Mexican Fiesta, Cooking from the books and Game Night

Keeping good on the challenge from my daughter-in-law, Sadie (it wasn't so much a challenge as an idea) to play games from my game closet, with friends, and then vote them -- in or out (Not the friends, the games), we had a game night last Saturday.

Even tho, it was a potluck dinner (a great 7-layer dip and a green salad were brought by my friend Theresa), I thought I would combine it with my cook from the books challenge.

I pulled out 2 cookbooks from my shelves of 219. One, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, I had never used before, and the other one, A Cause for Celebration, holds the version of Chili Verde that I call my own and have been making since 1996, but for the sake of documenting all of my cookbooks, I am going to post the cookbook here.  For the post on the recipe  my Chile Verde Click on this.    the Chili Verde is really good tho, so you should really try it out.
I do have to note tho, that once I dug this cookbook out again to get the recipe, I am enamoured of it once again.  It's a JCPenny Associate cookbook...similar to a church cookbook...all the associates (employees) around the country sent in recipes for this book.  Everyone always sends their very best for books like these... ones that that are tried and true.  It has sections for every holiday you could think of.
 
From the first one, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, I made  Chicken Flautas....which seemed like taquitos to me, so I did a little investigating and found out that the name is interchangable in the U.S., but in Mexico they are usually called flautas or  tacos dorados (golden tacos).
I have made and do make my own salsa most of the time, but since it was a potluck-game night, I took the easy way out and bought pre-made fresh salsa and pico de gallo.
 
 

These little crisp fried tortillas with a cheese and chicken filling were----very good. I'd make them again, although, next time I would use yellow corn tortillas, but I only had white corn in my fridge. I think the yellow would make for a better presentation.

But they were perfect for a game night.  (also probably a light supper with a salad)

Chicken Flautas from The Complete Book of  Mexican Cooking on the left and Chili Verde from A Cause for Celebrations--holiday recipes for every occasion on the right.                       

Chicken Flautas

from The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking by Jane Milton

Ingredients:
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 onion (a small one. I usually just use half as much onion as a recipe calls for)
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 1/2 oz feta cheese, crumbled ( I used Queso Fresco )
12 corn tortillas
oil for frying
salt and ground black pepper (I used a bit of cumin, because it seemed just a tad bland to me)
Put the chicken breasts in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken from the pan and let it cool a little, then shred. Set aside.
Chop the onion finely and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in a frying pan; add the onion and garlic and sauté over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the onion has softened. Add the shredded chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Remove from the heat and stir in crumbled cheese.
Before they can be rolled, soften the tortillas in the microwave, a few at a time, on high for 30 seconds. Place a spoonful of the filling on one of the tortillas. Roll the tortilla tightly around the filling. Secure with a toothpick. IMMEDIATELY cover the roll with plastic wrap as you make your other flautas, to keep them from drying out. Fill the remaining tortillas in the same way.
Pour oil into a frying pan to a depth of 1-inch. The trick is to make sure the oil is ready/hot to prevent the flautas from absorbing too much of it. Heat it until a small cube of bread, added to the oil, rises to the surface and bubbles at the edges before turning brown.

Add the flautas a few at a time and fry for 2-3 minutes, until golden, turning frequently.
Drain on paper towels and serve immediately. With good salsa, sour cream and guacamole!

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We ate, we visited, then we got down to "game playing"  and voting.

First, we got out  "Twenty Questions".  It's kind of a classic and I couldnt' see how  it could be voted out.

(seriously, there are some games that I love, but what if no one else does?)  But  it was voted a keeper!!

The new game.... Adverteasing.

The game of slogans, commercials and jingles.

Luckily it turned out this way:

two thumbs up  (they were the winners)

one thumbs down  (poor Max.  He didn't quite know the answer to:

hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us..

and one thumb sideways.  Hmmmm...

I had a thumb up, you just couldnt' see it  (and it was really hard to snap a photo with my thumb held up!)

So...Adverteasing! It's a keeper.

And my pile of games is adding up!

I'm still in mourning over Planet Hollywood.