Sloppy Matts

Have you discovered that THRIVE is perfect for camping?  It requires no refrigeration and is super easy to prepare for dinner.

Last weekend was our annual trip for a free Kids Fishing Day along a trout-stocked river.  I have several upcoming posts of the food we prepared on our camping trip.  I love my kids learning how to fish, as long as I don't have to touch a live (dead) worm or fish.  Fortunately Princess Naked Toes has no such problems and is training to become our family's official worm and fish toucher :)

Because the annual kids fishing trip is with multiple families, we try to coordinate our meals but with picky kids,  (planning to do families on their own for next year because of picky kids).  For Friday night, my mom made a pot of beans and burger which my family won't eat (they are anti-bean) so we made Sloppy Matts - these are Uncle Matt's (the Matt married to my sister, not the Matt married to my husband's sister) version of a Sloppy Joe.  In addition to being easy, even when camping, and delicious, they are also THRIVE friendly.  My girls LOVE Sloppy Matts (and the name always makes them smile).

Sloppy Matts

1 lb ground beef, or 2 cups THRIVE Freeze Dried Ground Beef
1 jar barbecue sauce
8 hamburger buns

Brown your ground beef and drain it, OR simply rehydrate your THRIVE Ground Beef and put it in a sauce pan.  Add your barbecue sauce and heat to your preferred temperature.  Scoop and put on your hamburger buns.

Chicken Taquitos

Printable Recipe

Let's review my schedule on Tuesday...

11:15 am Lunch
11:45 am Take Naked Toes to a friend's house, who will take her to preschool
12 pm - 2:30 pm   Volunteer at Field Day for Smiles A Lot
2:50 pm - 3:45 pm Grab Smiles A Lot and head to ice cream party at Preschool
4:00 pm - 4:15 pm Register Naked Toes for Tee Ball
4:30 pm - 5 pm  Make dinner
5:15 pm Eat and clean up dinner
5:30 pm Leave for nephews 5th Grade Graduation which starts at 6 pm
7:30 pm Cub Scout Committee Meeting until 8:30 pm

It was crucial that I defrosted the chicken breast and cook it BEFORE lunch so that we could eat taquitos for dinner.  That did NOT happen.  So at 4:20 when we got home from tee ball registration, I immediately thought GREAT!  Now what do we eat for dinner?!  It quickly became an uh-duh moment because I have THRIVE FD Chopped Chicken.

I put the FD Chicken in my strainer and set the strainer in a bowl and then the combo into my sink.  I added just enough water to cover the chicken and stirred the chicken to make sure everything touched the water.

I gathered my taco seasoning ingredients (4 t chili powder, 4 t cumin, 1 t salt, 2 t garlic powder) while I let the chicken soak.  To keep it simple, you CAN use a packet of taco seasoning.  We've just come to love this recipe and I keep all the ingredients on hand.

I didn't let the chicken soak for more than a few minutes because I was pressed for time AND I knew that I'd be using water to heat it up.  So just like making taco meat, I put my chicken in my skillet, added the taco seasoning, and 2/3 cup water.  I brought it to a boil and let the water reduce as the meat heated up.

 Once it's all heated up, I add 3 oz cream cheese and 1/2 to 1 cup of shredded cheddar and mix it up.  It doesn't look pretty like this but it's yummy.

 It's hard to take photos of myself while I'm adding the meat mixture to a tortilla and rolling it up - so I didn't.  Roll up the tortilla and place in a 9x13 pan.  Spray the tortillas with Pam and sprinkle with salt.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes - I generally turn them over halfway through so that it's crispy all the way around instead of just on the top.  Serve with sour cream, salsa, and your favorite sides.   Once again, Shelf Reliance saved our dinner!

Remember all those soccer practice nights?  This is actually one of the items I made for one of our picnics - I used a 9x13 pan with a lid that I have an insulated carrying case for.  They were a great finger food at the park!

 Simple Baked Chicken Taquitos

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups Shredded Chicken Or Freeze-dried Chicken
• 1 package Taco Seasoning (or One Recipe)
• 3 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
• 1 cup Shredded Cheddar
• 10  Tortillas
• ⅔ cups Water
• Salt

Preparation Instructions

If using freeze dried chicken, you should completely or partially rehydrate the chicken before combining with the seasoning.
Combine chicken and seasoning in pan with water. Heat up, then add cream cheese. Stir until creamy. Add cheddar. Spoon onto tortilla and roll up. Place seam side down on baking sheet. When done creating taquitos, spray them with pam and sprinkle with salt.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
For crispier taquitos, flip over halfway through baking.