Mexican Lime Chicken Tacos

Ingredients

8 small (6-inch) yellow corn tortillas

One 9.75-oz. chicken breast, cooked and sliced

1/2 cup salsa

1/3 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat)

1/4 tsp. dry taco seasoning mix

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the chicken and salsa, and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Remove chicken mixture from the fridge, and drain any excess liquid. Add cheese and taco seasoning, and mix to combine. This is your filling. Set aside.

Prepare a baking sheet by spraying with nonstick spray, and set it aside.

Dampen two paper towels, and place tortillas between them. Microwave for about 1 minute, until tortillas are warm and pliable.

Take one tortilla (keep the rest between the paper towels), spray both sides lightly with nonstick spray, and lay it flat on a clean dry surface. Spoon about 2 heaping tbsp. of filling onto the tortilla. Spread it evenly across the entire surface, and roll tortilla up tightly, so that you have a cigar-shaped tube. Secure with toothpicks and place seam-side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

Bake for 14 - 16 minutes, until crispy. Allow taquitos to cool for 5 minutes. If you like, dunk in enchilada sauce, salsa, or sour cream

Mexican Rice - Los Tios

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tomato, coarsely chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup raw white rice
• 2 serrano chiles
• 1/2 cup minced carrots
• pinch of ground cumin
• pinch of black pepper
• salt to season

Method

Puree broth, tomato, and garlic in a blender.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Add the onion and saute for five minutes until soft.

Add rice and saute until it turns opaque.

Add puree, chilies, carrots, cumin, pepper, and salt.

Bring the rice to a boil. Reduce heat, cover tightly, and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Do no remove the lid during simmer.

After turning off heat, let stand for five minutes and then fluff with fork.

Mexican Meltaways

Ingredients

• Pecan halves -1cup
• Powdered sugar-2cups
• All purpose Flour-2cups
• Salt-1/4tsp
• Unsalted butter - 1cup ,softened
• Vanilla extract-1tsp
• Almond extract-1/2tsp

Method

In a food processor pulse the pecans with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar until nuts are finely ground.Sift together flour and salt and add the ground pecan to this mixture.

In a mixer cream the butter and 3/4 cup of powdered sugar until light and fluffy.Add the vanilla and almond extract. Scrap the bowl.Add the flour mixture until the dough just comes together.

Do not over mix the dough.Roll dough into 3/4inch balls and bake the cookie on a parchment paper ,2 inch apart for about 10-12 minutes or until bottom of the cookies are lightly brown.Cool the cookies on wire rack.

Place the remaining 1 cup powdered sugar in a bowl and roll the cooled cookie in the sugar and completely coat them with powdered sugar.Cookies are fresh for 4 days at room temperature.

Makes 36 cookies.