Budget Friendly Meals: BBQ Pork and Macaroni and Cheese Taquitos

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Now that the temperatures here in California have been over 100 degrees almost every day this week, I have been desperately trying to stay away from my oven. I mean, I love my oven, don't get me wrong, but I just can't possibly imagine cranking it on and allowing it to send my precious cold air away. No, thank you. During the hot months when I'm trying to come up with Summer meals, I'm always looking to create simple dinners that require any cooking source other than my oven. Crockpots are great, stove is fine, and I would probably even consider turning my car into an oven and baking some cookies (like I've seen on Pinterest so many times). 

This past week while I was shopping at Walmart, I noticed that a lot of the Kraft products were on Rollback and were begging to come home with me. 

I'm always looking for great deals so that I can create budget friendly meals as it seems most people are always looking for ways to save money and a lot of people have financial "tight times" around the 1st and 15th of the month.

First I scanned the meat aisle to find something that stood out to me... they had these little, adorable pork roasts for $5 that I knew would be perfect in the crockpot. I grabbed some tortillas, Velveeta shredded cheese, some Velveeta Shells & Cheese, Kraft BBQ Sauce and Kraft Ranch Dressing to complete my delicious little dinner idea...

The first thing I did was throw my cute little pork roast in the crockpot along with a cup of beef broth for flavor! I cooked it on high for about 4 hours and it was perfectly tender and shreddable!

Next, I mixed in a bottle of Kraft Original BBQ sauce! Summer... BBQ sauce... it just works for me! 

Then I threw a box of Velveeta Shells & Cheese into my boiling water and cooked it according to the package directions: 9 minutes, drain, mix in the cheese sauce! Couldn't be easier. Seriously. 

Then, I sprinkled my tortillas with the Velveeta shredded cheese, topped it with 2 tablespoons of the BBQ pork and one heaping tablespoon of the Shells & Cheese. Doesn't that look good enough to eat? It should... since that's exactly what you're supposed to do with it!

Now, roll 'em up! They're kind of fat for taquitos... and that almost makes me love them even more. Nothing wrong with a big, fat taquito, right? I guess it might be considered more of a Flauta and not a taquito... buuuut we'll just ignore that little fact since most people call anything rolled in a tortilla and baked (or fried) a taquito. ;)

Now, I could have baked these... I could have. But then I would be breaking my rule... and we just couldn't have that, could we? Of course not! So, instead, I sprayed my cast iron skillet with a little nonstick spray, cranked the heat up to medium, and browned them on both sides.

Gotta have the ranch dipping sauce! You could even add in a little sour cream, if you're into that sort of thing. 

Bam! BBQ Pork & Mac and Cheese Taquitos! Double Bam! Triple Bam! 

Now, that's lovely. My hubby, daughter and son all gave these 2 enthusiastic thumbs up, with a quick request for more. Well, my son didn't exactly say much, since he's 1, but he did finish his entire plate and didn't try to feed any to the dog! That's how you know he likes it. Much too good for doggies!

This meal is super easy to make and would be easy (and fun!) for kids to put together! It's also a pretty frugal Budget recipe that won't break the bank! Everything ended up costing less than $20! It was actually closer to $15! Yay! 

What's your favorite budget friendly meal to make at home?

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BBQ Pork & Mac and Cheese Taquitos:

{Print Recipe}

Ingredients:

• 2 pound pork loin roast
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 bottle Kraft Original BBQ Sauce
• 1 box Velveeta Shells & Cheese
• 10 flour tortillas
• 1 cup shredded Velveeta cheese
• *Kraft Ranch Dressing for dipping

Directions:

Place pork roast and beef broth in crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours. Remove from crockpot, shred and mix in BBQ sauce.

Meanwhile, cook Velveeta Shells & Cheese according to package directions. Drain, mix in cheese sauce and set aside.

Sprinkle about 3 tablespoons of shredded Velveeta cheese on a tortilla. Top it with about 2 tablespoons of pork mixture, followed by 1 heaping tablespoon of the shells and cheese. Roll tightly and repeat with remaining tortillas.

In a skillet, over medium heat, spray a little nonstick cooking spray and place a couple taquitos in the center. Once browned, flip and cook until the other side browns, about 1-1/2 - 2 minutes. Repeat until all taquitos are browned.

Cut each taquito in half at an angle, and serve with ranch dressing.

Makes 10 taquitos.