Enchilada Pie (twisted two times)

Cat Cora put a twist on her mother's Enchilada Pie, then (as is known to happen when recipes enter my kitchen) I twisted it some more.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 med onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• 1 can refried beans (original recipe calls for black beans)
• 1 c light sour cream
• 1/2 c fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 c broken tortilla chips (I sliced tortillas and baked at 400, turning occassionally for ~10 min)
• 2 c grated cheddar
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1 T chopped fresh jalapeno pepper
• 1.5 c salsa (i used homemade, the recipe calls for "green salsa")

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  While oven warms, brown beef with onions and garlic. Add enchilada sauce and beans. Simmer for 10 minutes.
2. In a food processor, combine sour cream, peppers, cilantro and salsa until smooth.
3. Spoon half of the meat-bean mixture into a 9x13" pan. Top with 1/2 of the broken tortilla chips, then 1/2 of the cheese. Cover the chips and cheese with the remaining meat-bean mixture. Spoon on the sour cream mixture and spread evenly. Finish with the rest of the chips and cheese. Sprinkle on the scallions.
4. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Say Say's Enchiladas

Things that I love about this meal:

• it's easy to make
• it's well rounded
• it's healthy (until you slather it with cheese and sour cream)
• it makes great left overs

Sarah Mapel made delicious enchiladas for me a few years ago and they've been a staple at my house ever since I bogarted her recipe. Of course nothing survives long periods of time in my kitchen with out evolving a little, so I've made my own adjustments.

This is my first week in my new kitchen, and my old roommate's first week without me in her kitchen. Enchiladas were her first blog request :)

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 6 large flour tortillas
• 1 large can of enchilada sauce, I use "mild" and Joe hots it up with hot pepper sauce at the table
• 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs OR 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 c long grain rice
• 1/2 of a chopped green pepper
• 1/4 of a thinly sliced vidalia onion

Directions:

1. Fill a medium sized sauce pan 2/3 of the way full with water and bring it to a boil. Carefully add the chicken (washed, whole) to the water. Let boil 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the pieces of chicken.
2. In a small saucepan, combine 1 c rice with 2 c water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it's fully boiling, cover it and drop the heat to super low for 15 minutes. Don't uncover it during this time, or I'll come to your kitchen and slap your hand with a spoon! When 15 minutes is up, turn it off and let is sit covered until you're ready to use it.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F.
4. When the chicken is cooked, dice it into small pieces or shred with with 2 forks.
5. Layer a small amount of chicken, onion, pepper, and rice onto a tortilla. Don't over do it or you'll have bulging enchiladas that are too big to eat. There are worse problems happening in the world.

6. Repeat step 5 with the remaining tortillas.
7. Add a splash of sauce to a casserole dish, then start laying the enchiladas in.

8. Pour the entire contents of the sauce can into the casserole dish, onto the enchiladas.

9. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
10. Add cheese to the top of the enchiladas and put it back in the oven with the heat turned off for another 5 minutes.
11. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
12. Top with sour cream if you so desire :)

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

As you can probably tell by all my grilling recipes, I try not to turn the oven on during the summer unless necessary. So, I have turned many of my favorite stove top dishes like this one into grilling recipes. I served my chicken fajitas with boxed rice and refried beans. My favorite box rice of all time for Mexican Night is the Mexican style Rice A Roni, it is delicious. Along with the side dishes I like to make sure I have an array of toppings for the fajitas including sour cream, guacamole, salsa, romaine lettuce, and hot sauce.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1lb chicken breasts

1 packet fajita seasoning

1 yellow onion, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

Tortillas

Directions

Place chicken breasts, fajita seasoning, and 1/2 cup water in a plastic bag. Let marinate for 1 to 3 hours. Preheat the grill. Place chicken, bell peppers, and onions on grill. Once these are cooked quickly heat the tortillas on the grill.

Serve with rice, beans, and toppings suggested above.