BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

I made a batch of BBQ chicken in the Crock-Pot to have some tasty protein on hand to add to salads. I found a great deal on chicken, so I bought a ton. I only used 4 breasts, but they were huge, so I got a ton of BBQ chicken out of it. I could only eat BBQ chicken salads for so many days before getting sick of it, so I started brainstorming some alternatives.

I've been wanting to try this Thai Chicken Pizza, but I'm trying to stick to a food budget this month (ugh) and was missing too many ingredients to make it. After a pantry & fridge check, enchiladas were the way to go.

Want to make 'em? Here's how.

Lightly fry your corn tortillas.

Mix one part red enchilada sauce with one part barbecue sauce.

Dip your softened tortillas in the sauce pool.

Try not to be jealous of my chipped, glittery, New Years manicure!

Combine shredded chicken, cheese, and corn in a bowl.

Check me out! I'm artistic!

Add some extras to your chicken mix. Diced jalapenos and crushed black olives sounded like a plan to me.

Place chicken mixture into a dipped tortilla.

Roll that bad boy up and continue with his buddies.

Sprinkle some extra cheese on top. Add corn or jalapenos, if you have some left.

Pop 'em in the oven at 350 degrees for around 25 minutes. They'll come out looking like this.

Serve them alongside some of Mark Bittman's Black Beans with Orange, as I did, or choose whichever side dish tickles your fancy.

If you're a giant crazyface, make a batch of these Three Chip Oatmeal cookies at the same time.

I wanted to exhibit some self-control, so I only made a half batch. That half batch turned out 25 cookies. Oops. I guess I'm just meant to eat cookies. The universe says so, so it's okay.

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

• 8 corn tortillas
• canola oil
• 3/4 c red enchilada sauce
• 3/4 c BBQ sauce (I used the leftover sauce from the Crock-Pot recipe, so it was really a combination of Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory & Brown Sugar, pineapple vinegar, crushed red pepper, brown sugar, and garlic powder.)
• 3 c shredded chicken
• 1 c sharp cheddar
• 1 can corn
• 1 small can diced jalapenos
• 1 can black olives

Lightly fry the corn tortillas in the canola oil. Mix BBQ & enchilada sauces together. Dip softened tortillas in the combined sauces. Combine chicken, cheese, corn, jalapenos, and black olives in a bowl. Reserve a bit of cheese, jalapenos, and corn to sprinkle over the top of the enchiladas. Place about a quarter cup of the chicken mixture into a tortilla and roll. Place in an ungreased pan. Fill and roll the remaining tortillas and add to the pan. Sprinkle enchiladas with reserved cheese, jalapenos, and corn. Place in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until cheese bubbles.

The enchiladas are spicy and delicious. The cookies are divine. Enjoy!

BragFest 2k11

Want to know how busy my weekend was? I'll tell ya! This is my Saturday afternoon post. But, wait. It's Monday at noon, you say?

Exactly.

And now we begin the BragFest. Guess what I did Saturday morning! All before 11:30 am! I ran walked mostly ran a 5K. My very first! Exclamation!

That there's my sexy race shirt. Did I actually raise any money for Habitat for Humanity? No. I signed up for the race to try to motivate myself to train. Did I train? No. This isn't the first time I've tried this type of coercion on my laziness , but this is the first I've actually gone through with the race and the end of the failed training attempt.

First 5K: 38:13. Not tooooo shabby with no training, right? Right?

Guess what else I got in my race goody bag?

 A blood blister. Hot.

After the race, I drove my butt home to make some breakfast. I was craving some breakfast sausage, but had none, so I made the most aesthetically displeasing lumps of meat I've ever seen.

Know what? They also didn't taste so good. I need a little more spice in my sausage. (That's what she said) Ah well. allrecipes can't always be right.

You know when they are right? When I need some meat-a-balls and they lead me to heaven, or as the case may be, Meatball Nirvana.

These bad boys...oh lord, you guys...these are delicious. The flavor is spot-on and the texture is light. I made some of Papa Russ's World Famous Marinara Sauce to accompany them, but then realized I had no pasta nor did I even have a roll to throw everything on.

Woe is me. Such is the life of an ill-prepared cook.

I took a nap to cope.

Hope you all had as fulfilling a Saturday as I.

Garbage

Not really, though. I just couldn't come up with a clever name for this delicious dish.

I originally named it Swiss Cheese Mashed Potato Brisket Egg, but Dylan gave me his "you're a crazyface" look at that title, so...

Suggestions?

It was damn delicious and kept me full on the drive to Palomar Mountain, through a 4 mile hike, and on the drive back.

Miraculous!

Garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, caramelized onions with chopped slow-cooked brisket, shredded swiss, topped with an over-medium egg. Whole wheat toast on the side.

Food as Fuel: Day 1

I had another one of my brilliant ideas last week. Some people say I get on these kicks & then give up on them after three days &, of course, those people are right. Something must be done, though. I haven't been very routine about meals and the past few weeks have been an excruciating cycle of skip breakfast, eat a huge, greasy lunch, feel sick, and eat a pretty healthy dinner. (Points for the semi-healthy dinner, right?)

So, the idea. Well, boredom at work births most of these plans and this time was no different. I spent a good amount of time creating a table in Word to plan out a general daily meal plan, which resulted in the following guidelines:

Morning pick-me-up

Smoothie (spinach, almond milk, frozen blueberries, flax meal, chia seeds)

Breakfast

Oatmeal with dried apricots & peanut butter

or

Egg sandwich on an everything bagel thin

Lunch

Salad with tons of veggies and a protein (I'm working with garbanzo beans and roasted chicken this week)

Afternoon snack

baby carrots with Laughing Cow light swiss
crackers

Dinner

whatever that may be

The idea is to eat every few hours so I don't get too hungry or cranky, both of which usually lead to questionable food decisions.

I'm also hoping that this plan will give me the energy to, you know, actually move around. Maybe squeeze some physical activity in?

For now, I have no idea how many trillions of calories or grams of fat I'll be consuming in these meals nor do I can. This is more a test to determine how I feel when eating regular, smallish meals.

I'm moving my thinking from food as obligation and into food as fuel.

Club di Vino

I had the opportunity, thanks to Groupon, to spend a night out with LBaz at Club di Vino. Club di Vino is a little something that The Merk hosts once a week on Thursdays. It allows guests to enjoy (or in our case inhale) a five course meal which is paired with wines from a local-ish winery.

The first course was risotto fritti with a spicy marinara, served with Viognier.

Our second course was a delightfully rich lobster bisque, paired with a crisp Chardonnay.

Pesto salmon with the only Pinot Noir I've ever enjoyed was served third.

The fourth course was mushroom risotto with the first of two Cabernets.

The fifth and final course served was a tender bit of flat iron steak with chimichurri. The wine pairing was another Cabernet. 

And, woot! We got a bonus course! While finalizing the menu for the evening, our host decided that there may be to much meat present and so replaced this sausage mac & cheese with the mushroom risotto. Unfortunately, the menu listed the sausage mac & cheese so when our group received the risotto in its place, all hell broke loose. Or at the very least there were some mild grumbles. Our attentive server, Kevin, quickly brought a sample of the mac & cheese for all to try. Crisis averted.

Club di Vino provided reasonable portions of delectable treats, while Hansen Cellars provided an endless supply of quality wines. There may be no better way to spend a night out with a lovely lady friend.

Cooking Club!

So, I had the brilliant idea to get together with a few friends once a month so that we could cook a themed meal and eat, drink, talk, and laugh together.

We had our first meeting this week and it was a huge success! The food was delicious and we all had a blast.

It all started with me grating the onions, tearing up, and taking a picture to capture the tears, which did no capturing at all.

Our October theme was Fall and I was in charge of the meatballs. I chose a Kofta Kebab recipe and adapted it a bit. I decided to go with mini meatballs instead of kebabs.

This here is the meat I used: half ground lamb and half ground turkey.


  Here we have the spices all ready to go: grated onion, garlic paste, ground coriander, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne, and ground ginger.

Spices & meats!

My giant claw fixing to mix the ingredients together.

Meatballs, precooking.

Beautiful arrangement of cucumber salad ingredients that the camera couldn't ignore.

Rachel was the queen of a lovely kabocha squash curry.

Kate fashioned these ridiculously delectable caramel apples with coconut & baby chocolate chips.

The drink of the night: Chaitini!

Kate can handle her liquor. No doubt.

The finished product. Cucumber & feta salad, Kofta meatballs, and kabocha squash with a Chaitini on the side. A perfect blend of fall flavors.

 Thoughts for our next meeting:

*Rachel is a genius and thought to print up her recipes for us, but I am not & didn't. Maybe next month, we make up a little menu/recipe booklet.

*Um...where is Natalie?! I have no pictures of her except for her legs in the meatball photo. Although I suppose I only have Rachel's arm in one picture. Also, none of me. We need to put someone on photo duty. I'm sure the girls have some pictures I could borrow to fill in the holes.

*On the same note, we need a photo of us sitting down to eat. A conclusion picture!

All in all, I'm beyond happy that we were all willing and able to get together for this. An amazing time with an amazing group of ladies.