Honey Lime Enchiladas

There is absolutely NO way this dish could be photographed in a manner that would capture the excellence of its flavor. Seriously. I think this is my new favorite. I have an uncle that has 6 daughters. No typo. 6. Shoot me now. What's even crazier is that they each one is sweeter, cuter, and more talented than the next. The kind of girls that you want to hate because you envy, but can't because it'd be like hating Mother Teresa. And that's just wrong. AAAAAnyway, the 6 girls made a blog to keep connected as they get married and move around. They feature all kinds of ridiculously awesome things, including *GASP* recipes! I've seen a couple ones that I'd like to try, but when I saw a recipe for Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas, I couldn't wait! I'll be honest, it wasn't as knock-your-socks-off as I'd hoped when I first tried it, but it had potential. A few days later, I tried it again, with a few minor tweaks and ran it past my judges panel {my hubby, my 3 year old, and my temporarily wifeless neighbor who, by the way, said it was heaven sent!}. It was as knock-your-socks-off as I'd hoped!! Yay! The chicken is so incredible in and of itself and would be excellent in quesadillas, fajitas, whatever! Ready to rock your taste buds???

Chicken filling:

1 lb chicken {I used 2 chicken breasts}

1/2 medium onion, diced

6 tbsp honey{3/8 C}

5 tbsp lime juice {approx 1 large lime, but I just got a bottle of lime juice}

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Place the chicken and onion in a crockpot. Mix together the other 4 ingredients in a small bowl; pour over chicken and onion. Cook on low 6-8 hours if chicken is frozen, 4-6 hours if thawed.

{The original recipe calls for the chicken to be cooked and shredded then placed in a bag with the whisked other ingredients for at least 1/2 hour, but I hate messing with raw chicken so to the crockpot with it! Plus, it hasn't worked out that I've been able to make the enchilada's the same day as I made the chicken, so it's easy to cook, shred, then let it sit in the sauce in the fridge until I am ready to use it. Handy!}

Enchilada's:

8-10 tortillas

1 lb monterey jack cheese, shredded

16 oz green enchilada sauce

1 C sour cream

Pour about 1/4-1/2 C of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Fill the tortillas with chicken and all but 1 cup of the cheese. Place the tortillas in the pan as you go. Mix any remaining chicken marinade with the enchilada sauce and sour cream. Pour over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tortilla edges are brown and crispy.

I served this with black beans tossed with lime juice and sour cream. My neighbor especially liked it with extra sour cream on the side.

Black Bean Soup

This is the Black Bean Soup recipe Brooke Anderson brought for Mexican night. It was super tasty and the squeeze of lemon gave it a nice kick. Plus, black beans are fat free and pack full of great nutrients. Healthy AND delicious- what a combo!

2 cans black beans
1 can chicken broth
1 medium onion (Brooke uses about a tbsp of dried onion)
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
Mix ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. To serve, garnish with sour cream and a squeeze of lime juice. Yum Yum!! They love to eat this with cheese quesadilla's.

Navajo Tacos

I was introduced to Navajo tacos by my in-laws. It's basically a taco on a scone. This taco meat recipe is great on the scone or as Mexican haystacks {a bed of Frito's instead of a scone and a little more emphasis on the lettuce}, or taco salad. This particular meat recipe is one I got from my mother-in-law, Christie, and adjusted to fit my taste.

1 lb ground beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 lg can diced tomatoes, with juice {I used a can of tomatoes with diced jalapenos that night}
2 tsp chili powder
1 can kidney or black beans
2 tsp garlic powder
dash of cumin

Brown ground beef with the onion in a large skillet pan. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes.

For Navajo Tacos:
I made the dough recipe from the comments of this post in my bread machine and used that to make scones. You can buy scone mix or look a scone recipe up at any of the lovely links to the right of this blog. Fill a large skillet about 1/2" deep with canola oil {healthiest cooking oil} and slowly heat on medium to medium low heat. You can tell when oil is hot enough for frying by either dripping a little water in it and having it pop or putting the handle end of a wooden spoon in the oil and when little bubbles form around the wood, it's done. Roll a handful of scone dough into a ball than smash into a disc about 1/2" inch thick and about 4" in diameter. Carefully place into hot oil and cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Serve hot with lettuce, cheese, olives, sour cream, or taco sauce.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

I got this recipe years ago and have added to it over time to this masterpiece. My family votes that pretty much anything covered in cheese is a winner. Ta-dah! Still, it's pretty simple, especially if you use canned chicken(rinse well first, if you do). Mostly a can of this, a can of that and voila! Makes me laugh, though, because I SERIOUSLY doubt any good abuela made anything authentic that called for a can of Cream of Mushroom. Slap some chili's in it and call it Mexican! Call it good... Matt and I made this when we went to Hawaii once. We had a condo with a full kitchen, so to save money we packed a bunch of cans of stuff into our check in. Yeah, we're cheap. On our way home we had to convince the airport security guy that it really was just garlic salt in Matt's bag and not sand!

2 C boneless, skinless chicken breast(or 2 cans cooked chicken, rinsed well)
1/2 onion, diced
1 bag tortilla chips or Doritos {we prefer the Salsa Verde Doritos}
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies
1 C sour cream
1 can corn, drained(optional)
1 C minute rice
3 C shredded cheese
2 C chicken broth
1 can olives, drained(optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cube and cook chicken with diced onions in a medium sauce pan on medium-high heat until cooked through. Mix remaining ingredients, except olives. Grease a 9x13" pan and line with a layer of chips, slightly smashed. Sprinkle the chicken mixture, the olives, 1/2 of the cheese and 1/2 the sauce over the chips. Add another layer of chips and top with remaining sauce and cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Done.

Cinco De Mayo

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Fried Bananas

This sneaky dessert manages to be delicious, but manages to make you feel like you made a healthy choice by having dessert! This is from Keathanne. She says it is best served warm over ice cream. I got the ingredient list, but the instructions weren't written down. When I get it correct, I'll update it. Until then, here's how I imagine it would go...

1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 C whip cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp butter

6 bananas, cut half once lengthwise and once in the middle

Stir together chocolate chips, whip cream and vanilla in a small sauce pan. Cook on medium low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. {Or you could probably get away with nuking it in a microwave safe dish. Nuke it on high for 30 seconds, then stir. If necessary, repeat until smooth.} Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saute pan. Add the bananas and saute until soft. Serve as-is with the chocolate sauce drizzled over the bananas or serve on top of ice cream or with cool whip.

Taco Ring and my basic Taco Meat

I saw this from Pampered Chef, but wasn't intrigued enough to try it until the recommendation of my sis-in-law, Ruthie. I was instantly hooked! This comes together pretty easy and looks and tastes amazing! Now, I never have good old taco seasoning on hand, which this recipe calls for, so I will start with my taco meat recipe then the Taco Ring recipe with the option of taco meat or taco seasoning. Got that?

Taco Meat
Keep in mind, I kinda do the 'little of this, little of that' method here so these are all approximates. You can do more or less of each ingredient to fit your taste.
1 lb ground beef
1/2- 1 medium onion (or about 2 tbsp dried onion)
2 tbsp oregano
2 tsp parsley
2-3 shakes cayenne pepper
1 can diced tomatoes, drained well
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the beef with the onion and salt and pepper. Drain. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with taco shells, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, olives, guacamole, diced tomatoes, corn, etc.

Taco Ring
Taco recipe from above OR:
1 lb ground beef
1 pkg (approx 1/4 C) taco seasoning mix

2 pkg refrigerated crescent roll dough
2 tbsp water
1 C shredded cheese
Desired toppings

Prepare taco recipe as above OR brown ground beef, drain then stir in taco seasoning. Add water. Separate crescent dough into triangles. Arrange triangles in a circle with wide ends overlapping in the center and the narrow ends pointing towards the outside. There should be about a 5" diameter in the center of the circle. A pizza pan works great, but I've made this into 2 rings and done it in cookie sheets as well. Scoop the meat mixture evenly onto the widest end of the triangles. Lift the pointed ends over the filling and tuck under the wide ends at the center of the ring. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with optional toppings of salsa, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, olives, sour cream, etc.

Mexican Pull Apart Bread

Ohhh, just thinking about this makes my mouth water! You MUST love heat to fully appreciate this delicious side or appetizer!

1 can (16 oz) Refrigerated biscuit dough, cut into quarters

2-4 tbsp butter, melted

1 1/2 C Mexican shredded cheese blend {Confession, I get a bag of shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese from Costco that I use any time a recipe calls for shredded cheese...}

3/4 C drained, canned, sliced Jalapeno peppers (this makes it suuuper spicy, so if you aren't feeling it that hot, I'd go with a smaller can of diced jalapenos. Pansy.)

3/4 tsp parsley flakes

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Dip 1/3 of the biscuit pieces in the melted butter and place in the pan. Top with 1/3 EACH of the cheese, peppers, and parsley. Repeat layers. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes then invert onto a plate. Serve warm.

Layered Enchilada Bake

I love the simplicity of this. Suuuuper yummy and if you use low fat ingredients, it's actually pretty darn healthy for you! I altered another recipe to come up with this:

1 lb ground beef {ground turkey works well in this also}
1 large onion, chopped
2 Cups chunky salsa
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed well
1/4 zesty Italian dressing
2 tbsp taco seasoning mix {or approx 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tbsp oregano, and salt & pepper to taste}
6 flour tortillas (8 inch or burrito size)
1 C- 16 oz of sour cream
1-2 C Mexican style shredded cheese
1 C olives, sliced or whole(optional)
1 Can corn(optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brown the beef with the onions in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Drain any grease. Stir in salsa, beans, dressing, seasoning and corn. Arrange 1 burrito sized shell each on the bottom of two 9" pie plates, or make a layer of three 8" shells on the bottom of a 9"x 13". {I like the pie plate option because we can eat one plate and freeze the other for another day when I'm lazy. I'd guess one pie plate serves about 4 adults who eat like my husband or 2 adults and 3-4 kids...} Cover shells with a layer of half the meat mixture, half the sour cream, half the cheese, and all the olives. Repeat layers. Cover with foil. Bake 10 minutes then remove foil and keep baking for 30 more minutes or until it is heated through and cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting to serve.

This is good with a garnish of lettuce or tomatoes. We really love corn in our Mexican food for some reason, so if you're not brave enough to put it in the casserole, it would be excellent as a side instead.

Tostada's

Brooke Anderson couldn't make it, but sent in the following: We make tostada's with the store bought tostada shells, the refried beans from the recipe below, some cooked hamburger meat with taco seasoning in it, and whatever else you want to add(cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, salsa, lime). It is way quick if you can plan ahead by starting your beans in the morning. Plus it makes your house smell delicious all day!! Here is the recipe.

Refried beans without the refry

1 onion, peeled and halved
3 cups dried pinto beans, rinsed
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
5 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cumin, optional
9 cups water

1. Place onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a crock pot. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on HIGH for 8 hours, adding more water when needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high. 2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency. Note: I use my blender to mix it all up. I just put beans in, add some of the liquid, and mix. I prefer to do it all that way because it is easy.