Tag: Enchiladas

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas

I’ve been trying to use my Sundays to prepare better for the week ahead. I’m not exactly a master of food prep, but I am getting a handle on preparing a few meals (or parts of meals in some cases) ahead of time for quick reheating or assembly on weeknights.

One of the easiest ways to prepare an awesome make ahead meal is to use your slow cooker, like in this recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas. You just throw the ingredients for the chicken into the slow cooker and wait. Later that day, assemble the enchiladas and either cover and store for a weeknight, or cook for that evening’s dinner!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 4 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
  • 1 medium red onion, chopped
  • 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
  • 1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 8 flour tortillas (I used the “fajita” size); can substitute corn enchiladas to make gluten free
  • 2 (10 oz) cans enchilada sauce (I used one red, one green)
  • 3 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided
  • 1/4 cup sliced green onions
  • 1/4 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
  • optional toppings: sliced black olives, sour cream, cilantro

Continue reading Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas

Black Bean and Cheese Enchiladas with Ranchero Sauce

I have had quite the hankering for Mexican recently, so I was so happy that the October issue of Cooking Light included a bunch of delicious sounding Mexican inspired vegetarian meals. I decided to go for the Black Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, because they can easily be frozen for future lunches and dinners. I substituted a few of the ingredients for what I already had, but you can find the original recipe here.
Ingredients:
2 Cajun peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups chicken broth, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
The juice of 1 lime
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups pre-shredded Mexican-blend cheese, divided
3 thinly sliced green onions, divided
Cooking spray
10 (6-inch) corn tortillas
5 tablespoons light sour cream
Preheat oven to 400°.  Prepare the peppers, onion and garlic cloves. Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over high heat. Add onion and cook for 1 minute.
Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add 2 cups broth, parsley, tomato paste, and cumin.
Cook for 10 minutes, or until it thickens slightly, stirring occasionally.
While this is cooking, add the extra cup water and the chopped peppers to a food processor. Pour the onion mixture into the food processor when finished cooking. Blend until smooth. Stir in lime juice and cayenne.
Combine the beans, 1 cup of cheese, and half the green onions in a bowl.
Add 1/2 of the sauce to the bottom of a cookie pan coated with cooking spray. Add 3 tablespoons of the bean mixture to to each tortilla.
Roll up, placing the seam side down.
Add to the cookie pan.
Pour the remaining sauce over the tortillas.
Top with the remaining cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle with remaining green onions and serve with sour cream.

This recipe has so much flavor! I was really pleasantly surprised with how this turned out. I am pretty sure I didn’t allow the sauce to reduce enough, but it thickened up in the oven and still tasted wonderful.

A serving is two enchiladas, so I actually have 4 meals left over after making this. As I mentioned before, enchiladas freeze really well, so 3 are going into the freezer and one will be my lunch tomorrow, win!

To make this recipe more effective for a weeknight, you can make the ranchero sauce ahead of time an refrigerate it until ready to use. The recipe took about an hour from start to finish.
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