Girls' Night

My sister came up for the weekend to hang out and do some shopping. Knowing that Mexican food is her favorite type of food, I decide to make some chicken tacos for dinner the other night. We totally pigged out on chips and salsa and had a lot of fun just laughing and talking. The tacos turned out really good and I made some simple black beans to go along with them. It was such a fun night just hanging out with my sis.

Chicken Tacos

2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 Tbsp taco seasoning
3/4 cup water or chicken broth
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 flour tortillas

Begin by sauteeing the onion in a skillet with the olive oil for about 3-5 min. Next, add the cooked chicken and taco seasoning. Add the broth or water and stir. Let heat through about 5 minutes. Serve on warmed tortillas with your favorite toppings (lettuce, tomato, cheese, salsa, sour cream, beans etc)

Chicken Enchiladas with Chili Gravy

I finally got around to making enchiladas tonight. This is actually the first time I've made them and they turned out very good. I've had a recipe for chili gravy saved for a long time now and decided to use that as the sauce for the enchiladas. I have no clue where I got the recipe, but I think it was from someone's blog. If anyone knows whose it could be, please let me know! Anyway, we had these tonight with seasoned brown rice. It was all very delicious, although not very healthy.

Chicken Enchiladas

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 a green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chili gravy (recipe follows)
4 flour tortillas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and peppers and cook for about 5 min. Add shredded chicken and stir. Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Remove from pan and set aside. Using the same pan, make the chili gravy as follows.

Chili Gravy

Ingredients:
1/4 cup lard (I used vegetable oil)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp powdered garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano (Mexican oregano is preferred if it’s available)
2 T chile powder (either homemade or a dark brand such as Gebhardt’s or Whole Foods)
2 cups chicken broth (or water) (I used half water, half chicken broth)

Method:
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux.
Add all the dry ingredients and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients.
Add chicken broth or water, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens.
Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add water to adjust the thickness. Makes 2 cups.

Once the chili gravy is done, add 1/2 a cup to the chicken mixture and stir. Spoon the chicken mixture into the flour tortilla shells and roll up. Spread another half cup of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and place the rolled tortillas in the dish. Top with the remaining cup of sauce and shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 min.

Original Source: Homesick Texan
(I finally found out where this recipe came from!)

Taco Salad Bowls

Tonight's dinner needed to be simple. We had some errands to run after work so I thought I'd keep dinner short and sweet. Or I guess I should say spicy! Taco salad is always a fast and yummy meal. Typically I serve crumbled tortilla chips on top of the salad greens, spicy taco meat, and cheese but tonight I made it a little different. I've been seeing these taco bowls on lots of food blogs lately and it occurred to me that I had never made it that way before. I think the crunchy tortilla bowl makes this common salad even better. We had this tonight with mexican rice.

Taco Salad Bowls

1/2 lb lean ground beef or turkey
2 cups lettuce or enough for 2 salads
1/2 cup chopped tomato (I used sliced grape tomatoes)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup cheddar or mexican cheese
taco seasoning (recipe to follow)
1/2 cup water or beef broth
2 10" tortillas
cooking spray

Taco Seasoning

1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp each)

Combine all ingredients.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make two balls out of aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. (You could also use ramekins.) Place tortillas over aluminum foil balls and spray with cooking spray. These should bake for about 10 min or until brown. Meanwhile, heat a skillet on the stove. Add chopped onion and ground beef. Cook until beef is done and drain. Add taco seasoning and 1/2 cup water or beef broth. Stir to combine. Let this cook another couple minutes to heat through. Place salad greens in the taco shell. Top with beef, cheese, tomatoes and all your favorite toppings. Other toppings that would be good are black beans, corn, salsa, or sour cream.

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas

I saw this recipe on Cooking Light a few weeks ago and it looked so good to me. But as soon as I read "zucchini" my first thought was "my husband won't eat it." He's not a vegetable person at all. If it's not a potato or corn he probably doesn't want it. I decided to make it anyway, hoping he would like it. After all, zucchini is such a mild tasting vegetable. When dinner was ready tonight, my husband's first question was "what's in it?" When I started rattling off ingredients, he automatically gave me a look when I said zucchini, as I expected. But he gave it a try and said he actually liked it even though he thought he wouldn't. That just goes to show you should always try something before assuming you don't like it. I happened to love this recipe. It was easy and a very tasty combination of flavors. It's a keeper for me!


Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons canola oil (I used olive oil)
12 ounces chicken breast tenders
1 cup chopped red onion (about 1)
1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
1 cup chopped zucchini (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup green salsa (I used 1/2 cup red salsa)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided (Omitted, not a fan of cilantro)
4 (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas (I used 2 10" tortillas)
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used mexican cheese)

Preparation

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 3 ingredients, stirring well. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the spice mixture evenly over chicken. Add chicken to pan; sauté for 3 minutes. Add onion, corn, and zucchini to pan; sauté for 2 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in salsa and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Cook 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently.

Working with 2 tortillas at a time, arrange tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet; lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla; sprinkle each serving with 1/4 cup cheese. Broil an additional 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture, and cheese. Sprinkle each serving with about 3/4 teaspoon of remaining cilantro. Serve immediately.

Yield

4 servings

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 398(30% from fat); FAT 13.1g (sat 5.9g,mono 4.1g,poly 1.2g); PROTEIN 32.5g; CHOLESTEROL 75mg; CALCIUM 236mg; SODIUM 799mg; FIBER 3.1g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 36.7g



Original Source: Cooking Light

Fajitas!

I don't know why but I've been exhausted every afternoon this week so I've been putting the least amount of effort possbile into making dinner. So tonight I turned to one of the easiest one pot meals. Fajitas! This is one of my favorites because it's simple, tasty, and has few ingredients. It's a great time saver too since it only takes about 20 min to prepare. It's a little different than traditional fajitas since it's more sweet than spicy but they are oh so good!

Fajitas

2 chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
1 green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1/2 large onion, sliced into thin strips
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Lawry's teriyaki marinade

Place chicken, bell pepper, onion, and garlic in a bowl. Pour marinade over the ingredients and toss to coat. Refridgerate for about an hour or all day if you have time to prepare in the morning. Heat a skillet over med/hi heat. Remove chicken, peppers, and onion from the marinade and add to the pan. Cook until chicken is done and peppers and onions are softened. Serve on warm tortillas with your favorite toppings (salsa, cheese, tomato, lettuce, etc) These would be great served with rice or a corn and black bean salad.

Quesadilla Night!

I always end up with a few left over tortillas that I don't know what to do with and usually end up tossing them after a while. Well I found a use for my two left over tortillas by making quesadillas. This was the first time I've made them and if I do say so they turned out great! I also made taco rice from a Cooking Light recipe for taco rice salad to go with them.




Chicken Quesadillas

1 large chicken breast (pre-cooked, seasoned with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes) shredded-you could really use any left over baked chicken you have
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup mexican blend shredded cheese-I just used the bagged kind
2 large flour tortillas

Spray a pan with non-stick spray and saute peppers and onions until tender, about 5-7 min. Remove from pan and set aside. Again, spray the pan with non-stick spray and place one tortilla in the pan. Add a 1/4 cup of cheese, a layer of shredded chicken, and 1/2 cup of the pepper/onion mixture to one half of the tortilla. Add 1/4 cup cheese on top of that. Fold the other half of the tortilla over. Flip tortilla over once to ensure the cheese melts all the way through. Remove from pan. Repeat with second tortilla. Cut into triangles and serve.

Taco Rice

3 cups cooked yellow rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cook rice as directed on the package. Add cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Use a fork to fluff rice and mix in seasonings.

Original recipe from Cooking Light-
http://tinyurl.com/32dc5v