Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Heather's 5 Minute Tacos

I love cooking, but every once in a while it is nice to create something simple and healthy without much effort. Because I enjoy a night off every now and then I prepare in advance for these evenings. I always buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts when they are on sale for under $2 per pound. After putting away all of the other groceries I get down to business with my chicken, prepping it in several ways. Some of the boneless, skinless breasts are trimmed and placed whole into freezer safe bags. Others are chopped into bite sized pieces and strips to fit different recipes accordingly. I always make a batch of Unbelievable Chicken Marinade (this will be written about on a future post) and place some chicken into it for the freezer. The last way in which I prep my chicken for easy weeknight dinners is to make a batch of Heather’s Mexican Baked Chicken, I bake six or so breasts with a Mexican inspired dry rub. After being baked and cooled I freeze these individually for a variety of recipes that they work well with like Heather's 5 Minute Tacos.


Heather’s Mexican Baked Chicken



Ingredients


-6 trimmed boneless skinless chicken breasts

-Seasoning Salt

-Black Pepper

-Cumin

-Paprika

-Chili Powder

-Garlic Powder

-Cayenne Pepper



Directions


*Preheat oven to 450.

*Sprinkle both sides of each chicken breast with spices; go lightly on the Cayenne if you are not a fan of heat.

*Bake in a lasagna style pan at 450 for 20 minutes (or at a lower temperature for a longer period of time.)

*Use right away or let cool and freeze for future recipes.



Heather’s 5 Minute Tacos


Ingredients


-2 breasts of Heather’s Mexican Baked Chicken

-Tortillas

-Toppings of your choice (salsa, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, etc.)


Directions


*Shred or chop chicken into bite sized pieces, microwave two minutes or until hot.

*Chop vegetable toppings of your choice.

*Warm tortillas over stove burner (be careful!!)

*Fill tortillas with warm chicken and toppings, enjoy!

When something this simple tastes this good it really makes my day! Terry loved these tacos and they seriously took only 5 minutes due to my recent prep work. I also use this meat in enchiladas, nachos, chili relleno casserole, and Christy’s Easy Soup (recipe to come in a future post.) We were bummed out because we planned on making guacamole with the huge, beautiful avocados that we purchased at the Irvine Farmers market last Saturday. We checked them every day for ripeness and in one day they ripened and went bad. Oh well, our Heather’s 5 Minute Tacos were still excellent and we had plenty of time to watch Josh Hamilton set a record in the Home Run Derby!!

-Heather

1 comment:

pipedi said...

Hi Heather,
I just found your blog yesterday and made your ground turkey, corn, and black bean nachos - only as a taco salad with just a few tortilla chips as garnish. Oh, it was so great! I have been leery of using ground turkey since a time when I tried using it to make a meatloaf that went straight into the garbage can. Even my dogs wouldn't touch it :(
All that to say I'm subscribed now to your great-tasting, healthy blog. Thanks so much!
Diane