BAKED CHICKEN TAQUITOS

One of the best things about blogging is all the wonderful people you "meet" as you explore the world of cyber-eating. Sometimes I find a slightly different version of a favorite dish that I just have to try. Other times I am inspired by someone else's recipe and tweak it to suit my own fancy. Almost always, the result of my blog surfing is something delicious on the table. Recently I came upon The Sisters' Cafe and Brittany 's recipe for creamy chicken taquitos. Having hit a sale at Sam's Club recently, I had a freezer filled with vacuum-sealed packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and decided this sounded like a good weeknight meal. Here is Brittany's version and following is my riff on it.

Serves 2-4
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 to 1 1/4 lb total)
2-3 tsp Old El Paso taco seasoning mix
olive oil

3 oz Neufchatel cheese, softened
1/4 cup your favorite salsa
3 large scallions, chopped
1 tbs lime juice
2-3 tsp Old El Paso taco seasoning mix
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

8 whole wheat tortillas
cooking spray
Garnishes:  guacamole, salsa, sour cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Rub each side of the chicken breasts with the taco seasoning mix. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes, turn breasts over and cook for 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and cover with foil to rest.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix the softenend Neufchatel cheese, salsa, scallions, lime juice, taco seasoning mix, and shredded cheese.

When chicken has cooled, dice into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the mixture above.

Place a few tortillas between paper towels and cook in the microwave on high for about 15-20 seconds, just to soften.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions. Place a portion on the lower third of the tortilla and carefully wrap as tightly as possible without causing the filling to pop out the sides. Place on a lined cookie sheet (I used silpat mats but you could use parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray). Fill all 8 tortillas. Spray tops with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Remove from oven and serve with your favorite condiments. With some saffron rice and roasted cauliflower, this was a hearty dinner with lots of leftovers. Two of these taquitos is a very hearty serving.
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TASTE NOTES
Thank you Brittany for a great idea.  While these were perfect and flavorful as is, they were a bit large to qualify as taquitos...unless there's such a thing as taquitos grande. I will definitely make these again but will dice the chicken finer. I prefer roasting to poaching and dicing to shredding, not to put too fine a point on things. I foresee these serving double duty as an appetizer, wrapped tighter and cut into smaller portions. Using a rub on the chicken added another flavor dimension. With homemade guacamole, all that was missing was a great Margarita. Now, why didn't I think of that? I know you'll enjoy these, so please give them a try and let me know what you think.