Steak Flautas - Home Cooked Recipe 66

My Steak Flautas

I love love love love love flautas from Tijuana Flats.  It is by far my favorite dish on their menu, and one of my fav Tex Mex dishes in general.  So I got the idea that I should recreate them at home.  They didn't turn out quite the same as the ones I get from Tijuana Flats, but they were still pretty delicious.  The great thing is you can fill them with pretty much whatever you want; chicken, beef, veggies, shrimp, cheese, etc.  So you can definitely change this recipe up to whatever fits your taste.  I had some delicious steak on hand, do I decided to fill mine with that.

Tijuana Flats Beef Flautas

Steak Flautas

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb steak, diced in to small cubes (I used petite sirloin)
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 oz shredded cheese (I used a triple cheddar blend)
• 8 flour tortillas (large soft taco size)
• vegetable oil, for frying

***salsa, sour cream, queso, gucamole, shredded cheese, sliced black olives, diced onion, diced tomato, etc for topping and dipping

Directions:
Saute onion over medium in a tablespoon of oil (season with salt) until soft and translucent.  Push to the side of a pan, turn the pan to medium high, and when hot, cook cubed steak.  Do not cook longer than 2-3 minutes or steak will become very tough.  Place a small amount of cheese down the middle of each tortilla.  Place 1/8 of the meat and onion mixture down the middle of each tortilla.  Roll up tortilla and secure each one with a toothpick.  Heat about an inch of oil in a deep pan, to about 375.  In two batches, fry up flautas, about a minute a side until golden brown (mine got a little too brown, but the were still good).  Drain on paper towels.  Cut each in half.  Serve with dippers and toppings.

Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels - Home Cooked Recipe 46

Who doesn't love a pinwheel???  There are so many different versions you can make.  I was recently at a party where they had chicken/ranch pinwheels (super good, making those soon) and it inspired me to have pinwheels for dinner this week.  I perused through Pinterest and found lots of recipes for Buffalo Style Chicken pinwheels, and decided to give those a go.  They are easy to make, and are great for lunch, dinner, a snack, or as a party food.

Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I made mine in the Crock*Pot, but you could also buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it to save time)

1 block cream cheese (8oz), softened

1/2 cup your favorite hot sauce

1/2 bag shredded cheddar (4oz)

scallions, sliced or a small onion, diced finely

2 tbs blue cheese dressing

6 small flour tortillas

Directions:

Combine dressing, cream cheese, hot sauce, and cheddar.  Fold in chicken and onion, mix well. Divide mixture in to 6 parts and spread on each tortilla.  Roll up tortillas.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.  Slice rolled tortillas (4-6 times each).  Presto, pinwheels!  Enjoy!

Picture View - Tacos

Shrimp tacos with spicy chipotle coleslaw, tartar sauce, and fresh salsa

 

 

Shrimp taco fixings

shredded chicken for chicken tacos

deep frying corn tortillas

draining corn tortillas

chicken tacos before toppings

Taco Night - Home Cooked Recipe 6

I think having tacos at home is something everybody loves.  You can make the filling whatever you would like, you can set up a taco toppings bar so that people can add whatever they enjoy on their tacos, and tacos are extremely easy, and fairly quick to prepare. The following recipe is not an exact one, I wanted to give a general rundown but allow for a variety of options.

Tacos:

1 lb of ground beef (you can also use sauteed shrimp, shredded chicken, pork, or refried beans)

1 packet taco seasoning mix

1/2 cup water

1 onion, diced

tortillas - flour or corn, whichever you prefer

 salsa

sour cream

shredded cheddar or mexican cheese blend

shredded lettuce

diced tomato

sliced olives

*for shrimp or fish tacos, i have coleslaw on hand - it makes a great taco topper - you can also have tartar sauce ready for shrimp or fish tacos*

Beef Tacos

Brown the ground beef with some onion.  If you are using shredded chicken, just heat through.  Add your taco seasoning packet and 1/2 a cup of water.  Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.  Your filling is done!

Heat up your tortillas.  The best method for heating flour tortillas is to wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for 1 minute.  There are several good methods for corn tortillas.  I like to keep mine pliable, so I deep fry them in 375 degree oil for 4 seconds per side. Drain well on paper towels.  If you want to make them a hard shell, you have a couple of options.  If you have the deep fryer going, fold the corn tortilla over the handle of a wooden spoon and put in the oil til shell is lightly golden brown (this takes 15 to 30 seconds, keep your eye on it!).  You can also make your tortillas in the oven if you prefer not to have them fried.  However this baking method is tough unless you have the taco shapers.  So I usually only fry my tortillas.

Set up your filling bar.  Put cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, salsa, sour cream, and whatever else you like and line them up on the counter.  Put your meat and tortillas at one end of this taco bar, along with plates, and people can top their tacos with whatever they like best.