Chicken Enchiladas Verde

I can tell I am starting to get more confident in my cooking because I am getting better at improvising (even though it was just enchiladas, which are pretty straightforward) . After making salsa verde using our tomatillos, I wanted to find a meal I could incorporate it into. I used my favorite allrecipes.com to find a few recipes and then blended them together, using what I had on hand, to make these. They turned out quite tasty and I wouldn't be surprised if my husband took the leftovers to work for lunch tomorrow. That is always a sign of a great meal - if my husband can eat it the very NEXT day for lunch. (And sorry this picture isn't the best. It mostly looks like a ton of cheese, but really they were good, I promise!) The sad thing is that I used cheddar cheese and an Italian cheese mix to make these. During dinner my husband asked if I had used our monteray jack cheese (he thought it tasted like I had because of the salsa verde flavor). I had completely forgotten that we had some! Oops!

Recipe adapted from this and this.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breast halves
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 white onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Green Salsa - recipe on this site, here.
• 1/2 c sour cream
• 2 c cheese
• 4 large flour tortillas
  

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, combine chicken breast with chicken broth, one quarter onion, a clove of garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil, and then boil for 20 minutes. Set chicken aside to cool, and discard onion and garlic. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken with your hands.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
   
3. Coat 8x8 inch baking dish with enough green salsa to cover the bottom. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream and 1/2 of the green salsa.
   
4. In each tortilla, spread chicken, sour cream and salsa mixture, and top with cheese. Roll up and place in dish with seam on bottom. When all tortillas are filled and rolled, add remaining green salsa over the top and top with cheese.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the enchiladas are browned and heated through.

Serves: 4

Green Salsa

Our tomatillo plant is finally producing, so I wanted to find a great recipe that could use them. This green salsa turned out great and I used it to make chicken enchiladas. Yum!

Original recipe taken from "Vegetarian Classics" by Jeanne Lemlin.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz tomatillos (about 18 small golf ball sized, or 10 medium)
• 1 very small onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (wear rubber gloves)
• 1 Tb lime juice (just under 1 lime)
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tb minced cilantro
  

Directions:

1. Remove the husks from the tomatillos, then rinse under cold running water to clean off any sticky residue. Place in a medium-size saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a lively simmer, and cook 10 minutes, or until softened. Drain thoroughly and let cool.
2. Place the onion, garlic, jalapenos, and lime juice in the container of a food processor or blender and pulse a few times until coarsely chopped. Add the tomatillos and process until finely chopped but not completely smooth. Scrape the mixture into a bowl.
3. Stir int eh suger, salt, and cilantro. Serve at room temperature.
   

Makes: 1 2/3 cups

Classic Guacamole

I decided to have a Mexican-themed dinner tonight and since I had several ripe avacados around, I decided to make some guacamole. Tasty! Next time I might try to cut back on the lime juice and add a little more onion, but even then it was good!

Original recipe taken from "Vegetarian Classics" by Jeanne Lemlin. This is a fabulous book that my friend lent me. It has so many great recipes! The pesto recipe on this site is from this book.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe Haas (dark pebbly-skinned) avacados
• 4 tsp fresh lime juice (approx 1 lime should give you enough)
  
• 2 Tb minced red or white onion (I used white because that is what I had, but I bet red would add nice flavor)
  
• 1/4 c minced tomato
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Minced cilantro and jalapenos can be used to add flavor

Directions:

1. Scoop avacado into food processor or blender and add lime juice. Process or blend until smooth and fluffy. Scrape the mixture into a bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately or cover and chill up to 24 hours, then bring to room temperature before serving.
   

Serves: 4