So I found something new to do with one of my favorite freezer meal components! For our recent superbowl party I decided to thaw out bag of Cheesy Beef Taquito filling from the freezer and use it to fill muffin cups lined with a square of puff pastry. (I used silicone muffin pans and spritzed well with cooking spray but I'm sure regular pans would work too)
I topped with more shredded cheese, brushed tips of pastry still exposed with an egg wash and baked at 400 for 20 minutes or so - until I could tip up one of the the bundles and see the bottom was nicely browned.
They. Were. Awesome. Every single one got eaten, tons of compliments. I served with sour cream on the side but most folks just ate them as is.
In case you want to try here is the original recipe info:
Creamy Chicken Taquitos
http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/freezer-meal-creamy-chicken-taquitos/
The freezer friendly part of this is that the meat mixture is made ahead of time and frozen. I freeze flat in a small ziplock bag. Then just thaw overnight in fridge (or last minute in microwave - I just peel the bag off and put frozen slab on plate to defrost) and use to fill your shells.
We prefer to fill less shells with more mixture - making each one a more hearty serving. And it uses less shells/carbs
Instead of cooking spray we brush with oil and use our NuWave oven to air "fry" them. Very, very good and such a quick easy meal for me to pull together on week nights!
Creamy Beef Taquitos
Same recipe as above but instead of shredded chicken I use shredded beef made by cooking the roast part of this recipe here:
http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/beef-and-blue-sliders/
From a 2 lb roast I have enough for a double batch of taquito filling plus another 3 cups or so that I just freeze plain. Can use for many different things including as a jumpstart to the beef and blue slides recipe itself!