Guilt Free Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas

So, when I first started this blog, I made a post about my favorite Enchiladas recipe (for that post, go here), which I initially found on All Recipes (entitled "Chicken Enchiladas V"). I have made these enchiladas multiple times since finding the recipe a few years ago, and have always loved how scrumptious they were. So, I just couldn't let the fact that I am reducing my cals/fat stop me from enjoying these, so I made a lower calorie/fat version. The recipe is below:

Ingredients (FF = Fat Free; RF= Reduced Fat)

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can 98% FF condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup FF sour cream
• 1 tablespoon butter
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (or 2 (10 oz) cans chicken breast chunks in water))
  
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
• 8 (8 inch) 96% FF Mission flour tortillas
• 1 bag RF Mexican Cheese Bland (Like Sargento)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl mix the soup and sour cream; set aside.
3. Melt margarine in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and chili powder, and saute until tender. Stir in the chicken, chile peppers, and 2 tablespoons of the soup mixture. Cook and stir until heated through.
4. Spread 1/2 cup of the soup mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, and place, seam-side-down, in the baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture on top, and sprinkle with cheese.
5. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Nutrition
Per Enchilada: 306 Cals; 10 g Fat; 3 g Fiber... 6 Weight Watcher's Points (I double checked to make sure my calculations are correct, so hopefully they are)

The Verdict
Considering all the swaps I made, I was pretty happy with these. They were still creamy and yummy, and not nearly as bad for you as the original! John liked them, too. =)

Mexican Fiesta

Tonight's menu included two more Hungry Girl recipes: "Just Fondue It" and "Cheesy Beefy Quesadillas." The quesadillas were very yummy, and the cheese dip was good too. I would definitely recommend these, especially the quesadillas!:

Cheesy Beefy Quesadillas



Ingredients:

• 2 large La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Low Carb/High Fiber tortillas
• 2/3 cup frozen ground-beef-style soy crumbles (like the ones by Boca and Morningstar Farms)
• 1/2 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
• One wedge The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese
• 2 tbsp. fat-free sour cream
• 1 tbsp. chopped scallions
• 1/2 tsp. dry taco seasoning mix
• Optional: additional fat-free sour cream, for dipping

Directions:

1. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine soy crumbles, cheddar cheese, scallions, sour cream, and seasoning mix, stirring thoroughly. Microwave for 1 minute, stir again, and set aside.
2. Lay tortillas flat and spread cheese wedge evenly over one half of each.
3. Bring a medium-large pan sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat, and lay one of the tortillas in it with the cheesy side up, and cook for about 30 seconds. Top the cheesy tortilla half with half of the soy crumble mixture. Using a spatula, carefully fold the plain tortilla half over the other half, pressing down with the spatula to seal. Cook for about 1 minute, until slightly toasted on the bottom. Flip and continue to cook for about 1 minute, until both sides are toasted. Remove from heat and cut into four triangles.
   
4. Repeat for other quesadilla.
5. Serve with sour cream for dipping, if you like. Enjoy!

Nutrition
Serving Size: entire quesadilla
Per serving: Calories: 196; Fat: 5g; Sodium: 931mg; Carbs: 25g; Fiber: 13.5g; Sugars: 2.5g; Protein: 25.5g; POINTS® value 4*

Notes:
I couldn't find the aforementioned tortillas...so if you can't, maybe try and find another low fat and/or low carb tortilla.


"Just Fondue It"



Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• dash salt
  
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbs plain light soymilk
• 3 ounces fat free cheddar cheese block (cut into smaller blocks)
• 2 wedges The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese
• 2 slices reduced-fat swiss cheese, torn into pieces
• 2 tbs fat free cream cheese
• 2 tbs dry white wine
• chili powder, if desired

Directions

1. Bring saucepan sprayed w/nonstick spray to medium low heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
2. Add soymilk, all four cheeses, and salt. Cook for 3-4 mins (or however long it takes), stirring continuously, till cheeses have melted and sauce is thoroughly mixed.
3. Reduce heat to low and add wine (and chili powder if desired). Stir until combined. Transfer mixture to fondue pot and set temperature to low.
   

Nutrition
Makes 4 servings
PER SERVING (about 3 tablespoons): 89 calories, 2.5g fat, 548mg sodium, 3g carbs, 0g fiber, 2g sugars, 10g protein POINTS® value 2*

Burrito Casserole

I know I've already posted several burrito/enchilada recipes already, but this was pretty good so I thought I'd share:

Ingredients
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 small onion, chopped (or, 1 tsp onion powder)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream
2 cans soup (the original recipe called for cream of mushroom, but I decided to use fiesta nacho cheese, and it still turned out well)
1 can Rotel tomatoes (I omitted these b/c we aren't fans of tomatoes, but you can add them if you wish)
8 flour tortillas
shredded cheese, as desired (I used Monterey Jack...even though I had already added the cheesey soup. We like cheese)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Brown meat & onion, add taco seasoning, and mix well
3. To meat mixture, stir in 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 can soup and heat thoroughly
4. Take 1/4 cup of meat mixture and place in a tortilla, roll up, place in dish seam sided down (repeat)
5. Place remaining sour cream, soup, and Rotel tomatoes in saucepan and heat for 2-3 minutes
6. Pour sauce over burritos, and sprinkle with cheese
7. Bake in oven till bubbly (I did it for 25-30 minutes)
   

Enchiladas & Queso

Tonight I made some Beef Enchiladas; I got the recipe off of Sargento's website (you can find it here), but I'm sure you find similar recipes all over the internet. Here it is:

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (or 1 tsp onion powder)
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (10 oz. each) enchilada sauce, divided
• 2 cups (8 oz.) Sargento® Artisan Blends™ Shredded Authentic Mexican Cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, divided
• 8 (6 to 7-inch) flour tortillas

Directions

1. Cook meat with onion and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until no longer pink, about 5 minutes; drain. Stir in 1/2 cup enchilada sauce; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
2. Spoon 1/2 cup enchilada sauce in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Stir 1 cup cheese and 1/4 cup cilantro into meat mixture. Spoon about 1/3 cup mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up; place seam-sides down in dish. Spoon remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas, spreading to cover. Cover dish with foil.
3. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; top with remaining cheese. Continue baking 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top with remaining 1/4 cup cilantro.

I also found a recipe for queso on Sargento's site, and served it with the enchiladas. The original recipe can be found here, HOWEVER, I think that the original recipe doesn't call for enough cheese (it says 1/2 cup, but I've found the mixture is way too liquidy when you add 1/2 cup, so I add 1 cup)....so below is my modified version:

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt to taste (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. ancho chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 cup Sargento® Artisan Blends™ Shredded Authentic Mexican Cheese

Directions

1. Heat heavy cream in saucepan on high. Add spices and season with salt, if desired. Add cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Spicy Chicken Cheese Dip

This dish was made by Linda Clemens at our young marrieds SHARE Group (i.e., bible study) a few weeks ago. I thought it was pretty good, so I asked her for the ingredients...which I then googled (to find a recipe I could use). Based on what I found online, this is how to make it:

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked chicken
• two 8-oz pkgs of cream cheese
• 1 cup ranch
• 4-6 oz. Texas Pete hot pepper sauce
• 8 oz. Sargento Authentic Mexican Cheese (or whichever cheese you like)

Directions

1. Cook Chicken and pull apart or cut into small bite size pieces.
2. Mix Cream Cheese, Chicken, Ranch and Texas Pete.
3. Pour mixture into an oven safe dish.
4. Top off mixture with Shredded cheese.
5. Place in an oven set at 350° for 30min.

Serve with Chips to dip in. Makes a great Quesadilla filling too.

Yummy Enchiladas

So as I sat here, trying to think of more ways to procrastinate, I remembered one of my favorite online recipes that I have made multiple times, and thought I'd share it! The URL for it is http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Enchiladas-V/Detail.aspx. If you got to the website, it will let you enter how many servings you want to make, and adjust the amount of ingredients you need for that many portions!

Anyways, here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon margarine or butter
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
• 8 (8 inch) flour tortillas
• 1 cup shredded cheese **

** regular cheddar cheese always works, but I personally love Sargento Artisan Blends' AUTHENTIC Mexican Cheese. They normally don't have this at Walmart, but places like Kroger or Publix tend to carry it. But, this cheese is just my personal preference...you can't really go wrong with cheese, so pick whatever you like!

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl mix the soup and sour cream; set aside.
3. Melt margarine in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and chili powder, and saute until tender. Stir in the chicken, chile peppers, and 2 tablespoons of the soup mixture. Cook and stir until heated through.
4. Spread 1/2 cup of the soup mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, and place, seam-side-down, in the baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture on top, and sprinkle with cheese.
5. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

I always end up leaving out the onions b/c John & I aren't onion fans, but these always turn out delicious!