Chicken Taquitos

To make 15 Chicken Taquitos you will need:
1. Vegetable Oil
2.Salt
3. One entire Chicken Breast (Fully Cooked and Shredded)
4. Three Roma Tomatoes
5. Half of a white onion
6. Two Serrano Chiles
7. Fifteen Corn Tortillas
8. Seven Toothpicks
9. Dish Cloth

First, place desired oil (Olive or Vegetable) in a sauce pan, Approximately 2 tablespoons. To chop the onion make deep cuts into the onion with a knife in both directions. You can then slide the knife down the side of the onion and it will come apart into minced pieces. You can also chop them on a cutting board or in a food processor if you prefer. 

You can add the onion directly to the pan after it is chopped.

Saute the onion in the hot oil until they become clear.

Mince the Serranos by cutting off the stem. You then cut the chiles in half lengthwise and cut across into smaller pieces with the knife. 

Continue chopping the Serranos until cut into smaller minced pieces.

Chop the tomatoes into cubes. 

Add the chopped Serano chiles to the onions and sauté for a few minutes.

Add the tomatoes to the mixture and cook until tender, and only a small amount of liquid remains.

Finally, add your shredded chicken to the mixture. Mix all of the ingredients together. Add salt to taste. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated on low heat. (excess liquid will drain from the taquitos while they fry and make the hot oil jump)

Add vegetable oil to saucepan for frying taquitos, you need to add enough so that half of the taquito is covered when placed in the pan.  Be sure not to add too much or else your taquito will drown in oil.

Warming the tortillas is a very important step. You can place them in a kitchen towel (clean). Wrap the tortillas up and place them in a microwave for approximately 1 1/2 or 2 minutes. The tortillas need to be hot or else they will break apart when you attempt to roll the meat into them. (it took me a lot of practice to get my tortillas to quit breaking- Diana)

Add a spoonful of meat to one edge of the tortilla.

Roll the tortillas tightly around the meat.

Place a toothpick between two tortillas so that they will stay rolled when frying.

Be sure the edges of the two tortillas are in the center when you place the toothpick between them. This will keep them from unrolling during the frying process.

Place the tortillas tightly packed in the frying pan. The oil should already be hot before placing the taquitos in the pan. (The oil cannot be too hot or cold, you can test a taquito or a warm tortilla to get it just right)

You can flip the taquitos with a spatula or tongs, they will be hot.  The taquitos should be slightly brown. 

Remove the taquitos from the pan after they are browned. You can press them against the spatula to allow them to drain some of the excess oil. 

The taquitos are ready to serve. You can garnish them with sour cream, salsa, shredded lettuce, and the cheese of your choice. ENJOY :)

Homemade Tortilla Chips

To make homemade tortilla chips you will need:
1. Corn Tortillas
-cut the tortillas into triangles 

If you have a deep fryer that works best, but if not you can also use a sauce pan and add vegetable oil. Make sure the oil is at 350 degrees, add the chips and fry. If the oil is too hot they will burn too quickly, if it is too low the tortilla will absorb too much oil and will take too long to cook. You can do some test chips if you'd like before throwing the entire batch in.
(fry approx. 15 at a time, depending on size of pan or fryer).
1. Fry chips until crisp and browned ( continually move chips)

Remove chips from fryer and place in a bowl. Let cool. Ready to eat with salsa. (add salt to taste) 

Roasted Salsa Verde

Salsa Verde is by far one of my personal favorites. The main ingredients are simple and few....

1. Tomatillo's Milpero's are the main ingredient (Tomatillo Milpero's are miniature tomatillo's and are sweeter than regular, but if you can't find the Milpero's the regular size tomatillo's work just as well). 

2.  White onion

3. Garlic

4. Dried Chile de Arbol

5. Salt

6. Fresh Cilantro

*Remove husks from Tomatillos and rip the stems off the chiles prior to frying.
For approximately 1 cup of salsa you will roast:

1. 1/2 pound Tomatillo's 

2. 1/4 white onion

3. approximately 6 dried chile's de arbol

4. 2 garlic cloves

Roast all these ingredients until soft and dark. (Chile's will be done first, and should be removed if they appear too dark)

Place all ingredients in the blender, add:

1. 1 Teaspoon of salt

2. 5 stems of fresh Cilantro

3. DO NOT add additional liquid

Your final product should be well blended. Remove from blender and place in dish... READY TO EAT!