SparkDad

One of my families favorite meals are homemade flautas. If you are not from Texas you might have never even seen this tasty, crunchy slice of heaven. Flautas are corn tortillas dipped in hot grease, wrapped around shredded beef of chicken and then deep fried. Very delicious. Very bad for you.

 

So tonight I set out to make them, but without all of the grease. Here is the recipe.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

3 Large Split Chicken Breasts

2 Tbs. Salt

2 Tbs Garlic

2 Tbs. Paprika

1 Can Pam or other cooking spray

10-20 Corn Tortillas

1 Plastic Bag

1 Cup Lettuce or Cabbage ( I did not have cabbage tonight )

1/2 Cup Fresh Tomato (Diced)

1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese (leave out for a healthier meal)

2 Avocados

3 Limes

1/4 medium onion (diced)

1 small bottle of hot sauce (homemade is better)

 

1. Boil Chicken breasts until fully cooked. Remove skin and bones and wash thoroughly.

2. Shred chicken and place in a large bowl

3. Mix paprika, salt and garlic with shredded chicken. Set aside.

4. Slice open avocados, remove the meat inside and place in a small bowl. Using a fork mash up the avocado meat until the desired consistency. Squeeze in juice of 1 lime, add salt, 2 tbs of hot sauce. Mix well and set aside.

5. Slice lettuce or cabbage into small strips. Set aside.

6. Chop tomatoes. Set aside.

7. Spray bottom of a large pan and add in onion. Sauté onion on medium heat until caramelized.

8. Add in chicken mixture to the pan and cook for approximately 10-15 minutes. Do NOT overcook the chicken as it will dry the meat out. You are cooking it just long enough to let the chicken absorb the seasoning. Remove from heat.

9. Take about 6-8 tortillas and place in plastic bag. Do not seal the bag completely. Place in microwave for 2 minutes.

10. Remove tortillas from microwave and lay one tortilla flat. Make a line of chick on one end of  the tortilla. Roll the tortilla into a tight roll and place in baking dish.

11. Repeat until you have covered the bottom of the baking pan.

12. Spray the top of the flautas with pam and put in oven at 450-500 degrees. Cook each side for about 8 minutes or until golden brown.

13. Remove from oven, place on plate and garnish with lettuce or cabbage, guacamole, tomatos and hot sauce.

 

Serve with Mexican rice. Serves 6-8.

 

Enjoy!

 

- Spark Dad

 

Today we had a small party in celebration of the Dia de la Candelaria. This celebration falls 40 days after Christmas and for Catholics it is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. You can read a lot more about the tradition here – Article about Dia de la Candelaria

 

The reason that we hosted the party is because early in January we attended a party at some friends house celebrating King’s day. During this party it is traditional to have “King Cake” or “Rosca de Reyes”. Hidden in that cake is a plastic baby Jesus. Tradition says that whomever finds the baby must host the next celebration on the Dia de la Candelaria. Well as you can guess we found the baby!

 

For the party I made a new spin on an old dish. I made Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Casserole.

Note: I did not take photos of the finished product so the photo at left is not of mine but they looked A LOT like it!

 

Ingredients

1 12oz tub of low far Sour Cream

1 Large can of Green Enchilada Sauce

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

10-15 Corn Tortillas

5-6 Chicken Breasts

1 lb Mexican Cheese

2 Tbs. Garlic

2 Tbs. Salt

 

Steps

 

1. Boil chick in large pot on medium heat until cooked fully ( about 1 hour )
2. Drain Chicken and let cool, retain about 1 cup of chicken broth
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
4. Wash and shred chicken and place in a large bowl
5. Season chicken with garlic and salt
6. Mix Cream of Chicken soup with chicken broth
7. In large casserole dish layer 4-6 corn tortillas
8. Pour in 1/3 of the green enchilada sauce
9. Add in 1/3 of sour cream and mix with the enchilada sauce
10. Add 1/3 of shredded chicken
11. Cover chicken with an ample layer of cheese
12. Repeat this process of layering until chicken is all used
13. Top the layers with leftover enchilada sauce, sour cream and cheese
14. Cook in over for 30-45 minutes

Serves 8

 

Since the boys are home I hear two things too often:  

 

“ I am hungry” and “I am bored”

 

Keeping two young boys occupied and fed is a challenge!  I made this health snack for them yesterday and they loved it. It is delicious and does not have too much fat or sugar.

 

Green Apple Dip

 

Ingredients:

1 – 7 oz. Kraft Marshmallow Cream Jar

1 – 8 oz. Package of Cream Cheese ( Do Not Use the Low Fat Version )

2 – Medium Green Apples

 

1. Remove cream cheese from refrigerator and let soften for 1 hour

2. While cream cheese is softening, pour marshmallow cream into a large mixing bowl and let sit for remainder of hour.

3. Add cream cheese to marshmallow cream and mix until smooth and fully combined.

4. Slice green apples into dipping slices.

5. Refrigerate for 30 minutes prior to serving.

 

Enjoy!

Good morning! This morning I encountered an old nemesis, Arroz con Leche.  If you are not familiar with the Mexican traditions it is the same thing as rice pudding. It is Very delicious. The problem is that I hardly ever make it correctly. The rice is either burned or not quite done and Skeeter loves Arroz con Leche.  Today I got it right!

 

Here is the recipe.

• 4 Cups Water
• 2 Cups Mahatma Rice
• 1 Tbs. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Cups sugar
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 2 Tbs. Cinnamon Powder
• 2 cups 1% milk
• 1 tsp oil

1. Add water, oil and cinnamon stick to medium saucepan and bring to boil
2. Add rice and cook until water is almost gone on Medium temp.
3. Add milk, sugar (or sugar replacement) and vanilla. Cook 8 minutes stirring frequently
4. Remove from heat and cover for 10 minutes.
5. Serve hot with a bit of cold milk and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

 

Enjoy!