Chicken Taquitos with Tomato Dipping Sauce

Damn you, Rachel Ray, and your quick and painless 30 minute meals! How dare you make cooking dinner easy for everyone! Ok, but really, I am not what you would call a Rachel Ray "fan", but I will allow that she does occasionally come up with some good ideas once in a while. And sometimes, like when it's Thursday afternoon and you don't know what you want to make for dinner and you just really don't feel like cooking, sometimes those simple 30 minute meals are just what you need.

So the missus and I settled on this here recipe for quick chicken taquitos that are made a little more healthy because they are not fried. It was one of those days when neither of us felt like really cooking, nor did we have any appetite for the take-out places around our home. We found this Rachel Ray recipe online, and figured it would be a quick and moderately healthy dinner for two with the benefit of leftovers for lunch the next day. Here we go.

Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
Salt & Pepper
1 can chopped green chiles, 4 ounces
A few leaves of fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
Shredded cheese (optional)

Season the chicken with cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and mix in the chiles and cilantro. Dip the tortillas in 1-inch warm oil to soften. Tightly roll a couple of forkfuls of chicken up in the tortillas. Place seam side down and bake 12 - 15 min until crispy.

The Sauce:
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbs. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
A pinch of ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper
1 28 oz. can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes

Heat a sauce pot over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, red onion and garlic and soften 5 minutes then season with sugar, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, salt a pepper and stir in the fire roasted tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer.

Sprinkle shredded cheese over taquitos when they are right out of the oven. Spoon the sauce over the taquitos or serve on the side for dipping. Enjoy!