I held a mini-tasting in my kitchen for some family members this weekend. I test cooked about seven recipes for the book and several were clear winners, getting instant cheers. Meanwhile a few others are going back to the drawing board because they are just missing something. Obviously, it was productive. I wouldn’t want to include recipes that only make my taste buds tingle and no one elses.

Honestly, the tasting was so much fun that I would consider doing it every week. That sure would speed the process along too.

One thing I have discovered since I started writing less than a week ago is that if I think too much about what I am doing, I lose sight of it and have difficulty – writers block, kitchen errors, etc. But if I just do it, and forget why I am doing it, the whole writing and cooking process goes very smoothly. I guess when I am trying to write a cookbook, I put too much pressure on myself. But when I am just trying to write things are just normal. Am I making any sense here?

This recipe is from early February – don’t worry I haven’t broken my Lent. It was borne of the desire to fully utilize a roasted chicken I had made without any waste. From that 3 lb chicken, I made these chicken tacos, a chicken basil soup(that was a weeks worth of lunches for my husband), and ate the chicken itself for dinner. Talk about waste not, want not. Did I mention that the soup was made from stock from the chicken carcass?

Anyway, the taco recipe all started with this:

And a careful portion of Penzey’s Original Taco seasoning. This is less meat than would normally be used to make tacos (1 lb) so I used a lighter portion of seasoning.

I definitely recommend this taco seasoning. The flavor was excellent.

2 cups cubed roasted chicken
1.5 tbsp taco seasoning (such as Penzey’s Original)
3/4 cup water
shredded cheddar
4 fajita sized soft tortillas

In a medium skillet, combined the chicken, taco seasoning, and water. Cook on medium for 5-8 minutes, until the water evaporates leaving a thick sauce.

Spoon chicken onto tortillas, top with cheddar.

Serve these with salsa and low-fat sour cream, as well as a salad for a quick and easy meal.