Taquitos

I've recently started doing more freezer cooking, preparing meals ahead of time to store in the freezer to be thawed and baked at a later time.  Let me tell you, we are loving the convenience it provides for us!  One of the meals we've tried out and been very happy with was homemade taquitos.  (Ok, so they aren't really a meal so much as a homemade convenience food, but it's better for you than the overpriced box of them you get at the store!)  I've had a couple friends ask how we did ours, so I figured I'd share the process here so you could try it yourself if you'd like.
You will need
one roast, cut (arm, rump, etc.) and weight of your choosing
taco seasoning
corn tortillas
oil
shredded cheese
crock pot
skillet
bowls
preferred method for shredding roast (either forks or food processor)
strainer
foil lined cookie sheets
freezer bags

First, cook a roast in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours with a couple packets of taco seasoning (or make your own) and 1-1 1/2 cups of water.  I cooked mine the day before assembling the taquitos and then let it cool in the refrigerator overnight.  This has the added benefit of the fat separating to the top of the cooking juices and solidifying, so it was easy to skim off the top.  Shred the roast with two forks or in your food processor, removing excess fat as you go.  Return meat to cooking juices to soak until you are ready to assemble the taquitos.

Soften your corn tortillas on a hot skillet (I like cast iron) in batches with a bit of oil.  I'm sure you can use whatever oil you'd like, but I used canola oil since I didn't want the distinct flavor of olive oil for this particular recipe. Remember, you just want the tortillas soft and warm - don't let them get crisp on the edges or they won't roll nicely.

I use my Pampered Chef Kitchen Spritzer for the oiling of the tortillas.  It gives you just enough oil to soften the tortillas without making things greasy.  I probably used 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil total  to get around 50 taquitos, which will cut down on the fat of your final product considerably compared to the store-bought version, especially considering those are deep fried before they are frozen.

I usually do 4-6 tortillas at a time if I'm doing this recipe alone.  Having a stack larger than that waiting for assembly can lead to dried out and cracked tortillas when you go to roll them up.  If you have an assembly line then just have one person in charge of tortillas and the other can handle the rest of the assembly on their own.

Lightly drain the juices from the shredded meat.  

I don't press all the cooking liquid out of the meat to maintain some of the juiciness, but if you were to just take the meat straight from the juices it would be too wet and soak through your tortillas.  Just putting the meat in a strainer placed over a bowl and letting it rest for a bit seems to work just fine.

Sprinkle some cheese on the softened tortillas and top with drained meat.

Tightly roll up taquitos and place seam side down on a foil lined cookie sheet, making sure they aren't touching.  Freeze for an hour or so until they hold their shape and filling doesn't come out when you pick them up.

Load frozen taquitos in labeled freezer bags, removing as much air as possible to help guard against freezer burn.  You can use a drinking straw to suck out the extra air if you want to be really thorough about this.  Store in freezer until you're ready to enjoy your tasty treats!

To Cook

Place frozen taquitos on a foil lined cookie sheet, bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, flip taquitos to opposite side for even crisping and bake an additional 5 minutes.

or

Warm in microwave for 30-45 seconds to take the chill off, place in a skillet over med/high heat and crisp them on all sides.

I may try making these with shredded chicken or even ground beef next time to see if we like those quite as well as the shredded beef ones.  Also, don't feel like you have to do an entire roast just for this.  This would be a great way to reinvent leftovers for a new meal (That's actually how I started making shredded beef tacos when we first got married since Matt and I could never finish an entire roast on our own.  Roast one night, add taco seasoning to the leftover meat and have tacos the next night.)

I hope this inspires you to try out some freezer cooking for yourself.  If you've already ventured into freezer cooking, what are some of your favorite recipes that you've tried?  I'd love to hear about them!