Tacos-REBORN!

I love Mexican food. I could eat it every day for a week, I think. Enchiladas and tacos are my favorite-mostly because they are perfect for a picky eater like me! You can customize them however YOU like them. For a while I made enchiladas on a pretty regular basis, but at some point I decided that they were just too messy and now I save them for special occasions. So instead I make tacos, but when I stopped eating ground beef (did I mention I have some picky food issues?) I stopped making tacos. For a Christmas Party this year we were asked to bring chicken for a taco bar (Don't you love taco bars? They are PERFECT for parties) and I remembered the Chicken Tacos I had at a friend's house for dinner a few years ago. They were delicious! Tacos have been REBORN!

Like I said, I used to make enchiladas all the time and for the tacos I used the same basic idea to prepare the chicken. Well, actually, my daughter Meghan took my instructions and made them hers, both for the Christmas Party and tonight for dinner. I will give you the *amounts* she used, but remember this is done mostly by sight/texture/taste. Honestly, I don't think you can mess it up.

Meghan's Chicken Tacos

1 1/4 lb chicken breast cooked and finely chopped
(We used about 19 frozen,boneless, skinless tenderloin cooked in the Pampered Chef Micro Cooker with no seasoning, in two batches for about 10 minutes-stir halfway through- or until the juices run clear)
1 (10 ounce) can of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
7 tsp. of Taco Bell Taco Seasoning (this is almost a whole packet)
A little water

Put the cooked chicken in a skillet and add the taco seasoning and the water (just like making tacos) and cook a bit (I know, really technical, huh? Hey, it cooking not baking...) then add the enchilada sauce and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn and all the chicken gets nicely coated.

That's it. Super simple.

I eat mine wrapped up in the flour tortillas from our local Mexican bakery and top them only with cheese and crispy lettuce, (Here's a tip to keep your cheese melty and your lettuce cold and crispy-put the cheese on top of the meat and the lettuce on top of the cheese. I know it's not Taco Bell's way, but it sure tastes yummy!) but I am sure that for those of you who aren't Miss Picky you could add all kinds of goodies; sour cream, black olives, onions, tomatoes, guacamole...

For sides I heat up some refried beans (stir a little enchilada sauce into these as well as some cheese and they are extra yummy) and sometimes (although we forgot tonight) corn in a butter sauce.

This is one of the recipes I would love to make a huge batch of and freeze in small batches for quick dinners. One of these days I will try some Once A Month Cooking. I'll let you know how that turns out!

I love it that tacos are back on my menu.