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Chicken Enchilada Soup

20 Jan

If you have had Chili’s Chicken Enchilada Soup, this tastes pretty similar to that.  There is one ingredient that is not real common, masa harina, which is corn flour used to make tortillas.  You need to make sure you get the right thing, corn meal is not the same and will make the texture off.  Made that mistake before.  I found the masa harina in the baking aisle with the rest of the flour at my grocery store.  If not, you may also check the organic/natural section because it may be there with the different types of flours.  Anyway, this is a thick, filling soup that is very tasty!  To serve, I crushed some tortilla chips, you could also add some sour cream and/or pico de gallo.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or, I just use chicken from a rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken to save on time)
1 tbsp olive oil
½ cup diced onion
1 clove garlic
1 quart chicken broth
1 cup masa harina (corn flour)
3 cups water, divided
1 cup enchilada sauce, or 1 cup salsa, or 1 cup diced tomatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or shredded Mexican blend cheese)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground cumin
*Note: If you use 1 cup diced tomatoes, you may wish to increase the chili powder  to 1 tablespoon.

In large pot over medium heat, cook chicken in oil until well browned on all sides. Remove, shred, and set aside.  (This step is skipped if you already have cooked chicken)

Cook onion and garlic together in remaining oil until onions are translucent. Pour in chicken broth.

In a bowl, whisk together masa harina and 2 cups water until well blended. This step is important, if you just put the masa harina right in the pot, it won’t blend in as well, making it gritty.  Pour into pot with remaining 1 cup water, enchilada sauce, cheese, salt, chili powder and cumin. Bring to a boil.

Add chicken. Reduce heat and simmer 30-40 minutes, until thickened.

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Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken) and Broccoli Rabe

19 Jan

First, another great recipe from Cyndy at Daily Cynema, Kotopoulo Lemonato.  I love lemon chicken, and this is an AMAZING dish.  And yes, in the picture, that is a whole onion and lemon rinds in the cavity of the chicken.  Trust me, it works. The chicken was moist and flavorful.  My potatoes did get a little crunchy, I probably should have stirred them more, but I like crunchy roasted potatoes.  If they are mushy, then what was the point of roasting them, right?  For this dish, I used the red onion, a yellow onion, 3 lemons, fresh rosemary, and fresh oregano from the Italian themed veggie pack.

For full instructions on how to make this, please visit Daily Cynema: Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken).  She does a great job walking your through making this with great pictures.

I made this at a friend’s house tonight, and she was in charge of a veggie side.  She got the organic basket from Bountiful Baskets this week, and one of the things she got was broccoli rabe (rabe is apparently pronounced like the word “rob”).  I had never heard of this before, but we decided to give it a go in cooking it.  My friend did all the work on this one, following this recipe.  The taste is a mix of a broccoli taste and a leafy vegetable taste like spinach.  It is a tad bitter, but I still really enjoyed it.  I didn’t get a picture of all of it before we ate, my phone was not cooperating, but here is some of it so you can see how it turned out:

This dinner was a great success!

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Copycat Fiesta Lime Chicken

9 Jan

Fiesta Lime Chicken at Applebee’s is my favorite dish to order there.  A while back when I had gotten a bunch of limes from Bountiful Baskets, I decided I would look up how to make this dish online, and found this recipe.  It really tastes very similar, and with a few tweaks to that recipe, it’s fairly easy to make.   The original recipe uses tequila and liquid smoke, but I omit those 2 ingredients.  Tequila isn’t something I have on hand, and I’m not going to get it just for this recipe.  I grill the chicken, so the liquid smoke isn’t necessary.  If you broil the chicken, you may want to add the liquid smoke to get more of a grilled flavor.  Also, the original recipe makes the Mexi-Ranch sauce from scratch, but I cheat and just mix salsa and ranch dressing together to get the same result.  The first time I made this, I used fresh salsa that I had made, but this time used a jar of salsa from the store.  I did find the multi-colored tortilla strips at the grocery store, but I’m too cheap to buy a small bag of them for $2.99, so I just crumbled regular tortilla chips.  Not as pretty as the restaurant version, but tastes just the same!  Tonight, I served it with Spanish rice and black beans.  Some day I’ll get around to making Spanish rice instead of from a package.

Copycat Fiesta Lime Chicken
Serves 4

What you need:

1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon tequila, optional
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Crumbled tortilla chips

How to make it:

In a small bowl, combine chicken broth, teriyaki sauce, lime juice, garlic, salt, ginger, and tequila.  Place chicken in a gallon size zipper bag or large baking dish and pour the marinade over chicken.  Fully coat the chicken in the marinade, seal bag or cover the baking dish, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Remove chicken from marinade, and discard any remaining marinade.  Grill chicken until cooked through juices run clear.  Place cooked chicken in a broiler-safe 9×13 baking dish.

Combine ranch dressing and salsa.  Spoon the ranch/salsa mixture over each piece of chicken.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded cheese on each piece of chicken.

Broil on low heat setting for 2 to 3 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

To serve, spread crumbled tortilla chips on each plate, then place a chicken breast onto the chips.

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Chicken Enchiladas

16 Dec

This is my go-to enchilada recipe.  I love that the sauce is made from scratch, not from a jar or a can.  If you don’t want to make the sauce, you could use a jar or can of sauce, but I really like the way this is made.  It’s a creamy red sauce, and it’s delicious.  This was also a nice way to use up some of the Hatch green chiles I had in the freezer.

Chicken Enchiladas

What you need:

1 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (I use a rotisserie chicken from the store)
4 oz can diced green chiles, or 1 cup diced fresh roasted, peeled green chiles
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 T chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided
12 small corn tortillas

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9×13 pan.

In a medium skillet, melt the 1 Tbsp butter and cook onions until softened.  Remove to a bowl.  Stir in chicken and green chiles.

Meanwhile, melt the 1/4 cup butter.  Blend in flour and seasonings, and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Whisk in chicken broth and tomato sauce, making sure there are no lumps.  Cook, stirring until sauce boils thickens.  Remove from heat.  Stir in sour cream and ½ cup cheese.  Stir ½ cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture.

Heat a small skillet over medium low heat.  Place a tortilla in skillet and heat on each side for a few seconds to make tortilla easier to roll.  Spoon about 2 Tbsp of the chicken and sauce mixture onto one end of the tortilla and roll up.  Place in 9×13 pan.  Repeat for remaining tortillas.  Pour remaining sauce over the rolled tortillas, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheese.

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool and serve.

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Chicken Taquitos

16 Dec

Oh, these are yummy!  They are pretty easy to put together, just takes some time to get them all fried.  I considered baking them this time instead of frying them, but my oven already had enchiladas cooking, so I decided to stick with frying them.   Maybe next time I will bake them.

Chicken Taquitos
Makes 18-24 taquitos 

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups Salsa Verde
1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
2 dozen 6 inch corn tortillas
Oil for frying

How to make it:

Place chicken in slow cooker and pour salsa verde over chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4.  If you don’t have a slow cooker, cook chicken by your preferred method and mix with salsa verde.  You could even buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and shred it.  Next, mix cheese in with the chicken and salsa mixture.

Heat oil in deep fryer or a large, heavy pot.  Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

Heat a small skillet over medium low heat.  Place a tortilla in the skillet and heat for a few seconds on each side to make it easier to roll. Put about 2 Tbsp of filling at one end of the tortilla and roll tightly.  Use a toothpick in the center to keep them rolled.  Repeat for remaining tortillas.

Place 5-6 in oil at a time.  Cook for a few minutes, or until golden brown.  I don’t have a deep fryer, so I fry mine in a large pot.  And, of course, I didn’t have enough oil on hand to fully cover the taquitos, so I had to flip them halfway through cooking.

Once they have cooked, remove taquitos from oil and onto the paper towel lined baking sheet.  Allow to cool, then serve.

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Slow Cooker Italian Chicken

19 Nov

This meal was a bit of an experiment, and luckily it turned out good!  It was very easy to put together and not very many ingredients.  You don’t have to use carrots, you could use another vegetables, like broccoli or cauliflower, maybe even green beans.  I thought about adding potatoes to this too, but decided I would serve it over angel hair pasta, that way, I would have the pasta for the kids if they didn’t want much of the chicken or carrots.  They ate some chicken, only tried the carrots.  My husband thought it was great.  Parmesan Garlic Pull Apart Bread would be a great addition to this meal too, but my oven was already taken with Persimmon Cookies (recipe coming soon), so no bread for us tonight.

Slow Cooker Italian Chicken

What you need:

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lb carrots, sliced, or a vegetable of your choice
1 cup Italian dressing
1/2 box angel hair pasta, cooked

How to make it:

Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray.  Add chicken to slow cooker, and fill in around chicken with the vegetable.  Pour the Italian dressing over all of it.  Cover, and cook for 6-8 hours on low, 3-4 hours on high.  Remove from slow cooker and serve over the cooked pasta.

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Baked Egg Rolls

16 Oct

A few weeks back, I made egg rolls for the first time.  I had another package of egg roll wrappers still, so I decided I wanted to try baking them instead of frying them.  For the filling, I julienne cut one of the 1 pound bags of carrots I got from Bountiful Baskets this week.  Next, I diced up the stems and leaves of the bok choy, then removed the meat from the bones of the rotisserie chicken.  I put a little vegetable oil in my wok, then added the carrots and the bok choy stems.  I cooked them until they were tender, then added the bok choy leaves and the chicken.  I added in soy sauce, and cooked for a few minutes.  Then, I assembled the egg rolls.

To bake them, I lined a baking sheet with aluminum foil and sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray.  I arranged the egg rolls on the baking sheet, then brushed them with olive oil  I put them in the oven at 400 F for about 15 minutes, when they became golden brown.

They turned out well.  I think I prefer them fried, but have no problem with the baked ones.  After I used up the filling, I still had 4 egg roll wrappers left, so I filled them with shredded mozzarella cheese, and baked them the same way.  They turned out pretty tasty too.

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Slow Cooker Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

14 Oct

I can’t remember where I first got this recipe, but I used to make it quite often.  I hadn’t made it in quite a while, so my husband suggested it for dinner this week.   It is a short ingredient list, and once you make it, there are a variety of things you can do with it.  I make a package of Spanish rice to mix in with it, then make burritos.  You could make tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas.

Slow Cooker Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

1.5-2 lbs boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning mix
1 16 oz jar salsa
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 8 oz package sour cream

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. Add chicken breasts. Sprinkle chicken with taco seasoning, top with salsa. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours. When ready to serve, remove chicken and shred. Put the cornstarch into the salsa mix in the slow cooker and stir well. Stir in sour cream and mix well. Place chicken back in slow cooker and blend in with salsa mixture.  Serve as desired.

How I use this:

Prepare 1 package of Spanish rice according to package directions.  Stir in with chicken.  Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add a large tortilla (I use the 12 in flour tortillas from Bountiful Baskets).   Place about 1 cup of the chicken/rice mixture toward one side of the tortilla.  Sprinkle Mexican blend shredded cheese over the mixture.

Fold the side, top and bottom over the mixture, then fold it all over on the remaining flap. Cook for a few minutes, then flip and cook for a few more minutes, until both sides are golden brown.

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Lemon Herb Chicken

4 Oct

When I got lemons this week, I knew I would make Lemon Herb Chicken.  It’s nothing real fancy, but it’s easy and the chicken is so moist, we love it.  Here is how to do it.

Lemon Herb Chicken

1-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 lemons, cut into fourths
Italian blend seasoning

Spray a 9 x 13 dish with cooking spray.  Arrange chicken breasts in dish.  Squeeze lemon quarters over the chicken, then added the lemon quarters in around the chicken breasts.  Sprinkle chicken breasts with Italian blend seasoning.  Bake at 450 F for 30-40 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.

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Egg Rolls!

30 Sep

I have been working all week on a way to use the daikon radish I received in the Asian themed veggie pack that I bought with my Bountiful Baskets this week.  I decided I would try egg rolls, which I love, but have never made.  For the filling, I julienne cut some daikon and some carrots.  Then, I chopped 1 bunch of green onions and some leaves of bok choy.  I had bought a rotisserie chicken at Fry’s since I had a $2 eCoupon, so I removed the chicken from the bones and shredded it.  I added some vegetable oil to my wok, and put the daikon, carrots, and green onion in first.  Once they started to get tender, I added in the bok choy and chicken.  Once the bok choy started to wilt, I grated fresh ginger into the wok and poured in about 2 Tbsp of soy sauce.  It looked like this.

Next comes the egg roll wrappers.  I found mine in the produce section of the grocery store, they may also be in your freezer section.  You take a wrapper and lay it out, then add some filling.  For this size wrapper, it was about 2 Tbsp of filling.

To fold the egg rolls, my previous experience as an employee at Subway wrapping sandwiches in paper came in handy.  It’s also how I roll my stuffed grape leaves (that recipe will be coming hopefully in the next week).  Notice in the picture above how I placed the filling closer to one corner.  The first fold is to bring that corner up over the filling.

Next, you fold over both sides.

Then, you roll it and brush the tip with a little water to make it hold shut.

Then, you deep fry or add about 1/2″ of oil to a pan.  If your oil doesn’t completely cover the rolls, then you need to flip them when one side is golden.

Remove rolls from oil to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

This made 11 egg rolls.  I still had wrappers in that package, so I made more filling. The second filling was all veggies, bok choy leaves and stems, julienne cut carrots, julienne cut daikon, and chopped yellow onion, then grated ginger and soy sauce.  This made 7 more egg rolls.  They turned out great, both my girls ate 2 each!

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