Banana Cream Puffs

Banana Cream Puff

I love cream puffs.  I love banana cream pie.  This is a natural merger of those two wonderful desserts.  Inside this cream puff lies a bottom layer of banana chunks mixed with vanilla pudding.  Then on top is a heap of Bavarian cream (vanilla pudding mixed with whipped cream) with the cream puff top.  A light-tasting creamy dessert.
For some reason, when I make these without the bananas, I use much smaller amounts of vanilla pudding and whipped cream.  At least, this time I used large amounts of each.  Today the recipe made 11 pretty large puffs.  Normally I make about 15-18 smaller ones.  Try this out.  Leave me a comment if you find that my proportions are way off.  I need to know. 
If you'd like to try cream puffs without the bananas, I've got that posted too.  

Banana Cream Puffs

Ingredients

1 cup water, boiling 1 stick butter 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 4 eggs

1 pkg (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix 2 1/2 cups milk  3 cups heavy cream 2 largish bananas, cut into about 1/4 inch chunks Powdered sugar for garnish

Instructions

1. Bring water and butter to a boil.  Add the flour all at once & stir vigorously until it forms a ball.  Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.

2.  When water-butter-flour mixture is cool, beat in eggs, one at a time, until smooth each time. Scrape into a gallon-size plastic storage bag.  Snip off about ½” of one corner to make a pastry bag. 

3.  Preheat oven to 450°F.  Chill the bowl and whisk attachment of a standing mixer, or other mixing bowl and beaters.

4.  Squeeze out blobs that are about 3 tablespoons worth of the paste onto two parchment-lined baking sheets.  (More paste for larger puffs, less for smaller puffs)  Blobs should be at least 2 inches apart.

Cream puff just out of oven

6.  Move puffs to wire racks.  Poke each one with a toothpick or a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.  Once cool, cut each puff horizontally in the middle and gently remove membrane-looking insides.

5.  Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes—then turn oven down to 350°F for 15-20 minutes, or until well-puffed and light brown.

7.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together milk and pudding powder.  Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes or more.
8. Place banana chunks in a medium sized bowl and gently stir in about a cup and a half of the pudding.
9. Pour the heavy cream into the chilled mixer bowl.  Whip on high speed until almost stiff peaks form.   Then fold the remaining pudding  into whipped cream. (Use 2/3 to all of the pudding, depending on how sweet you want your cream puffs to be.)  Do not over-mix.  

Puff interior before picking out insides

10.  Spread a layer of banana/pudding into the bottom of a puff.  Then with a spoon, scoop enough of the cream mixture into the bottom to just go over the top.  Spoon some into the top to fill in.  Return top to its puff.  

11.  Plate puffs and sprinkle with powdered sugar. 

Makes 12 large, 18 medium, or 24 small cream puffs. 

Banana Cream Puffs sans powdered sugar

Klopses--Little Meatloaf Balls

Klopses--Little Meatloaf Balls

My German-Irish mother calls these "klopses," but I call them "little meatloaf balls." The recipe was passed down from her German mother, Grandma Marian Wenter-Kelly, and they've become a favorite here at my house. They're just tasty little meatloafs with a a buttery cracker crust and a soft, slightly sweet interior.  The gravy is simply a can of cream of chicken soup mixed in with the pan drippings and some water (and some Kitchen Bouquet in these pics).  These are best served with fresh mashed potatoes and whichever vegetable you like to enjoy.  A good, comforting meat and potatoes meal.

Klopses (Little Meatloaf Balls)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef (85 or 90% lean)
• 1 tablespoon grated onion (or ½ tsp or so of onion powder)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (depending on  your sodium needs/restrictions)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3 slices of sandwich bread, torn into tiny pieces
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/3 or so of milk
• 2/3 stack of saltine crackers, crushed
• 3-4 tablespoons butter
• 1 can cream of chicken soup

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl mix the ground beef, onion, egg, salt & pepper, bread, ketchup, and milk with your hands until mixture is combined. 

Preheat a cast iron pan over medium-medium high heat and melt 2-4 tablespoons of butter (you may need to add more if the pan starts looking dry).

Take a wad of the mixture that is about ½ to ¾ cup and roll into a ball.  Coat with crushed crackers and place in hot pan.  Repeat with all of the meat mixture.  Fry on each side until they reach a deep brown color, then flip and fry on the other side.  You may need to add more butter at this point.  Fry until this side is well-browned, and then transfer the klupsas to an oven-proof baking dish. 

Cover with foil and bake covered for about 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake for another 10-20 minutes, or until they’re crisp and done.

While klopses bake, deglaze the pan with about ½ cup water.  Add cream of chicken soup, scraping the pan to remove all the yummy bits.  Bring to a boil, and then move to a serving bowl.

Serve klopses with mashed potatoes and the chicken soup gravy.  (Note: I added some Kitchen Bouquet to my gravy, and that's why it's pretty dark.)

Makes about 6-7 klopses

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Homemade Flour Tortillas (way less salt than the store-bought)

I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and told to lay off the sodium.  I love salty things.  I love lots of salt on my popcorn; I love french fries dipped in salt; I love most Frito-Lay products (Funyons in particular); I love deli meats and frozen pizzas.  So this is a bit of sad news for me.  I also love Mexican food.  Imagine, now, how appalled I was the other night to notice that one Mission brand large burrito size tortilla has a whopping 590mg of sodium!  That's 25% of the RDA!
Sigh.  So I turned to my trusty internet and googled, "flour tortilla recipes," and clicked on the first hit from allrecipes.com.  The way I figure it, when I make 10 tortillas from the recipe, each tortilla only has 200mg of sodium, which is reasonable.  I reduced the salt in the recipe below by about 25%, so mine had even less sodium, and they still tasted great.  They're not quite as chewy/flexible as the Mission tortillas, but homemade tortillas have a charm of their own that, I think, makes up for that.  These tortillas made great burritos without breaking, and they tasted fantastic reheated on a skillet and buttered.  Mmmmm.  My husband fixed one up with butter and sugar & cinnamon, and THAT was tasty as well.
I think the key to making chewy homemade flour tortillas is kneading the dough thoroughly to develop that wonderful gluten, creating a stretchier tortilla.  I've added lots of detail to the original instructions from allrecipes.com, because if you're making homemade tortillas for the first time, I think details are called for.  Sorry if I get too wordy.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

   --adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening 
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• a bit of canola oil
• more flour for dusting

Instructions:

1. Place the flour, salt, add baking powder into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low for a minute.  Add vegetable shortening and mix on low until it resembles cornmeal.

2. Switch to the dough hook attachment and add water.  Mix on low until dough forms a cohesive ball.  You may need to scrape the sides once with a silicone/rubber spatula.  Once it's in a ball, increase speed to medium low and kneed until smooth and elastic (about 5-6 minutes).  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest while you get your other tools ready.

3. Gather your cast-iron skillet, rolling pin, flour, canola oil, and large plate with a clean dish towel (to place finished tortillas).  Very lightly grease a smooth, flat surface with canola oil by spreading a few drops onto the surface with a flat hand.  

4. Remove dough from the bowl and cut into the desired amount of pieces.  If your skillet is small, cut more pieces (up to 24); if you have a large skillet and want large tortillas, cut no fewer than 10 pieces.  With your hand cupped over a piece of dough that is sitting on the greased flat surface, gently push the dough around using a small circular motion with your hand until you have a well-shaped ball of dough. Place dough balls on a floured plate or piece of wax paper and cover with plastic wrap.
5.  Once you have all of your dough balls, wipe your flat surface down with a paper towel to remove any canola oil residue.  Generously flour the surface and place on dough ball down, flour the top, and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.  I start with a couple of strokes across the entire surface in opposite directions, just to get it started.  Then I start so roll from the center and go out, turning my rolling pin about a quarter of a turn with each roll, so hopefully the tortilla will end up in a relatively round shape.  Roll as thin as you possibly can if you want a thinner tortilla.  You'll be surprised at how much they puff up when cooked.  If you like thicker tortillas, don't roll as thin.  You will want to dust off some flour before placing in pan to cook.
6. Preheat your cast-iron skillet over medium heat.  Carefully transfer raw tortilla into pan, making sure you don't make any wrinkles.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side, or until light brown spots appear.  My skillet is fairly large, as were my tortillas, so I had to move it around once a crust was formed on one side, to make sure the edges got cooked a bit on the hot spot of the skillet.  
7.  Repeat with remaining dough balls.  When a tortilla is done, put on a dish lined with a clean dish towel folded in half to cover the tortillas.  You can stack cooked tortillas on top of one another as you go.

8. Store leftovers in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator.

Makes from 10 large to 24 small flour tortillas.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

I bought a whole chicken at Sam's Club yesterday, not knowing exactly how I was going to serve it.  After tossing around some predictable ideas in my head, I landed on chicken pot pie soup.  I'd had it recently at Jason's Deli, and boy, was it yummy.  I looked up a couple of recipes online, and melded them with my own chicken pot pie filling, and this is what I came up with.  It was EXACTLY what I was going for, which seems to rarely happen.  So, I'm glad I'm taking the time now to type out the recipe so I have it for future reference.

This soup is super creamy and thick, almost like a chowder, but better.  I break up the pieces of pie crust on top, and since I made it at home, I give myself much more crust than I got at Jason's Deli. I like this more than chicken pot pie now.
*Disclaimer: I've had this at Jason's Deli since writing this post, and I must say, my version is a lot richer and does not taste exactly like Jason's Deli. I'll have to keep working on that, but in the meantime, this IS a very delicious soup.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup onion, finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 pinch of garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups 1% milk
• 1 cup half & half (can lighten things up by using all milk)
• 3 chicken bullion cubes (4 might be better--I'm trying to reduce sodium)
• 2-3 cups cooked chicken, shredded, diced, or sliced (I used the breast & thigh meat from a store-bought roasted chicken & it was FANtastic.)
• 2 cups diced cooked potato
• 1 ½ cups mixed vegetables, cooked
• 1 batch of pie crust cut into cracker-sized pieces & baked (see below)

Instructions:

In a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt butter and sauté onions until soft.  Add basil, thyme,  black pepper, celery salt, & garlic powder.  Stir and sauté for a minute.  Add flour and stir for about another minute.  Gradually whisk in milk and half & half, making sure to whisk out lumps.  Add bullion cubes and continue to whisk until liquid comes to a simmer and thickens.  Stir in chicken & vegetables.  Turn heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Serve hot with pie crust pieces.

Makes 4-5 servings.

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

(Note: you can also use store-bought refrigerated pie crust)

• 1 ¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons Crisco
• 3 tablespoons ice cold water
• flour for dusting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. With two knives or a pastry blender, cut 4 tablespoons butter into flour until it looks like coarse meal, and then cut in Crisco until well blended. Add ice cold water and stir with fork. Then use your hands to gently work the dough into a ball.  Flour a rectangular sheet of wax paper, place dough ball in the middle, flour the ball, and cover with another rectangular sheet of wax paper. Roll dough out to a thickness of about 1/8”.  With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough roughly into 2”x 2” squares.  You can also be creative and use cookie cutters to make cute shapes.

Place dough pieces on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Prick each piece a few times with a fork.  Bake at 400°F for 11-13 minutes, or until browned on the edges.   Remove from oven. 

Serve with the soup.

Whoopie Pies with Cocoa Mascarpone Filling

Whoopie Pies with Cocoa Mascarpone Filling

After my last successful adventure with whoopie pies, I decided to try them out with a cocoa mascarpone filling, because I do love chocolate cake with cocoa whipped cream.  These came out exactly as I had imagined: soft chocolate cake cookies filled with a very thick and very rich cocoa whipped cream; not too sweet, and very, very chocolatey.  Mascarpone Cheese, where have you been all my life?  I'm so glad we've finally met.

Whoopie Pies with Cocoa Mascarpone Cream Filling

    --adapted from Martha Stewart 's Whoopie Pie recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 recipe Cocoa Mascarpone Cream Filling

Instructions:

Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light-colored and fluffy.  Add egg, buttermilk, and vanilla and beat until combined.  Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing until combined.  Scoop into an airtight plastic container and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a medium sized cookie scoop (I used the medium Pampered Chef cookie scoop, which is about 2T), drop 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until puffed and cracked on top.

Allow to cool a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet and then carefully move to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Once all cookies are baked and cooled, work on the filling.

Cocoa Mascarpone Cream Filling Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 16 oz. mascarpone cheese
•  1 cup heavy whipping cream

Cocoa Mascarpone Cream Filling Instructions:  In a mixer bowl thoroughly mix cocoa, sugar, and hot water.  Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes.  Add cream, mascarpone & vanilla.  Mix slowly at first to incorporate ingredients and then beat on high until very thick.

Place frosting in a large zip-top bag and cut one of the bottom corners 1/2 inch.  Squeeze about 4 tablespoons of frosting on each of 16 cookies.  Then top with the remaining 16 cookies.  Now you have yummy whoopie pies.  

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, if they last long enough. 

Makes 16 pies.  

Whoopie Pies with Mascarpone Frosting

Whoopie Pies with Mascarpone Cream Frosting.  Absolutely perfect.

With an 8-oz. container of mascarpone cheese burning a hole in my fridge and a successful use of mascarpone frosting in My Chocolate Birthday Cake, I decided that I just HAD to make some whoopie pies with the mascarpone frosting.  I've had this whoopie pie recipe from the Food Network website since 2004, and I've never made it.  It's actually a Martha Stewart recipe, and it's no longer on the foodtv.com website.  
All that having been said...OH MY GOODNESS.  These are delicious.  The mascarpone frosting is the perfect filling for these things.  It's like a super thick whipped cream filling fluffy little cakes.  They're just barely sweet enough so that I don't feel sick after eating one. Mmmmm...I'm looking forward to my next one already.

Whoopie Pies with Mascarpone Cream Frosting
    --adapted from Martha Stewart 's Whoopie Pie recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 recipes Mascarpone Frosting (One recipe wasn't quite enough.  I think doubling the frosting and making them obnoxiously full of the cream would be better.  Just saying.)

Instructions:
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light-colored and fluffy.  Add egg, buttermilk, and vanilla and beat until combined.  Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing until combined.  Scoop into an airtight plastic container and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Using a medium sized cookie scoop (I used the medium Pampered Chef cookie scoop, which is about 2T), drop 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until puffed and cracked on top.
Allow to cool a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet and then carefully move to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Once all cookies are baked and cooled, work on the filling.

Mascarpone Cream Frosting Ingredients:

•  8 oz. mascarpone cheese
•  1/4 cup sugar
•  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract*
•  1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Mascarpone Cream Frosting Instructions:  In a mixer bowl, cream mascarpone, vanilla & sugar.  Add cream and whip on high until stiff.

*Note: for the frosting you see pictured above, I used 1/3 of a vanilla bean pod, split and scraped, and I put it with the cream in a small saucepan, brought it barely to a simmer, and then refrigerated it.  Remove the vanilla bean pod before adding it to the mascarpone & sugar, making sure to scrape all of the precious seeds into the mixture.

Place frosting in a large zip-top bag and cut one of the bottom corners 1/2 inch.  Squeeze about 2 tablespoons of frosting on each of 16 cookies.  Then top with the remaining 16 cookies.  Now you have yummy whoopie pies.  

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, if they last long enough. 

Makes 16 pies.  Actually, it made 15 for me with two naked cookies. :(

Cakey and delicous

Marilyn Wong's Chinese Chicken Salad

Marilyn's Chinese Chicken Salad--DELISH!

Here's a recipe for an Asian sounding salad that comes to you complements of my German-Irish mother who thinks she's Chinese.  I mean, she's got the Chinese husband and hapa haole kids, so she kind of has a right to the benefits of being Chinese.  Except that she's blonde, freckled, and, well, you get the idea.
I rarely make this salad myself, thanks to my carnivore husband who hates salads.  I decided to make it this weekend, though, for company, and somehow I never did make it.  So, I'm having it for dinner tonight, and I'm excited about it.
It's relatively light salad (if you don't count the fried won ton crispies) with pretty simple ingredients.  The only ingredient that's really out of the ordinary, I think, is the sesame oil/sesame seeds.  I think they make a difference, though, so make a point of obtaining those before you make this salad.
Marilyn usually serves this salad with pizza.  Something about balancing out the pizza.  My mom's version of a yin-yang thing, I guess.  Actually, she's usually serving a crowd and trying to please everyone, and this is what happens.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it.  It's all good.  I just think it's funny.  Love you, Mom!

Marilyn Wong's Chinese Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 large head of iceberg lettuce, washed, cored, and cut into 1/2 to 1" pieces
• 4-5 chicken breasts, cooked in a pan or grilled and sliced or shredded
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 a package of won ton wrappers
• canola oil for frying

Dressing Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons white sugar
• 6 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil or toasted sesame seeds

Instructions:
Making the Dressing: Either whisk the dressing ingredients together, or as Marilyn does, place them all in a Mason jar, close tightly, and shake violently to mix.  Set aside.

Making the Won Ton Crispies: Cut won ton wrappers into 1/4" strips.  Cut those strips in half.  In a high rimmed frying pan, heat about 3/4" oil to very hot.  When you think it's hot enough, test one little strip: if it bubbles up right away, the oil is ready. (If the strip immediately browns, the oil is TOO hot--remove from heat and add a little more oil to bring the temperature down.)  Fry a small handful of strips at a time, using a slotted metal spoon to separate strips in the oil.  Fry to a nice golden brown.  Remove with slotted metal spoon to a paper-towel lined plate and lightly salt.  Repeat with remaining strips.

Making the Candied Almonds: Line a heat-proof plate with non-stick foil or parchment paper.  Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Place the 4 tablespoons sugar in the middle and sort of flatten the mound.  Allow sugar to melt completely, stirring with a silicon spatula.  If sugar seems to be browning quickly, remove from heat and proceed.  Once sugar is liquified, add almonds and stir to coat.  Once coated, scrape almonds onto waiting foil or parchment.  With two forks, try to quickly separate the almonds.  Once they cool a bit, you can start using your fingers for this.  They probably won't all separate, but then you'll get some tasty chunks for candied almond in your salad.  No biggie.  When I made them today, I placed the almonds around the edge of the pan while the sugar melted, just to toast them up a bit since I'd had the almonds in the freezer.  Just something different I tried that worked today.
If all of this sounds like too much trouble, I know that they sell prepackaged candied nuts just for this purpose in the produce section of most grocery stores.  The salad will still be yummy with store-bought candied almonds.

Assembling the Salad: Place cut lettuce in a large bowl and sprinkle with chopped green onions, chicken, and almonds.  Pour well-shaken/mixed dressing over the top.  Top with won ton crispies.
Enjoy!

Chinese Chicken Salad, Dressing on the Side

Makes 4-6 meal-sized servings.

Taquitos & Flautas

Taquitos & Flautas w/ Guacamole

Beef Taquitos & Flautas

Taquito: a corn tortilla wrapped around shredded beef, shredded chicken, or chopped steak and fried to crisp perfection.  Sometimes called a rolled taco.
Flauta: a flour tortilla wrapped around shredded beef, shredded chicken, or chopped steak and fried to crisp perfection.
I'm making both tonight because I had a lot of left over carne asada from the other night.  I like to make these whenever I have a relatively large amount of left over roast or chicken.  They're simple, delicious, and yes, probably super fattening.  I don't make them every day, so get off my back about the fat.  They're good, and in moderation they make me happy.
The taquitos are really crisp and when you bite into one, you get this awesome combination of textures and flavors: tortilla chip crispiness and corniness, and spicy, tender meat.  Mmmmm...
Flautas are pretty remarkable too.  The tortillas crisp up just on the outside, but on the inside it's soft and warm.  It adds a different flavor and texture to the meat and gives you a pretty different experience than the corn tortilla.  They definitely taste a little more decadent and unhealthy than the corn.
The trick to making these is the pre-frying of the tortillas.  If you skip that step, particularly with the corn tortilla, you're going to make yourself crazy with the crumbling tortillas.  You're going to fry them anyway, so why not twice?
These are best served with your favorite salsa, or if you're a guacamole fan like me, with your favorite guac.

Taquitos & Flautas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (or so) cooked shredded beef or chicken or chopped cooked steak
• 10-12 tortillas (regular corn and/or fajita sized flour)
• canola oil
• taco seasoning or salsa, if meat is not very seasoned

Instructions:

Heat up about 1 1/2 inches of canola oil in a high-rimmed frying pan over medium-high heat.  It should be hot enough so that when you place a tortilla in it, the oil bubbles immediately.

Get a heat-proof plate ready by lining it with a paper towel.  One at a time, quickly fry the tortillas, turning once.  Don't let them fry too long.  About 3-4 seconds is all it takes.  Remove with tongs and place tortillas on plate.  Just pile them on top of one another.  Turn heat off.

Season meat with a little salsa or taco seasoning if you like that flavor.  Otherwise, you can just use the meat as-is, because if it's left over, it's probably already got seasoning on it, right?

Momentarily separate the tortillas to release some of the heat and steam they've got from being stacked.  Place about 2-3 tablespoons of meat (less for corn tortillas, more for flour) about 2/3 the way down a tortilla, arranging the meat into a line.  Fold over that bottom third and roll as tightly as you can without ripping the tortilla.  If you roll too loosely, the meat will fall out and the taquito will unroll, and you won't want to eat them.  Roll tightly and place seam side down on a plate.  Secure the flour tortilla flautas with a toothpick.  Repeat and place taquitos right next to each other so they can keep each other in order (see picture).

Turn the heat back on under the oil.  It should only take a few minutes to come back up to temperature.  Then place as many taquitos as will fit with about 1/4-inch between.  I can fit 4-5 in my frying pan.  Turn taquitos after about 2 minutes, and basically fry them until the ends are a dark golden brown.  Remove with tongs to a paper towel-lined plate to cool.

Serve with salsa and/or guacamole.

Makes 10-12 taquitos