“Why live if you can’t help others and make the word a better place.” ~ Ben Mikaelsen

I do solemnly swear that food makes the world a better place.
Easy recipes help others make the world a better place. Who doesn’t like a good beef flauta with a little bit of spice, the crispness of the tortilla, a cool covering of limon crema and some fresh salsa? I made this the other night when I wasn’t feeling well, before I was feeling quite awful – fortunately I had these leftovers to feed me when I WAS feeling awful, a few days later.
Easy Beef Flautas
Ingredients
8 small flour tortillas
1 roma tomato
1 yellow onion
1 lime
20 oz. ground beef
1/4 c. tomato paste
1/4 c. sour cream
1/4 c. + 1 T. water
salt & pepper to taste
1 T. McCormick Tex-Mex seasoning
1 c. Mexican blend shredded cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Line a small baking dish with foil, set aside. Cut the onion in half, dice half the onion and slice the other half. Dice the roma tomato. In a small bowl, combine the diced tomato and diced onion. Season with salt and pepper and the juice of half the lime. Set aside. Heat a skillet on medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Add the sliced onion, stirring and breaking the slices up, cooking until translucent. Stir in the ground beef and brown, stirring to break up and combine with the onion. Season with salt and pepper while cooking. When beef is browned, stir in the tomato paste, the Tex-Mex seasoning and 1/4 c. water. Stir until the sauce is thickened. Remove from heat. Prepare the tortillas, spreading each one with a small amount of olive oil. Fill with meat mixture and a sprinkle of cheese and roll, placing seam side down on foil-lined baking sheet. When all tortillas are rolled, bake for 8-10 minutes until edges start to crisp. While tortillas are baking, mix sour cream together with juice of remaining lime and 1 t. lime zest. Add salt and pepper. Stir until it is a drizzling consistency – you may need to add 1 T. water. When flautas are done baking, remove from oven. Top with limon crema and fresh salsa before serving.
Is it a pain to oil each tortilla? Absolutely, so I use the spray-on olive oil which makes it go much faster and is much easier. Could you add jalapenos or chiles to the meat? Of course you can, you’re the one making the flautas – this is just a basic recipe. Can you substitute ground pork, ground turkey or ground chicken? Again . . . this is just a basic recipe, feel free to tweak it to your tastes.
These fulfill many of my “easy” requirements:
- I usually have the ingredients on hand
- they work well for meal prep
- it’s easy enough to have the kids make them
- everybody likes them
Bon appetit!