CHICKEN ENCHILADA SPAGHETTI

I am a Mexican food addict.  Regular spaghetti with pasta sauce?  Meh.  Spaghetti with spicy enchilada sauce, veggies, chicken and cheese?  Yes, please!  Usually, I cook chicken to make this dinner, but I got lazy and purchased a rotisserie chicken breast instead.  SO MUCH BETTER!  The flavor was fabulous.  This recipe is huge and uses an entire pound of pasta, so feel free to halve it if you're still determined to maintain your summer bikini bod.

Important notes:  Depending on the brand of enchilada sauce you use, you may want to adjust your cayenne pepper amount.  Perhaps taste before adding the extra heat!  Also, if you salt your pasta water enough, you won't need to add salt at the end.

Love love love this paprika.

The most delicious cooking shortcut!

Ingredients

1 lb spaghetti (regular, not thin)
Shredded rotisserie chicken breast, about 3 cups
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cans chopped green chiles, 4.5 oz each
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
3 cans red enchilada sauce, 10 oz each
1-2 cups freshly grated cheddar cheese
salt, to taste

Boil spaghetti in salted water according to directions on box for al dente.  Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat, then add olive oil.  When smoking, add onions and cook for a couple minutes, until soft.  Add chopped green chiles, undrained.  Cook for another 5 minutes.  Add garlic and stir for one minute.  Stir in cumin, chili powder, paprika and cayenne.  Pour in enchilada sauce and let simmer for about 8 minutes, until sauce has reduced a bit.  Add chicken and heat through, about 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat.  Using tongs, add spaghetti in small batches to the sauce and combine.  Gently fold in the cheese and serve!  

CHICKEN VERDE WONTON TACOS

I spotted this recipe on one of my all-time favorite blogs over a year ago, and for some insane reason it took me until now to finally make it.  I am so glad I did though!  These little tacos are perfection.  Wonton wrappers enveloping a creamy, cheesy, slightly spicy chicken filling.  So simple.  You can find the recipe here.  I pretty much followed the recipe exactly as written, except I didn't use light cheese or sour cream.  Full fat dairy is my weakness.  Oh, and I doubled it since this was going to be a main course for us, not an appetizer.  Although these would be perfect little snacks to contribute to your next gathering!

First, you must find wonton wrappers at your grocery store!  They're usually in the produce section.

Then, you have to acquire some cooked chicken.  The most delicious way is to use a rotisserie chicken.  Or you could cook your own.  OR, you could reach into the freezer for your favorite shortcut: fully cooked chicken!  I keep this on hand for quick meals like wraps, quesadillas and buffalo chicken topped salad. 

Finally, you'll need some authentic salsa verde.  Found this amazingness at World Market.

Now it's time to mix everything together in a bowl.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then scoop the filling onto each wonton wrapper.  Top with cheese.

Bring two opposite corners up, pinch together with water, then bake!

 Ingredients

4 ounces cooked and shredded chicken
1/4 cup salsa verde
1 tablespoon sour cream
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used white cheddar)
8 wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.  In small bowl mix the chicken, salsa, sour cream, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and green onions.  Place the wonton wrappers on baking sheet and scoop about one tablespoon of filling into center of each wonton.  Sprinkle cheese evenly over each wonton.  Bring two of the opposing corners together using a little water to stick them together.  Bake for about 5 minutes, until wontons get crispy.  Keep a close eye on them the entire time so they don't burn.  (I was able to bake mine for almost 10 minutes and they got perfectly crisp)

CHILE COLORADO BURRITOS

Shredded beef burritos smothered in meaty sauce and cheese.  That's all you need to know before you make this meal.  Oh, and the meat is cooked to tender perfection in a crockpot all day long.  If you aren't sold, I feel sad for you.

Now, this recipe adventure could be filed under failure AND disaster.  There are tons of recipes out there for homemade enchilada sauce, so I decided to give it a shot.  It was awful.  Not sure if it was that particular recipe, or I just love the canned stuff too much.  Anyone out there have a fabulous, homemade version to share with me?

Onto plan B.  Luckily, there are always several cans of enchilada sauce in our pantry, so this meal wasn't ruined.  It was the opposite.  This was amazing.  Please make this meal ASAP.   This made 8 burritos, but if you don't want leftovers or aren't feeding a crowd, just halve the recipe.

Quickly give the stew meat a quick browning in the skillet, then throw it in the crockpot.

Pour in enchilada sauce, chopped green chiles, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, bay leaves and salt.  Cook on low allllllllll day long.

Usually, flour tortillas get a weird, sticky and gummy texture when they get super saucy.  Luckily, Trader Joe's Trader Jose's exists.  My friend Kat served these amazing tortillas with tacos and I was instantly converted.  They keep their texture when smothered with sauce and taste like they're from a restaurant.  Do yourself a favor and get some.

You can stick with an all meat filling, or throw some beans in there as well.  These chorizo refried beans are deliciously flavorful and have a slight kick.  Found them at World Market.

The first night we had this meal, we did beans and meat.  The burritos were super filling and one was enough for a meal.  Spread on beans, top with drained beef.

Oh, hey feet.

OR fill with meat and cheese, like we did with the leftovers.

Roll them up burrito style, smother with sauce and cheese, then stick under the broiler for a few minutes.

Serve these with rice and beans or a side salad with sour cream and guacamole.

With white rice and chorizo refried beans.

With Uncle Ben's chicken rice and refried black beans.

Ingredients

3 lbs lean stew meat
3 cans enchilada sauce, 10 oz each
1 can chopped green chiles, 4.5 oz
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cumin
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt

shredded cheese
refried beans
rice

Brown meat in skillet until browned on all or most sides.  Do not cook the meat all the way through.  Place in crockpot, and top with enchilada sauce, chiles and spices.  Stir, cover and cook on low about 4-5 hours.  Meat is done when it is falling apart.  Remove bay leaves.  You want your sauce to be almost gravy-thick at this point, but the meat juice has probably watered it down.  If your sauce is too thin to use as a topping, mix together 3 teaspoons of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water in a tiny bowl, then stir into crockpot.  It'll thicken up quickly.  Taste your sauce, add more spices or salt if necessary.

Assembling burritos:  scoop meat from crockpot using a mesh strainer, so the burritos will be meaty, not runny.  Fill each burrito with half a cup of meat (or beans and meat, or meat and cheese, or all three!) slightly fold in both sides, then roll up.  Place on baking sheet or baking dish, then smother with meat sauce.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Place under broiler set on high for about 3 minutes, watching carefully the entire time until cheese is melted.  Serve with beans, rice, or additional sauce.

BAKED TACO CASSEROLE

I've been seeing lots of recipes floating around online for baked tacos.  You fill your taco shells with cooked meat, beans and cheese, then stand them up in a casserole dish and bake them.  Then you add your cold toppings.  Sounds fabulously easy!  I headed to the store and found these super cool shells:

I was looking forward to super stuffing them with delicious filling!  I opened the box like an excited child on Christmas morning, and this is what I found:

Christmas is RUINED!  I was faced with a few options: cry, go to the store for more shells, or be an innovator.  Crying is for babies.  The store was filled with people stocking up on toilet paper, milk and bread for the snowstorm.  Only one option left.  My uncle had actually just texted earlier that day to let me know about a little enchilada casserole he whipped up.  He had tons of enchilada filling, sauce and cheese, but not enough stamina to roll all those enchis.  Instead, he layered it in a baking dish and said the results were outstanding.  Thanks for the inspiration, Uncle Dave!

First, brown and crumble a pound of ground beef.  Add an undrained can of chili beans, a cup of salsa and a packet of taco seasoning.

Medium heat gives the perfect kick!

Simmer the meat mixture until the liquid reduces, about 10 minutes.

Before

After

You want it to be a little liquidy, so the taco shells don't stay completely hard and crunchy.  I've had casseroles with flour tortillas, which turn into a gooey mushy layer.  Corn tortillas are good, but kind of disintegrate in the liquid.  Taco shells seem like the happy medium!  Time to layer.  Broken shells, meat mixture, cheese, repeat.

Ingredients

1 lb extra lean ground beef (or turkey)
1 can medium heat chili beans
1 packet taco seasoning
1 cup salsa
1 box taco shells
2 cups shredded cheddar (or mexican blend or whatever you'd like!)
sour cream, salsa, lettuce, toppings!

Preheat oven to 350.  Brown and crumble ground beef.  Add undrained beans, taco seasoning, and salsa.  Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, until mixture has thickened.  Remove from heat.  Break taco shells and place about half on bottom of 8x8 baking dish.  Add half of meat mixture and spread to cover evenly.  Sprinkle on one cup of cheese.  Repeat layers.  Cover with foil and bake for about 25 minutes.  Uncover and broil for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is perfectly browned and melty.  Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then cut into 4 pieces.  Serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, etc.

Disclaimer:  I may have seemed incredibly optimistic throughout the ordeal of a ruined baked tacos recipe.  This is why:

My cooking partner for the evening.

CHOPPED TACO SALAD

A recipe for salad?  Yes, a recipe for salad.  I love love love Mexican food, but I'm not sure my pants would fit if I gave into my daily cravings.  When I'm in the mood for delicious tacos, burritos or enchiladas I whip up this "healthier" taco salad.  Now, I have a version that is not healthy at all, and another that is a bit more health conscious.

I always start with a big bunch of chopped romaine.  Brown a pound of extra lean ground turkey, then add a can of black beans and a packet of taco seasoning.  Let simmer until most liquid has evaporated. 

Brown ground turkey, add beans and taco seasoning

Now it's time for toppings!  Chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers and avocado are delicious in taco salad.

Now for the dressing: when in piggy mode, I use (coat the salad in) thousand island dressing.  It gives the meal such an unexpected tangy flavor.  It is SO good.  If you're going all the way with full fat thousand island, you may as well throw in some crushed up nacho cheese Doritos.  Totally makes the salad.  For the healthier version, I mix about a tablespoon of ranch dressing with a lot of salsa and hot sauce.  You still get that creamy ranch flavor, but without the calories of a bigger pour.  The salsa will coat your salad nicely, but with minimal calories.  If you still need the Doritos, get the baked kind!

"Healthier" dressing ingredients

Flavor!

Ingredients

Chopped romaine
1 lb extra lean ground turkey
1 can black beans, 15 oz
1 packet taco seasoning (I used Old El Paso)
tomatoes
avocado
green peppers
cucumber
Thousand Island salad dressing
OR
Ranch + Salsa + Hot sauce
OR
Nonfat greek yogurt + Salsa + Hot sauce

Brown ground turkey, add taco seasoning and undrained black beans.  Simmer until most liquid evaporates.  Plate lettuce and top with meat mixture.  Top with chopped veggies, dressing, and chips.  Enjoy!



Truth time: I always eat my salads out of a huge mixing bowl while hunkered down on the couch. Don't judge.

What my salad actually looks like.