apart, shred it, then let it cook on low for another hour.

Place meat in a large bowl. Add the cream cheese and mix until well-combined. If you're having trouble getting it to mix together, you can add a little of your cooking liquid from the crock pot.

Microwave corn tortillas in between damp paper towels until they are very pliable, about 2 minutes. Spoon some meat mixture onto each tortilla and roll. Place seam-side down on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. While you're working on rolling up each tortilla, keep the already-rolled ones covered with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel, otherwise they will dry up and start to crack.

Brush the tops of each tortilla with melted butter, then sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 375 until tortillas are golden brown and crispy. Serve with sour cream and guacamole for dipping.

The slightly-too-browned edges are what happens when you're distracted by your potty-training 2 year old -- she suddenly had to go, actually made it to the potty and was so insanely proud of herself and CUTE that I got too caught up in dancing around like a crazy person, clapping and cheering, and forgot about my food in the oven.... :)

Did you do anything festive for Cinco de Mayo?