This morning my most pressing decision was to decide what I wanted to eat. Tough, I know. I couldn’t decide between breakfast or lunch (around 11:30) and went back and forth about 100 times. I decided that I felt like lunch (as I usually do, not sure why I even contemplated breakfast). All the things I could think of making required that I go to the store for an ingredient or two and I didn’t want to do that. Since Trader Joe’s is so close to me, I am guilty of going there a couple times per week just to pick up a thing or two. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I normally end up buying a bunch of other stuff once I am there and as a result the money that I spend on groceries every month has been way too high and I also end up having so much stuff in my pantry and freezer that I don’t ever get to. I set my grocery budget at 50 dollars per week and am determined to stick to it. Since I already spent that much this week, I knew I had to make do with what I already had.
I bought masa harina (corn flour) awhile ago and figured maybe I would experiment using it. I just used the recipe for gorditas that was listed on the bag (the one I have is Bob’s Red Mill)
The recipe was really simple, and can be found at the link above. To make, I fried the flour mixture in just a little bit of olive oil–but not too much. I am the fat nazi after all. They took just a couple of minutes on each side.
At the same time I was cooking the gorditas, I mixed chicken and green chiles in another pan to heat them up:
Not too pretty, but tasted great!
Then I topped the gordita with the chicken and green chile mixture and then lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese. I put it under the broiler for about 2 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese.
Since I had never made this before, I honestly had no idea how it was going to turn out. When I took the first bite I was SO excited because the ‘gordita’ dish tasted delicious and reminded me of some of my very favorite tacos. For any of you Michiganders, you might know of the mexican restaurant El Charro. They have a few locations in Michigan and my family used to eat there a lot when I was younger. The soft tacos they have are unlike any other…they call them ‘unique soft shell tacos’ on the menu. They are unique because the tortillas they use are not normal tortillas but are about a quarter inch thick and taste kind of like a mix between corn and flour tortillas. They are fried so are pretty greasy. When I bit into my gordita creation, I realized they tasted almost exactly like the tacos I used to eat at El Charro! I have been wondering how to make those tacos for years so to accidently recreate them was pretty exciting. They had the same exact taste but without all the grease!
Mine wouldn’t have held up made into a ‘taco’ since they weren’t deep fried, but thats ok with me! Same taste, but definitely wayyyyy healthier. If you happen to see Masa Harina in the store, pick some up and make these right away!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Katie