Chicken Taquitos!

 I have been meaning to make these for a long time. I originally saw them on Tracey's Culinary Adventures a while back (think March - yep I've been procrastinating for a while), but then I totally forgot about them with the busyness of life. Well, lucky for me, Tracey posted a New Years post roundup of all of the favorite recipes of 2011 and these made the list. That was all the motivation I needed to make these Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos. You could easily make these on a weeknight - just buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store so you don't have to cook your own chicken and you can whip these up in under 45 minutes.

I've made a couple of changes, but the recipe is mostly the same as Tracey's because it is really delicious and flavourful without an arm-load of ingredients. I served mine with a green salad, spanish rice and guacamole, salsa & sour cream. It made for a tasty and filling meal. You could totally serve these up as part of a dinner party if you wanted - make up a pitcher of margaritas and serve some cold Coronas and you've got yourself your own little mexican fiesta party!

Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos
Recipe adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Ingredients:

• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4  cup salsa verde
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 tsp chile powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 tbsp chopped green onions
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded montery jack cheese
• 8-12 flour tortillas (recipe called for corn tortillas, but I couldn't find them in my grocery store!!). Corn tortillas will make it so these crisp up more and brown more evenly in your oven.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Spray a baking tray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the cream cheese, salsa verde, lime juice, chile powder, cumin, cayenne, onion powder, garlic, cilantro, green onions and 1/4 tsp kosher salt. Add chicken and cheeses and stir until evenly distributed. Season mixture to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Spoon 2-3 tbsp of the filling onto the lower third of the tortilla, and then roll tightly. Place seam side down on prepared baking tray. Repeat until all filling is used.
4. Spray taquitos with cooking spray and then sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake 15-20 minutes until tortillas are crisp and filling is hot. Delicious served with salsa, sour cream and fresh guac!

Yum, yum, yum!! What are your favorite Mexican recipes? If you have one you really like, I'd love to hear about it. Mexican cooking is fairly new to me and I would love to have some tried and true recipes to start out with. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Happy Cooking my Friends!