Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

This was a really good, and somewhat unique take on enchiladas. I wasn't sure about the honey in this application, but it turned out to be quite tasty. The night we had these, I ended up having thirds! Okay, so I need to preface "thirds" with the caveat of I've been exercising like a crazy person, and I have been extremely hungry. I'm talking gnaw off my own arm type of hungry. Anyway, try these...you'll (hopefully) love them, too.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
Adapted From: Six Sisters Stuff

Ingredients:
Marinade -
6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice (1 large lime)
1 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 3 breasts)
8-10 flour tortillas (I used whole wheat tortillas)
1 pound Monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream (I used half & half)

Directions:
1. Whisk the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken in a Zip-loc bag.
2. Let it marinate for at least a 1/2 hour, but preferably a half day or so.
3. Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan.
4. Fill the tortillas with chicken, saving marinade, and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas.
5. Put tortillas in 9x13 pan as you go.
6. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade (if there is any).
7. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas.
8. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

Notes:
This is also a great recipe to make as a freezer meal- put into 2 8x8" pans. Bake 1 pan for dinner now, put the other pan into the freezer. Pull it out and bake it when you need it!



Here's a photo of the whole pan when it came out of the oven. These were so delicious!

Jen's Mango Lime Smoothie

The husband and I had a delicious smoothie this past weekend, and this is my attempt to duplicate it. I think mine turned out just as great as the original, and I gave it a couple of extra little nutritional boosts.

Jen's Mango Lime Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 mango, diced
juice of 1 lime
1 cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt
1-2 Tablespoons of honey (or more for desired sweetness)
1/4 cup of egg whites
1/2 cup of fat-free milk
1/2 cup of flax seed meal
1 cup of ice cubes

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender, and puree on high speed until combined and smooth. Add more milk if you need a thinner texture, or more vanilla yogurt if you need a thicker texture. Serve in a glass and enjoy!



The Result:
This was a fantastic breakfast...both filling and refreshing! I am happy that I have some leftover in the fridge for tomorrow.

Bobby's Baked Lime Tilapia

Wasn't I just lamenting the fact that I really did not have any "new" recipes planned???? I totally forgot that tonight I had this new recipe planned!

Awhile ago, I had seen an episode of Paula's Best Dishes on the Food Network. Typically, I am not a huge Paula Deen fan, so I don't regularly watch her show. I just happened to catch this episode where her son, Bobby, was making this tilapia recipe. From the demonstration, it looked really good and fairly easy. There are only a few ingredients, which I thought was a bonus. So, I put it on the menu and then promptly forgot about it completely. That was probably about two weeks ago. This morning I pulled out my meal plan and realized that this tilapia dish was slotted for our evening meal. Thankfully, I still have the all the ingredients for it.

There is one thing that I found to be a little questionable about this dish. The recipe directions indicate that the fish should be baked on a cast iron pan (sheet pan). I don't have a cast iron baking sheet; and I don't know many people who do. Really, is a cast iron baking sheet needed???? I know cast iron gets hotter than most other pans, but I am wondering why you would need it for this tilapia recipe???? I am not sure. For my first attempt at this dish, I think I will try it in a large cast iron skillet...just to be on the safe side. I am a little skeptical. I will let you know my opinion on whether the cast iron pan is necessary or not.
I am not sure what I am going to do for a side dish. The episode showed the fish paired with a brown almond rice pilaf. While that does sound good, I may go with cheesy potatoes instead. I am a little low on brown rice, and we haven't had cheesy potatoes in quite some time. Also, I think I will steam some broccoli to go with it. I love the combo of broccoli and any kind of fish...it just seems to be the perfect veggie side dish to go with seafood. I will let you know how it all turns out.

Bobby's Baked Lime Tilapia
adapted from foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
4 (6 to 8-ounce) tilapia fillets
Salt and black pepper to taste
1-2 limes, finely grated zest
Juice of 1-2 limes
2 Tablespoons of butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a large cast iron pan with cooking spray.
Rinse fish and pat dry; place on the prepared baking sheet. Season each fillet with salt, cracked pepper, lime zest and lime juice. Add fish to the pan. Place a pat of butter on each fillet and cook in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately.

Here is the link to my cheesy potatoes side dish...

Jen's Top Secret Cheesy Potatoes

If you love cheese like we do; you will love these potatoes!



The Result:
The husband and I had differing opinions about this dish. I thought it was boring and just okay, but he really liked it. For me, it tasted exactly how it sounds...fish with lots of lime juice flavor (almost overpowering). It was okay...but nothing special. My husband really liked it, because it was very citrus-y. Also, I don't think the cast iron pan made one bit of a difference. There was no special cast iron flavor or anything. Overall, I don't know if I will make this recipe again. It just wasn't fantastic, and I have had better tilapia recipes. It did not blow my socks off. I guess if the husband makes a special request for this dish, I would accommodate him...but otherwise this is really not a keeper for me. Back to the drawing board for some new recipes...

Lime Chicken Soft Tacos

I get really burnt out on boneless, skinless white meat chicken sometimes, but it is such a healthy protein, I buy it anyway. It just feels so pedestrian. Since I know I have this proclivity towards boredom (and since chicken is so plentiful at my house), I try to find inventive ways to prepare it...just to break the monotony. This is the case with tonight's dinner, for sure. I have a standard way to prepare chicken soft tacos, but they sounded so boring. Usually, I put together a marinade and grill the chicken...nothing exciting...just a basic, standard (albeit yummy)grilled chicken tacos. No surprises.
Well, I am in the mood to try a different version tonight. I turned to my new, favorite recipe site recipezaar.com and found this taco dish. I have everything on hand for it, and it seems to be just a twist on a classic chicken taco. New enough to spice things up...but not so new as to where it will be taxing on my brain. It is different enough to be interesting, but yet, similar enough to keep within the guidelines of what I had planned for dinner. Honestly, I would not have thought to simmer the chicken in with the 'lime sauce' so I am interested to see how this will turn out. I am kind of a one-trick pony when it comes to certain chicken recipes; chicken soft tacos included. Now, at least I am a bit more excited to cook tonight.

Oh, and since we are sort of on the subject-I love recipe compilation websites such as recipezaar.com and allrecipes.com! I love trying "new-to-me" food from other home-cooking enthusiasts. Plus, I love reading the reviews. I especially love when people alter the recipe completely (sometimes until it is unrecognizable from the original), and then give it a bad or a 'eh' review. That cracks me up. Or they substitute everything under the sun, until it is not even in the spirit of the original recipe. How can you give an objective recipe review when you don't stick to the recipe you are reviewing???? I will admit, I play around with recipes all the time, but at least I...a) don't go and give a review based on my alterations, b) try and stick with the original the first time through, unless it involves extenuating circumstances (extenuating circumstances would count as one or more of the following and are subject to change without notice: a) my going to the store when I don't feel like it, b) interrupting Oprah, c) buying unnecessary ingredients when we are broke, d) any other excuse that I find handy at the time...my rules are flexible when it's convenient for me). I know, I know...adjustments need to made based on individual preferences/tastes. But still...the whole thing is just funny to me. I am such a reasonable and logical person sometimes!

Anyway, back to regularly scheduled programming...

I think my side dish will be some black or pinto beans tonight. I am not sure which one. I will probably ask the hubs to decide for me. Also, I have a few ripe avocados to use, so those will come into play as well. I look forward to trying my new found chicken soft taco recipe. I will let you know how it goes!

Lime Chicken Soft Tacos
Recipe #64160 By: kcdelong Jun 9, 2003

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juice of
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
10 6-inch flour tortillas
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese
1/4 cup salsa

Directions:
1) Saute chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for about 20 minutes.
2) Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano.
3) Simmer for an extra 10 minutes.
4) Heat an iron skillet over medium heat.
5) Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side.
6) Repeat with remaining tortillas.
7) Serve lime chicken mixture in warm tortillas topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese and salsa.

Jen's Notes:
I have two substitutions. I don't have green onions, so I will just dice up some white onions, and I only have whole wheat tortillas...not flour. Ah-hem. Maybe I do change things around a lot. By the way, the comments I made before about substitutions count as a double standard...but only because it is twice as true!



The Result:
This was good, but nothing really outstanding. Actually, I would categorize it as just okay...certainly no better than my usual marinade/grill method. The flavors were good, but this recipe did not really cure my sense of boredom with this recipe. It was a little lack-luster in my opinion. We still enjoyed our meal; the tacos were just basic, normal chicken soft tacos. I ended up making really super-spicy black beans, which were actually a bit too spicy for the boy and husband. Also, instead of a standard veggie, I decided to relax a bit and serve some organic tortilla chips with salsa and mashed avocado for my other side item. The boy was so excited to eat chips for dinner! Overall, this was a good dinner, but I don't think I would bother making this particular chicken recipe again.

Chipotle Copycat Lime Rice

I found this recipe to serve with my fajitas. I will let you know if it is as good as it's namesake.

Chipotle Copycat Lime Rice Recipe

30 min | 5 min prep
SERVES 4

Ingredients:
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter
• 2 teaspoons fresh cilantro
• 2/3 cup white basmati rice
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 lime

Directions:
1. In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted.
2. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute.
3. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil.(Some people have had success with 1 cup of water, but when I've made it with 2 it worked for me).
4. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes.
5. Add in the cilantro and fluff rice with a fork.

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