Allergy Free Taquitos

This is not a recipe, a real recipe any way.  It's more of a "how to" tutorial I guess.   

So, here's how to make some allergy free taquitos.  

My kids absolutely love them!  And yes, I love them too.

I don't know why it never occurred to me to make taquitos.  Of course, we can't buy the frozen ones (not that we'd want all the additives in those).  But why didn't I think to make them??

One day my hubby asked me to make taquitos.  He really wanted Mexican food.  So, I sent him to the store for some corn tortillas and I got out the ingredients.  When he got back, we started our experiment.  Making taquitos is a join effort in our house.  I roll 'em up and he fries 'em.  We are a pretty good team and we can get through an entire pack of corn tortillas in no time!

I've made both the beef and chicken varieties.  The kids love the beef version the best.

For the beef version, I brown 1 pound of ground beef (or bison).  Drain the meat, put it back in the skillet with a little water, and add taco seasoning.
I take 1 or 2 cans of pinto beans, wash and drain them, and put them in the food processor.
I add garlic, onion, and cumin to the beans.
Then I stir the beans into the meat.  I add a little beef broth so that the mixture is spreadable but still thick enough to stay inside the taquito without running out (that's a mess I'd rather not mop from the floor).

In a large skillet, I heat olive oil on medium high heat.
I microwave a few tortillas at a time with a damp paper towel on top.  This is a very important step-if you skip this one your tortillas will crack when you try to roll them.  You need them moist and pliable to roll up those taquitos.
I quickly spread a spoonful of the meat mixture in the middle of the tortilla, roll it up, and stick a toothpick all the way through.  The important word here is quickly-those tortillas are hot and they like to unroll right back.  Go fast!
Then I drop them quickly into the oil, seam side down.  I cook on both sides until each side is slightly browned.
Take them out of the oil and spread them out on a wire rack.  Then I salt mine and let them cool.  Actually, I try to let them cool.  But we often eat them as fast as we can make them.

For our chicken version, I shred cooked chicken and place it into a skillet with the pureed beans.  Then I add chicken broth and taco seasoning.

I make big batches of taquitos and freeze the leftovers on cookie sheets.  Then I put them in large ziplocs for another day.  You can reheat them on a cookie sheet at 350 until they are crispy again.

These are one of my favorite "junk food" meals, right after onion rings.  They are my go-to lunch when I've forgotten to make something for the kids (oops!).  I just pull them out of the freezer!

*If you can't have corn tortillas, you could use another tortilla or make rice flour tortillas.