Jen's Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

I used a different method for these enchiladas, from which I normally use. My main motivation for improvising this dish was to use up the tomatillo salsa that we still had on hand from the other night. It was some of the best salsa I have ever made, and I didn't want one drop of it to go to waste. Also, I wanted the chicken to be shredded and super-tender. An idea formed, and I decided to plunk some frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker this morning and take it from there. I really did not have a game plan, I was kinda making it up as I went along. Happily, this technique seems to be working out quite well. I snuck a taste and the chicken is exactly how I envisioned it to be, juicy and flavorful. Once the chicken was cooked, these were super-easy to put together. My enchiladas are in the oven as I write this, and I cannot wait to eat dinner!

Jen's Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
leftover tomatillo salsa
1 large can of green enchilada sauce
1 small can of diced green chiles
1 teaspoon of coriander
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of onion powder
salt to taste
corn tortillas
cooking spray
3-4 Tablespoons of AP flour
3 Tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Place frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker and sprinkle tops with salt, coriander, cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder. Top with enchilada sauce, making sure to coat chicken. Pour green chiles and leftover salsa on top. Cook on high for 5 hours.

When chicken is done, remove cooked chicken to a bowl and shred with two forks. Season with salt to taste. Add a couple big spoonfuls of cooking liquid to keep chicken moist. Set aside. (DO NOT discard the rest of the cooking liquid, you will need it to make the enchilada sauce).

In a separate sauce pan over medium high heat, melt butter. Once butter is melted, add in flour. Make sure to stir constantly with a whisk to incorporate flour and butter evenly. It should look like dry, butter coated flour chunks. Cook flour/butter mixture for 1-2 minutes. Add the slow cooker cooking liquid to pan. Bring to boil and stir constantly with a whisk until flour chunks are broken up and sauce begins to thicken to the proper consistency. Add salt if needed. Reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes. If sauce is too thick, thin with a little bit of water (I would say use only 1/4 cup at a time, while stirring).

Spray 9 x 13 casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread some of your cooked sauce in the bottom of the dish. Roll a spoonful of chicken and a pinch of cheese into the corn tortillas, making rows. When pan is full, add remaining enchilada sauce on top and spread evenly with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

(printable recipe)

Jen's Notes:
Half of my rolled enchiladas had cheese in them and the other half did not due to my lactose issues. If you are cheese lovers, I would bump up the quantity of cheese in this dish to a full cup.





The Result:
These were soooooooo fantastically yummy! Really, I think I liked this method better than my normal enchilada technique. We all loved them! I didn't even make a side dish, the enchiladas were filling enough. The only down side to this meal was that the corn tortilla I used were not very flexible. Every time I tried to roll them, they would split. I think I just got a bum batch. (Also, I did not fry them first.) The flavor was still excellent, they just made for a messy presentation. Aside from the tortillas not cooperating, these enchiladas were great! I was really happy with the juicy texture of the chicken. Normally, slow cooker chicken tends to dry out...but not this time! I will certainly make these chicken enchiladas again!

Weekly Menu Plan: 11/13/09-11/19/09

The past few days have been pretty hectic around here, with all the holiday parties that we have attended. I am pretty worn out, so I think I will make this post short and sweet. The husband is giving the boy his bath tonight, so I would like to knock this post out while our kid is occupied in the tub.

This week is filled with some more meals that are either old favorites or are designed to re-purpose leftovers. I am trying desperately to use most of what we have on hand, because large grocery shopping trips are more of a hassle than a help right now. Also, with Christmas and the impending birth of our twins coming up, I am trying to stick as closely to our budget as possible. Streamlining our food expenses is a great way to do that, without sacrificing too much elsewhere. I find that I get a weird satisfaction out of using what we already have in our pantry and freezer without buying many extras. It makes me feel very "economically savvy" (that is a much nicer way of saying "cheap", "frugal", or "thrifty").

Weekly Menu Plan: 11/13/09 - 11/19/09:

Sunday, 11/13: Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Pan Gravy and Leftover Dressing, salad (no recipe; the husband made this for dinner)

Monday, 11/14: Jen's Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas (I have made a beef and a pork version of this dish before, but this time I am going to use chicken and then put some leftover tomatillo salsa in the sauce.)

Tuesday, 11/15: Chipotle Tamale Pie, salad (This dinner is pulling double duty, since I am bringing a meal to a friend)

Wednesday, 11/16: Jen's Double Breaded Pork Chops with Leftover Gravy & Dressing

Thursday. 11/17: Vegetarian Frittata, bread (I think I will add some mushrooms to the frittata just to see what happens)

Friday, 11/18: Jen's Spaghetti & Meat Sauce

Saturday, 11/19: Karen's Baked Pesto Salmon, roasted potatoes, & glazed carrots

Thanksgiving #2

Last night, we went over to my friend Claire's house to celebrate Thanksgiving #2. Rather than post an explanation for the who, what, when, where, and how of Thanksgiving #2; here is a link to Claire's blog to give you all the details:

Thanksgiving #2

My contribution to last night's festive holiday meal, was my mom's versions of Sausage Dressing and Candied Sweet Potatoes. I would love to post recipes for both these dishes, but there are no recipes. No measurements at all. Both dishes are something that you do by sight and intuition. That is how my mom learned and that is how she taught me. Directions like, "add chicken stock until the dressing is wet...but not TOO wet" is what I am talking about. How do you translate that into a recipe???? I am not sure. Sigh. It is all very vague. I have always planned dissect each recipe and write down exactly what I am doing, but yesterday was not that day. So, I think I will post the general idea of each recipe so at least something is recorded. As it stands, there isn't even that right now. It is all verbal and by memory. I want to at least try to record something, so here it goes...

Mom's Sausage Dressing (Stuffing)

Ingredients:
equal parts of sage sausage and hot sausage (I used a 1/2 lb. of each for last night's dish)
1-2 onions, diced
4-5 stalks of celery with leaves, diced
1 loaf of white sandwich bread
1 loaf of wheat sandwich bread
salt and pepper to taste
chicken stock to taste
poultry seasoning to taste
dried sage to taste
cooking spray

Directions:
Toast all bread in oven on both sides. Tear toasted bread into bite sized pieces, into a large bowl. In a large skillet, saute onions and celery with a big pinch of salt; until onions are translucent but still firm. Add sausage, making sure to break up large chunks with the back of a wooden spoon. When sausage is no longer pink, mixture is done. Add to bread pieces. Season with salt, pepper, sage, and poultry seasoning to taste. Add chicken stock until mixture is wet (but not too wet) and mush with your hands until all bread is incorporated into the mixture. Adjust seasoning if needed (yes, you have to actually taste it at this point to figure out if you need more seasoning). Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with cooking spray, and add the dressing to the dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven until top of dressing is toasted, but bottom is still a little moist (keep checking until the desired effect is achieved...about 1/2 hour or so).

Jen's Notes:
Quantities of ingredients need to be adjusted, depending on the size of the crowd you are feeding. For example, I only used a loaf and a half of bread and a pound of sausage for last night's dinner that fed 6 adults and 3 kids.



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Mom's Candied Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
2-4 red yams (not really sweet potatoes, but that is what we call 'em)
allspice to taste
cinnamon to taste
nutmeg taste
salt to taste
canola oil
brown sugar to taste
maple syrup to taste
1-2 Tablespoons of butter, cut into pea sized pieces
mini marshmallow for topping
cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and cube yams into bite sized pieces. Place cut yams onto a large baking sheet. Drizzle with a little bit of canola oil. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Toss with clean hands until everything is well coated. Bake until yam pieces are soft (but not too soft).

Take the yams out of the oven and turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees.

Spray casserole dish with cooking spray and scrape all the cooked yams (and all the leftover contents of oil/spices that are on the sheet pan) into the casserole dish. Add additional salt to taste. Dot butter pieces on top. Add about a small handful of brown sugar. Drizzle maple syrup on top. Toss with hands or a wooden spoon, so everything is well coated. Top with enough marshmallows to cover the top. Bake at 350 degrees until all the marshmallows on top are puffy and nicely toasted.

Jen's Notes:
Again, everything is approximate and quantities need to be adjusted based on how many people you are serving.



The Result:
I forgot to take photos again; but Claire got some, and was nice enough to share. The only negative thing that happened is that I found out that the sweet potatoes don't travel very well. By the time I got to Claire's my marshmallow top totally deflated and looked kinda sad. The dish still tasted good, but looked better fresh from the oven. Overall, the food and company was fantastic and Thanksgiving #2 was soooo much fun!!!!

Jen's Sausage Breakfast Casserole

We had a Christmas party/brunch potluck for my MOMS Club today, and I signed up to bring a casserole. When I looked through what I had on hand, I realized that I didn't have the usual ingredients for my "go-to" egg casserole dish. So, I had to do some quick thinking and improvise something to bring. I threw together this dish, and it turned out very yummy. Luckily, everyone else seemed to like it, too; the whole thing disappeared pretty darn quickly!

Jen's Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:
cooking spray
1-2 Tablespoons of canola oil
1 lb. of bulk breakfast sausage, without casings
1 onion, diced
1 small can of sliced mushrooms, drained (or 1 package of fresh sliced mushrooms)
2-3 handfuls of frozen shredded hash browns (approx. 1/2 of a large bag or 1 small bag)
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
12 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2/3 cup of skim milk
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large 9 x 13 casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread 2 OR 3 handfuls of frozen hash browns evenly in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, over hash browns and set aside.

In a separate large bowl crack 12 eggs and combine with baking powder, milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Beat eggs with an electric mixer until eggs are frothy (I used a handheld mixer with a whisk attachment). Fold in shredded cheese and stir to combine. Set aside.

If using canned sliced mushrooms, drain out the excess can liquid and discard it. Then, dry the mushrooms on some paper towels to get as much of the remaining moisture out as possible. (If using fresh mushrooms, skip this step.)

Heat canola oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Saute onions and mushrooms with a generous pinch of salt. When onions and mushrooms start to brown slightly, add sausage. Make sure to break up all large sausage chunks with a large wooden spoon and incorporate them in with the mushrooms and onions. When sausage is cooked and no longer pink, the mixture is done.

Scoop the contents of the skillet into the casserole dish, spreading evenly over the hash browns with the back of the wooden spoon. Pour egg mixture over the sausage layer and spread evenly. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until eggs are set and the top of the casserole is starting to turn golden brown.

Jen's Notes:
Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of my finished dish.

For an extra kick, spicy sausage would be a good substitution for the regular sausage. Also, I think a diced green pepper (sauteed with the onions and mushrooms) would have been really tasty, too. I might try that next time.

Ohhh...I just thought of another version to try! Use chorizo sausage and green chiles mixed in with the onions and mushrooms for a Mexican inspired dish. Instead of cheddar cheese, substitute Monterrey Jack or Pepper Jack. There are tons of ways to tweak this recipe to suit your individual preferences.

Rick Bayless' Crusty Chorizo and Black Bean Tortas with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa & Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I am on a new recipe roll this week! Man alive, I haven't had three new recipes in a row for quite awhile. (Okay, really two new recipes since Sunday night's concoction barely counts as an actual recipe.) This dish was originally slated for Thursday night, but I did some rearranging to have it tonight. Why you ask???? Partly because I am really curious to try it, and partly because my super-sonic-pregnant-nose is tired of smelling the uncooked bulk pork chorizo in my fridge. I am going to pair these sandwiches with some Baked Sweet Potato Fries and call it good.

Rick Bayless' Crusty Chorizo & Black Bean Tortas with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa aka Tortas de Chorizo y Frijoles Negros
From: Copyright 2005, Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday

Ingredients:
8 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo sausage, casing removed (about 1 cup)
3-4 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil (divided use)
Two 15-ounce cans black beans
Salt to taste
4 bolillo rolls, crusty French rolls or submarine sandwich rolls (6-7 inches long, 3 inches wide)
6 ounces queso fresco or other fresh cheese such as feta or goat cheese, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 ripe avocado, pitted, flesh scooped from the skin and cut into 1/4-inch slices
3/4 cup Roasted Tomatillo Salsa (recipe to follow)

Directions:
Set a large 12-inch skillet over medium heat and add the chorizo. Cook, breaking up the clumps, until browned and thoroughly cooked, about 8-9 minutes. Add 1-2 Tbsp of the oil (depending on how much fat the chorizo has rendered) and the beans. As the beans come to a simmer, mash them to a smooth paste with a Mexican bean masher, old-fashioned potato masher or the back of a large cooking spoon. Cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the consistency of very soft mashed potatoes--expect about 10 minutes after adding the beans. Taste and season with the salt if you think necessary. Keep warm over the lowest heat, covered to keep the beans soft and moist.

Heat a large griddle or skillet over medium. Slice the rolls open. use fingers or a spoon to scrape out some of the soft bread in the center of each half, making a small hollow. Brush the insides with the remaining 2 Tbsp oil, then lay them cut side down on the griddle or skillet to crisp to a rich golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Smear about 1/2 cup of the chorizo-bean mixture over the bottom half of each roll. Top with slices of the cheese and the avocado. Spoon on the salsa or dash on the hot sauce. Set the top of each roll in place, and you're ready to serve.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
From:Copyright 2005, Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday

Ingredients:
4 medium (8 ounces total) tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and halved
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
Hot green chiles to taste (2 Serrano *OR* 1 jalapeno), stemmed and roughly chopped (For less heat, seed & devein some or all of the chile peppers)
About 1/3 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Directions:
Set a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lay in the garlic and tomatillos, cut side down. When the tomatillos are well browned, 3-4 minutes, turn everything over and brown the other side. The tomatillos should be completely soft.

Scrape the tomatillos and garlic into a blender or food processor and let cool to room temperature, about 3 minutes. Add the chiles, cilantro, and 1/4 cup water. Blend to a coarse puree. Pour into a salsa dish and thin with a little additional water if necessary to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency.

Scoop the chopped onion into a strainer and rinse under cold water. Stir into the salsa. Taste and season with salt, usually about 1/2 tsp.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Adapted from recipezaar.com/recipe #43469

Ingredients:
2-3 large sweet potatoes or yams, cut into fries
1 tablespoon of Chili powder
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 tablespoons of corn starch
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of salt
Canola oil to coat

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Put cut fries into large ziploc bag with oil and spices and shake to coat.
3. Once well coated, open bag and add corn starch. Shake again until all are coated w/ corn starch.
4. Place fries onto baking sheet leaving space between fries; make sure to use baking rack to elevate fries off bottom of baking sheet for crisper results.
5. Put in oven for 10 minutes and then flip them over.
6. Place back in for 10 more minutes.
7. They should be soft on the inside and browned on the outside.
8. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve with Spicy Lime Mayo (optional--recipe below).

Spicy Lime Mayo
Adapted from recipezaar.com/recipe #120459

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of light mayo
1/4 cup of light sour cream
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1-2 Tablespoons of lime juice
Pinch of salt to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate and let flavors combine for at least 1/2 hour before serving.

Jen's Notes:
I don't think I will make the Spicy Lime Mayo tonight due to the dairy content, but I still wanted to include it in my post. It is really good, and definitely worth trying with these fries!



The Results:
This was another fan-freakin'-tastic recipe! It was simple ingredients that, when combined, were soooo utterly tasty. We L-O-V-E-D these sandwiches!!! The husband and I fought over who got to eat the leftover half that our son didn't finish (we split it). Seriously, I don't think I have ever had a bad Rick Bayless recipe. They all seem to be awesome. The salsa was a perfect accompaniment...it was spicy and flavorful. The sweet potato fries were also a great side dish to go with these sammies. Really, I just can't say enough good things about this meal. We will certainly have this again.

On a technical note...I do want to point out that the directions for the salsa say to just "stem" the chile peppers,which is what I did. This made the salsa "light your hair on fire" spicy. Also, I noticed that I actually mis-read the recipe; I used 2 Serrano AND 1 jalapeno pepper (instead of 2 Serrano OR 1 jalapeno pepper...oops). I think next time I will seed and devein one or more of the peppers to get more of a balanced heat. As it stood, it was really spicy(which now makes sense because I added too many chiles)(even with the excessive heat, that did not detour us from breaking out the chips and eating it straight from the bowl). I love spicy food, but the pregnancy-induced indigestion was a little hard to deal with. With that said, I still would rather suffer the discomfort than to skip the salsa. It was one of the best homemade salsas that I have ever tasted!

Basil-Mushroom Pork Chops

I found this recipe on my friend Claire's blog, who originally got it from our other friend Danielle. Danielle found it on allrecipes.com, but tweaked it some by suggesting the use of fresh mushrooms with it. Does that make sense??? Anyway, this dish has gotten great reviews from all that have tried it, so I thought I would put it on the menu plan this week. The ingredients are things that I always have on hand, and I am happy to have another great pork recipe up my sleeve. I think I will serve some Trader Joe's Wild Rice Pilaf and steamed veggies to go along on the side.

Basil-Mushroom Pork Chops
Adapted from: allrecipes.com/By: Lisa Gilliand

Ingredients:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
4 (4 ounce) boneless pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick
1 (6 oz.) container of fresh button mushrooms, sliced

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, basil, salt and chili powder. Gradually stir in 1 tablespoon oil until crumbly. Rub over both sides of pork chops.
In a large skillet, cook pork in remaining oil over medium heat for 7-8 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. (Add mushrooms to the pan right after you flip the pork and saute until soft.)



The Result:
This was fan-freakin'-tastic! So, so good. I really could not imagine how this dish would turn out, due to the combination of brown sugar and other ingredients. Let me tell you, it was delicious. The brown sugar was not sweet; but instead, turned into a savory glaze when paired with the other rub items. Yum, yum, yum. I love the addition of the mushrooms, and the pork chops were so juicy and perfectly seasoned. Best of all, it was easy to assemble and quick to cook...but it tasted like I put real effort into it. This will be a dinner we make again and again! Thanks Danielle and Claire!!!

Jen's Baked Chili Mac Penne Surprise

I am almost ashamed to post this dinner. Almost. I really can't believe that my cooking has reached this level. I am playing mad scientist with some leftovers, and the results are going to go one of two ways. I suspect that this dinner is either going to be really good, or so horrible it will be inedible. The funny thing is that I am oddly excited to try it! Weird, I know. Let me just post the "recipe" (and I use that term loosely), so you can see what I mean. Wish us luck!!!

Jen's Baked Chili Mac Penne Surprise

Ingredients:
cooking spray
1/2 bag of cooked whole wheat penne pasta (elbow macaroni would work, too)
leftover chili (from my chili cheese dogs the other night)
leftover black bean soup (the last soup portion in our fridge that definitely needs to be used)
1/4 cup of chicken stock
2-3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (melted cheese would make an old boot seem appetizing, so I think it is an appropriate addition to this meal)

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions in boiling, salted water. Drain in a colander and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, combine leftover chili and leftover soup with chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce and set aside.

Spray casserole dish with cooking spray and layer cooked drained pasta in the bottom. Cover with chili-bean mixture and spread evenly over pasta with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes, or until warmed through and all the cheese is melted.





The Result:
Whew!!! I dodged a bullet with this one, for sure! It turned out pretty good. I don't know if I will ever have the same leftovers on hand at the same time again to re-create it, but I am pleased with the outcome. The husband, who was pretty skeptical, had seconds! I even left the cheese on mine, because I wanted to get a full appreciation for my creation (also, I just couldn't face this dish without the cheese...thankfully I am tolerating it okay). I guess the lesson learned here was don't be afraid of making a super-thrifty dinner by combining leftovers once in awhile. I am just relieved that everyone at my house liked this casserole!