Easy Chicken Taquitos

I am always on the lookout for quick, easy recipes that I can whip up with things I have at home. You see, I've been saying that I am going to start meal-planning for` about a year now and I have never really gotten into the swing of that consistently {lame, I know}. A typical week for me involves make a quick list in my head and on my phone as we are driving in to Walmart for groceries. I know my system is flawed because I always forget something, or I will realize I didn't account for a night that we were going to be home and needed dinner. Thankfully for absentminded wives and mothers like me {who need to start meal planning!}, there are recipes like this that are yummy and simple to make. We liked these chicken taquitos so much in fact that my husband actually asked me when I was going to make them again...and that, my friends, is the sign of a successful dinner!

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or pre-cooked/grilled chicken strips if you are in a time crunch)

1/2 C of cheddar cheese

1/3 can of diced green chiles 

1-2 T Taco Seasoning

8" Flour Tortillas

Serving Size: 

About 7-8 Taquitos. This was perfect for just Matt and I with a couple left over for the next day. If you have more than 2 people in your family, I would double the recipe! Shredding the chicken rather than just cutting it up would also make the recipe go farther! 

1. Preheat oven to 350*

2. Start by opening the pre-cooked chicken strips and slicing them into smaller pieces. You don't want big wraps, but small skinny taquitos. I think it's important to share that when I made this the first time I cooked the chicken myself because I always have frozen chicken breasts on hand. I thawed the breasts, cut them into small strips, salted and peppered them, and cooked them in a little olive oil and butter in my skillet. I also added the taco seasoning while they were cooking. This time I had a package of pre-cooked chicken strips that were already seasoned, so I just used those and added the taco seasoning. After you've cut up the strips to a size of your liking, throw them in a bowl.

3. Toss in your taco seasoning (you can add more or less to your liking) and diced chiles. Make sure to drain your can of chiles first. I used about 1/3 of the can of chiles. You can certainly use the entire can but be prepared for a little more kick. :)

4. Add your cheese and mix it all together.

5. Lay out one of your tortillas on a plate or cutting board and scoop a spoonful of the chicken mixture on the tortilla. You will want to spread the mixture along the edge of the tortilla and not in the middle. I even went with the curve of the tortilla, and you will see why in a moment.

6. Begin to roll the tortilla starting on the edge with the chicken mixture. Roll the tortilla as tight as possible, but not so tight that you are going to tear the tortilla. I used flour tortillas instead of corn for this very reason, but if you only have corn tortillas on hand, just heat them up in a skillet before topping and rolling them and that should help their flexibility.

7. Lay the tortilla seam-side down in a well-greased 8x8" baking dish. You may also use a 9x13" if you are doubling this recipe. Then repeat steps 5-7 until you have filled the entire dish.

8. I then sprayed the tops of the taquitos with cooking spray as well so that they would crisp up nicely. The tortillas won't really brown in the oven (except around the edges), but you want the shells to feel crispy to the touch.

9. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. The taquitos are done when the cheese is melty and bubbly and the shells feel crispy.

10. Serve as an appetizer with salsa or with other Mexican sides as a meal. We loved ours with salsa, and I think next time I will make a corn casserole to go with it as well. Yum!

The only thing I will do differently when I make these again is to actually cook the chicken myself and then shred the chicken finely in my stand mixer. I think the texture of the shredded chicken would be amazing! I hope you enjoy these soon! 

Dear Jackson: Do Not Live Your Life In Fear

To my sweet baby boy,

As I sit here watching the news on television and viewing the devastating and terrible events of the last week in both Boston and Texas, my heart is hurting. The scenes and videos of this terror are difficult to watch, and it is impossible to look at them without a knot forming in the pit in my stomach. I can also recall this same feeling back in December when sweet, innocent children and adults were shot and killed in a school where they had come to learn. When I was in the sixth grade I also witnessed thousands of people die in a terrorist attack on America when planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City as well as the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately these types of events where people die and are killed in acts of evil are not new. As you grow up you will learn of many, many other events in not only America, but world history that paint a terrible view of the human race. 

I want you to know something...because you are going to hear many different things. You are going to be told that we must all live in uncertainty and fear because the world in which we live is a terrible, evil place. You are going to hear that we need to love these evil people. You are going to hear that we need to kill these evil people. You are going to hear that if the world would only love one another, then all hatred and evil would cease. Others will say, "I have lost all my faith in humanity." Oh, my dear son...before you listen and let your heart be moved...look to one place and one place only...

God's Word. The Bible. 

The Bible does teach us that the world is a very evil place. God says in the Bible that not only that there are evil people in the world, but that we are ALL actually sinners. {"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23} Because of the free will that God gave to us, we do choose to act on our sin nature, and some individuals choose to do terrible things like you will witness here on earth. It can be a scary, scary thought. God did not intend the world to be this way, and when He created the world it was a perfect place with no hurt, sin, or evil. He created man to have fellowship and a relationship with him. Unfortunately because of our free will, man choose to disobey God and sin in the garden of Eden, and sin entered the world. I am reminded of this verse:

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." Romans 5:12

Does that mean that we should live our lives in fear? No. There is good news. There is comforting news. And it also comes from God's Word.

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Jesus assures us and reminds us that the world is a terrible place and full of tribulation, but that He has overcome the world. My dear, sweet son, I want you to remember that Jesus, God's Son, because He loved you, came and died on the cross where God placed all of our sins on Him. He paid the price for our sins, and your sins, so that He did overcome death and the sin of the world.

We do not have to live in fear. We do not have to wonder and be anxious over what our fate may be here on earth.

Jesus conquered all.

If you trust in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins because of what He did on the cross, you will be saved, and the troubles of this world are for naught. Yes, the world is a scary place full of people who destroy others' lives and happiness. Could we be injured or killed in this world because of people like this? Yes. But do not fear, Jackson. Live your life in peace because of Jesus and the eternity that we may spend with Him if we accept Him as our Savior.

A Lesson in Patience: Link-Up With The Mama Memoirs

Sorry for the blogging hiatus recently...I've been working on a few posts, but a few of them are a little more personal and on a more serious note, so I want to make sure that they are at their very best before I put them out on the world wide web. ;)

But because I miss posting, and because I found an awesome link-up with A Sorta Fairytale, I'm sharing today about something I have been struggling with as a mother.


Patience. As mothers I think we all realize that the instant you see the positive result on a pregnancy test that you can no longer put yourself or your own needs first. Throughout pregnancy you avoid certain foods, medications, and activities that could possibly harm your baby. Then when they are finally here and in your arms you sacrifice sleep, energy, and don't shower for days {or was that just me?!} so you can spend all your time caring for your sweet little newborn.

Looking back now, I think that even though I was so focused on putting Jackson's needs first and that I loved him so much, I still struggled with being patient with him. When I would just close my eyes and drift off to sleep only to hear him begin to fuss because he wanted to nurse for the third time in two hours. When he would cry so hard in the car that it sounded like he couldn't breathe. When he was so fussy that I couldn't sit in church and enjoy fellowship with other believers on Sunday. Wow. Even writing this now that he is almost 9 months old, I can't believe that I thought those instances were so trying on my patience.

Hard to believe you can be frustrated with this sweetness, huh?

Now I find myself really struggling when I'm trying to feed Jackson and he arches his back and pushes my hands and the spoon away. Or when he screams at the top of his lungs from his crib at 6:00 in the morning. He's also taken to just screaming and screeching in general, but it's the hardest to listen to when he wakes up at the aforementioned time and I am trying to doze on the couch while he plays. And my favorite...when he flips his entire body over while I am trying to wipe poop off of his rear end.

My attitude has not been the best when dealing with these situations lately...I allow myself to get frustrated and I struggle with not snapping at Jackson. I'm ashamed to admit that I have been losing sight of putting Jackson's needs first as I so carefully did when I was pregnant. The Lord entrusted me with the upbringing of these sweet boy and I have been missing out on so much joy when I choose to allow frustration to take hold. No matter how much I want to change and be more patient, I cannot do this on my own.

I need Jesus.

I need His grace and His perfect patience. When the disciples continually acted amazed at His power and miracles, or when Peter, James, and John fell asleep twice when He had asked them to wait up and pray with Him in the garden...He still patiently loved them, taught them, and led them. How much more so does He do that with me? I do not always obey, I do not always trust, and I do not always serve my Savior with my whole heart. And yet, the Lord is constantly patient and loving to me.

So now when Jackson wakes me up early or when he cries for my attention when I'd rather be reading blogs, I make sure to pray and ask the Lord to give me patience. Give me grace. Because here on earth I may be saved from my sins, but I am not a perfect being, and I need help having patience.

I love my son so very much, and I am ever so thankful for the opportunity that I have been given to learn this lesson. I have never thought about this before, but because of my role as a mother, the Lord is using that role to teach and mold me into a more perfect representation of His Son.

Oh, thank you, Lord Jesus, for your patience with me and for my sweet son who I am learning from every day.

Have you ever struggled with being patient?

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"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:3 & 4