One of my new favorite indulgences is a treat that my mother-in-law sends in care packages from Missouri. In the neighborhood where my husband grew up known as Gladstone, Missouri (Kansas City), there is a little factory that makes THE BEST taco shells. If you are from anywhere near Kansas City you probably have seen or heard of La Tiara taco shells. These little wonders are light, crispy and for their petite size, pack quite a punch of flavor to any filling. While you can't crowd them too much with layers and layers of toppings, keeping it simple is the best way to go. Whether you choose your standard seasoned hamburger taco meat, cheese and lettuce with some garnish of onion and or tomato, you will be surprised at just how strong these fragile little crisps of heaven are. As if made by angels, these shells make you rethink ever buying any other brand of taco shell again. There is an even better secret about these taco shells, they are LOW CARB! Only 4 grams per shell! You could totally have like a half dozen and not feel guilty, they truly are amazing! Yes, I am yelling this excitedly!
The most recent way we used these 3 bite wonders was making Teriyaki chicken tacos with a pineapple jalapeno salsa and brown rice. One thing I have noticed is that it's actually in some cases more expensive to buy a whole uncooked chicken and roast it yourself compared to the deli section in the supermarket's rotisserie chicken offerings. I tend to use this option for many different dishes to not only add flavor I wouldn't get out of using frozen breast pieces, but it's ready to go for just about any recipe calling for cooked chicken.
Start by getting all the meat off the chicken carcass, careful to pick out any gristle or tendons. Nothing ruins my appetite more than taking a bite of chicken salad or a casserole to feel that rubbery hard piece of connective tissue squeeze between my teeth. Ewww! Once the meat has been stripped from the chicken and placed in a bowl, I will hand shred the meat by pulling it apart and making shredded pieces throughout the whole bowl. I then took a couple tablespoons of teriyaki sauce, and a couple tablespoons of hoisin sauce and mixed it into the chicken and coated all the meat evenly. I set that aside to work on the salsa. Canned pineapple rings (no sugar added) were opened and I pulled out about 6 rings and chopped them up into salsa sized chunks and put in another bowl. I took a handful of fresh cilantro and chopped up and put in the bowl, along with 4 small pickled jalapenos chopped. I poured in about 3 tablespoons of the pineapple juice from the can, poured in about 2 tablespoons of the pickling liquid from the can of whole jalapenos and added in a diced 1/2 of a red onion. A teaspoon of salt was added and everything was mixed together and put in the refrigerator while prepping the rest of dinner. We made some instant brown rice while re-cooking the marinated cooked shredded chicken in a skillet to heat and caramelize the sauce onto the chicken.
The taco shells were prepared as directed by heating them in a low oven prior to using. Once the shells had been warmed, they were filled with a bottom layer of the brown rice, the shredded chicken, and topped with the pineapple jalapeno salsa. They were truly a delicious savory yet sweet option to the normal Mexican flavors one is used to with tacos. Satisfied a craving for the sweet teriyaki and the savory of the chicken combined with the tangy and heated salsa. Mmmm... 2 much of this good stuff leaves for great leftovers!
Ingredients
Pineapple Jalapeno Salsa
1 sm. can of whole pickled jalapenos
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