The Nifty Foodie

I recently saw these on Mrs. Sac’s Purple Kitchen and thought about how great it would be to make these. DH and I’s favorite restaurant is a local Mexican restaurant, but we hate to go out to eat since it gets so pricey. So, with this recipe, I was hoping to bring some great Mexican food to him!

This is a recipe from Tyler Florence on Food Network and the ratings were excellent, so I knew I had to give these a try!

These were delicious, though DH would have been happier had I put the stewed tomatoes in the food processor (he’s not a fan of tomato chunks). I will say though, this makes 16 enchiladas, so if you don’t want as many, you might want to halve the recipe.

Chicken Enchiladas
Source: Food Network (Tyler Florence)

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast
• Salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Mexican Spice Blend
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 5 canned whole green chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 4 canned chipotle chiles, seeded and minced
• 1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 16 corn tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar and Jack cheese  (I used way more than this!)
• Garnish: chopped cilantro leaves, chopped scallions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes

Directions:

1. Coat large saute pan with oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Sprinkle chicken with cumin, garlic powder and Mexican spices before turning. Remove chicken to a platter, allow to cool.
2. Saute onion and garlic in chicken drippings until tender. Add corn and chiles. Stir well to combine. Add canned tomatoes, saute 1 minute.
3. Pull chicken breasts apart by hand into shredded strips. Add shredded chicken to saute pan, combine with vegetables. Dust the mixture with flour to help set.
4. Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. Coat the bottom of 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce. Using a large shallow bowl, dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce to lightly coat. Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla. Fold over filling, place 8 enchiladas in each pan with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.
5. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven until cheese melts. Garnish with cilantro, scallion, sour cream and chopped tomatoes before serving. Serve with Spanish rice and beans.

My fiance and I had some leftover rotisserie chicken from Target to use up. So, I searched online for ideas and found this great recipe for chimichangas on Recipezaar. Even better, it’s healthy!

Oven Fried Chimichangas
Source: Recipezaar

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup picante sauce or your favorite salsa
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 green onions, chopped with some tops (about 1/4 cup)
• 6 (8 inch)  flour tortillas
• 2 tablespoons margarine, melted
• shredded cheddar cheese, for serving
• chopped green onion, for serving
• picante sauce, for serving

Directions:

1. Mix chicken, picante sauce or salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese and onions.

2. Place about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla.

3. Fold opposite sides over filling.

4. Roll up from bottom and place seam-side down on a baking sheet.

5. Brush with melted margarine.

6. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until golden.

7. Garnish with additional cheese and green onion and serve salsa on the side.

These came out pretty good. I would add more cheese for next time, but I think this is a definite keeper in the recipe file for us!

POINTS*: TBA

I officially rejoined Weight Watchers last Monday. I’ve been really good on my diet this week. Totally within points, and I’ve worked out 5 days in a row using Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred DVD (which I highly recommend!!).

Anyways, being a member of Weight Watchers means I have an eTools membership. So, points values* will be determined using that tool instead of SparkRecipes. Along with that, eTools gives me GREAT W/W friendly recipes that I can adapt (and it will count points as I adapt). So, here is my first recipe that I made for Joey and I last night.

To me, it was spicy and I wish I would have used green chiles instead of jalapenos. I also cut this into 8 wedges instead of 6. (didn’t read directions well so I ate less points than I thought for supper)

Before I show the results of this dish, I want to give a shout-out to Rachael Ray (yes, I *heart* her!). This Furi tool pictured below, rocks my world in chopping vegetables. I usually cut myself a lot with using knives, and with this tool, my hands are safely on the grip! I found it (with cutting board) for $15 at Tuesday Morning!!

Look at how fine that chop is…I’m wowed by myself!!

Turkey Enchilada Pie
Source: Weight Watchers

Ingredients:

• 1 sprays cooking spray
• 3/4 pound lean ground turkey (used 1 lb.)
• 1 medium onion(s), chopped
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup fat-free skim milk (used lowfat at FI’s request)
• 4 oz canned jalapeno peppers, drained and chopped
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 3 large burrito-size wheat flour tortilla(s)
• 3 cup tomato(es), chopped (omitted because I’m a creole tomato snob and they are out of season for the year )
• 10 Tbsp low-fat shredded cheddar cheese (used 2% mexican blend cheese)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium heat. Place turkey, onion and chili powder in skillet and cook until turkey is browned, stirring occasionally to break up meat, about 8 minutes. Remove turkey mixture from skillet and set aside.
2. Place skillet over medium-high heat and add flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium; simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Remove skillet from heat; stir in turkey mixture, jalapenos and cumin.
4. Wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave on HIGH until softened, about 15 seconds. Place 1 tortilla in bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Spread 1/3 of turkey mixture over tortilla. Spoon 1 cup of tomato on top and sprinkle with 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of cheese. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients ending up with 2 tablespoons of cheese.
5. Cover pie plate with aluminum foil and cook until cheese melts and filling is warmed through, about 15 minutes. Let stand, covered, 2 minutes before cutting into 6 wedges.

Here is the pie out the oven

Check out how gooey those layers look…YUMMY!

Points*: 6

The site provided says it’s 4 points but eTools’ recipe link (which I can’t give because W/W has recipes in flash so bleh…) says 6…so I would calculate 6 to be safe here!

OMG…this stuff was the BEST part of tonight…I love salsa . Once again, I chose a highly rated recipe from All Recipes and this wasn’t a disappointment at all and SUPER easy!

Ingredients
* 2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
* 1/2 onion, finely diced
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1/2 lime, juiced
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup canned sliced green chiles, or to taste
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
* 1/2 tsp chili powder (an addition that I added for more flavor)

Place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, lime juice, salt, green chiles, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Blend on low to desired consistency.

Mmm…hand over a bag of tostitos!

This dish was a side we had for the mexican night themed dinner tonight. This recipe is from All Recipes and came highly rated, so I went for this one. It came out perfect, but wasn’t the mexican rice I’m used to at restaurants but this was still great!

Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

* 1 cup long grain white rice
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (we used canola oil)
* 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
* 1/2 onion, finely chopped
* 1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
* 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
* 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
* 1 cube chicken bouillon
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
* 1 clove garlic, halved

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, cook rice in oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Stir in onion, green pepper, jalapeno, and diced tomato. Season with bouillon cube, salt and pepper, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes.