Picante Chicken Enchiladas

This is one of those "tried and true" recipes I've been using for years and I just love it. It always turns out great and it's one of those casserole-style dishes that is easy to make and also super delicious! I recently tripled the recipe and made it for a family birthday dinner, served it with chips and salsa, mexican rice and refried beans. It was a hit!

Picante Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 jar (16 oz.) salsa
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 2 cups cooked cubed chicken
• 1/2 cup monterey jack cheese
• 6 flour tortillas (8-inch), warmed
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

Directions:

• Stir 3/4 cup salsa, sour cream, and chili powder in a medium bowl.
• Stir the salsa mixture, chicken, and cheese in a large bowl.
• Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up the tortillas and place seam-side up in a lightly greased 11 x 8 inch shallow baking dish.
• Pour the remaining salsa over the filled tortillas. Cover the baking dish with foil.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until the enchiladas are hot and bubbling.
• Top with the onion.

Cafe Rio Pork Salad

My new favorite kitchen gadget (a Christmas gift from my ever-so-generous mother-in-law), makes amazing salad dressing and I was able to put it good use when I made this dish last week:(Cuisinart Elite Die-Cast 12-Cup Food Processor- Williams Sonoma)

I love love love this recipe! Even though we now have Cafe Rio in southern California, I still love making this at home for my family. It's the perfect Sunday dinner if you plan on hosting a large group of people and you can even freeze the leftover dressing and use it later.The pork is very easy-just stick it in the crock pot and let it cook all day. I serve the salad on a warm torilla (I buy the uncooked pre-made tortillas at Costco and cook them right before I serve the salad), with rice, black beans, shredded cheese, avacadoes, diced tomatoes, tortilla strips, tomatillo dressing and a lime on the side.

Pork Barbacoa

3lb pork roast

16oz salsa

2 cups Dr. Pepper

1 cup brown sugar

Put roast in crock-pot. Mix Dr. Pepper and brown sugar. Pour over roast, along with the salsa. Cook on high 8 hours; remove pork and shred with fork. Return shredded meat to marinade in crock pot and keep warm until ready to serve.
Mexican Style White Rice

3 cups water

4 t chicken boullion

4 t garlic-minced

1/2 bunch cilantro

1 can green chiles

3/4 t salt

1 T butter

3 c rice

juice from 2 limes

Blend cilantro, green chilies and onion in food processor or blender. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes (or until rice is soft).

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing

1 cup mayo

1 cup chopped cilantro

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 chopped tomatillos (peel paper off)

1/3-1/2 cups buttermilk, to consistency

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Put all ingredients in blender or food processor and mix

Homemade Mac n' Cheese

If there's one food I can count on my kids gobbling up, it's macaroni and cheese. Their dad is to blame for this. When I have meetings on Sundays after church and leave him with the kids, he will always make them "Easy Mac" for lunch. I can't complain though because, hey, at least I don't have to come up with something! When I was cleaning out my pantry last week and saw that I had a large bag of elbow macaroni that expired in 2 days, I immediately thought to make a big pan of mac n' cheese. It was super quick to prepare, super tasty, and I felt much better about my family having something homemade on Sunday afternoon.Mom's Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:

• 1 (16 ounce) package macaroni
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1 pound shredded colby cheese

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
• Place macaroni in a 2 quart casserole dish. Stir in cheese soup and milk until well combined. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until cheese is brown and bubbly.
  

Turkey Sloppy Joe's

I'm always trying to think of new ways to "trick" my kids into eating vegetables and this recipe worked like a charm! I served it on a whole grain bun with a slice of reduced-fat colby-jack cheese, with a side of sliced carrots and celery and it was so yummy.Turkey Sloppy Joe's
Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey breast
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) reduced-fat reduced-sodium condensed tomato soup, undiluted
• 1/2 cup kethcup
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 8 hamburger buns, split

Method:

• In a large saucepan coated with nonstick cooking spray, cook the turkey, onion, celery, and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain if necessary.
• Stir in the soup, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and pepper.
• Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 4 hours.
• Serve on buns.
  

Chicken Pasta Primavera

This pasta dish has it all: meat, veggies, and pasta! My husband and kids loved it, it was simple to make, and we have plenty for left-overs. The best part, which I kept secret, is that this meal is also very healthy and low-cal with just 342 calories per (1 & 1/3 cup) serving!!

Chicken Pasta Primavera
Ingredients:

• 6 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) reduced-fat reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
• 3/4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 package (16 oz.) frozen California-blend vegetables, thawed
• 4 cups cooked cubed chicken
• 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Method:

• Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
• Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine the soup, water, lemon juice, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir in vegetables; bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat; cover and simmer 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Stir in the chicken; heat through.
• Drain spaghetti; add to chicken mixture and toss to coat.
• Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Chicken Fajitas

I had leftover peppers and onions from Christmas morning omelets, so I whipped these fajitas up for dinner last night and they were a hit with the hubby and kids! The best thing about this dish is that you can do all the hard work (dicing, chopping, slicing, mixing, etc.) ahead of time so when dinner time comes and the kids are antsy, all you have to do is throw everything on the stove and it's ready in minutes!

Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, chicken thighs, or steak (I used chicken tenders because they cook up so quickly and I always keep a big bag in my freezer)
• 2-3 bell peppers (I used green, red, and yellow), stem and membranes removed and peppers quartered
• 1 large onion sliced into 1/2" slices

Marinade:

• 1/3 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
• 3 teaspoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayanne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Method:

• Pleace meat in a zip-top bag or shallow dish. Place vegetables in another. In a medium bowl, combine all marinade ingredients and whisk well. Reserve 3-4 tablespoons of marinade for later use. With remaining marinade, add a splash to the vegetables and the remaining to the meat. Marinate for 4-6 hours and up to overnight.
• Preheat bbq grill, indoor grill, or large skillet. If you're using a grill, place everything on at the same time. If using a skillet, slice peppers and onions first. Cook chicken for a few minutes on each side until cooked through and remove from pan. Cover with foil to keep warm. Add vegetables and cook until crisp tender.
• Remove vegetables from cooking surface and slice. Slice meat. Toss with reserved marinade and serve along side any or all of the following:
• Flour tortillas
• Black beans
• Rice
• Pico de gallo or salsa
• Diced avacado or guacamole
• Sour cream

*recipe from Our Best Bites

Barbeque Chicken

I promise this will be the last of my barbeque sauce recipes for a while, but I just had to post this one because it is my favorite. My friend Darla brought this chicken over for me after I had my second baby and it was so delicious, I called her immediately for the recipe. To my surprise, it was the easiest crock pot recipe I've ever heard! I now make it all the time for salads, sandwiches, or just to have in the refrigerator as a snack.

Crock Pot Barbeque Chicken

Ingredients:
1.Fresh or frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders
2.A bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce
3.Shredded cheese
Method:
Pleace chicken and enough barbeque sauce to cover the chicken completely in a crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken and shred with a fork. Serve over salad greens or on your favorite whole wheat roll with shredded cheese and extra barbeque sauce.

Cheat Day- Crock Pot Ribs

Besides the recipe for banana muffins on the previous post, I could NOT make it through my second pregnancy without barbeque ribs. The weird thing was that I had always hated barbeque sauce, but thanks to weird pregnancy/nursing cravings, I can't get enough of it now! I found this recipe for crock pot ribs and they are absolutely delicious and ridiculously easy to make.
(Sorry, I seriously ate them all before I remembered to take a picture. That's how good they are)!
Ingredients:
3 lb. boneless country cut ribs
1 onion, sliced
1 and 1/2 cups barbeque sauce (I prefer Lucille's)
pepper to taste
Method:
Put meat on bottom of crock pot; add onions and pepper. Top with BBQ sauce. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or at high for 4-5 hours.

Multi-grain Linguine With Creamy Tomato Ialian Sausage Sauce

My husband's side of the family introduced me to the combination of pasta and sausage and I really enjoy it. I found this recipe on simplyrecipes.com and adapted it to so it would have fewer calories, fewer carbs, and leaner protein. My husband thought it tasted great and had no idea it was "healthy."

Multi-grain Linguine with Creamy Tomato Italian Sausage Sauce

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 pound sweet Italian Sausage, casings removed (I used Jenni-O)
1/2 pound spicy Italian Sausage, casings removed (Jenni-O)
1 cup whipping cream (I tried to substitue it with low-fat milk, but the whpping cream makes the sauce so much better and thicker. Use it if you have calories to spare :)
2 (14.5) oz. cans diced tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp. dried sage
3/4 pound multi-grain linguine
1/2 cup grated (reduced fat) parmesan cheese
Method:
1. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic and saute until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add sausages and satue until no longer pink, breaking them up a bit, about 5 minutes. Add cream; simmer 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice. Add sage. Simmer until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
2/ Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.
3. Return pasta to same pot; add sauce. Toss over medium heat until sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls if mixture is dry. Transfer to bowl; sprinkle with cheese and serve.
Serves 6

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I made this soup last weekend and it was the perfect, light meal for a warm spring day. I already had a rotisserie chicken in my fridge and all of the other ingredients are things I always tend to keep in my pantry, so it was easy to whip up real quick.



Chicken Tortilla Soup
from Holly Clegg's Trim and Terrific Gulf Coast Favorites

Ingredients:
4 (6-8 inch) flour tortillas, cut into 1/4 inch strips (I used whole wheat tortillas)
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 and 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 (28 oz.) can chopped tomatoes with juice
6 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies
1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen corn
1 (15.5 oz) can navy white beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp. lime juice
1.5 tsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 cup reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese
1 small avacado, peeled and diced

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tortilla strips on baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a nonstick pot coated with nonstick cooking spray, saute onion and garlic over medium heat until tender, about 7 minutes.
3. Add chicken and continue cooking until chicken is done, about 5-7 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, broth, green chilies, corn, beans, lime juice, cumin, and chili powder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10-15 minutes.
4. Serve soup topped with tortilla strips, green onions, cheese, and avacado.

Calories 209, Fat 4g, saturated fat 2g, cholesterol 37 mg, carbohydrate 24, protein 20g

Sunday Pot Roast- the healthier version

I made this recipe (from Holly Clegg's Trim and Terrific Cooking) last Sunday when I had my family over for dinner and it received rave reviews. I threw everything in the crockpot before I left for church at 9am and when I walked in the door at noon, my house smelled delicious! I grew up having roast for dinner almost every Sunday and always made it the same way, until I found this recipe. One of the best things about this recipe is that it leaves a healthy "gravy" in the bottom of the pan that you can serve with it.


Easy Pot Roast

1 (4 lb.) beef sirloin tip roast, trimmed of fat
6 cloves of garlic, sliced or 1 tablespoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion
1 (10.75 oz.) can reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup
1 (16 oz.) package baby carrots
2 cups peeled, cubed sweet potatoes (I ran out of time, so I didn't include these)
2 cups peeled, cubed red potatoes

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees (if not using a crockpot). Cut slits in roast and stuff peices of garlic throughout meat. Season meat with salt and pepper.
2. Spread sliced onion over the roast and pour soup over onions. Add carrots and potatoes. Cover and leave on low to cook all day if using a crockpot.
*Cover and bake 4 hours if using your oven. Add carrots and potatoes and continue cooking another hour or until tender.

Calories 249, Carbohydrate(g)14, Calories from fat(%)72, Dietary Fiber(g)2, Cholesterol mg)57, Sodium (mg)254

Turkey Stuffed Green Peppers

My friend that I run with is a very healthy eater. She uses Daily Plate at www.Livestrong.com for a lot of recipes and told me to try this one because it was one of her favorites. Glad I did, because it was so good and my family loved it. My 3 year old was so excited to get her very own pepper with dinner inside of it. I made some adjustments to the recipe by using instant brown rice (instead of white rice that you add in uncooked, then have to wait an hour for the entire dish to cook), and I did forgo the cheese on mine, but other than that it is a pretty lo-cal meal (a little less than 300 calories per serving) and very simple. It's nice to finally use that spice rack I received as a gift at my wedding 6 years ago.

• 6 servings Green Bell Pepper
• 1.25 servings Ground Turkey - Raw
• 7.25 servings Tomato sauce
• .5 cups Onions
• 1 servings Garlic Clove
• 1 teaspoons Oregano, Dried
• 1/2 teaspoons Thyme, Dried
• 1/2 teaspoons Rosemary, Dried
• 1/2 teaspoons Basil, Dried
• 1/2 teaspoons Rubbed Sage
• 1/8 teaspoons Pepper, Black
• 2 cups cooked instant Brown Rice

Instructions:

Slice tops off peppers and hollow. Set aside.
In a large skillet, brown the turkey. Remove and set aside. In the same skillet, combine 1/4c. water and 1/4c. of the tomato sauce with onion, garlic and herbs. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Stir in rest of tomatoe sauce, turkey and cooked rice. Stuff into peppers and place in a baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1/2 hour. Remove, top each pepper with about 1 tablespoon cheese. Return to oven for 3 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Crispy Southwestern Lasagna

If you like mexican food and lasagna, but don't like all the calories associated with those foods, then this dish is a great alternative. It's a great combination of mexican and italian flavors and you'll have more than enough left-overs for lunch the next day.


Crispy Southwestern Lasagna

1 pound ground sirloin (I substituted Jenni-O ground turkey)
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, with juices
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles, drained
2 tsp. chili powder
1 and 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 egg whites
2 cups reduced fat or fat-free cottage cheese
14 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into quarters
1 (15 and 1/4 oz.) can corn, drained
1 (8 oz.) package shredded reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In large nonstick skillet, cook meat over medium heat until done. Add tomatoes and juice, green chiles, chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper; set aside.
3. In small bowl, blend egg whites and cottage cheese well; set aside.
4. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. COver bottom of baking dish with six quartered tortillas.
5. Layer all the corn, half meat mixture, half cheese, four quartered tortillas, then all the cottage cheese mixture, remaining half of meat mixture, and remaining four quartered tortillas, and top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes. Serve (makes 8-10 servings)

Nutritional information per serving:
Calories: 239, Fat (g)7, Calories from fat (%)26, Saturated fat (g)3, Cholesterol (mg)40