Make Ahead Soy Free Taquitos

Here is the finished product, golden brown and a sprinkling of salt..mmmmm...I know what I'll be having for dinner tonight.

Here are the taquitos out of the oven and ready to be frozen. My kids each ate two just like this and had no complaints....I wouldn't necessarily recommend that though. My four year old has also been known to eat paint.

This recipe is really simple 3 ingredients (four if you choose to add cheese or rice cheese) and I'm giving you a vegetarian and vegan option for the taquitos. I made half with cheese for the kids, and half without for myself. I've made taquitos on this blog before, I really enjoy having taquitos in the fridge to make for lunch or a super quick dinner alongside a mashed up avocado and some diced fruit. For these I use the same process, but the ingredients are even simpler. All you need are corn tortillas, vegetarian black beans, and hot sauce. For the vegetarian option you can add cheese.

All I did was mix together refried black beans (make sure yours are vegetarian as well as soy free) and hot sauce to taste. I laid the corn tortillas on a baking sheet and made a thin line of beans down the center. I was going to take a picture of this stage, but it looked a lot like poo on a tortilla and I was feeling too nauseous and immature to take a picture of that. If you want cheese on these you need to sprinkle the cheese FIRST then add the beans. I baked this (do not roll them up yet) for about 5 minutes at 350. The tortillas should be softened and easy to roll without tearing at this point. If not stick the whole mess back in the oven for a couple more minutes. Roll from one end to the other and place flap side down on the cookie sheet. Pop them back in the oven for another 7 minutes or so. I was making these to freeze so I didn't want them cooked to a golden brown. I just cooked them long enough that the tortilla became crispy and maintained it's rolled up shape when moved about. When I'm ready to eat these I will either pan fry them, or brush them with oil and bake them until they are golden brown. I have even been known to stick a bunch into a casserole dish, cover them with enchilada sauce and call it dinner.

The kids as it turns out were very hungry as these came out of the oven, their little pleas for "kitos" were just too much to stand and I gave them some as is. They gobbled them up and asked for more. These are a favorite in our house, and a great example of how to make your own convenience foods.

As a side note...I've tried making taquitos the recommended way, by heating all the tortillas first then filling and rolling them and it has never worked for me. If you have mad tortilla making skills (I bet you do you lucky duck) do whatever works for you. This is just the way that I have found that works for me.

Do you make and freeze any foods? What's in your freezer?

P.S. Please be sure to check ALL ingredients you are using if you are on a soy free diet for allergy or intolerance reasons.

Fillo cups two ways (sweet and savory)

Remember these beans? Remember when I said they would be back. Well here they are on whole wheat tomato and feta sourdough bread. This was not what I had in mind, it was just a happy accident that I needed to use my starter, and I happened to have these beans. So good! I had to take a picture and share, these beans are quite versatile.

Back to the filo cups though. I thought it would be fun on a hot day such as today to feast on cold appetizers and have a game night. We ate these garlic bean filled fillo cups as well as the "yummy pink cups" as my daughter dubbed them, along side some homemade salsa and chips. Everything went over really well. Both children were hesitant to eat the cups at first, because I've told them that cups aren't for eating.

I am marking these as make ahead, even though in the strictest sense they are not. You can make the filling ahead of time, but I would recommend filling them right before eating as they might get soggy otherwise.

The "pink yummy cups" are really an adaptation of learning to live egg free. I used to fill fillo cups with a combination of lemon curd and yogurt, and top them with fresh raspberries (YUM!). No longer an option in our household. This new recipe was not only a hit, but a suitable substitute. If I ever figure out how to make an egg free, soy free, lemon curd I'll post it on here.


Garlic Basil Bean and Roma Tomato Fillo Cups

1 recipe garlic basil beans
2 diced roma tomatoes
1 tsp vinegar (balsamic or otherwise, I used raspberry basil vinegar)
30 mini fillo shells (2 boxes)
shredded cheese (optional)

Thaw filo cups according to directions on box. Mix together the garlic basil beans, roma tomatoes and vinegar. Distribute evenly into the filo cups. Sprinkle cheese on top if desired. You could heat these if you like the bubbly cheese element. They were very tasty cold though, especially on a hot day.


Pink Yummy Cups

1 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup organic vanilla yogurt
2 tbs fruit preserves (I used this)
15 mini fillo shells

Thaw mini fillo cups according to directions. Soften the cream cheese in a bowl. Stir in yogurt and preserves. Distribute evenly (about a tsp to each) into fillo cups. Chill and serve.

What's in your freezer?

I think that about 80% * of healthy eating is planning for healthy eating. And part of that planning is knowing what to do when your plans fall through. I've mentioned before that freezer meals have saved the day for me on a number of occasions. I would love to amp up the variety in my freezer, and that is where you come into the picture. Currently I have flautas, chili, rhubarb (thanks for the help Toni), muffins, whole wheat sourdough biscuits, black bean burgers, beans, and an assortment of frozen veggies.

What is in your freezer? What is your favorite meal to freeze?

P.S. I promise to get a recipe up for my black bean burgers soon. I just threw away the bag that the beans came in, so I have to go to the store and figure out what size it was....what can I say, I'm not always super organized. :)

*Also interesting to note, about 37.5% of statistics are made up.

An acceptable use of flour tortillas

You may remember this post, where I mentioned that we don't buy flour tortillas with the exception of burrito and chimichanga use, or in the case of cooking for company. Well company is coming, and included in that are two beautiful (but picky) little girls, and one slightly less picky man. In the interest of planning ahead I decided to make and freeze some flautas so we will have a couple of quick meals to eat while they are here. Hopefully they will go over well, and I will lose my reputation as the aunt that makes the "weird food". So here is a recipe for not weird baked vegetarian flautas that you can make and freeze should you wish. If you like things spicy consider adding some salsa to the mix.

Totally Not Weird Flautas

1 block of cream cheese softened
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of green chilis
garlic salt, salt, cayenne and pepper to taste
Flour tortillas (ten pack)

Mix together the first 3 ingredients and add seasoning to taste.

Divide the filling evenly between the tortillas, placing it in the center of the tortilla.

Roll up tortilla and place flap side down on a baking dish. Bake at 375 for about fifteen minutes, or until tortilla becomes crispy at the edges.

If you wish to freeze these put them on a baking sheet and place them in the freezer to freeze individually first. Once frozen you can bag them and tag them. Errr that is put them in one labeled Ziploc freezer bag.

Pumpkin Toaster Pastries

I bought a jar of pumpkin butter a while back, because I love all things pumpkin, weather it be flavored or shaped. The problem is I had no idea what to do with it. I didn't want to waste it all on toast and sandwiches, so I figured when the right thing came around I would know. Well when I saw this recipe for toaster pastries it hit me, WHY has nobody come out with a pumpkin flavored toaster pastry??? So I whipped* up a batch of the crust, which is basically a pie crust recipe, and filled it with a mixture of pumpkin butter, cinnamon, and a wee bit o' brown sugar thickened with corn starch. The only changes I made to the crust were replacing half of the flour with whole wheat flour, and halving the size of the pastries. Also by the time I had finished measuring, mixing, rolling, and cutting, I was so ready to be done baking (I really hate baking), that I didn't take the thirty seconds to make them pretty around the edges with my fork....
it didn't really matter that they came out ugly as a monkey's backside, these things were good. They made the house smell fantastic, and the crust was so tender and flaky oozing with pumpkin and cinnamon goodness. I ate a half of one straight out of the oven**. You are still stuck on that reference about a monkey's backside aren't you?? Well nobody ever said selling things was my strong suit. In short, these are good. If you have the time you should try them. If you don't have the time, but can find a good organic pre-made pie crust you could use that for a quicker option.


*And by "whipped" of course I mean spent a good hour of measuring, cutting in butter, rolling, and asking the hubster to roll, in between feeding, changing, and otherwise distracting the kiddos.

** Whatever you do, RESIST the urge to eat these straight out of the oven. Because, by the time you get to the third or fourth bite, you will really be kicking yourself....delicious lava.