Freezer Taquitos

It’s soccer season, overlapped with hockey camps, topped with rugby season in our house. It was a scheduling accident that we completely overbooked ourselves this season. Rugby used to be a summer sport, but the league moved the season to spring. This was after my husband agreed to coach my son’s soccer team so we couldn’t get out of that. Since rugby is the favorite sport (outside of hockey) we had to sign up for that even though it came 6 weeks earlier than in the past. In the midst of all that my husband asked if it was okay if he could volunteer to help run a hockey camp for 6 weeks that the kids could attend as well. I agreed to the hockey thing because I wasn’t thinking straight because we have a newborn and my brain hasn’t quite rebounded. While we are having a great time and spending a lot of time together we have a major problem… it’s called: DINNER.

Enter: FREEZER MEALS

With the schedule being so crazy I’ve really tried to plan ahead and make meal time quick and easy. Quick and easy doesn’t always mean healthy. With 4 growing boys I’ve been struggling to find the balance between health and ease. My sister has always raved about these Baked Taquitos from Our Best Bites. I had some leftover chicken and decided I would try them one day. They were amazing. I always have the uncooked tortillas from Costco on hand (because they come in packs of 50 and the list of ingredients is pretty clean). When I made them the first time I cooked the tortillas, then rolled the ingredients, then baked them. Well the thought came to me, “what if I froze these?”. THEN the thought came to me, “what if I didn’t cook the tortilla before freezing these?”. If this worked, I could QUICKLY make up dozens of these and have them on hand. Well, it worked.

Here are some taquitos rolled and ready to be frozen on the left. On the right are some taquitos from the freezer ready to bake. Dinner in 20? Yes please.

Since then I have been messing around with the filling. I have yet to make a filling my kids don’t like. It’s extremely forgiving and as long as you put something in there to “hold” it together like cream cheese, cheese, or most recently instant re-fried beans, you should be good to go. In the last ones I made I was in such a hurry I just did instant re-fried beans and cheese. They worked great.

Here’s a modified version of the Original Our Best Bites one I made.

BAKED TAQUITOS

Ingredients:1/3 cup cream cheese (I have subbed this with instant re-fried beans)
1/4 cup green salsa
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic, or garlic powder
1 Tablespoon freeze-dried cilantro
2 Tablespoon sliced freeze-dried green onions (because who has fresh on hand)
2 C shredded cooked chicken (or use hydrated freeze-dried chicken)
1 C grated cheddar
flour tortillas
cooking spray

Directions:
Heat oven to 425. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
If using un-coooked tortillas no need to cook them. If you’re using pre-cooked flour tortillas warm them in the microwave to get them easier to roll.
Place 1/4 cup of the filling mix on the end of a tortilla (not all the way on the end, just about 1/4 of the way up). Roll the tortilla and press the seam down on the bottom of the baking sheet. Spray with cooking oil or lightly coat with oil. Place them on a pan not touching and cook for 15-20 minutes or until slightly browned. Optional to add sour cream or salsa for dipping.

Freezer Instructions: After you have prepared the taquitos place them in the freezer on a baking sheet separated. Let them freeze for a little bit until solid. Then place in a bag. This will make it so they don’t stick together. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425 and place the taquitos on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

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