I have a seriousweakness for Mexican food. First and foremost because it is awesome and excellent and delicious and otherwise perfect in every way, but also because it’s so easy to find or cook vegetarian versions of almost any dish. This is probably true of most any cuisine (Indian, anyone?) but I think all the bean and cheese burritos I ate when I was a teenage junk food vegetarian made a permanent impression on me.
Mexican is my go-to when I need to whip up a quick, healthy, and yummy dinner. After my car accident last week, I came home tired, upset, and in need of comfort food. I wanted to cook rather than order in – cooking always seems to put me back in balance, and I knew that after the day I’d had, the enthusiastic sizzle of veggies in the cast iron skillet would be a welcome sound. Life lesson of the day? Fajitas make everything better.
Who didn’t, right? Mondays suck. They have always sucked, they continue to suck, and they will suck forevermore. Monday even has its own illness. I am not at all unique in hating Mondays. This particular one, though…wow.
It started off normally – the frantic rushing out of bed, scrambling around taking turns in the bathroom, fixing lunch, grabbing the trash and recycling on the way out the door. Traffic was slow on the first part of the beautiful parkway I take to work, typical for a rainy morning. But it broke free after a few miles, and I was on track for an uneventful commute.
I’m not talking an hour or two. I’m talking days of strategizing, googling, and ingredient shopping, followed by an early morning wake-up to ensure adequate time if (when) something goes wrong. I’m talking egg whites that need to be beaten to a perfect foam while the yolks get tempered into another part of the dessert. I’m talking a crust that needs to be partially rolled out and then re-refrigerated before the butter gets too warm. I’m talking finicky, fragile chocolate that can be ruined with even a molecule of water.
I have slaved away on that dessert. This is not that dessert.
For some reason, I always think that when I come back from a business trip, everything is going to settle down. I’ll arrive home at 5:30 with plenty of time to make a nice leisurely dinner, follow it with an evening run or bike ride, and still have time to get to bed early.
And for some (presumably related) reason, I appear to be completely disconnected with reality, which generally goes a little more like this: finish work at least an hour later than planned, leave bike in the office because I still haven’t fixed the roof rack on my car, remember that I have to stop at the grocery store for something or the other, fly in the door around 8 with dinner barely a tadpole of a thought, cook, scarf it down, conveniently disappear while Nor does the dishes, finish up extra work stuff, and run around like crazy trying to get into bed before it’s officially tomorrow.
If any of that sounds familiar, you probably appreciate a quick and easy meal as much as I do. These stuffed peppers are a lifesaver on hectic nights – even more so if I remember to make the filling over the weekend (I usually don’t). They also aren’t baked like many stuffed peppers – and with summer on the way and the thought of firing up the oven getting more unpleasant by the day, that’s a total bonus.
I never get tired of Mexican food. I strongly believe that food wrapped/rolled/stuffed into things is pretty much as good as it gets, and Mexican food has that down pat. I also love that it’s pretty easy to find satisfying vegetarian options in Mexican restaurants (although beware the refried beans). Most of all, I love that Mexican food is easy to make it home, and that you can usually make it much healthier than you could ever hope to get in a restaurant.
This recipe for creamy baked chicken taquitos began making its merry way around the internet several years ago. After reading wistfully of its charms in blog after blog, it almost began to haunt me – everywhere I went, I seemed to be staring at it, but I couldn’t have it! The humanity! Even the disgusting deep-fried messes they call taquitos at 7-11 seemed to be mocking me as they slowly rotated over and over on their dirty griddle. After suffering through this for years, I finally decided to Take Back the Taquito.
“But Julie,” you may be saying, “how can you take back the taquito when you never had the taquito?” If you are saying that, then you’re arguing semantics. And you know what rhymes with semantic? Pedantic. So there. Now eat one of the taquitos I just took back, and like it.
You’ll need to plan a couple of days ahead in order to freeze and thaw the tofu. Remove the tofu from the package and press gently with paper towels to remove excess water. Place in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and seal tightly. Freeze for at least a day. Remove the night before or morning of the day you plan to make these and place in the refrigerator to thaw. After thawing but before shredding, gently press with several paper towels again to remove additional moisture. This will give the tofu a firmer, chewier texture.
I’m going to say one more thing about these taquitos before I beg you to make them – whether you’re a vegetarian or not really doesn’t matter with this recipe, so please don’t be put off by the tofu. In fact, I think this is a great introduction to tofu for those who perceive it as a wobbly, spongy, inadequate meat substitute. Freezing it first firms it up a lot, and the shredded texture mimics chicken so closely that I honestly don’t think most people would be able to tell the difference, especially with all the flavor in this recipe. Just this once, give tofu the benefit of the doubt. Your taste buds will thank you.
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