Green Chili and Quinoa Enchiladas

I was making these enchiladas last week. And I realized my brown rice was all the way downstairs in my storage room. But my quinoa was sitting on top of the fridge. I was way too lazy to walk all the way down stairs so I decided to substitute the quinoa instead. And it worked. It really worked! And was totally delicious. And now I feel super trendy because I used quinoa. 

These enchiladas turned out really good. They were a little spicy because I subbed 1 can jalapneos for my normal green chilis and they had a good ratio of creamy chicken and chili mixture to quinoa. 

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 chicken breasts, grilled and shredded

1 cup plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)

2 small cans chopped green chilis

1 small can chopped jalapenos (if you don't like the heat, you can just use another can of green chilis)

Mix all ingredients in large bowl, season with garlic salt and pepper as desired. 

1 cup shredded cheese

2 cups cooked quinoa (I do the rice cooker method and it turns out perfect every time)

8-10 tortillas

1 large can green chili enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan and pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture, quinoa and cheese. Roll up and lay seam side down in the enchilada sauce. Pour an additional 1 cup of enchilada sauce over tortillas and top with cheese. Bake at 400 for 15-20 min. Switch your oven to broil and broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese on top is bubbly and starts to brown. 

Serve warm and enjoy!

Basted BBQ Chicken Salad with Cilantro Ranch Dressing

I made this salad last week and couldn't get enough of it. I told everyone about how amazing it was. And then they asked for the recipe... so I had to be on top of things and actually post about it. 

This salad is so delicious! And easy, you probably have most of the ingredients right now. You should make it for dinner tonight. And then tell all of your friends and they will want the recipe. 

We start with the chicken. If you don't have good chicken, you can't have an amazing salad. Now, if you are scared to try new things, go ahead and just grill the the chicken. But if you are brave and daring, try this way. It is called "basting" and it makes moist, flavorful chicken in only 45 minutes. You season and bake the chicken for 20 minutes and then brush on BBQ sauce every 4 minutes until it is done. A little bit of work? Yeah, but still worth it. 

You need the basics, the lettuce, tomatoes, avacados. Add some southwestern fun like black beans and corn. If you have tortilla strips, those would probably be great too. 

And then we get to the really good stuff. BBQ sauce and Cilantro Ranch Dressing! All that saucy goodness on those fresh veggies and yummy chicken. Dream come true!

BBQ Basted Chicken

Preheat oven to 350. Cut 3 chicken breasts in half and lay the 6 sections on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper/baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil or spray with pam. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. Bake for 20 min. Take out and brush your favorite BBQ sauce on each piece every 5 min. After 5 or so brushes, take chicken out and chop into bite sized pieces. 

Salad

1 head romainne lettuce, chopped

2 roma tomatoes, chopped

2 avacado, chopped

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

tortilla strips 

Sauces

BBQ sauce

Cilantro Ranch: Combine the following in blender: 1 cup mayonaise, 1 cup milk, 1 packet/3 TBSP Ranch Dressing Mix, 1 bunch fresh cilantro. Thicken with mayo or thin with milk as desired. 

Sausage & Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole

My sister in law made these for some family function or another. They are so good, it's like biscuits and cheesy gravy in a bar form. They are convenient for big groups, delicious and super easy to make (only 3 ingredients!).

Pillsbury makes the coolest thing. Crescent roll dough in one sheet! Think of all the possibilities!

Stuff it with a cream cheese and sausage mixture

Add another dough sheet and bake until golden brown. 

Make these. They are so good. And so easy, you have not reason not to. 

Sausage & Crescent Roll Casserole

1 lb of sausage ( I recommend Hot or Maple)
8oz package of Cream Cheese
2 rolls of Seamless Crescent Roll Dough

Cook sausage, add cream cheese into warm pan until incorporated. Lay dough in ungreased 9X13 pan. Top with sausage mixture and layer with another dough sheet. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min. Eat warm!

Mexican Haystacks

I am pretty sure my brother lived off of this in college. And I can't blame him.  It is easy to make and has basic ingredients that you can dress up if you have the extras. 

My husband thinks these are "Taco Salads", but in my family, taco salads are way different. I will show you our taco salad another time. In my book, this is a Mexican Haystack. Top it with whatever you want, I will just give you some ideas. 

Mexican Haystacks

Filling

1 lb ground beef

2 (16oz) cans pork and beans

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

Cook ground beef in skillet. Drain grease and return to pan. Add remaining ingredients and let simmer for 10 minutes. 

Lay a base of tortilla chips. Top with warm meat mixture. Add any of the following

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Chopped lettuce

Salsa

Sour Cream

Ranch Dressing

Whole Wheat Kernel Buttermilk Pancakes in the Blender

These are pretty wonderful pancakes. My mom found the recipe just a little while ago and every time we come home to visit she makes them for us. There are only a few ingredients and making them in a blender means they take no time at all.

These pancakes work best if you have a high powered blender (my Blendtec is pretty much the most amazing thing ever), but I think they will be ok in a normal blender. 

Whole wheat kernals make these pancakes rich and almost nutty. I assume you can buy them at a grocery store, or at least a healthy food store. I stole mine from my mom.... so I am no help.

The recipe makes the batter quite thick, which I enjoy, but it does mean you have to spread the batter yourself with a spoon. If you don't want to worry about this and enjoy thinner pancakes, go ahead and add a little more buttermilk. 

Wheat Kernel Buttermilk Blender Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat kernels

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1-2 Tbsp sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1egg

Combine wheat kernels and buttermilk in blender. Blend on high for 60 seconds, until mixture is smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend for an additional 30 seconds on high. Pour or scoop batter on to butter greased skillet. When small bubbles begin to form on pancake, flip over and cook for another 30 seconds. Serve warm with butter and syrup. 

Black Bean Soup

I love posting recipes because I  try to remember where I got them and what memories are associated with them. A lot of my food memories involve my two best friends who were sisters. I guess we did a lot of eating together. 

This soup recipe is one of their's and reminds me of "staying for dinner" at their house. They always had a fruit salad at dinner, which was awesome because I thought fruit salad was dessert. I still remember their vinyl tablecloth and dishware. I was so sad when they moved my senior year of high school, and so happy when we became roommates in college. I still call and ask them for recipes of dishes I remember having at their house. This is one of my favorites. It is so quick and easy and super tasty. 

Black Bean Soup

Collet Family

1 c salsa 

2 (15 ½ oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can chicken broth

1 t lime juice

2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Sour cream to garnish

Tortilla chips

Heat salsa over medium heat, stirring often, for 5 min. Stir in beans and broth. Boil, then lower and simmer for 15 minutes.

Ladle half of the soup into blender and puree. Return pureed soup to pot. Stir in lime juice & cilantro just before serving. Serve soup warm w/ dollop of sour cream. Eat w/ tortilla chips. Makes 4 servings.

College Friendly: Lemon Garlic Tilapia

I was on the phone with my mom the other day and she asked for some easy, healthy recipe ideas for my brother heading back to college. Apparently there are a disproportionate amount of desserts on my blog...  Which sparked an idea for a project! A collection of recipes that have 5 or less ingredients, are budget friendly and healthy. Fun, right?

This is  my first attempt, and here is the breakdown:

Tilapia has low calories, omega 3, vitamin B12 and plenty of potassium. Lemons are immune boosting and have lots of vitamin C. Garlic apparently prevents cancer. So healthy.

Lemons are about 50 cents each, Tiliapia is just over a dollar a fish and garlic is pennies. So cheap.

And easy. Assuming you already have salt and pepper, the only ingredients you need are
1 tilapia fillet
1 lemon
2 tsps of minced garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
2 Tbsps of olive oil
1 Tbsp dried parsley

Here is what you do. Line a pan with tinfoil (to make clean up easier).

Squeeze 1/2 of the lemon into the pan, drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil, add 1 teaspoon garlic, 1/2 Tbsp parsley and a dash of salt and pepper.

Lay tilapia in the pan and add remaining lemon, olive oil, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. If you want to you can add some lemon zest or lemon slices.

Broil at 400 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes.

Serve with rice and vegetables.

Sour Cream Chicken

My husband and I had a discussion yesterday. Mostly he was telling me his favorite dishes that I make. Usually I have to poke and prod a little to get his opinion on what to have for dinner. So it was nice that he offered this list so freely. He brought up one of my family favorites, Sour Cream Chicken. It is one of those warm, comfort foods that is fantastically simple.

Sour Cream Chicken

6- 8 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream (8 oz)
2 Tablespoons milk (if you want it a little smoother)
dash of garlic salt
dash of pepper
Optional Seasonings: Parsley, basil, parmesan etc

Place chicken breasts in baking pan and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Combine soup and sour cream and milk. Pour soup mixture over chicken and completely cover chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. You can cut the chicken smaller and it will cook faster if you need to.