Welcome!
This year, my resolution is to find better recipes to cook for my family. I really enjoy cooking, but with me working more, it's harder for me to find time to cook the way I would like, which is mostly from scratch. This blog is going to be about finding those excellent recipes, that are quick and easy, and yet mostly made from scratch. I should also mention that I rarely make any recipe exactly as written, so the recipes here will have my little tweaks.
With our busy schedule, I don't cook every night of the week, but I hope to get in at least 1 new recipe a week, more if I can find the time and the good recipes! I often get an idea in my head of what I want to cook, and then go searching on the Internet until I find it. I also hope to post some of those websites that I find that have good, healthy (and sometimes not so healthy), easy recipes. My absolute favorite site is http://www.epicurious.com. I have found many incredible recipes there.
One other important thing - I have a wonderful program called "MasterCook", cookbook software. It helps me build a cookbook, makes it easier to e-mail recipes, and gives me nutritional analysis for my recipes. I'd highly recommend it. Here's a link to purchasing it at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/ValuSoft-10470-MasterCook-Deluxe-9-0/dp/B000B7TBNE Any nutritional analysis that is on the end of the recipes comes from MasterCook.
My first recipe will be one I've made for years, and is my husband's favorite: Chicken Enchiladas.
Chicken Enchiladas
1/2 pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cooked
1Medium Onion, chopped
8 Ounces Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
1 15 Ounce Can Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
1/2 Cup Water
8 6-inch White Corn Tortillas
Spray 9 x 11 inch baking pan with cooking spray; set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
With a fork, shred the chicken into small pieces. Cool.
Saute the onion in a small amount of olive oil until translucent. Cool.
In a medium bowl, combine the cooled chicken and onion and 3/4 of the cheese. Set mixture aside.
In a skillet, combine the enchilada sauce and water; heat the sauce to boiling. Place a tortilla in the sauce. when the tortilla is limp, remove it to a plate, letting the excess sauce drain back into the skillet. Spoon a generous 1/4 cup of chicken/cheese filling across the diameter of the tortilla. Roll up the tortilla and set it, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat this procedure with the remaining tortillas, one by one, arranging them in a single layer.
Pour the remaining sauce over the rolled tortillas, sprinkling remaining cheese over them. Cover the pan with foil, and bake the enchiladas for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake the enchiladas for an additional 5 minutes uncovered, or until they are heated through and lightly browned.
Note: If you have extra filling, simply fill more tortillas. I usually end up with 10 enchiladas with this recipe.
Serving Ideas: Serve with Black Beans
Serving Size: 2 Enchiladas
This year, my resolution is to find better recipes to cook for my family. I really enjoy cooking, but with me working more, it's harder for me to find time to cook the way I would like, which is mostly from scratch. This blog is going to be about finding those excellent recipes, that are quick and easy, and yet mostly made from scratch. I should also mention that I rarely make any recipe exactly as written, so the recipes here will have my little tweaks.
With our busy schedule, I don't cook every night of the week, but I hope to get in at least 1 new recipe a week, more if I can find the time and the good recipes! I often get an idea in my head of what I want to cook, and then go searching on the Internet until I find it. I also hope to post some of those websites that I find that have good, healthy (and sometimes not so healthy), easy recipes. My absolute favorite site is http://www.epicurious.com. I have found many incredible recipes there.
One other important thing - I have a wonderful program called "MasterCook", cookbook software. It helps me build a cookbook, makes it easier to e-mail recipes, and gives me nutritional analysis for my recipes. I'd highly recommend it. Here's a link to purchasing it at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/ValuSoft-10470-MasterCook-Deluxe-9-0/dp/B000B7TBNE Any nutritional analysis that is on the end of the recipes comes from MasterCook.
My first recipe will be one I've made for years, and is my husband's favorite: Chicken Enchiladas.
Chicken Enchiladas
1/2 pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cooked
1Medium Onion, chopped
8 Ounces Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
1 15 Ounce Can Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
1/2 Cup Water
8 6-inch White Corn Tortillas
Spray 9 x 11 inch baking pan with cooking spray; set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
With a fork, shred the chicken into small pieces. Cool.
Saute the onion in a small amount of olive oil until translucent. Cool.
In a medium bowl, combine the cooled chicken and onion and 3/4 of the cheese. Set mixture aside.
In a skillet, combine the enchilada sauce and water; heat the sauce to boiling. Place a tortilla in the sauce. when the tortilla is limp, remove it to a plate, letting the excess sauce drain back into the skillet. Spoon a generous 1/4 cup of chicken/cheese filling across the diameter of the tortilla. Roll up the tortilla and set it, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat this procedure with the remaining tortillas, one by one, arranging them in a single layer.
Pour the remaining sauce over the rolled tortillas, sprinkling remaining cheese over them. Cover the pan with foil, and bake the enchiladas for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake the enchiladas for an additional 5 minutes uncovered, or until they are heated through and lightly browned.
Note: If you have extra filling, simply fill more tortillas. I usually end up with 10 enchiladas with this recipe.
Serving Ideas: Serve with Black Beans
Serving Size: 2 Enchiladas
Nutrition Information: Per Serving: 285 calories, 18 g fat, 27 g protein, 3 g carbohydrates, trace dietary fiber, 83mg cholesterol; 343mg sodium. Exchanges 3 1/2 lean meat; 12 vegetable; 2 1/2 fat.
The original recipe for this comes from Jane Brody's Good Food Book, published in 1985, ISBN# 0-553-34618-0.
Hint of the Day: I cook many chicken breasts at once, and freeze them individually for use in recipes later. I cook them in 3 different ways: I "poach them" in water, I bake them in the oven, or I grill them on the grill. Try each to see what you like for each recipe you use. Since I often use shredded chicken in recipes, I shred the chicken when I cook it, put each individual breast in a sandwich-sized zip-lock bag, and freeze. Then I can pull what I need out of the freezer each morning so that I'm ready to cook when I get home. You can also portion your "servings" for each recipe that you use, and label it as such.
Enjoy!
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