Garden Vegetable Enchiladas

Ho-ly cow.  These are sooooo good!!!  I wanted to use some summer squash from my garden to make from-scratch enchiladas & this recipe was to-die-for.  Highly recommend.

I served them with some sour cream and homemade salsa made with garden tomatoes, and I wanted to eat the entire pan. 

I deviated from the linked recipe just a little by adding a can of black beans, rinsed and drained, and instead of using a can of green chilies I used two small fresh jalapenos from my garden, chopped very small. 

See here for the recipe.
 

No-Tequila Lime Chicken & Mexican Rice

I made Pioneer Woman's Tequila Lime Chicken, but I didn't have tequila and didn't want to buy tequila, so I just omitted it.  The chicken was delicious!  We put it in tacos with cheese, mashed black beans and PW's Mexican rice.  Definitely a hit!  Here is the recipe for the chicken. And here is the recipe for the Mexican rice, which is yummy and makes a ton for leftovers. 

Oven Tacos

New weeknight standby.  Way better than normal ground beef tacos!  HERE is the recipe!

Shredded Beef Enchilada Casserole

My husband doesn't really like ground beef in tacos, enchiladas, etc. so I decided to make shredded beef enchiladas based on Pioneer Woman's ground beef ones. 

I threw a 2 lb. chuck beef roast in the slow cooker all day on low (about 8 hours) with a large can of diced green chiles and a little water. 

I made the enchilada sauce from PW: 

1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
1 can (28 Ounce) Enchilada Or Red Sauce
2 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a paste, cooking for one minute. Pour in the red sauce, chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

Once the sauce was done I dipped yellow corn tortillas in the enchilada sauce and laid a layer of them on a greased baking dish overlapping.  Then I added some shredded beef over the top of those.  Then I added some grated cheddar cheese to the top of that.  Then I drizzled (heavily) some sauce to the top of that.  Then I repeated the process, ending with tortillas covered in cheese and sauce on top. 

I did it this way because I didn't want to take the time to fry the tortillas or roll them all into individual enchiladas.  So I guess this is more of a beef enchilada casserole.

Anyway, this was delicious and I definitely prefer the shredded beef.  Top with sour cream and fresh cilantro leaves.

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last night I made Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup.  It was deeeeelicious!  It took some time because of the baking of the chicken.  I would recommend cooking your chicken in the crock pot all day so when you get home from work to make dinner, all you have to do is shred the chicken and the rest of the stuff is fast and easier.  I hate waiting for chicken to bake - even though it only takes like 25-30 minutes (big fat Costco breasts).  Anyway, everything else takes a little bit of time but not too much, and it's worth it.  The toppings really do make the soup better.  We added cheddar, sour cream, cilantro (a must), fresh salsa, extra tortilla strips and avocado to ours.  There's only two of us so there is a TON left and I am GLAD.  A definite thumbs up on this one!

Dorito Casserole

 

THIS dish is anything but healthy.  I probably shouldn't have made it for that reason, but it was oh-so-good!  It was flavorful, spicy-ish, easy, creamy, crunchy, cheesy.  I love Doritos but I never let myself buy/eat them.  This was a nice little treat for myself.  Definitely a good comforting meal.  Yum-o!

Chile Relleno Casserole

 

I was given some chiles and had no idea what I'd do with them.  Luckily someone suggested making chile relleno and I found a recipe online.  It took no time at all putting it all together and it tasted so, so good.  I used fresh peppers instead of canned, and either would work.  I am excited to have a new, easy dish that I really liked.  I served it with refried beans and my little concoction of couscous mixed with a can of Mexican-flavored diced tomatoes.  Yum!  Here is the recipe.

Pioneer Woman's Grilled Corn Guacamole

I fell in love with this guacamole last summer.  The grilled corn really adds something special to it.  Beware: You will want to eat the whole batch yourself.  I think this could easily be halved if you don't want to buy six avocados, but I haven't done it because I love guacamole too much to make a smaller batch.  Must try!  Here it is.  I serve it with my favorite taco recipe (see above).

Taco Pasta

I wanted a pretty simple recipe for my second meal at home since the trip.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and I thought it looked delicious.  It was easy to make, fast and turned out really good.  I crumbled tortilla chips in mine and covered it with cilantro from our garden -- yum!  HERE is the recipe.  You should add it to your rotation of easy/fast weeknight meals.

spicy burgers with chipotle cream.

I made THESE delicious burgers last night.  They are super easy to make and FULL of flavor.  Everyone said they were "amazing".  I will definitely make these again.  I served them with tomatoes and avocado on top.  I couldn't find poblano chiles at the store, so I used another kind.  I think any medium heat pepper will work.  Make these at your next BBQ!

"Chubby's" Pizza

I had frozen some dough from THIS recipe a couple weeks ago.  I also had some Mexican food leftover from a restaurant we like called Chubby's (beans, chile verde).  I thought it was a good idea to make a pizza with the leftovers.






Dough
1 cup of refried beans
3/4 cup chile verde
1-2 cups shredded yogurt chipotle cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes, Diced
Avocado, Diced

Just layer the beans, chile verde and cheese onto the dough and baked for 15 minutes at 500 degrees.  Then top with lettuce, tomato and avocado.  This turned out so delicious!  I loved it.

Baked Taco Shells

I tried THIS last night. Worked like a charm! I used whole wheat tortillas and baking spray.

Spicy Shredded Pork

This recipe is adapted from Pioneer Woman's Shredded Pork.  I would have made it exactly like hers but I had different meat and less time on hand.

• 3-4 pound pork roast
• 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1 Tablespoon (to 2 Tablespoons) Salt
• Pepper To Taste
• 3 cloves (to 4 Cloves) Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon (to 2 Tablespoons) Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons (to 3 Tablespoons) White Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons dried onion flakes (you can use one whole medium onion cut up, instead)
• Lime Wedges
• Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese, Cilantro

Mix ingredients oregano through dried onion flakes in a blender until they are completely combined.  Cut visible fat from pork roast and rinse.  Put pork roast in a slow cooker and cover with the blended mixture.  Put two cups of water in the slow cooker over the meat.  Cook on low for about 8 hours.  Shred with a fork and serve however you'd like.  I put lime juice on top of my meat, on a tortilla, with cilantro, shredded jalapeno cheddar and sour cream.  Delicious!

Chipotle's "Skinny" Cilantro-Lime Rice

I served another Skinny Taste recipe with the Slow Cooked Sweet Barbacoa Pork - Cilantro-Lime Rice.  I looooovvveeee Chipotle's rice and this really does taste just like it.  I loved it!  And it was easy to make and went well with the pork.  


Chipotle's "Skinny" Cilantro Lime Rice
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes  
Servings: 4 • Size: 3/4 cup • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 201.0 • Fat: 3.4 • Carbs: 37.4 • Fiber: 0 • Protein: 4.0 g 

• 1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati rice
• 1/2 lime, juice of
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 3 tsp vegetable oil

In a small heavy pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low andcover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minute.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.

Slow Cooker Sweet Barbacoa Pork

I've been using a lot of recipes from Skinny Taste lately and I love them!  I loved her take on healthier barbacoa pork.  I made it yesterday and I'm hooked!  I'll definitely make this again.


Slow Cooked Sweet Barbacoa Pork
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: about 10 • Serving Size: 3 oz • Old Points: 4.5 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 202.5 • Fat: 6.3 g • Protein: 26.2 g • Carb: 11.5 g • Fiber: 0.6 g 
Adapted from Favorite Family Recipes

Ingredients:

For the Marinade:

• 2.5 lbs pork loin roast, all fat trimmed
• salt and pepper
• garlic powder
• 6 oz Coke zero
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (unpacked)
• 1/4 cup water

Step 2

• 8 oz Coke zero
• 6 oz can sliced green chilies
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder (to taste)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (unpacked)

Directions:

Season pork with salt, pepper and garlic powder and place in the crock pot. Add 6 oz of coke and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Marinate refrigerated for a few hours or overnight turning meat at least once while marinating.

Remove crock from refrigerator, add water, and cook on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily). Remove pork from crock pot and discard any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork with two forks.

Step two: In the crock pot, combine 8 oz coke, green chilies, tomato sauce, chipotle chile, garlic powder, cumin, chipotle chili powder and remaining brown sugar.

Put shredded pork back in the crock pot and combine with sauce. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, cover and cook on high 1-1/2 hours more.


Instead of using garlic powder I used fresh minced garlic.  I served mine with black beans, Chipotle's cilantro-lime rice, avocado and a little bit of cheese on top.  


Recommended!  

Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup

THIS soup is so so good!  It takes very little prep.  I prepped everything the night before and then in the morning before work I put the crock pot on "low".  When I got home 8 1/2 hours later my house smelled super yummy!  I served it with avocado, sour cream, cheese and tortilla chip crumbs from the bottom of the bag.  This is a healthy recipe (until you pile on all the crap like I did) and is really filling too.  I will DEFINITELY make this again!

Sooo yummy!

Pioneer Woman's Enchiladas

It was time to break the holiday funk and start making homemade meals again.  I made Pioneer Woman's Enchiladas on Sunday.  I wouldn't call them hard... but I wouldn't call them easy either.  They take some time because you have to fry the corn tortillas one by one.  Without that step, I would say they are easy to make.  They turned out really delicious, especially doused in sour cream.  I would definitely recommend these and make them again!  I love Mexican food.

Mexican-Style Goulash

I made this Mexican-Style Goulash last night.  I don't really see how it sets itself apart all that much from normal goulash.  Next time I might add a can of beans or a can of green chilies to the mix to make it live up to its name a little more.  This recipe uses one pot (yay!), is fast, easy and makes enough to eat leftovers over the next day or two.  Definitely not gourmet-tasting, but it does the job and is pretty yummy.

HERE is the recipe. I used a whole can of corn instead of a cup of frozen.  I also used mozzarella because I was too lazy to grate cheddar last night and my mozzarella was already grated.  Does it get much lazier than that?  Sheesh.

Cilantro-Tomatillo Dressing, Cilantro-Lime Rice, Mexican Pulled Pork [Mexican Pork Salad]

Cafe Rio is a big hit around these parts and I used to be a huge fan.  I think I was too huge of a fan because now I don't really have the desire to go there.  I can still recognize how delicious it is, though, and I wanted to attempt a couple of their recipes at home.

I made their cilantro-tomatillo salad dressing.  This was my second ever salad dressing and it was very easy to make.  I just threw all the ingredients in to my trusty Magic Bullet and voila!  It turned out well, but it is very spicy.  Unless you love extreme spiciness, I would recommend using a very small jalapeno, half a jalapeno, or make sure you take the seeds out before throwing the whole thing in.  I thought I wanted a lot of flavor and that a whole jalapeno with seeds and all would be fine - not really so.  I had to add quite a bit of sugar just to make it  slightly less spicy.  It is a very good recipe though, and tastes exactly like Cafe Rio's (other than the extreme kick).  I used the recipe from a distant-acquaintance's awesome food blog.  Go HERE!

(Now we have a year's supply of spicy dressing.)

I made the dressing because I wanted to make a salad.  I found a slow cooker recipe for Mexican Pulled Pork that I wanted to try.  I have tried the sweet Cafe Rio pork recipes a couple of times and never really loved them - so I wanted to try something a little bit different.  This recipe was so easy to throw together!  I got it from THIS website. It turned out so well!  8 hours in the slow cooker and it shreds with barely being touched and the sauce is really yummy.  I will keep this recipe on hand and use it all the time.  It is really versatile.  Definitely try it if you want a fool-proof Mexican pork.  

I had a little extra time and ingredients on my hands so I decided to throw together the Cilantro-Lime Rice for the salads, too.  Again, I used Wire Whisk.  I don't really like rice much so this was my first time making it.  Ever.  It turned out okay... I think the recipe itself is good but my rice was brown instead of white, I didn't have enough of it (1 cup) and it was a little too limey and not cilantro-y enough.  I would follow the recipe closely if you make this one and I bet it turns out great. My husband liked the way ours turned out, though, so maybe I'm being too critical.

I crisped flour tortillas on the stove top, put them in bowls and filled them with lettuce, black beans, shredded cheese, rice, pork, sour cream and the cilantro dressing.

WHOA!  They were scrumptious!  I was truly, pleasantly surprised.  They tasted a lot like Cafe Rio salads but with the satisfaction of knowing I made them - they were better! Maybe.

This was a fun little experiment and I'm happy to report it turned out so well.  I'll definitely make these again.