Chilaquiles with Salsa Verde

Sometimes my work day seems really long and by the time I get home I don't want to make dinner and even ordering out seems like too much work.  This is where this meal comes in handy.  If you use store bought chips, this meal takes about 10 minutes, and is delicious.  Plus, it isn't too expensive to make. 

Chilaquiles with Salsa Verde
from Everyday with Rachael Ray
Ingredients
3 cups salsa verde

3 4 1/2 ounce cans  diced mild green chiles

6 cups tortilla chips

1 cup sour cream

5 ounces queso fresco (or Mexican blend), crumbled

1/4 cup sliced radishes

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

1) In food processor, mix salsa and chiles for 20 seconds.
2)) Pour sauce into large nonstick skillet; bring to simmer over medium. Lower heat to medium-low, add chips and toss to soften slightly.
3) Divide among plates. Top with sour cream, cheese, radishes and cilantro.

 I have never had radishes before this dish, so it was a new experience for me...I didn't realize they were had a kick towards the end of eating them. I liked this dish a lot, but I found it kind of spicy.  I really need to start reading the labels on the jars of salsa that I buy, I think I'd save myself some pain, although the radishes probably didn't help either.

I made chips from scratch using corn tortillas and Jacob said that the homemade chips made it even better.   Jacob didn't even miss the meat in this dish and went back for seconds.  Whether you make your chips from scratch or just buy a bag of your favorite chips at the store, this is a great, simple dinner.

Secret Recipe Club: Chicken Taco Cornbread Wedges

For the Secret Recipe Club Swap this month, the swap in which you are assigned someone's blog and allowed to choose any recipe you want to make, I was assigned Barbara Bakes.  Barbara started her blog to join the Daring Bakers challenges and I started my blog to join in on the recipe swaps that a food forum I participate in host.  Her recipes all sound so good and I had a hard time choosing from desserts like: Cherry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Toffee Cookies, Rocky Road Brownie Bites, and main dishes like: Queso Bacon Burgers and Avocado Salsa, or Chicken Empanadas with Ranchero Ranch Dressing.

My birthday was March 22nd, and for my birthday I received this gorgeous cast iron skillet.  Every blog I came across I searched to see if they had any recipes that reference their cast iron skillet.  Barbara had this Chicken Taco Cornbread dish that looked delicious and a great first start for my cast iron, so I knew I had to make it.

Chicken Taco Cornbread Wedges
barely adapted from Barbara Bakes
Ingredients
Chicken
2 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1 teaspoon ranch seasoning

Dressing

1/2 cup ranch dressing

1/2 cup salsa verde

1 cup tightly packed cilantro leaves (or 1/2 cup freeze dried cilantro)

 

Filling

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno pepper

2 cups shredded chicken

3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro leaves (or 2 T. freeze dried cilantro)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel Original)

 

Crust

2 cups Marie Calender’s Cornbread Mix

1 cup milk

 

Toppings

1 1/2 cup Colby & Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

3 cups shredded romaine

1 cup chopped tomatoes

 

Directions

1) Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2) Sprinkle chicken with seasonings and bake until internal temperature is 160 degrees.  Once chicken is done, shred with two forks or place chicken breasts in mixer with paddle attachment and mix on low until shredded.

3) Combine ranch dressing, salsa and 1 cup cilantro leaves in a small food processor or blender. Process until well blended. Cover and refrigerate.

4) In 12-inch cast iron skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, and jalapeno pepper; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently. Stir in chicken, cilantro, salt, cumin, pepper and tomatoes with green chilies; cook 5 minutes. Remove from skillet. Wipe out skillet with paper towel; grease.

5) In large bowl combined cornbread mix and milk. Pour cornbread mixture into skillet. Spoon chicken mixture over cornbread mixture; sprinkle with cheese.

6) Bake at 400 degrees F. for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into wedges. Top with romaine and tomatoes; drizzle with dressing.

This is easily the best dish that I've made in awhile.  The flavors are just so pronounced in such a short amount of time, that everything in this dish just pops.  The ranch is amazing, and probably something that I'll start making just for regular salads.  I've never made cornbread before, but Marie Calendars was such a great compliment to the chicken.  I cannot eat a lot of spice, and this to me was quite spicy.  However, it was so delicious that I ignored the heat and kept eating.  If you're serving it to people that can't eat spices, I'd make sure that the Rotel and salsa you used were mild, but also cut back on some of the cumin.  I know that this will be a dish that will get made in our house a lot, and am excited to have found such a great recipe for my cast iron skillet on my first use. 

Please find all the other great Secret Recipe Club recipes below.

Chicken Tostadas with Avocado Salsa

I love tostadas.  It is everything that you love about tacos, on a crunchy base shell.  I think I love tostadas because I love Mexican pizzas at Taco Bell and can't replicate those close enough to make myself happy, so the next best thing is tostadas.

I saw this on Sarah's blog when she first posted them and thought they sounded to die for.  I pinned them and had good intentions to make them, but never did.  I received her for a recipe swap back in early February and made these for the swap, but ended up posting about the amazing Egg Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto instead.

Chicken Tostadas with Avocado Salsa
adapted from A Taste of Home Cooking
Ingredients
1 cup tomato, chopped
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
4 fajita-size tortillas
15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz. can of corn, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup queso fresco, cheddar or Mexican cheese blend
2 cups shredded chicken mixture from Chicken Suiza Pockets, or 2 cups shredded chicken

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Combine tomato, avocado, onion and cilantro together in a small bowl. In another small bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cumin, pepper and salt. Pour over the avocado mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3) Add a splash of olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the skillet until puffy and lightly browned. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
4) Divide black beans, corn, chicken and cheese among tortillas. Transfer tortillas to a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, or until chicken is warmed through.
5) Divide the avocado salsa among the tortillas and serve immediately.

These are like I thought, absolutely to die for.  I couldn't get enough of the avocado salsa, and kept sneaking little tastes while I was cooking.  I thought the flavors all worked together well to create a great dish.  My only comment about this is that we chose bigger sized tortillas and these came out massive.  I made it half-way through mine and even though it was the best dish I've had in a long time, I couldn't finish it.  So I'd recommend doing taco sized tortillas and maybe just eating additional tostadas if need be instead of creating a mammoth of a tostada like I did.  Either way you serve them, they are definitely delicious.

Chicken Suiza Pockets

When I first saw these pockets, I didn't think they would work well.  Mexican flavors inside of a crescent roll?  It just didn't seem to work.  But, as the weeks went by, every time I meal planned, this recipe would pop into my head.  I decided that I should just make them so I knew what they tasted like.   It turns out that maybe I shouldn't doubt recipes that come from people on my cooking board.

Chicken Suiza Pockets
barely modified from Stephanie Cooks
Ingredients
2 small chicken breasts
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles)
5 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup salsa verde
1 tbsp honey
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese
2 packs reduced fat crescent rolls
Cilantro

Directions
1)  Preheat the oven to 375.
2)  Put chicken breasts and Rotel in a 9 by 9 pan and bake until the chicken is done, about 35 minutes.
3)  Place the whole chicken breasts, 3 tablespoons of the Rotel and all the other ingredients except the crescent rolls and the cilantro into a standing mixer. Turn on low and mix until all the ingredients are combined (this will shred your chicken and combine all the ingredients).
4)  Divide each pack of crescent rolls into 4 rectangles by sealing together two triangles of dough. Divide the filling evenly among the 8 rectangles. Seal by pinching the dough up and into the middle. Bake 20 minutes.
5) Top with cilantro, if desired.

                              

These smelled delicious as they were baking.  These were amazing.  The flaky crust of the crescent worked so well with the flavors on the inside.  The mixture inside was great, moist creamy chicken with flavors that all worked together.

They would take less time if you were using up leftover chicken, but weren't terribly labor intensive.  They made for a great lunch the next day, and we served them with Mexican Rice casserole.  Sometimes in order to find great dishes, we just have to open our minds a little bit.

Chile Tortilla Egg Bake

Throughout the week, it is hard enough to get a cold breakfast before sprinting out the door (hopefully with all of my stuff...sometimes not).  So, during the week, it is mostly just cereal bars or fruit on the bottom yogurt.

Jacob and I only have one day a week off together, so I try to make something good for breakfast on the days that we have.  We both love green chiles, so I thought this was a no-brainer.  This was an easy breakfast to put together, perfect for accomplishing small chores around the house while putting something great on the table.

Chile Tortilla Egg Bake
from Spoonful
Ingredients
6 flour tortillas, soft-taco size (fewer if the tortillas are larger)
3-4 small cans of chopped green chiles, drained and rinsed
1 pound grated cheese
5 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Optional toppings:
Pico de Gallo
Sour Cream
Guacamole

Directions
1) Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.  Preheat oven to 35 degrees.

2) Cover the bottom of the baking dish with tortillas, overlapping as little as possible, using about 2 tortillas per layer.  By the time you get to sides, press the tortilla up against the edge o fthe dish. 
3) Sprinkle the tortillas with half of the chiles, and about a third of the cheese.  Then add another layer of tortillyas, and top it with the rest of the chiles and another third of the cheese.  Add the final layer of tortillas, sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
4) Whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl.  Pour this over the entire casserole.
5) Bake for 35 minutes.  The edge will be brown, and it will not jiggle at all.  Let sit five minutes before cutting. 
6) Top with optional toppings that are desired and enjoy.

This breakfast was a hit.  Jacob added a lot of cheese to the top, so it had that strand of cheese that dangles from your mouth to the fork.  The original recipe didn't call for extra toppings, and in all honesty, was fine without them, but I had some leftover pico de gallo from tacos that week and we threw it on and it elevated the dish even more.  Jacob put sour cream and pico on his and exclaimed that it was delicious. 

 

Mexican Rice Casserole

I watched Ree Drummond on her first episode of Pioneer Woman and cringed.  I thought she was terribly awkward and that it made the episode absolutely horrible.  I have met her in real life and she was so easy-going and personable that it was hard to watch her be so cold and forced on the show.

I still tape the show every weekend and watch it if I have time.  I still see a very different woman on the show than the one I met, but I can make it through the show without cringing.  A few weeks ago, she had a Fiesta episode, where she made this Mexican Rice from scratch.  We have a four pound bag of rice in our pantry, so I figured it would be a great recipe to try.  The recipe she makes serves 12 people, and I scaled it down so that it served four people, and the two of us still had 3 meals worth of rice, so beware, even this recipe makes a lot of rice.

Mexican Rice Casserole
slightly adapted from Food Network 
Ingredients
1 tablespoons canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 cup long grain rice
14.5-ounce cans whole tomatoes
One 10-ounce can diced tomatoes and green chiles, such as Rotel
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar
Fresh cilantro, chopped, for serving

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the garlic and onions. Cook, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the rice. Stir constantly, making sure the rice doesn't burn. Cook over low heat, about 3 minutes.
3) Next, add the whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and let cook, about 2 minutes.
4) Finally, add the water and stir the mixture together. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Cover, and simmer until the rice is not quite done, 10 to 15 minutes.
5) Top with the cheese, and then bake with the lid off until the cheese is melted and the rice fully cooked, about 15 minutes.

This rice was amazing.  Ours was a little bit spicy, but I think I got a spicy can of Rotel.  This definitely is a little more work than packet Mexican Rice, but the flavor in the end is the payoff.  Even only using one cup of rice, we had a lot of leftovers, which were happily eaten.  I'll definitely make this as a side to many of our Mexican dishes to come. 

Mexican Steak "Pitzas" with Cilantro Sour Cream

Since I've been staying at home, lunch is often a challenge.  My husband doesn't wake up until about 2 p.m. for lunch since he works nights, so it is difficult finding something that is filling but not too much to ruin dinner.

When I had Joelen's blog for a recipe swap, I ran across these Mexican Pitzas that sounded like they'd make a great lunch.  I prepped the Cilantro Sour Cream that morning before I sat down to work, and when he woke up, it was super easy to put together. 

Mexican Steak "Pitzas" with Cilantro Sour Cream
barely adapted from What's Cookin' Chicago?
Ingredients
lb beef flank steak, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Cilantro
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon canola oil for cooking
4 whole wheat pitas
1/2 cup shredded mexican blend cheese
1 can Refried Black Beans
1/2 finely diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
2-3 tablespoons water

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) In a skillet over medium high heat, add the cooking oil, onions and garlic; saute until softened.
3) Add the beef and seasonings and cook until browned.
4) While the beef is cooking, place your pitas on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes to soften the pitas. Remove the pitas from the oven and set aside.
5) When the beef has cooked thoroughly, spoon the Black Bean refried beans onto the pita, and top the beans with the beef to cover completely.
6) Top the beef with the shredded cheese and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes until cheese has melted.
7) While the pitas are baking, prepare the cilantro cream by combining the cilantro, sour cream and water. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
8) When the pitas are done baking, remove from the oven and top with the cilantro cream and chopped tomatoes; serve.

                             

These are a little hard to maneuver, but the flavor is fantastic.  We tried them one day without the beans and one day with the beans, and they held together much better with the beans.  The Cilantro Cream was fantastic.  It was really easy to put together and added so much flavor.  I'll definitely put these back on the lunch menu in the future.

Mexican Pulled Chicken Stuffed Peppers

I have a friend that recently found out that she had a wheat allergy.  Upon doing some research, she found out that Paleo diets are the best for those with a wheat allergy, so I found some Paleo sites that had recipes that she could eat.  Some recipes sounded outside my comfort zone, and so did some of the ingredients.  I mean, we can't even find frozen cranberries in my town, where the heck am I supposed to find chia seeds, right?

Some recipes though sounded doable though, and even though I didn't have any interest in going totally Paleo with her, I promised I'd try a meal.  I found this recipe and thought I should make it: we loved stuffed peppers and the filling was something new.  If this recipe is indicative of eating Paleo, I think it wouldn't be too hard...except for finding the ingredients of course. 


Mexican Pulled Chicken Stuffed Peppers
barely adapted from Life As A Plate
Ingredients
4 large bell peppers, any color is fine
3 chicken breasts
1 chopped jalapeno
1 can of diced tomatoes (12 ounces)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup finely minced onion (I used 1/2 an onion)
1/4 c. chopped green peppers (I used one whole pepper)
2 cups salsa
shredded cheese
1 tsp. salt
2. tsp. onion powder
1/2 tps. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin, depending on your preference
*Instead of using individual spices, you could just add a taco seasoning packet

Directions
1) Put whole chicken breasts and all ingredients (minus the four bell peppers) in crockpot and stir and set on low for 6-8 hours.
2)When it’s finished or after at least four hours in, shred chicken using two forks until it’s all complete. Mix well.
3) Using a sharp knife, cut the top of the pepper off and pull out all the inside ribs and seeds.
4) Run under cold water to wash and remove remaining seeds inside.
5) Stuff peppers with chicken mixture, cover with some salsa (so they don’t dry out) and bake at 350 for 20 minutes until pepper is soft. (Ours took about an hour, I don't know if this is from living at altitude or oven inconsistencies though).
6) Top with shredded cheese and the salsa.  Top with sour cream, if desired.

I think that these were excellent.  Since the majority of the flavors developed in the crockpot, they were deep and delicious.  The peppers were a great vessel for it too.  Just keep an eye on the peppers so that you're not eating really undone peppers like we did the first night.  You definitely don't miss the fact that there aren't carbs in this meal.  

Crock Pot Tex-Mex Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Dumplings has been on my "to-make" list for awhile.  However, the weather hasn't gotten too bad here, so I kept pushing them off thinking that there would be a good week to make my favorite comfort food.

It was time for the Recipe Swap for Soups and Stews, and I received Chicken and Dumplings from The Cookaholic Wife.  It seemed like it was fate since I had wanted them for so long.  I love regular chicken and dumplings, but since the ingredients in this recipe were similar to a Tex-Mex version that I saw on Pinterest, so I decided to spice it up and try something a little different.  It turns out the day that I decided to make it, we had 80 mph winds and snow on the ground, so the timing was perfect.

Crock Pot Tex-Mex Chicken and Dumplings
adapted from The Cookaholic Wife and Homesick Texan
Ingredients
Stew

2 chicken breasts, shredded 

1 carton chicken broth  

1/2 cup carrots (about 2 small carrots), peeled and shredded

2 stalks celery, diced

1/2 large onion, diced

1/2 can Mexicorn

1 can Rotel

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

juice from one lime

2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup of cilantro

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup of water

Dumplings

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 heaping tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups fat free half and half 

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons of cilantro

Directions

1) Cook chicken breasts on low in broth for 2-4 hours on low.

2) Pull chicken breasts out of crockpot and shred chicken.  

3) Place all other ingredients for the stew portion of the recipe in the crockpot, and then put the chicken back in with the ingredients and mix well.  Cook on high for 2-4 hours.

4) Mix all the ingredients together for the dumplings until the ingredients form a batter.

5) Drop tablespoons of batter into the stew mixture and cook for approximately an hour on high until dumpling dough is cooked.

I started the chicken in the morning before I left for work and threw all the other ingredients into the crock pot when I went home for lunch.  When I got home to make the dumpling batter, the house smelled amazing.

This version has a little heat from the jalapenos and some of the other ingredients, but it is perfectly counterbalanced by the cornmeal dumpling.  I made the dumplings from The Cookaholic Wife recipe, but afterwords thought that they could benefit from a few of the Tex-Mex ingredients too, just so the flavors would be carried all the way through.  This was a fantastic meal that helped us make it through our first true winter week in Wyoming.

Mexican Pizzas

I love Taco Bell.  Most times that we end up eating out, it is usually Taco Bell.  I don't even know what it is that sucks us into eating there, they almost always mess up our food or our order.  But yet we continue to go back...gluttons for punishment, I guess.  I found this Mexican Pizza recipe on Allrecipes, and since that is normally what I order there, I decided I should take a chance and make them at home.  Plus they only have 370 calories, which is almost 200 calories less than the Taco Bell version and 12 grams less fat.

Mexican Pizza
slightly adapted from Allrecipes
Ingredients
1/2 pound ground turkey or beef
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
4 (10 inch) corn tortilla, recommend tostada shells
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup shredded Mexican Cheese
2 green onions, chopped
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup sour cream, for topping (optional)
1 tablespoon Taco Bell Sauce (optional)

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 2 pie plates with non-stick cooking spray. 
2) Place beef, onion and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until beef is evenly browned. Drain off grease. Season the meat with cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper. 
3) Lay one tortilla in each pie plate, and cover with a layer of refried beans. Spread half of the seasoned ground beef over each one, and then cover with a second tortilla. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. 
4) Remove the plates from the oven, and let cool slightly. Spread half of the salsa over each top tortilla. Cover each pizza with half of the cheese. Place half of the tomatoes,  and half of the green onions on top of each pizza. 
5) Return the pizzas to the oven, and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly before slicing each one into 4 pieces.

We thought the flavor was great on these little pizzas, but they were a little challenging to eat.  While the tortillas did get a little bit crunchy, they were still hard to cut through.  My husband suggested using tostada shells instead, since they are already crunchy, and I thought that was a fantastic idea.  These definitely aren't an exact replica of the Taco Bell version, but they are pretty great.  Make sure you pick up some of the Taco Bell Sauce when you're in the refried bean section, that will make them even more close to the original.

Chicken Fajita Melts

For the past eight weeks, I have been doing workout classes almost every night.  They are right smack dab in the center of dinner, so I try to find something fast to make, so we aren't eating at eight at night.

 

I recently found this recipe on Pinterest and it seemed like the perfect meal for a night that I had a workout class.  I prepped the veggies that morning and chopped the chicken, so that everything was ready to go into a pan when I got home. 

 

Chicken Fajita Melts

slightly adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff

Ingredients

1 loaf French bread, sliced in half

2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon dried cilantro

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 green pepper,diced

1 onion, diced

1/3 cup salsa (more or less depending on how much you like)

1/3 cup shredded Mexican cheese 

2 tablespoons pico de gallo (optional)

 

1) Slice the bread open lengthwise so you have two long pieces.  Broil the bread so it gets nice and crunchy.

2) Season the chicken breasts with part of the spices and saute until cooked through (about ten minutes).

3) Saute the peppers and onions with the remaining spices for about 3-5 minutes, or until the water has cooked off.

4) To assemble, spread the salsa on the bottom of the bread. Add the grilled chicken slices, then the sauteed peppers and onion, then the cheese slice.

5) Put under the broiler to melt the cheese.

6) Cut bread into slices and serve. 

 

 

We both liked this meal a lot.  All the flavors combine to give you that classic fajita flavor, just on bread instead of a tortilla.  I appreciated this meal because I'm not a huge tortilla fan.  The chicken was moist and flavorful, and the veggies played into the meal nicely.  I loved the addition of the pico de gallo just because it gave some more freshness to the meal, but the sandwiches would taste just fine without it as well.

Steak Taco Salads

When menu planning for meals around Christmas, I was looking for things that were simple.  Tasty meals that would come together without much effort.

I ran across this recipe for Taco Salads that I thought sounded good, and getting the taco salad ingredients took about ten minutes to chop and dice, so dinner was on the table in no time.  This recipe resulted in one of the most flavorful taco salads that have ever crossed my table.

Steak Taco Salads
slightly adapted from For the Love of Cooking (individual links to each recipe below)
Ingredients
Marinade for steak
1 1/2 - 2 lbs of flank steak
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
3 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
2 limes, juiced
4-5 cloves garlic minced

Directions
1) Combine all ingredients and mix really well.  Let steak marinate between 6 and 24 hours. 

Taco Salad
Flour tortilla, baked into a bowl
Flank steak, marinated for at least 6 hours 
Lettuce, chopped
Black beans, rinsed, drained and warmed
100 calorie snack packs of guacamole (my avacado didn't end up being good)
Cherry tomatoes, diced
Black olives, sliced
Red onion, diced
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Green onions, diced
cheese, grated
Salsa
Sour cream

Directions

1) Drape a foil square over the top of each can.
2) Fill a pizza pan or another rimmed container with about 1/2 inch of warm water and add 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil.
3) Quickly immerse a tortilla in water and then lift out and drape over the foil on the empty food can.
4)  Bake the shell in a preheated 450 degree oven until they're light brown and firm, about 10 minutes.
5)  Carefully lift the shells off the cans and flip them over so that they brown the part that was on the can.  Bake for 1-2 more minutes.
7) Grill or broil your steak until it reaches desired temperature.
6) Layer all the taco salad ingredients in the tortilla and enjoy.

I liked all of the flavors of the taco salad.  Each individual ingredient contributed some sort of flavor profile to the taco salad.  There are a lot of ingredients, but it is definitely worth it for this Taco Salad.  The meat was juicy and flavorful.  The only thing that I didn't like about this recipe was how prominent the soy sauce was in the marinade.  I would reduce the amount of soy sauce by quite a bit.  The soy sauce flavor just confused my taste buds because it seemed like a Mexican food recipe, but I kept tasting soy sauce.  Other than that one item, everything tasted fantastic.

Mexican Stuffed Shells

I realized the other day that I am making recipes from the same people over and over again.  While I love the food from those sites and almost everything I have tried has been awesome, it definitely pays to stray from the normal.

I ran across this recipe while I was looking for something new.  I have to admit that the pasta shells with Mexican flavors sounded interesting, but also didn't sound like they would work.  However, since we eat a lot of Mexican flavors, I decided to throw it into the meal plan.

Mexican Stuffed Shells
slightly adapted from The Way to His Heart...
Ingredients
1 lb. ground turkey
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon cilantro
4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
14-16 jumbo pasta shells
2 cups salsa
1.5 cups taco sauce
2 cup monterey jack cheese
3 green onions

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350°.
2) In a frying pan cook ground turkey; add taco seasoning and cook until you no longer see any pink sections in the meat. 
3) Add cream cheese, cover and simmer until all the cream cheese is melted. Blend well. Set aside and cool completely. 
4) While ground beef is cooking, cook the pasta shells according to directions; drain. Set shells out individually on cutting board/baking sheet so that they don’t stick together.
5) Pour salsa on bottom of 9×13 baking dish.  Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place shells in 9×13 pan open side up. Cover shells with taco sauce. 
6) Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
7) After 30 minutes, add shredded cheese and bake for 10-15 more minutes, with the foil removed. 

Top with any condiments you’d like (green onions, black olives, etc.) Serve with sour cream and/or more salsa.

The result was very good.  The flavors were interesting, but they went together very well. The taco sauce was the main player in the sauce department, and had a lot of flavor.  We used both Taco Bell salsa and Taco Bell Sauce so they complimented each other well.  The inside was creamy and provided a lot of flavor.  I loved the green onions with this dish and went back and added more.  The onion added crunch and an extra pop of flavor in each bite.  This meal was a great addition to our meal plan.

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

This recipe has been on my list of things to make for awhile.  I was intrigued by the beans in the enchiladas because besides refried beans, I hadn't thought of beans and enchiladas really going together.

I also had never made enchiladas without canned sauce.  The recipe that I normally use for enchiladas takes awhile to put together, so making sauce from scratch just seems even more time consuming.  I think that I may start to use this sauce on my go-to enchiladas now.  The sauce is easy and tastes lighter and fresher than the canned stuff does.  Definitely worth the few extra minutes.

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas
slightly adapted from Skinnytaste
Ingredients

Chicken and White Bean Filling 

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup minced white onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles

15.5 oz can Navy beans

2 cooked shredded chicken breasts

1/2 can water

1 chicken bullion

1 tsp cumin

1 teas

Green Chile Enchilada Sauce:
1 tsp butter
1/2 cup chopped white onion
2 tbsp flour
1 cup fat free chicken broth
7 oz can chopped green chile
2 jalapeños, chopped
salt
1/2 cup light sour cream 
8 medium low carb tortillas
chopped fresh cilantro and scallions

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375°.
2) For the Filling: In a medium pan, heat olive oil on low. Add onions, garlic and saute until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add green chiles, beans, water, bullion, and cumin. Mix well and cover. Simmer on low 15 minutes. Remove cover, add chicken and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until it thickens and liquid boils down. Set aside.
3) Green Chile Enchilada Sauce: In a large nonstick pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and starts to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour and stir well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth. Whisk until the sauce becomes smooth. Cook over medium heat until the sauce boils and thickens, about 4-5 minutes. Add green chiles, jalepeños, and salt to tatse. Cook another minute then remove from the heat. Stir in the sour cream.
4) Assembly: Spread about 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish. Fill each tortilla with 1/3 cup of the chicken/white bean filling. Roll the tortillas and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Continue filling remainder of the tortillas.
5) Pour the enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Top with cheese. Cover with aluminum and bake 20-30 minutes, until the enchiladas are hot and the cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with fresh cilantro or scallions. 

It's a bad picture, but these were fantastic enchiladas.  The beans provide a more substantial filling for these enchiladas.  We usually eat two enchiladas apiece for dinner, and we each only had one of these and were full.  I thought the sauce was great because it didn't drown out the taste of the filling in the enchilada.  These make for a great meal!

Shredded Chicken Taco Salad

I love taco salad.  Layers of great flavor all together on top of chips or in a bowl.  I have always made my mom's version that is ground beef that is cooked down and then you add Catalina dressing to it.  It is the version that I grew up on and love.

We always have a surplus of flour tortillas in our house and I can't really ever find enough uses for them before they go stale.  I decided last week that I was finally going to attempt to make my own taco salad bowls. 

After researching how to make taco salad bowls, I realized how easy would be to do.  The more I cook, the more I realize that the things I thought would be hard to make from scratch are really super easy and they taste so much better than the stuff that you buy in the grocery store.

Taco Salad bowls
Makes 2 Salad bowls
recipe from Food.com

Ingredients
2 small tortillas (taco ones)
2 pieces aluminum foil (12-inch)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
2 aluminum cans

Directions
1) Drape a foil square over the top of each can.
2) Fill a pizza pan or another rimmed container with about 1/2 inch of warm water and add 1/2 teaspoon of olivee oil.
3) Quickly immerse a tortilla in water and then lift out and drape over the foil on the empty food can.
4)  Bake the shell in a preheated 450 degree oven until they're light brown and firm, about 10 minutes.
5)  Carefully lift the shells off the cans and flip them over so that they brown the part that was on the can.  Bake for 1-2 more minutes.

Taco Salad filling
Ingredients
2 pieces of chicken
2 cups Orange juice
Cumin
Cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon of garlic

Directions
1) Place chicken and other ingredients into a slow cooker and let them cook on low for 6 hours.
2) Pull chicken out and shred it.
3) Combine chicken with other desired "toppings".  Ours consisted of lettuce, black beans, corn, jalapenos, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole.

I love the flavor of the chicken after it comes out of the crock pot.  It is nice and tender and comes out with a hint of the lime juice flavor.  The shell turned out perfect.  It was crunchy and supported any toppings that you put on it.  The corn and blackbeans added a little extra filling to it.  The jalapeno added just a little heat.  They turned out perfect, and I'll definitely be making my own taco shells again.

Cumin and Lime Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Rachel Ray makes putting dinner on your table in 30 minutes seem so achievable.  She is always so calm and in control during those thirty minutes too.  Every movement on her show seems to have purpose and she makes everything look so easy.  Whereas I always seem to be running around trying to find the right whisk or figure out where a spice is hiding in the cabinet.  Basically I am the complete opposite of Rachel Ray.

Her recipes have so many ingredients yet everything seems to magically come together in the allotted time frame for her show.  I really wish that I could make 30 minute meals within 30 minutes, that would be amazing.  Besides marinating the meat for two hours before putting it into the oven, this recipe really did come really close to the thirty minutes.  Plus it was amazing!

Cumin and Lime Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Adapted from Rachel Ray’s 365:No Repeats

Ingredients

2.25 lbs pork tenderloin

1 can of orange juice concentrate, made into juice

2 limes, juiced

3 tablespoons cumin, divided

2 tablespoon ground coriander, divided

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded

6 garlic cloves

Directions

1)      I marinated the pork tenderloins in orange juice, the spices, and the jalapenos for two hours.  I put the pork in a gallon sized zip lock bag and put enough orange juice to cover the pork in the bag.  I used one lime, took a tablespoon of pepper, a tablespoon of the coriander, and one jalapeno and threw it in with the orange juice.

2)      Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

3)      Place the pork tenderloins on a baking sheet and drizzle a little of the marinade liquid onto them. Try to dig all the jalapeno pieces out of the liquid and put them on the pork as well.  Cut 3 or 4 slits in the pork (depending on the length) and stuff the slits with garlic.  Rub the remaining lime juice and spices on onto the tenderloin.

4)      Place into the oven for about 25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.  (I am finding that living at altitude is messing up my cooking times quite a bit).

5)      Take out and let rest for a few minutes before cutting.

The meat was so juicy from marinating it for 2 hours that the medallions could be cut with a fork.  When I first plated it, Jacob asked if there was a sauce, and I realized I hadn’t even thought of making a sauce.  I told him to try it first before worrying about it, and after his first bite he declared that it didn’t need a sauce.

I really thought the spices would be overwhelming.  The whole house smelled like cumin and coriander, and the tenderloin looked like it was coated in seasoning.  However, all the flavors worked and the pork didn’t taste over-seasoned at all.  I thought the seasoning was actually spot on.

This recipe made me start to flip through my 365: No Repeats cookbook some more and find some more recipes that I want to mark to make later.  The handy thing about this cookbook is that there are little checkboxes up at the top that say “Try this again” or “Put off til later”.    We checked the “Try this again.”  I definitely recommend this recipe.

Creamy Salsa Chicken

My recipe swap this week was a side dish, so I decided to tackle Creamy Salsa chicken as a main dish to go with it.  I discovered Salsa Verde a couple of months ago, and we now rarely use the normal red salsa anymore.  We just think that Salsa Verde has so much more flavor than normal salsa and it is good on almost any dish that calls for normal salsa.

Creamy Salsa Chicken
adapted from Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations
Ingredients

• 4 large boned, skinless chicken breast halves
• one 16-oz. jar of slightly chunky salsa verde, as spicy as you like (Note: if the salsa is too thin, the sauce will be runny.)
• about ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• Queso Fresco (for flavor garnish)
• Cilantro

Directions
Place the chicken in the crock pot and cover it with the salsa.  Cook on low for about 5 hours and then add the heavy cream and mix with the salsa in the crock pot.  Cook about 30 minutes longer.  Remove the chicken from the crock pot and garnish with queso fresco and some cilantro.

I really liked the chicken.  It was very flavorful.  Although when served with the Rice with Roasted Poblanos, Spinach and Queso Fresco, the textures are pretty similar and so it makes for a monotonous textured meal.  I'm going to make this chicken again with a different side since the chicken was so flavorful.

Rice with Roasted Poblanos, Spinach, and Queso Fresco

My husband loves Mexican food, so he was ecstatic when I told him that this week was Mexican food week for the recipe swap. 

For the swap I recieved Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations Rice with Roasted Poblanos, Spinach, and Queso Fresco.  I served it with a modified Creamy Salsa Chicken, which both are Rick Bayless recipes.

Rice with Roasted Poblanos, Spinach, and Queso Fresco

adapted from  Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations 

Ingredients

• 2 medium fresh poblano chiles
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
• 1.5 cups white rice, preferably medium grain
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cups loosely packed sliced stemmed spinach leaves
• 1.5 cups coarsely crumbled Mexican queso fresco (or firm goat cheese or feta)

Directions 

• Roast the chiles over a gas flame. Once all the skin is charred, approximately 5 minutes, transfer to a bowl and cover for 10 minutes. Remove the skins, seeds, and stems, rinse, and chop into 1/4 inch pieces.
• Heat broth in a small saucepan.
• In a separate 3-qt saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add raw rice; stir regularly for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds. Make sure the grains of rice do not brown.
• Add the warm liquid and chopped roasted chiles. Stir, cover, and cook on the lowest heat setting for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the pot from the heat and add spinach, distributing it over the rice, but not stirring. Cover the pot and let is stand for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, test the rice. Mine was done and all of the liquid was absorbed, but if this isn't the case for you, Rick suggests sprinkling 2 tbsp water on top of the rice and returning it to low heat, covered, for 5 minutes.
• Uncover the rice, sprinkle with cheese, and fluff everything together with a fork.

I have to admit that I struggled with this recipe a lot.  I made it all according to the directions and at the end, even after sprinkling the extra water and cooking it extra, the rice was still hard.  After about 45 minutes, it was finally soft enough to eat, but then I found that for some reason my batch cooked really weird and some was soft and some was hard.  I thought the spinach and the poblanos were an interesting addition, but I felt like the cheese didn't really go with the dish.  I couldn't really taste it (after adding more than the recommended 1.5 cups of cheese).  I think this dish would be better with a much stronger cheese like feta. 

I had fun roasting the peppers, but I don't think that this dish will make it back onto my table.