Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Taquitos

I have gotten a lot of great recipe ideas from Door to Door Organics, but this one was amazing! The filling for these tacquitos was so good, and not very hard to make at all. I like to cook chicken for this type of recipe in the slow cooker because it is less work and makes it incredibly easy to shred. I just tossed the chicken in the slow cooker when I got up in the morning, and while I was at it, I put my red pepper in the oven to roast while I made breakfast. When dinner time rolled around, it didn't take long to do the rest.  You could even cook the chicken and roast the pepper the night before and store them in the fridge.

Since Charlie has a dairy allergy, I left the cheese out of a couple of the taquitos (which is not an issue for him because he has never liked cheese). And honestly, I would have been just as happy to just eat the chicken filling with nothing else because it was so good!

Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Taquitos

Ingredients

1 pound organic free range chicken breasts
2 cups organic chicken stock (for slow cooking chicken)
12 flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups low fat organic shredded cheddar cheese
1 red pepper
6 organic green onions, chopped
1/2 cup organic chicken stock (reserved from slow cooker)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 tsp cumin
Cayenne pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place chicken breasts in slow cooker with enough chicken stock to just cover them (about 2 cups) and cook on low for 5 hours

2. Shred chicken using two forks to pull apart

3. To roast red pepper, place whole pepper on a baking pan and preheat oven to 500 degrees. Roast pepper for 30-40 minutes, turning pepper very 10 minutes to evenly roast. When roasting is complete, remove skin and seeds and chop pepper.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease a baking pan with canola oil

5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add chicken, salt, black pepper, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Stir until chicken is evenly coated with seasonings.

6. Add chicken stock and green onions and cook until liquid has cooked off (about 5 minutes) and then stir in chopped roasted red pepper

7. Fill each tortilla with 2 Tbsp shredded cheese and ~1/3 cup chicken mixture. Roll tightly and place fold-side-down on the greased baking sheet.

8. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown

9. Serve with sliced avocados and enjoy!

(Recipe adapted from doortodoororganics.com)

What are the nutritional benefits of this meal? Chicken is an excellent source of protein and is rich in B vitamins. Bell peppers are one of the best food sources of vitamins A and C. Green onions are a great source if vitamin C as well, and are rich in flavonoids (a type of antioxidant). Avocados are rich in monounsaturated fats that have been shown to boost HDL (good cholesterol), and are an excellent source of vitamins C,E and carotenoids lycopene and beta carotene, as well as the minerals selenium and zinc.