A Taquito is simply a rolled up, stuffed tortilla. Usually fried, these lovely creations are rolled tighter and so are thinner than an enchilada, and the top is not covered in sauce in the same way an enchilada would be.

When thinking about what to fill my Taquitos with, I thought I would get my other favourite find of the Mexico trip involved, Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce. I first tried this over there on chicken wings and many of you may have seen it used in my Buffalo Chicken Soup recipe. It really is the most delightful flavour. Spicy and tangy, it makes for a real taste sensation when added to chicken.

The filling I’ve created below is truly delicious. Tangy, a little cheesy and stuff with veggies, this is a dish that will keep you full for hours. I served mine with BNS chips (0sp) however I was so full from two Taquito’s that I probably wouldn’t bother with them next time (or I would have one Taquito with the chips).

I’ve used Sainsbury’s Be Good to Yourself Blue Cheese Dressing in this recipe (instead of the more points heavy crumbled Blue Cheese). If you can’t get a hold of it, or find a light equivalent somewhere else, just leave it out. The other flavours in the dish will more than make up for it.

Buffalo Chicken Taquitos

Makes 8 Taquitos – serves 4 (2 taquitos per person) – 12sp per serving (including salad and soured cream to finish)(Flex)

Ingredients

For the filling 

400g roast chicken, white breast meat, shredded

100g lightest cream cheese

4 tbsp Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce

2 tbsp Sainsbury’s Be Good to Yourself Blue Cheese Dressing (or other supermarket light equivalent)

Juice of 1/2 lime

100g sweetcorn (drained)

4 x spring onions, finely sliced

Half a bag of spinach, shredded

Large handful of fresh coriander, chopped

For the Taquito

8 x Weight Watchers Tortillas (these are 4sp each so if you can’t find these, any other 4sp equivalent will do, Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s are also 4sp).

For the salad – serves 4 = 0sp per person

¼ iceberg lettuce, shredded

Large handful of spinach, shredded

2 spring onions, sliced

1 tbsp sweetcorn

Juice of 1/2 lime

2 tbsp Sainsbury’s Be Good to Youself Blue Cheese Dressing (or other supermarket light equivalent)

To Serve

Drizzle of Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce

4 tbsp light soured cream (1sp per person)

1 x tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180c.

Take a large bowl and add the cream cheese, buffalo sauce, blue cheese dressing and lime juice. Whisk together until smooth and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the rest of the filling ingredients and fold everything together. Taste again and check/adjust the seasoning.

Take a large baking dish and spray with low cal cooking spray. Divide the mixture roughly into 8 in the bowl and then, one tortilla at a time, add the filling and roll longways so that they are nice and tight and relatively thin. Pop into the baking dish and repeat with the other 7 tortillas. Spray the top of the wraps with low cal cooking spray and then pop in the oven for 20-30 minutes (until the wraps have started to brown on top).

While the Taquitos are cooking you can also roast some butternut squash chips (pop these in 10-15 minutes before the Taquitos) if you fancy them.

I also served with a side salad which included iceberg lettuce, shredded spinach, a couple of chopped spring onions and a tablespoon of sweetcorn tossed in a tbsp. of the blue cheese dressing ( the same one used in the main recipe) and some lime juice.

Once cooked, remove the Taquito’s from the oven and finish with a drizzle of Buffalo Sauce, light soured cream and fresh coriander.

Serve with the salad and BNS if you are having them alongside a tbsp. lightest soured cream per person.

Enjoy!

The post Buffalo Chicken Taquitos – 12sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Being a huge fun of pulled pork, I decided that I would give the whole pulled chicken a whirl but by speeding up the process a little. As a result I made a lovely and tasty chipotle BBQ sauce, poured it over the cooked chicken and voila!! The BBQ chicken in this form could be used in so many different ways (in a burger, a thin, with rice, with sweet potato or BNS fries…..) but I decided to try something new.

The result was delicious. My Other Half declared it was in his top 5 of all my recipes (a seal of approval if I ever heard one!). It is bursting with flavour and really quick and easy to make.

You can play around with the points on this one depending on how you like it.

If you have a traditional quesadilla it will be closed (i.e wrap on the bottom and on top). This works out at 9sp per person. If you have an open one its 7sp per person (skip the top wrap).

I had it closed so the cheese would be nice and melty and served it with a side salad, a dollop of half fat sour cream and a dollop of guacamole. It might look small on the plate but it was so filling and satisfying, it will definitely becoming a regular in the Skinny Kitchen household!

Ingredients

For the BBQ Sauce

This sauce serves 4. You will only need half a portion for the recipe below. The sauce is only 2sp per portion when split between four so you could use the rest as a dipping sauce if it took your fancy (I did!) If you do do this and split it between only 2 people, the sauce will be 4sp per person.

100g reduced sugar and salt ketchup

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp smoked paprika and cumin

¼ tsp mustard powder and salt

½ tsp chipotle paste

Few drops of tabasco or a pinch of chilli powder (if you like it spicy)

Method

Pop all the ingredients in a pan with around 50-100ml of water and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down and cook for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and let cool down.

For the Quesadilla

Serves 2 – 9sp per person including BBQ sauce

2 x Weight Watchers Tortillas

1 tbsp salsa

100g roast chicken, cooked and shredded, light meat

½ portion of bbq sauce (recipe above)

60g half fat cheese, grated

1 spring onion, sliced

Handful of fresh coriander shredded

1 lime, quartered

Serving Suggestions (don’t forget to add the extra points)

Side Salad

Dollop of half fat sour cream and guacamole

Sweet potato or BNS Wedges or Spicy Rice

Method

Take a large bowl pop the cooked chicken in and add half the BBQ sauce. Coat well and pop to one side.

Make sure all your other ingredients are prepared as once you start cooking its very quick! Pop your side salad on your plate, roast any wedges if you are having them (or cook your rice).

To construct the quesadilla, take a large frying pan, spray with 1 kal and warm on a medium-high heat for a few minutes. Pop the first tortilla on the bottom, top with the salsa. Then add the BBQ chicken distributing evenly. Scatter on the spring onions and coriander, top with the cheese and give a squeeze of lime. Finish by popping the other tortilla on top. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the tortilla has start to colour nicely and then CAREFULLY turn the quesadilla and cook the other side (I had to take it out of the pan using a plate, flip it and then put it back in). Cook for another 2-3 minutes and then remove from pan onto a chopping board. Chop into quarters and serve with the accompaniments of your choice!

If you decide to do an ‘open’ quesadilla, fry for 2-3 minutes on the first side and then pop under a hot grill to make sure the cheese is nice and melty.

Enjoy!

The post BBQ Chicken Quesadilla – 9sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 6sp each (previously 10pp) each including taco shells

1 x red onion, finely chopped

1 x carrot, peeled and diced

2 x peppers, deseeded and diced

4 x garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced

400g extra lean beef mince

2 x tsp fajita seasoning (I used Discovery)

1 x tsp cumin and smoked paprika

½ tsp chilli powder (or less if you don’t like it too spicy)

Salt and Pepper

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 x stock cube (which ever you fancy, I used vegetable)

200ml passata

Handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Box of 8 Taco Shells – 2 per person

Serving Suggestions – Remember to add the extra propoints

Salsa/Guacamole/Sour Cream

Sliced Red Onion/jalapeños

Lime

Fresh Coriander

Spicy Refried Beans (2sp for half a small tin, although they looked vile, they actually taste quite nice)

Uncle Ben’s Spicy Mexican Rice (5sp for half a packet)

Method

Pop the onion in a large frying pan and begin to fry in low cal cooking spray for a few minutes. Add the peppers and carrot and fry for another few minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute more.

Add the mince and begin to brown. After a few minutes add all of the spices, reserving 1 tsp fajita seasoning. Once the mince is browned add the tomato puree with a little splash of water and cook until the tomato puree is nicely combined into the mince. Next crumble your stock cube into around 200ml boiling water. Once dissolved, pour 100ml of the vegetable stock into the pan along with 200ml of the passata. Add the remaining fajita seasoning and season well. Add this point you could add some kidney beans or butter beans but remember to add the points! Simmer on high for 10-15 minutes so that the sauce starts to reduce nicely. I add the remaining 100ml of stock as I’m going to make sure there is enough sauce for four, but so that it’s not too watery.

Just before the sauce is ready, throw in the coriander, reserving a little for serving, give a good stir.

Pop the taco shells in the oven for 3-4 minutes to warm through.

Assemble all your ingredients on a nice big table and dig in!

Enjoy!

The post Mince Beef Taco’s – 6sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Serving Suggestions

I serve with 0 point salsa, a dollop of guacamole, a tbsp of half fat sour cream and a very small portion of rice (40g) and that was enough for me. My hubbie had it with both rice and a wrap and made himself what can only be described as’ the nicest burrito he has ever tasted’. You could also have it with taco shells  and a nice green salad. Just be sure to adjust the points/calories depending on what you add.

POINTS AND NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serves 8 – per serving

without accompaniments = 8 points or 238 cals, 6.7g fat, 15.4g carbs, 26.8g protein

with accompaniments = 10 points or 315 cals, 13.4g fat, 18.7g carbs, 27.9g protein

Ingredients

2 onions, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 red chillies, finely chopped

2 red/yellow peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped

30g fresh coriander, stalks removed and separated, everything chopped

2 tsp each smoked paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander and chilli powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp each cayenne pepper and chilli flakes

2 fresh bay leaves

2 x 400 g tins of chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 beef stock cube, crumbled

800g beef brisket, raw

400g tin of cannellini or kidney beans in water

2 limes, quartered

Low calorie cooking spray

Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan).
2. Spray a large ovenproof pan with low-calorie cooking spray. Add the onion, garlic, chilli, peppers and coriander stalks and fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
3. Add all the spices and the bay leaves and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly and adding a splash or two of water to stop it sticking, if needed.
4. Next, add the tomatoes and two tins’ worth of water, the tomato purée and crumbled stock cube and bring to the boil.
5. Add the meat to the pan, cover with the liquid and then a lid (or foil if you don’t have a lid), and then transfer to the oven to cook for 4 hours, stirring halfway and adding a good splash of water to loosen, if needed.
6. Thirty minutes before the end of cooking, remove the pan from the oven. Take two forks and shred the meat apart in the pan.
7. Drain the cannellini beans and stir through the chilli, adding a little more water if the chilli looks a bit dry, and pop back into the oven for the final half hour.
8. To make the salsa, combine all the ingredients with some seasoning in a large bowl and voilà!
9. To make the guacamole, tip all the ingredients into a large bowl, add some seasoning and use a fork to roughly mash everything together. If not serving straight away, sit the avocado stones in the guacamole (this helps to stop it going brown), cover with cling film and chill until needed.
10. Remove the chilli from the oven, season if needed, and then stir through the coriander leaves. Serve with a slice of lime and the salsa and guacamole, if making.

For the salsa – makes 8 portions (0 points per serving)

1 pepper, deseeded finely diced

3 spring onions, finely chopped

400g tomatoes, mashed

1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

30g fresh coriander leaves, chopped

2 tsp white wine vinegar

Juice of half a lime

For the guacamole – makes 8 portions ( 2 points per serving)

1 large ripe tomato, chopped to a pulp

2 ripe avocados (300g flesh)

Juice 1 large lime

15g fresh coriander, leaves and stalks chopped, plus a few leaves, roughly chopped, to serve

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

1 chilli, red or green, deseeded and finely chopped

The post Mexican Beef Chilli first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.