Easy Peasy Chicken Flautas

I <3 chicken flautas. A long long time ago I tried to make them. I was young and had them at Chevy's and figured I can make these at home so I put some chicken in a tortilla and dropped it in the deep fryer. All the chicken fell out of the ends of the tortilla. Dinner sucked that night. Since then I have experimented and most nights my flautas didn't come out too well. So I saw a pin on pinterest and though oh how cool a baked version. The pin took me to a link on all recipes. I wasn't crazy about the recipe posted there so I just made up my own and here you will see what I got.


Sorry forgot a picture of ingredients.

4 bone in chicken breasts
1 pkg McCormick Hot Taco Seasoning
20 Corn Tortillas
Monterey Jack Cheese
Taco Cheese
Oil
13x 9 Pan sprayed with cooking spray


First I boiled 4 bone in chicken breasts for about an hour. Then I shredded the meat and mixed a pkg of McCormick's hot taco seasoning along with 3/4 cup of water with the shredded chicken.

Taco seasoned chicken

While the chicken was simmering, I softened 20 corn tortillas in oil for about 15 seconds. I just covered the bottom of the pan with oil and heated the oil on medium until hot. Dropped a tortilla in there and flipped it over after a few seconds. I normally would have seasoned the oil with chili powder but I have yet to restock the spice cabinet since the big move so it was plain oil for me. Soften all tortillas and drain them before moving on to the next step. I drain them between coffee filters.

Fry each side for just a few seconds

Once all your tortillas are softened and drained, then you can begin to assemble them. I don't measure I just dump some chicken and lots of cheese in the middle of the tortilla and roll it up. Put it seam side down in the pan.  Repeat for the other 19 tortillas.

All wrapped up before going into oven

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until flautas are golden brown or as crispy as you would like.

After being baked

My family likes a lot of cheese so I added some cheese to the top. I served my flautas with black beans, Spanish rice, home made salsa, lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole. Easy peasey and none of the chicken fell out!

Yummo!!!

A few notes: No they don't shrink, I had too many in the pan so I had to take some out and put them in two pans so what you see in the first pan is before I removed and made a second pan. If you want the original recipe from all recipes you can find it Here

Late Whining Wednesday

I have been such a slacker with my whining Wednesday posts. I do apologize because I know it is the best part of your week, and you can't wait til Wednesday and come here and see just what the heck it is that is annoying me this week and share your whines with me. However this little bitty move to ya know another COUNTRY kinda got in my way!! But now that I've taken care of that little business I can focus on the important stuff like wine, I mean whines on Wednesday. Yes I know it is Thursday, but I really had this all planned and ready to go yesterday but damn research class got in my way and I had to analyze some data, but now on to this weeks whining Wednesday.

1. Stores that sell stuff that is about to expire in a day. Do they think you are going to go home and eat the entire box of oreos or make a huge batch of deviled eggs that night? I know I know it is a sell by date but seriously who eats that stuff after the sell by date?

2. Things that get "borrowed" but never returned. When you borrow something it means you will return it. If you are going to borrow a hair bow you should return it, if you borrow money you should return it. If you borrow socks you should return them too, although if you have any of mine you can just keep them we can call em a gift.

3. Everything comes from somewhere so that means it belongs somewhere right? If you took something from the cabinet it stands to reason that it should be returned to the cabinet. I don't understand the I don't know where it goes theory.


That's all I got this week don't forget to add your own whines!

Thoughts

It's crazy how so much can change in a year. One year ago my Dad passed away. It doesn't seem like it has been that long since I talked to him or spent so many days at the hospital in Pittsburgh with my sisters by his bed.  A year ago I lived in a different country, my husband was deployed, and I had just picked my son and his friend up from Sunday afternoon football practice when my sister called to let me know my Dad passed away.


I never thought we would make it though that week in Cleveland for Dad's services. I damn sure didn't think I would make it through going back to Lousyana and putting my husband back on a plane for six months and staying in that town and job ALONE. But I did. I made it. There were days where it was hard to get out of the bed and nights where I don't think I slept at all. Somehow I kept going and made it to work every day, kids got fed, and made it to practice and games, had clean clothes, and I even planted a garden. Looking back I have no idea how any of that happened. I only remember sitting on the couch crying and talking to my sisters day after day.

Now it has been a year and so much has changed. There are days when I think I need to call Dad and tell him this or that. I may not cry every day like I did in the beginning, but I still feel the loss every day. Some days I feel it more strongly than others. When I went to look at my new house the street name reminded me of Rush Limbaugh, who Dad used to listen to, I immediately thought oh I gotta call Dad and tell him the name of my street. That thought was instantly replaced with oh shit I can't do that anymore, and tears.

Seeing the word Dad written down makes me teary eyed every time. I hate going to the hospital or Dr. office. I especially hate when they ask you did anyone in your family die unexpectedly or from unknown causes. I guess they don't expect you to say yes. It's been a year and I still can't answer that without crying. They say time heals all wounds. I am not sure if there is enough time in the world to heal the wound you feel from such a loss.

R.I.P Dad.

Chocolate Hazelnut Coconut Bars

This is the first weekend that I am all moved in an unpacked in my new house in Germany! So of course that means that it is time to bust out the kitchen aid and make something! Pillsbury is oh so kind and emails me all these delicious looking recipes that I normally just glance at and ignore. However, this time one of the recipes included Nutella. Yes Nutella that yummy gooey, spready chocolatey goodness in a jar. Of course I couldn't ignore that recipe. So I ran to the commissary as fast as my tiny car would take me and bought everything I needed to make the Chocolate Hazelnut Coconut Bars.

Here is what you need:

1 roll Pillsbury® refrigerated chocolate flavored chip cookie dough

1 jar of  Nutella divided into 3/4 cup and 1/2 cup

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 Egg

1can 14 oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

3 Cups shredded coconut

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

3 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 Cup toasted shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350

The recipe is pretty easy to make, however it is a bit time consuming. First thing you need to do is make the first layer. Allow the cookie dough to set out for 30 minutes before starting. Mix the cookie dough with 3/4 cup of the Nutella. The dough will be very stiff. Once mixed together, press mixture into the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. How in the heck  you are supposed to bake until golden brown I have no idea, since it is already dark brown. So I just baked it for 13 minutes. Allow this layer to cool for 30 minutes.

While the first layer is cooling, use electric mixture to beat cream cheese and egg white until smooth. Add sweetened milk, vanilla, and 3 Cups of shredded coconut. Beat until well blended. Pour mixture over baked layer. Spread completely over baked layer.

 Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until light golden brown and set. Cool completely(around 1 hour).

For the final layer, mix the remaining 1/2 cup of Nutella and 3 Tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over low heat stirring constantly until melted. Spread over cooled cream cheese layer. Top with toasted coconut. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until chilled. Store covered in Refrigerator.

Try Try Try to not eat too many of them. They are super super duper delicious! Enjoy!!!!!!

Pin It

If you want a printable version of this recipe you can get it from the Pillsbury website Here 

BTW to toast the coconut throw it in a pan and bake it at 375 for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Tour of our German Home

We finally moved into our house!! Yay we have been in TLF for 7 weeks! That is 7 weeks of living out of suitcases. That pretty much sucks! The only bad part is that our furniture is not here yet. Wahhhh. But a few things that we sent early in December are and the military lets us borrow furniture until ours gets here. It is basically cheap hotel furniture but it will due so that we can move into our new home.

Last post you got a tour of TLF, this post you get to see our new house, now remember it is before our stuff is here so no the things you see in the following pictures are not mine. Except for the food, kids, and hubby yes they do belong to me!

Front Door

Entryway

 The first picture is obviously the front door, to the right of that is the entry way. Straight up is our rooms, and above that is our family room/game/craft room, pretty much a place for everyone in the family!

Next up is the kitchen.

The kitchen has a flat top stove, built in table and a dishwasher! Yay no more hand washing dishes like we had to do for a month in Louisiana. We are too spoiled for that!

This is the fridge and freezer. The freezer is the pic on the left. On the right, the fridge is in the middle, the freezer on top, and on the bottom is a storage drawer.

 The fridge opened up, apparently eggs only come in packages of 10 not 12 here!

Thank goodness we get another fridge I  for sure need more than pancakes, ice packs, french toast sticks, and jimmy dean sandwiches in my freezer!

This is our microwave that we borrow the entire time we our here. We turn the dial for the time. No pressing how many minutes or how many potatoes to cook!

On to the upstairs!

This is our bedroom. Our bedroom window looks down into our backyard or up to a church and hill.

This is Ashleigh's room. She has a balcony off her room. The stringy curtain thingies have got to go!

 Robert's room. He can either look down to the backyard and our wintergarden or look up to the church as well.

Closets ,windows, cars, and garages

The inside of the wardrobe. Um really my clothes are supposed

to fit in here??? I don't think so!!

Wardrobe in the extra bedroom. This one was already at our house.

It is much nicer than the one that FMO lets us borrow.

Tilted open for just a bit of fresh air.

 

Wide open for lots of fresh air, we don't have air conditioning here

so will be opening lots of windows!

Garage, Rob's truck does not fit in here!

My itty bitty car fits in the garage though!

 So that is our house for now. I will add another post when all of our stuff is delivered and it looks more like home. Hope you enjoyed your tour. :)

Ramstein TLF

After a long flight we made it to Ramstein! Had a bit of trouble at the airport with a flight attendant not showing up on time and we were told that our flight was going to be delayed 24 hours. The lady finally showed up and we were able to leave.

        

The flight was not so bad. We boarded and our family of 4 had the entire middle row to ourselves which is 4 seats across. After boarding we were served dinner which consisted of chicken, rice, roll, cookie, veggies, cheese, and for me a glass of wine. After that I went to sleep other people watched movies. :) Then they served drinks again and hot towels to freshen up. A little while after that they served breakfast. For breakfast we had a choice of cheese omelet, with hash browns, yogurt, muffin, fruit, milk, juice, and coffee. Or waffle with the same sides. After  breakfast it was time to land. So all in all pretty quick flight, dinner nap and breakfast time to prepare for landing!

Once we got here our sponsor and another guy from work picked us up and we headed to check in to lodging. Computers were down Air Force wide so we had to wait about 5 hours to check into our room. Our room here was way bigger than our facilities at Barksdale.

Here is a little tour of our room at Ramstein hope you enjoy it!

Master bedroom. Yep Masterbedroom this TLF actually had more than one bedroom what what!!!

Kids bedroom. They no longer have to sleep in the living room on roll away beds and pull out couches!

Kitchen.

German Plugs not the same style as our American plugs or the same voltage.

Counter where we can have our family dinners that my son loves so much!

German Washer and Dryer

Bathtub is super high I dang near had to jump to get in!