Enchiladas (With Homemade Sauce)

Enchiladas are one of those dishes that can be made in so many different ways with different fillings, sauces, textures, etc. I've always enjoyed enchiladas but was never big on making them until the past few months. I came across a homemade red enchilada sauce from Recipe Girl and thought it was worth a try. I had only liked homemade enchiladas with white sauce, but only because I don't like canned red sauce. This recipe provided a solution to that issue. I will the sauce recipe and how I prepare my enchiladas. Take it and run with it!

Time: Sauce: about 15-20 min; Enchiladas: about 30-45 min (depends how speedy you assemble.)
Makes 6-8 enchiladas and about 2 1/2 cups of sauce
Ingredients for sauce
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs chili powder
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt (or just regular salt)
1/4 tsp salt (or just to taste)
Dash of pepper

Ingredients for enchiladas
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
2 cups grated cheese (whatever kind floats your boat)
1/2 onion, diced (opt.)
1 bell pepper, diced (opt.)
sauce
6-8 flour tortillas, soft taco size

To get the sauce going, heat the oil in a skillet or sauce pan over medium high heat until it shimmers. Whisk in the flour and chili powder and reduce the heat to medium. Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth and becomes slightly golden.

Needs just a bit more time at this phase.

Once the roux is ready, gradually whisk in everything else. Keep whisking and stirring until it's smooth. Make sure to taste it and adjust the spices as you need. Let it simmer over medium-low to medium heat for about 10 minutes or until it is the desired consistency. It will thicken the longer it sits.

After about 10 minutes it will thicken up and look like thick tomato soup. Set this aside until you are ready to assemble the enchiladas.

While your sauce is simmering, you can mix up your enchilada filling. If you are using veggies in the filling, I recommend sauteing them until they are slightly tender first. Toss the chicken, 1 cup of cheese, and veggies in a bowl to combine. Add in the amount of sauce you want. I start with 3/4 or 1 cup and decide from there.
  

Once your filling is to your liking, start filling! I just scoop 2-3 big spoonfuls into to middle of a tortilla and go from there. From here on it's really all about preferences.While you are doing this go ahead a preheat your oven to 400 F.

Roll up all your enchiladas and place them in a lightly greased dish. If you want to put sauce in the bottom of the dish, go for it. I prefer not to. The next step is another one based on preference. I like to bake my enchiladas naked until they start to brown on top, about 10 minutes.

I do that because I don't like squishy enchiladas. This step just helps them keep their structure. If you don't want to do that, pour the sauce on top, sprinkle the cheese and bake. If you are like me, bake the naked enchiladas until brown and then top with sauce and the rest of the cheese. *A word on the sauce. The last time I made these, I used all the sauce. If you like saucy enchiladas, use the whole recipe. I don't like them real saucy, so I don't use all of it. Use what you want.
 

 Bake those suckers until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted. Finally, dig in!

Enjoy!

Original post at http://www.recipegirl.com/2006/05/01/enchilada-sauce/

Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Food that can be homemade and frozen are amazing. I never really like store-bought taquitos, but these are pretty tasty, and I know everything that is in them. These are one of those foods that are easy to throw together, freeze, and pull out another day for deliciousness. If you are a fan of those dry freezer taquitos, please try these from A Homemade Kitchen. They are worth your time to make them.

Time: 20 minutes to prep, 20 to bake
Ingredients
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup salsa
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 finely minced garlic clove
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro (I never have this, but have been told parsley can substitute. I just sprinkle some in)
1 small roasted red bell pepper, finely chopped
1-2 green onions, sliced
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (I used rotisserie chicken last time..worked great!)
1 cup shredded cheese (I used colby-jack but use what you want)
10-12 6 inch flour or corn tortillas (I prefer flour)
cooking spray
salt

If you roast your own bell pepper, start this first. If you don't know how, here is a quick rundown. Cut the pepper in half and remove seeds and whatnot. Stick it cut side down in an oven under the broiler. Leave it in there until the skin starts turning black and blistering. Take it out and immediately put the pepper in a plastic baggie and seal it. Once the pepper has cooled down, take it out and peel the skin off. Continue with everything else.

Your pepper should look something like this when you take it out of the oven.

Mix everything except the last three ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Really...that's all you do..

First 10 ingredients...

+ cheese and chicken..

Warm the tortillas slightly in the microwave. I suggest putting a few between two paper towels and nuking them for about 10-15 seconds or until they are soft. Spoon your nummy mixture into the middle of the tortillas.

Roll them up!

If you are going to bake them now, put them on foil or parchment paper, spray the tops with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 425 until they are crispy and lightly golden. the cooking spray is to help them crisp up. If you prefer other oils, go for it. My brother is a fan of bacon grease. If you have some, go for it. Sadly I did not take a picture of the baked one...next time...

If you are not going to cook them yet, roll them up and put them on a baking sheet and pop them in the freezer until they are solid. Transfer them to a plastic bag and you are good to go! When you are craving one, put them on a sheet, spray and sprinkle and bake! They might need a bit more time to bake but they are still delish!

Original post at http://www.handletheheat.com/2011/10/homemade-kitchen-creamy-chicken.html

Southwest Chicken and Rice: One-Pot Version

So the bad news is that I'm still waiting for my cord for my camera to come in so I can actually use it. The good news is that we I tried making another recipe and it was a success! This recipe came from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and is one that LSH said he would be interested in when I showed it to him. This blog is definitely worth checking out. I've tried several recipes and they have all been great! This chicken and rice dish was described by LSH as a Mexican stew. It is a very mushy chicken and rice dish but it is pretty good and flavorful and definitely lends itself to variations. It's also got some good nutritional value which is a bonus. This isn't typically my type of dish (I was planning to make Coconut Curry Soup for dinner, but LSH had a change of stomach...some other time this week though) but I actually really like this. As long as you are OK with a mushyish texture and you like typical southwest flavors, you will enjoy it. It's also great because it is a one-pot meal. Everything is cooked in one pot which cuts down on dishes and ups the flavor. A meal that comes together pretty quickly, requires little effort, has nutritional value, and tastes good? Sounds perfect to me!
Edit: Made this again tonight and now I have pictures to go with it!

Serves 4-6
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
3-4 boneless chicken breasts (2ish lbs)
Salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper
Vegetable oil
1 yellow onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp - 1 tsp cumin (LSH isn't a huge cumin fan so this is cut down for us)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (we like a little heat :D)
1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
4 cups chicken broth
1 15 oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 cup frozen corn (more or less)
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
4 oz cheese (we used monterey and colby jack cheeses)
Salsa
Fresh cilantro (optional: we didn't use it)

Start by patting the chicken dry and seasoning the breasts with a little salt and pepper and cayenne (if desired). In a large pot (choose the right size because you will be cooking this whole dish in it) and coat the bottom with olive oil. When oil is shimmering, put in the chicken breasts. Let them cook about 3-5 minutes on each side to get some color on them. You don't want them to fully cook in this step. When both sides are browned, remove the chicken and set it aside.

Throw the onion into the remaining oil and stir it around with a dash of salt. Cook it on medium heat until tender, stirring to mix in any browned bits from the pan. Stir in the garlic, cumin, chile powder, and cayenne pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30ish seconds.

Next mix in the rice. Once the edges of the rice are starting to look translucent (as much as you can tell through the delicious coating of spices) add in the 4 cups of chicken broth (or 4 cups of water and 4 bouillon cubes if you are like me). Stir in the broth and bring the pot to a simmer.

Once simmering, add in the chicken breasts. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through. It takes about 20-25 minutes. After about 15-20 minutes, add in the bell pepper. You can time this addition by how crispy you want the pepper to stay. Give the mixture a stir everyone in a while. I time it with my stomach growls...

Once everything is cooked, remove the chicken and do what you want with it. The original recipe says to leave it whole and serve the rice on the side. I shredded the chicken and returned it to the pot which was delicious. It's up to you. With the chicken removed, stir in the black beans and the corn. Once they are warmed, stir in the cheese and keep stirring until it gets that gooey, mushy, melty appearance...that's how you know it's ready. At this point you can add your chicken back in and spoon it into a bowl, or you can scoop some rice on a plate next to the chicken as a side. Top it with whatever your heart desires. We went with salsa for that extra layer of flavor. I would definitely recommend that.

This is all there is to this recipe. It may seem involved, but it's not. Chop everything ahead of time and this meal comes together in no time.

Original post from Mels Kitchen Cafe at http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2011/08/one-pot-southwest-chicken-and-rice.html