moments of zen

This could be my favorite recipe of the moment.  The top spot changes frequently, but this dish is so yummy and easy to make that Enchilada Bake could keep the title for a while.  It also gave me an excuse to use my new GreenPan skillet which I am in love with.

I can’t claim credit for this recipe, it’s from one of my favorite Food Network chefs, Alton Brown.  If you have not seen his show “ Good Eats”, you should check it out.  It’s part cooking show, part history lesson; and he has the coolest kitchen toys.

Here’s my spin on his Enchilada Lasagna.  That name just didn’t work for me, so the first change is the name.

Enchilada Bake:

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Total time: 1 hour start to finish

Ingredients:

As always, I use organic whenever possible but I won’t judge you for not doing the same. :)

For sauce:

• 2 dried chipotle chilies, stems and seeds removed, diced (I could not find these anywhere, so I use canned chipotle peppers in adobo from the mexican food section.  You only need 2, but could add more if you really like spice)
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds, freshly ground (ground cumin works just fine if you don’t want to grind seeds)
• 2 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
• 3 cups tomato sauce (no salt added, organic)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (I use sea salt)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For filling:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cubed (this is where you can use the extra chicken you baked when making Go Go Green pasta.  I shred mine in the food processor, but dicing it up works too)
• 1 1/2 cups diced onion (organic)
• Pinch kosher salt (sea salt)
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas (I use whole grain flour tortillas, but corn would also be yummy.  Since the flour ones are larger, I typically use more like 8 tortillas)
• 3 cups shredded queso fresco or Monterey Jack (yes, it’s a lot of cheese, but it’s so delicious)
• Nonstick cooking spray (too many additives here.  I use a mist bottle with olive oil or canola oil instead)

Directions

Combine the chilies, garlic, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth, tomato sauce, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chilies are soft. Set aside until ready to use.

* Since I use chilies that are already cooked, I bring the sauce to a boil and simmer 5 minutes, then set it aside while I prep the rest of the ingredients. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the chicken until cooked through, approximately 7 to 9 minutes.

* Another time saver here is if you have the chicken already prepared from another recipe.  I always cook extra chicken for use in other recipes like this.  Baked chicken works great and is healthier than sauteed in oil.

Remove the chicken from the pan and place in a medium bowl. Add the onions to the same pan along with a generous pinch of salt, decrease the heat to medium-low and sweat for 4 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and cook until the onions are tender, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the chicken back to the pan and remove from the heat.

Spray a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with non-stick spray. Place 1/2 cup of the sauce into the bottom of the dish. Dip 4 tortillas into the remaining sauce and lay them into the bottom of the dish. Cut 1 of the tortillas in half to evenly cover the bottom of the dish. Top this with half of the chicken mixture and 1 cup of the cheese. Starting with 4 more tortillas, repeat the layers, ending with the last 4 tortillas on top. Pour remaining sauce over the dish and top with remaining 1 cup of cheese.

* The goal with the tortillas is to completely cover each layer.  If you use larger/flour tortillas, you will need fewer tortillas per layer.  Don’t worry if you feel like there’s a lot of sauce left over that you are pouring over the top; it will soak in as the dish cooks.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven on the middle rack for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese on top is bubbly. 

I add a spoonful of sour cream on top of each serving, low fat of course to make up for all that cheese!

Give the Enchilada Bake a try and let me know if you love it as much as I do.

Posted by Ami at 6:09 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Alton Brown, recipes

It’s cold and rainy here today and just the perfect setting for some belly-warming pasta.

This dish is a personal creation after picking out my favorite ingredients at Macaroni Grill in the Build Your Own Pasta dish, a fabulous choice for us picky eaters.

You can make this dish in 30 min start to finish, which is another huge plus.   We are also going to bake extra chicken to use in tomorrow night’s recipe: Enchilada Bake.

Go Go Green Pasta

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breasts or chicken tenders (double up on the chicken for the two-fer option)

½ cup eggbeaters, or 2 eggs

2 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

1.5 cup shredded/grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning

½ box Barilla rotini pasta (or your favorite whole wheat rotini will do)

½ cup sliced sun dried tomatoes

3 cups frozen spinach

2 cups frozen broccoli

3 tablespoons pesto

Chicken Prep:

• Grease a baking sheet (or use your Silpat- love that thing!)  and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a shallow dish/bowl, empty the eggs/egg beaters.
• In a second bowl, add the panko breadcrumbs, 1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, and 2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning.
• Dredge the chicken in the egg, then press it on each side into the breadcrumb mixture then place the chicken on the baking sheet.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min, turning once at the 15 min mark.
• *Since we are already baking chicken, throw on the other pound of chicken tenders with no coating.  We will shred these up and use them for Enchilada Bake tomorrow.

Pasta Prep:

• While the chicken is baking, empty the frozen broccoli and spinach into a bowl and microwave for 4 min. It needs to be thoroughly cooked.
• Cook ½ box Barilla rotini pasta (should take about 10 min).
• While the pasta is cooking, slice up the sun dried tomatoes. I usually chop up about 6 or so or use the already sliced ones to make life even easier.
• Once the pasta is drained, empty it back into the pot, and add the spinach, broccoli, and chicken (I slice it into bite sized pieces)
• Next add in the sun dried tomatoes and the pesto.
• Stir it all up and let it sit on a warm stove for about 3 min to let all the flavors meld and the spinach cook down.

Serve it up with a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese (the remaining .5 cup) on top and enjoy!

Give it a try and let me know what you think.  Tomorrow we will visit Enchilada Bake with the pre-cooked chicken from this meal.

Posted by Ami at 4:25 PM 0 comments  

Labels: recipes

I have recently started to attempt to cook more simply.  By that I mean, fewer processed things and more natural ingredients.

I figure I have a Kitchen Aid mixer, a food processor, and a boyfriend who loves to eat, so what’s the worse that could happen? 

One of the recipes I think I have mastered is Red Beans and Rice.  With most new dishes, I search around for recipes and test them out then modify them until I am happy with the result.  Red Beans and Rice is in the perfected category; I am still on version 2.1 of some other meals.

I will warn you in advance that this is not the meal to attempt when you are starving right this second.  This one will take you at least 2 hours but it is so worth the wait.

Red Beans and Rice (modified from a recipe by Alton Brown)

This recipe will feed four easily with leftovers.  I usually cut everything in half for 2 of us, which leaves enough leftover for lunch the next day.  This stuff gets better if it sits in the fridge overnight.  Viva leftovers!

Ingredients

For red beans:

• 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (all organic veggies, if you have that option)
• 2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (I use sea salt)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 links/ 1 package /12 oz andoullie sausage, sliced (mine is organic, skinless, and made from chicken and turkey.  I heart Trader Joes).
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (I use Mrs. Dash Table blend)
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 quarts water
• 1 pound red kidney beans, rinsed and picked of debris (I use dark red organic kidney beans)

Directions (with narrative)

Place the  oil in a 7-quart Dutch oven and set over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, salt and pepper to the pot.

*I cry like crazy when I chop onions, to the point that I can barely see.  Wearing sunglasses helps.  Using a food processer is even better.  I chop all the above veggies up very roughly then toss them all into the food processor for a nice dice without tears.

* I will also add that I am really not a fan of raw green peppers and onion.  If you are also not a fan, give this recipe a try.  It cooks so long that you really only get the flavors and not any crunchy vegetables.   Stop rolling your eyes, there’s no way you are a more picky eater than I am, just try it..one time.

Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions and celery are semi-translucent and the bell peppers are tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

*You really do need to stir constantly to avoid having the veggies burn.  For this reason, I assemble all the other ingredients before I drop anything into the pot.  Times like this I wish I had a sous chef.

Add the sausage, bay leaves, thyme, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, water and beans to the pot and increase the heat to high. Cook, stirring frequently until the mixture comes to a boil, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.

* Mine usually takes a little more time to come to a boil, closer to 12-15 min, so have patience.  Don’t fret over how green the mixture looks at this point.  The red beans and sausage will do their thing, trust me.

Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.

* This is the hard part because your whole house is going to smell like yummy, delicious red beans while they cook.  In a word, mouth-watering.

Uncover, increase the heat slightly to maintain a steady simmer and continue to cook for another 30 to 40 minutes or until the beans are tender and the sauce is thickened to your liking. If you prefer an even creamier texture, mash some of the beans with a potato masher.

* I use the potato masher trick to thicken up the sauce.  I would estimate that I mash up about 1/3 of the beans in the process.

For the rice, I use Trader Joe’s Organic brown rice, which comes frozen and is ready in 3 minutes.  If you are not so fortunate to have this miracle of science, old fashioned brown rice works just fine too.  You should start it when you uncover the beans assuming your rice will take about 30-40 min to cook completely.

Scoop up the yummy red beans over the rice and if you feel like it, add in a spoonful of sour cream to pretty it up a bit.

My favorite memory so far of eating red beans and rice is sharing a big pot of them with my parents and boyfriend the day of the presidential inauguration in 2009.  We were beyond frozen and tired from standing outside from 4am to 2pm, so when we finally made it back to the house around 5pm, the red beans and rice I made the day before was more than perfect.  It was our own version of the Inaugural balls- red beans and rice and pajamas.

Give this recipe a go and let me know what you think.

Posted by Ami at 4:21 PM 3 comments  

Labels: recipes