Enchiladas in Pumpkin Sauce

I get those daily emails from Martha Stewart, you know, all 15 of them. I can’t really tell you why because I rarely even open them but a few weeks ago this recipe came. It sounded fun but I deleted the email anyway. A few days later, I’m flipping through Everyday Food and there it was again. I’ve owned this book for probably a year and never even noticed the recipe so I figured it was a sign. A sign from the pumpkin gods.

I regretted making these as soon as I began. I’ve always made enchiladas with a saucy inside. This was just chicken and green onions. Then I ran out of chicken and had to use some diced ham for a couple of the enchiladas. THEN I got scared of the pumpkin. My beloved pumpkin. It looked disgusting.

But then I tried it. And I wondered why it was good. I kept thinking that the next bite would be gross. Then the next bite. Then the next. And it never was. The ham was a giant mistake but the chicken ones were great. I still would’ve like some sauciness inside the enchiladas but I’ll give that a try next time.

Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce
from: Martha Stewart

2-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
6 scallions, thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 jalapeno chile, quartered (remove ribs and seeds for less heat, if desired)
1 teaspoon chili powder
8 corn tortillas (6-inch)
1 1/2 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese (6 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine chicken and scallions. Season generously with salt and pepper; set aside.
2. In a blender, puree pumpkin, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, 2 1/2 cups water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until smooth (hold top firmly as blender will be quite full). Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8-inch square (or other shallow 2-quart) baking dish.
3. Lay tortillas on work surface; mound chicken mixture on half of each tortilla, dividing evenly. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in baking dish.
4. Pour remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with cheese. Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Honey Lime Enchiladas.

I’ve had this recipe saved in my blogreader for months now. See, we have a favorite enchilada recipe and I was a little nervous to try a new one. But let me tell you, it was worth it. It was even worth the $8 I had to pay for Monterey Jack.

The honey and lime somehow… just worked. The honey was more noticable and it went fabulously with the chili powder. The spicy and sweet… YUM! I posted the recipe on a forum I frequent and I’ve already had two people tell me that they tried and loved it.

I definitely recommend this for EVERYONE and I’ll be making it again as soon as I find Monterey Jack on the cheap. Oh, but make more of the honey mixture! I didn’t have nearly enough.

Honey Lime Enchiladas
from Phe/MOM/enon

6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice (approx. 1 large lime)
1 tablespoon chili powder (use a little less for a milder version)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded
8-10 flour tortillas
1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream

Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder and garlic together and toss with the shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (or toss together in a ziploc bag and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours).

Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

Chipotle Chicken Burrito.

The original recipe, in Food & Wine, is called Lucinda’s Chipotle Chicken Burrito but since I don’t really know Lucinda I’m not calling it that. But whoever Lucinda is, she really knows her burritos.

These were the most involved burritos ever. Normally when we do burritos, my husband is in charge and he just browns up some ground beef with taco seasoning and calls it a day. I felt like I was in the kitchen for hours making these. But you know what? They were worth it.

The chipotle didn’t add a lot of spice, mainly just smoke. But it totally made the burritos. Without it, they would have been boring.

Chipotle Chicken Burrito
from: Food & Wine magazine

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 medium onion, quartered, plus 1 small onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice 3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1 large chipotle in adobo, stemmed, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1 cup canned diced tomatoes with their juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons canned chopped green chiles, drained
1 1/2 teaspoons water
Four 12-inch flour tortillas, warmed
6 ounces Monterey jack cheese, shredded (1 1/2 cups)
One 15-ounce can black beans—drained, rinsed and patted dry
2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
1/2 cup prepared pico de gallo salsa
1 small Hass avocado—halved, peeled and cut lengthwise into 12 slices

1. In a large saucepan, combine the chicken thighs, quartered onion, garlic and bay leaves. Add enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over moderately low heat until the chicken is fork tender, 1 hour. Remove the chicken and shred it into bite-size pieces. Transfer the chicken to a medium bowl.
2. Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat the oil. Add the diced onion and brown sugar and cook over moderately high heat until the onion is golden brown, 10 minutes. Add the chipotle, adobo sauce and tomatoes and simmer over moderately low heat until thickened, 10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour over the shredded chicken and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a blender, combine the sour cream with the green chiles and water and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Sprinkle the tortillas owith the cheese. Spoon the chicken mixture down the center of the tortillas. Top the chicken with the black beans, lettuce, salsa, avocado and green-chile sour cream. Bring the sides of the tortillas toward the center of the filling. Fold the bottom of the tortilla up over the filling and continue to roll until the burrito closes. Serve immediately.

Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not really a big fan of using my crockpot. The only time I really use it is when the husband asks for his beloved stroganoff. But with school starting in a week I’ve been trying to get into the habit of using it more often.

I went through one of my favorite blogs, A Year of Crockpotting and printed out a bunch of recipes to try within the next few weeks in hopes of finding a few amazing ones to add to my regular rotation. This chicken cordon bleu recipe is one of those recipes and one that will definitely be going on my meal plan again.

I’ve never had real chicken cordon bleu because I’m just not a fan of big pieces of chicken but now I see that I’ve been missing some good stuff! I believe the real thing has a crust on it but I like that this recipe one doesn’t have anything. I also like that Stephanie (who watched her on Rachael Ray a few weeks ago? I did!) also included a homemade cream of chicken soup recipe. It was so much easier than the recipe I had been using and is much tastier than the canned stuff. Oh, and cheaper. I’m all about the cheap.

I used shredded swiss instead of a slice because that’s what I had, and most of the cheese ended up oozing out of the sides. Next time I will definitely buy slices in hopes that the cheese will stay inside. It’s a really good recipe overall. We actually ate the leftovers and that hardly ever happens.

Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu
from: A Year of Crockpotting

4 chicken breast halves, pounded thin
4-8 slices of ham
4-8 slices of swiss cheese

can of your favorite cream-of-something soup
2 tablespoon low fat milk
or homemade cream of chicken soup:
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup low-fat milk (soy in our case)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Spray crockpot with cooking spray.

Pound chicken breasts flat.

Put a slice of the ham and a slice of the swiss cheese on the chicken breast and roll it up. Put it into the crockpot, seam side down. If desired, top with another piece of ham and cheese. Continue with the other pieces. It’s okay to stagger-stack the chicken. It will still cook nicely for you.

If you are making your own “special soup,” make a roux on the stovetop with the butter and flour, and whisk in the broth, milk, and spices. Pour on top of the chicken.

If you are not using the “special soup” open can of cream-of soup. Pour into crockpot. Put the 2 tablespoons of low fat milk into your empty can and swirl it around to get the remaining stuck on good stuff. Pour that in, too.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. This is done when the chicken is cooked through and has begun to brown on top.

Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables.

Awhile back I bought The Food You Crave when I was on a health kick and then I was very disappointed so I only made one thing. I started feeling guilty about buying it and not using it so last week I decided I needed to try another recipe.

I went for her Tuscan Roasted Chicken with Vegetables because you know, you can’t really go wrong with roasted chicken, right? Especially when it’s got rosemary sprinkled on top.

This turned out great. The husband’s first response was “I have to eat vegetables?!” but he got over it quickly once he tried the chicken. He even ate some of the zucchini. I did learn that neither of us are fennel fans which is probably a good thing since it’s $5.99 a pound around here.

Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables
from: The Food You Crave

6 toma tomatoes (I used cherry because of all the scary talk about romas)
3 medium zucchini
1 bulb fennel
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoons salt
4 bone-in chicken breasts halves, skin removed
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled

Preheat oven to 375.

Cut the tomatoes lengthwise into quarters and remove seeds. Trim the zucchini and cut it in half crosswise. Then cut each piece in half lengthwise if the piece is thin and three times if it is thicker, so that the pieces are relatively uniform.

Remove the outermost later of the fennel bulb and discard. Cut the bulb in half so that each half retains part of the stem end. Cut each half into 8 thin wedges so that each wedge is held together by a little piece of stem.

Put the vegetables in a large baking dish. Toss with 2 tablespoons of the oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Arrange the chicken pieces in the pan with the vegetables.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining tablespoon oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt, the garlic, and lemon zest and juice. Rub the mixture into the chicken in the pan. Season with a few turns of pepper. Roast for 3 minutes, then give the vegetables a stir and add the rosemary. Return to the oven and roast until the chicken is just cooked all the way through and the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, 20 to 30 minutes more.

Barefoot Bloggers – Parmesan Chicken

It’s posting day over at Barefoot Bloggers again already! This time the recipe was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. She chose Ina’s parmesan chicken which I have to say I wasn’t looking forward to. I make a very similar recipe frequently that my boy’s just adore so I was worried that they wouldn’t be too impressed.

I have to say though, I was pleasantly surprised. I usually bake mine but frying this version really made it great. It isn’t something that I like to do often but frying this chicken was definitely worth it. Ina’s recipe also calls for a lemon vinaigrette that you serve over mixed greens but I wasn’t in the mood for salad. Instead, I served the chicken on a deliciously creamy caramelized onion risotto. I roasted some asparagus to go along with it but my mom called as I was waiting on it and I ended up venting to her for almost an hour before I remembered the asparagus. Oops.

Parmesan Chicken
from: Food Network

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Unsalted butter
Good olive oil
Salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry
1 recipe Lemon Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

Lemon Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepperIn a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.Yield: 6 servings

Mango Buffalo Wings.

I’ll admit that the reason I was drawn to this recipe when I saw it on Elle’s New England Kitchen is because the recipe specifically calls for Frank’s Hot Sauce and I have a slight obsession with it. And then I read more and saw that the recipe won the Royal Foodie Joust. And the sauce has mango! I had to try them.

The wings were really good. I think I would’ve preferred baking them without sauce and then coating them but the husband loved them. The recipe included a mango lime cream dipping sauce. Neither one of us liked it. It was good on its own but not with chicken.

Mango Buffalo Wings
from Elle’s New England Kitchen

Mango Buffalo Wings

20 chicken wings
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/2 cup Frank’s Hot Sauce (or another hot sauce, if you prefer)
1/2 cup pureed mango
1/4 cup melted butter or canola oil

Heat oven to 400°. In a large ziptop bag, combine flour and dry spices.
Add the wings to the bag, seal, and toss to coat.
Place the wings on a plate and chill in the fridge for about 30-35 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the pureed mango and hot sauce. Stir in melted butter or oil.

Mango Lime Cream Dipping Sauce

1 1/2 cups pureed mango
1/2 cup sour cream
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tsp brown sugar
3/8 tsp cardamom

Add all ingredients to food processor or blender and process until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chicken Piccata.

I’ve been bookmarking chicken piccata recipes for months now. I have at least 10 of them saved but I have been to scared to give it a try. For some reason I have myself convinced that I hate lemons, especially lemon on chicken. Plus every recipe that I find serves the chicken over pasta and I don’t like that idea.

Well not too long ago Chocolate Shavings did a chicken piccata post and the chicken was by itself on a plate with a couple slices of lemon! Perfect.

This is officially my new favorite way to cook and eat chicken. The sauce was amazing and I couldn’t stop spooning it on top of my chicken. I didn’t expect to like the capers but they weren’t as bad as I expected. Not something I could have every night but decent.

I’m planning on making this again in a few weeks but making a lot more so we can have leftovers.

Chicken Piccata
from Chocolate Shavings

2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon water
3/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
Good olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons of capers, washed and drained
Sliced lemon, for serving
2 teaspoons of dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound out to 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper and dried oregano.

Mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the egg and 1/2 tablespoon of water together. Place the bread crumbs on a third plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium to medium-low heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place them on the sheet pan and allow them to bake for 5 to 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and then add the lemon juice, wine, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced in half, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the capers, and swirl to combine. Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts.