Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Lasagna

I'm sure in previous posts, I have declared my love for all types of Mexican food. The flavors, the colors, THE AROMAS...All of it just makes my stomach rejoice!!

..... I digress ....

In my attempt to feed my family healthy meals that don't lack the deliciousness we deserve and trying to loose a few pounds myself, I am always on the lookout to be inspired. Mexican food isn't typically waist-line friendly but there are definitely ways to lighten them up without sacrificing the flavors.

In this dish, the real star is the roasted vegetables. There really is not a lot of added flavorings to this dish. Do not let the simplicity of this recipe and the ingredient list turn you off or make you think you will have a flavorless dish. It is quite the opposite, my friends!

I hope you enjoy! As always, I welcome the feedback and why you're at it...why not PIN it to your favorite board!

Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Lasagna

1 poblano chile, cut into thin sticks

2 red bell peppers, cut into thin sticks

1/2 head of cauliflower broken into small/medium sized pieces

1 small white/yellow onion, shaved or sliced thin

1 c. frozen corn

1/3 zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick then into thin sticks

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

baby spinach leaves (a few hand fulls)

2 T ground cumin

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

2 cups salsa

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

9-10 flour or corn tortilla's, cut in half

Melissa's Homemade Enchilada Sauce

2 c. shredded cheddar or mexican blend cheese

light sour cream and green onions, for garnish

1) Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 

2) Place poblano chile, bell peppers, cauliflower, corn, onion and zucchini into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat all vegetables (but you dont want to have a pool of oil at the bottom). Sprinkle with cumin, garlic and salt and pepper and toss again.

3) Place vegetables in a roasting pan (or any other deep dish) and roast for about 40 minutes, or until you start to see the vegetables get a gorgeous roasted look. You'll want to stir them every 15 minutes or so to roast evenly. Remove and reduce oven temperate to 350 degrees.

4) Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. In a small bowl combine the salsa and cilantro. Spoon 1/4 of the mixture on the bottom of your pan. Lay down a layer of tortillas, then 1/3 of the roasted vegetable mix, 1/3  shredded chicken, handful of spinach and 1/3 shredded chicken. Repeat each layer and you should end with cheese on the top. 

5) Top your lasagna with the enchilada sauce (use as much or as little as you'd like)

6) Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes to get a nice color on the top of your lasagna. Let stand and cut into servings. Top each with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of green onions. 

recipe inspired by this blog

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3 Cheese Tortellini Alfredo with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Asparagus, and Roasted Red Peppers

Wow, that's a mouthful. But please don't let the title deter you from trying this incredibly easy, quick and delicious recipe.

I'm not feeling particularly 'wordy' today but I had several people comment on my facebook post asking for this recipe. I'll get right to the point so that I please their hungry tummy's!

3 Cheese Tortellini Alfredo with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Asparagus,
and Roasted Red Peppers

2 Medium Chicken Breasts

1 Large Red Bell Pepper, thick sliced

1 Bag Frozen 3 Cheese Tortellini (I bag I used served 5)

1 Jar Alfredo Sauce (Or your favorite recipe for one)

1/4 C. 2% milk

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 bunch Asparagus, chopped in 1 inch pieces

1/4 C. Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Herb Seasoning

1) Heat oven to 450 Degrees. Also bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2)  Place sliced red bell peppers in a glass dish. Drizzle a little olive oil over the peppers and toss. Sprinkle some sea salt on the peppers and place in the oven. Roasting will be complete in about 15 minutes.

3) Once water is boiling, cook tortellini according to directions. Drain when done, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder (just a bit).

4) In the meantime, place chicken breasts in a skillet over medium heat. Season both sides with garlic herb seasoning and cook until chicken is almost cooked. Remove from pan and set aside. After the chicken has rested for about 10 minutes, slice against the grain into slices (about an inch thick)

5) In the skillet you cooked the chicken in, add the alfredo sauce, milk and garlic cloves. Allow to come to a slight boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 8-9 minutes. Add in sliced chicken and asparagus and turn heat onto medium to bring to a low boil again. Keep stirring and allow it to boil slowly to finish cooking the chicken breasts and asparagus, about 3 minutes.

6) When red peppers are done roasting, place on a cutting board and cut into big chunks. Add to the alfredo sauce. Add mozzarella cheese to the sauce, give a good stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.

7) To serve, put tortellini on a plate or in a bowl and top with a good helping of the sauce.

*I had this for leftovers at lunch today and it was DELICIOUS! Would be a good sauce to add red pepper flakes to to add a little bit of heat*

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Lightened Up Chicken Pot Pie Soup

I live in Ohio. And its Winter. Enough said?! LOL!

Without fail, every year when winter hits, I end up telling myself and those within ear shot that I "can't wait to get out of here". Yet each year, I find myself still here, suffering through the dreary winter days. Aside from it being cold and having the occasional blizzard, the drearyness is the worst part of it. Today broke a 14 day stretch of having no sun. YUCK.

I wanted to make something like a chicken pot pie but Shawn is on his yearly lenten diet and I don't tend to lean towards heavy, calorie-laden dinners (unless it involves hot sauce and fried chicken). And I didn't feel like devoting a large chunk of my time in the kitchen this weekend.

I ended up landing on the idea of making a soup inspired by the flavors and goodness of chicken pot pie but without all of the unwanted heavy ingredients and time.

You can make substitutions on the vegetables to fit your family's tastes. I'd love to hear what you think about this!!

Lightened Up Chicken Pot Pie Soup

(photo courtesy of  www.noblepig.com)

1/3  C. flour

3 C. Chicken Stock

5 C. 2% milk

1/2 medium sized onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 medium carrots, sliced and quartered

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 bag frozen green bean

1 bag frozen corn

2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

Ground Black Pepper

Sea Salt, to taste

2 tsp. Herbs De Provence

2 medium to large sized chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bite size pieces

2 medium to large sized potatoes, cut in small cubes

1) In a bowl, combine 1 cup chicken stock with the flour and whisk until the flour is incorporate. Set Aside.

2) Pour remaining chicken stock and milk into your soup pot. Slowly bring to a boil.

3) Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, frozen vegetables, chicken buillons, herbs and salt and pepper and bring to a boil. 

4) Partially cover and reduce to simmer on low to medium low until vegetables are tender. 

5) Add potatoes and chicken and simmer on a low boil until potatoes are cooked through and tender. 

6) Slowly whisk in the stock/flour mixture that you set aside in step 1. You may need to add more depending on how thick you like your soup. 

7) Make sure to adjust seasonings to taste prior to serving.

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Herb Dusted Chicken with Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Basil Sauce

Whoa...that's a mouth full. LOL

First, please don't let the word "creamy" in the title scare you away. It's not fat and calorie laden like you might expect a recipe with that name in to be.

With that said ....

I can't tell you for sure how long this jar of sun dried tomatoes has been sitting on my pantry shelf untouched, but what I can tell you is that it won't last much longer in my fridge now that I have made this chicken dish!!

I wanted something awesome. I had chicken breasts in the fridge that needed used and, lets face it, most often chicken dishes using breasts seem to fall short of the mark. If you would have asked me a year ago what cut of chicken I used it would have been a boneless skinless chicken bosom. But, when I joined weight watchers, I noticed that the majority of recipes called for boneless skinless thighs. I was hesitant but I tried them and now I know why. Breasts, unless cooked with a lot of fat, get dry really quick and tend to not be as delicious as the thigh. I had originally bought the breasts to make buffalo chicken dip for Super Bowl but opted for guacamole instead. So it sat there. And sat there. And it needed to be used. But it begged me to make it into something delicious and memorable.

This recipe does not fall short of that. In fact, my 4 year old daughter (who has been giving me a headache at dinner time for that last two months) actually said "Momma, this chicken is soooooooo delicious. Thank you for making me dinner." And she ate EVERY.SINGLE.BITE that was put on her plate!!! HOME RUN!

Herb Dusted Chicken with Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Basil Sauce



3 Boneless/Skinless chicken breasts

1/3 cup white onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1/2 bunch of asparagus, chopped in 1 inch pieces

One - Two handfuls of fresh basil, confetti chopped 

3 T. flour

1 1/2 C. chicken stock

1/3 C. White Wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc, but any dry white wine will do)

1/2 C. whole milk 

2 T. Olive Oil

2 T. Butter

Salt and Pepper

"Perfect Pinch" garlic and herb seasoning

**A few things before we start. For the Olive oil, I used basil flavored oil that I have in ice cube trays in the freezer. I used whole milk but if you want something super creamy, use a heavy cream in its place. Mushrooms would be a nice addition but my boyfriend doesn't care for them. I wasn't sure how to measure the basil. I have a plant in my kitchen and used about 8-10 good sized leaves off of it**

1) Heat your skillet on medium high heat and put in the olive oil. In the mean time, slice your breasts in half (like you are butterflying but go all the way through). 

2) Season both sides of the chicken with salt/pepper and the garlic and herb seasoning. There really isn't a way to 'over do' the seasoning here. Get a nice crust on it.

3) Cook the chicken in the skillet until almost done, about 4 minutes on each side.

4) When chicken is almost done (about 3 minutes from being done), remove it from the pan and put on a plate and cover it.

5) Using the same skillet, reduce heat to medium and add in butter, onion and garlic. Saute for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the sun dried tomatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes stirring regularly. Add in the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes.

5) Add wine and chicken stock to the skillet and let cook for 3-4 minutes. Take a 1/4 cup of the liquid out of the skillet and put it into a small glass bowl. Add the flour into this reserved sauce and stir until the flour forms a paste. Pour that paste back into the skillet and whisk vigorously, until sauce begins to thicken. (if it doesn't thicken to your liking, add a little flour at a time until desired thickness)

6) Add the basil and the chicken back into the pan and let simmer for 3-4 minutes. This will cook the chicken the rest of the way and allow it to soak up the good flavor of the sauce.

We served this over campanelle pasta but you can serve with roasted vegetables, potatoes or rice. Or even by itself with a fresh salad!

Enjoy!!

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Honey and Spice and Everything....TASTY!!

There are combinations of flavors that once combined, belong together for life. Peanut butter and chocolate, cinnamon and sugar, italian roast coffee with caramel macchiato creamer. And to round out that list for me, is sweet and heat!

This week our local grocery store had chicken thighs at a pretty low price so I picked up a couple packs. Since starting weight watchers in 2011 I have come to enjoy chicken thighs over chicken breasts because they have more flavor and don't dry out as easily as the breasts do. If my local grocery store doesn't have the skinless ones on sale, I'll buy the regular and de-skin them myself. It really only takes about 3 seconds per thigh.

Anyway...I wanted to use a package of the thighs and wanted to make something with a little spice to it but that was sweet but not too sweet. I made this chicken and paired it with some perfectly roasted red skin potatoes and vegetables and found a new favorite that I'm sure will become part of the regular rotation at my house.

Honey and Spice Chicken Thighs

6-8 chicken thighs, skins removed

1 tspof sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to adjust the heat level)

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 c. honey

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Mix all dry seasonings together and set aside. Mix apple cider and honey together and set aside.

3) Cover a baking sheet with foil (makes cleanup easier) and spray with a good coating of cooking spray.

4) Lay chicken out on the sheet and rub each piece with the dry rub you've created with the spices. Flip and do the other side. 

5) Spray each chicken piece with a little cooking spray and place in the oven. Cook for 12 minutes, then flip. Cook for another 12 minutes.

6) After you've flipped the chicken and its cooked for the 12 minutes for that side, remove from oven and baste each piece of chicken with the honey mixture. 

7) Place under the broiler and continue to baste the same side every few minutes to allow that honey to "glue" itself to each piece of chicken. 

8) Remove the chicken and allow it to rest for about 5 minutes to let the juices redistribute.

*After I pulled the chicken out, I tipped the pan and poured the pan drippings into a small bowl. When plated, I spooned a little bit of the pan sauce on top of each piece of chicken and served with oven roasted potatoes. A nice fresh steamed vegetable or noodle would go great also. 

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Mexican Tamale Chicken Pie

I would venture to say that if you asked ten people what their idea of comfort food is, the most popular answer would be chicken pot pie, macaroni and cheese and meatloaf. I will say that, before I laid my eyes on this recipe, that those are the first things that would come to mind also. But I also love a good cornbread. 

I never thought of mexican food as comfort food. 

Until last night.

Last night, I made the most delicious comfort food that has ever come out of my kitchen. I wanted flavor, I wanted heat, I wanted sweetness....

So I began with this recipe that I found on Pinterest but I changed it up just a bit to fit our taste and to accommodate my daughters taste buds also. After all, I wasn't going to prepare a potentially life changing dish and give her kitchen scraps. LOL. After the previous night's macaroni and cheese disaster, she deserved to have something wonderful. So did Shawn and I. When I say macaroni and cheese disaster, I mean, we couldn't stand more than a few bites of the stuff and the rest of the pot went in the trash. It was gross. But I don't want to start thinking about that. Lets focus on the deliciousness of the meal I am sharing with you today.

How does a sweetly heated corn bread topped with seasoned chicken and gooey cheese sound? Sounds delicious right? I promise you, this was! 

To make this a bit more healthier, substitute with fat free milk, egg whites and a reduced fat cheese.

Mexican Tamale Chicken Pie

(photo courtesy of www.pinchofyum.com)

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. cornmeal

1 T baking powder

2 T taco seasoning, divided

6 T unsalted butter, melted

Salt and Pepper, to taste

1 c. 2% milk

1 can cream-style corn

1-4oz can chopped green chiles, drained (if you buy whole just cut them up really small)

1-10oz Melissa's Enchilada Sauce

2 c. cooked chicken breast, shredded or chopped into small bites

1/2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

Garnishes: cilantro, light sour cream, Queso Fresco (crumbling cheese)

1) Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, 1 T. taco seasoning, butter, milk, and corn in a bowl until just combined. Add in chilies and stir a few times.

2)  Grease a glass round pie dish and pour cornbread mixture into it. Bake on 400 for 15-20 minutes, or until is just set and lightly browned on the top.

3) While cornbread is cooking, toss the chicken with the remaining taco seasoning until coated. Add more if you want.

4) When the cornbread is just done, pull it out of the oven and poke lots of holes into with a fork. Don't worry if the cornbread sticks to the fork. I sprayed my fork with cooking spray to help it not stick to the fork.

5) Pour enchilada sauce (you amy or may not use 10oz, adjust accordingly) over the holey cornbread and allow it to soak in. Top with seasoned chicken and shredded cheese and bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

6) Remove from the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Serve garnished with fresh cut cilantro, a dollop of sour cream and queso fresco crumbled on the top of it.

Not only is it delicious, it is a beautiful dish!  Disfrute de su comida, Voy!! (enjoy your meal, ya'll)

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