Chubby cream cheese taquitos.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and as usual I was possessed with a compulsion to make them immediately.  Unlike most of my “must cook it now” compulsions, I LOVED these things, and have cooked them over and over.  They are so good.  No, really, that description does not do them justice.  They are phenomenal.  Just the mere act of writing about CCCT, as we will call them…maybe not…that sounds like some sort of corporation…makes me want to make them.  NOW.  My mouth is watering.  I had started a blog post a few months ago about them when I first start the blog, but as usual my cooking ADD took me in another direction and I am sure I gave ya’ll another recipe.  Or who knows…maybe one of my kids threatened the other with a duel, or maybe one of them was trying to ride a inner tube down the stairs.  When I say one of them, I usually mean the little one.  My baby.  My thrill seeker.  Heaven help me, the gray hair giver.   Now, my little addition to this recipe is a avocado dipping sauce.  Oh my word this pushes these over the top. Anyway, these things are excellent and totally worth heating up a little grease for.

Chubby Cream Cheese Taquitos (from Key Ingredient)

Ingredients

3 cups shredded cooked chicken (use can use rotisserie or bake some chicken breasts with a little cumin, garlic powder and onion powder which is what I do)

6 ounces of cream cheese, softened  (I use 1/3 less fat)

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup salsa

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I used mild)

1 1/2 cups of chopped baby spinach, stems removed

kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

9-10 (6-inch) flour tortillas (I used the fajita size)

vegetable or canola oil for frying

For dipping sauce you will need:

wholly Guacamole

garlic powder, onion powder to taste

Sour cream

In the throes of a taquito making frenzy….

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together the shredded cooked chicken, cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, cheese, and spinach.   Season this mixture to taste with the kosher salt and cracked black pepper.

One tortilla at a time, put 2 good size aka heaping tablespoons of the chicken mixture on the side of the tortilla and then spread out like a log. Roll up and set seam side down on a plate.  Keep doing this until you have used all of the filling and the tortillas are all rolled up.

Pour enough cooking oil into a large skillet to generously cover the bottom.  Heat the grease over over medium heat, cook the tortillas in batches, taking care not to overfill your skillet.  Fry on one side for about 2 minutes or until golden brown and then using a pair of tongs, flip each taquito over.  Do the same thing on the other side.  Once golden brown on both sides, remove from the grease and set on a plate covered with paper towels to drain.

To make dipping sauce, mix a package of wholly guac with about 1/4 cup of sour cream.  Sprinkle in some garlic powder and onion powder to taste.  Whisk it to combine.  Dip away my friends.

You will feel like you are at a Mexican restaurant.  You will want to wear a sombrero and shout Ole!!  You will want to take the plate and some dipping sauce into a closet and eat them all.  They are that good.  But know this is not deemed socially acceptable behavior and I am not suggesting you do this.  But I will say these things are so good you may be willing to lose a friend or two over them.  JS.  Enjoy!!!

So tonight my husband was wanting to BBQ and I was wanting some seafood. So I went to the store and brought back some pork chops and some shrimp (this will happen when you turn a Cajun girl loose in the store…) and here we are with BBQ shrimp. You don’t actually BBQ the shrimp. And there is no BBQ sauce involved. Hence the pork chops. That man wanted to grill something and I knew me calling some BBQed when he didn’t actually get to man the grill would not fly. So the recipe called for something like 4 pounds of shrimp, but with only big daddy and I eating the shrimp (we have one allergic and the others just would rather not) I decided to cut it way down. I will give you that version. You can always double or triple it or so on. I found this recipe on Pinterest and modified it.

1 lb. large (26/30) shrimp, unpeeled
1/2 stick of butter, melted
3 or 4 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
3 or 4 shakes of hot sauce
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 small lemon cut up
Juice of one small lemon
1 tsp. parsley
2 tablespoons of chili sauce
1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Put your shrimp in a foil lined baking dish. Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the shrimp. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Then turn shrimp to make sure the other side is coated. Let them chill in fridge a little longer. As those babies are cooling their jets in that yummy sauce, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Pop your dish full of shrimp into the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the shrimp over and cook 10 more minutes. Let them sit for about 5 or 10 minutes and then serve with some crusty French bread. Yummmm!