Quick & Easy Dinners: Cheese & Chicken Enchiladas

Written by Liz -

Enchiladas mean different things to different people. To some, they mean spicy chicken or pork, topped with red chile sauce. To others, they’re tangy green chile sauce with cheese. Still others add sour cream or cream cheese, potatoes, peanuts or almonds. And to purists, enchiladas mean simple tortillas heated on a stove-top one-by-one, dipped in chile sauce, then folded once and topped with cheese and onion.

This Cheese & Chicken Enchiladas recipe means quick, easy and scrumptious. I made them with my new boyfriend and my dad — they’ve cumulatively eaten a lot of enchiladas — and it was agreed these enchiladas were delicious (better the next day and even more so with a fried egg on top for breakfast).  And don’t forget flexible! This recipe features chicken, cheddar cheese, tomato salsa and cream cheese, but make a few changes and you can please even your pickiest friends and family members. Just use any variety of salsa or enchilada sauce you like (I used tomato-raspberry-chipotle salsa; the sweet/spicy combination was addictive!) and substitute different cheeses like smoked Gouda, sharp white cheddar or queso fresco. You can also use Greek yogurt or sour cream in place of cream cheese.

Find out what enchiladas mean to you.

Cheese & Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast meat
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 1/2 cups (12-ounce bottle) chunky salsa, divided
• 1/2 of an 8-ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese
• 8 (7- or 8-inch) soft taco-size fat free or regular flour tortillas

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Spray large, nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Add onion; cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes or until tender.

Add chicken, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, 3/4 cup salsa and cream cheese. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes or until cheeses are melted as shown above.

SPOON a scant 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place in 13 x 9-inch (3-quart rectangular) baking dish as shown above.

Drizzle with remaining salsa. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese (as shown with queso fresco above); cover. Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through and cheese on top is melted.

I served mine with fresh cilantro (shown above), a dry rosé wine, and a green salad.

Salud!

More enchilada recipes:

Chicken Enchiladas in Red Sauce	Slow Cooker Enchiladas

Faux Fried Fish on Fridays: Two Fish Recipes

Written by Jenny -

About a month ago our local newspaper published all the locations in our area for a weekly Friday Night Fish Fry. I could not believe the number of them — literally hundreds — and some have been going on for more than 3 decades! Other publications I found help search them out by providing the type of fish and side dishes served, whether alcohol is available, credit cards taken, etc. Until a few years ago, I had not gone to many despite growing up very close to the Atlantic Ocean and now near one of the Great Lakes. How could this be?! Thank goodness one of my girlfriends straightened me out. She has made the Friday Night Fish Fry a get-together time that we look forward to every year.

Instead of going to a tavern, club, hall or church this week, perhaps we will switch things up by having our dinner at one of our homes. I have two recipe choices: Crispy Oat Crusted Fish Fillets with Carnation Tartar Sauce and the Panko Crusted Tilapia with Spicy Tartar Sauce. Both recipes  have a crunchy coating made without a fryer and are mighty tasty. Whatever recipe we choose will be served with sides of laughter for sure. Who knows…this may be our favorite location yet!

Crispy Oat Crusted Fish Fillets with Carnation Tartar Sauce (Pictured Above)

Ingredients for 6 servings:

TARTAR SAUCE

• 1 package (8 oz.) light cream cheese (Neufchâtel), at room temperature
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Lowfat 2% Milk, divided
• 1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

CRUSTED FISH

• 2 large egg whites, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 lbs. fresh or frozen (thawed) white fish fillets (such as tilapia)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil to 3
• lemon wedges

Directions:

FOR TARTAR SAUCE:

BEAT cream cheese and 2/3 cup evaporated milk in small mixer bowl until creamy. (Save remaining evaporated milk for the fish). Stir in relish, vinegar, salt and pepper. Store refrigerated in covered container for up to 4 days. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

FOR CRUSTED FISH:

COMBINE remaining evaporated milk and egg whites in shallow dish. Combine oats, garlic powder and paprika in medium bowl. Dip fish fillets into evaporated milk mixture, coating both sides and then into oat mixture. Press oats gently onto both sides of fish to form crust. Place coated fillets on baking sheet. Discard evaporated milk and oat mixtures after dipping.

HEAT oil in large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fillets; cook for 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. (Thicker fillets may take longer to cook.) Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Creamy Carnation Tartar Sauce and lemon wedges.

TIPS:

• For Tartar Sauce with a kick, add hot pepper sauce to taste.
• If your quick-cooking oats are large in size, they can be processed to a smaller size in a blender or food processor.

Panko Crusted Tilapia with Spicy Tartar Sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons MAGGI Granulated Chicken Flavor Bouillon, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs or regular unseasoned bread crumbs
• 4 (about 12 ounces total) tilapia filets
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons pickle relish
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Tabasco, Tapatio or Cholula)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 450° F.

FOR TILAPIA:

PLACE flour and 1 tablespoon bouillon in shallow dish; mix well. Beat egg in second shallow dish. Place panko and remaining tablespoon bouillon in third shallow dish; mix well.

DIP fish in flour mixture, coating both sides. Dip in beaten egg, lightly coating both sides. Dip in panko mixture, coating both sides. Place fish on baking sheet.

BAKE for 10 to 15 minutes or until fish is cooked through and breading is slightly golden. Serve with Spicy Tartar Sauce.

FOR SPICY TARTAR SAUCE:

COMBINE mayonnaise, relish and hot sauce in a small bowl. For a spicier sauce, add more hot sauce to taste.

Links:

• Crispy Oat Crusted Fish Fillets with Carnation Tartar Sauce
• Panko Crusted Tilapia with Spicy Tartar Sauce
• Get a Carnation coupon

More recent fish recipes:

Fish Tacos with Creamy Avocado Salsa	Grilled Swordfish Kabobs with Avocado Butter

Summer Grilling Recipe: Tangerine Adobo Chicken

Written by Ericka -

Please enjoy this guest post by Ericka Sanchez of Nibbles & Feasts.

Planning a family reunion this summer? Then a “parillada” (barbecue) needs to happen. It’s the perfect time to bond with your loved ones, enjoy the beautiful weather and reflect in the great outdoors.

We are at the peak of barbecue season and I took advantage of this time to invite my family over and prepare a batch of my younger sister’s famous Orange Tangerine Adobo Chicken a la parilla. I had been pleading with her to reveal the sweet, savory and spicy marinade recipe to me because everyone loves the flavor and it tenderizes the chicken beautifully. I promised her that if she shared her recipe with me, I would invite the family over and attempt to make this delicious family meal for everyone to enjoy.

With that promise, she did and I was delighted to have all the ingredients needed in my kitchen. There was no need to go out and buy costly marinades when I could make my own. The preparation was simple and the chicken marinated overnight as we hardly slept in anticipation.

The next day, when the chicken was cooked and gave it its last sizzle, we wrapped the juicy meat in warm corn tortillas, topped it with pico de gallo and devoured this newly inducted Meals.com family favorite until it completely disappeared.

Tangerine Adobo Chicken

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 4 cups Orange Tangerine Flavor NESTLÉ® JUICY JUICE® All Natural 100% Juice
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon MAGGI Seasoning Sauce
• 2 tablespoons chipotle chiles in adobo sauce from a can, chopped
• 8 chicken thighs (bone-in)

Directions:

HEAT Juicy Juice and sugar in a large saucepan; whisk until sugar is completely dissolved. Whisk in seasoning sauce and chiles; cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat; let cool.

PLACE chicken thighs in a large freezer bag; carefully pour in Juicy Juice mixture. Seal; refrigerate for 12 hours.

PREHEAT grill or broiler.

GRILL or broil chicken for about 7 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in center. To test, pierce a thigh with a knife and if juice is clear, the thighs are cooked.

Links:

• Orange Tangerine Adobo Chicken
• Nestlé Juicy Juice
• Maggi Seasoning Sauce
• Nibbles & Feasts

Related Recipes:

Turkey Enchilada Stack

Barbeque Chicken Drummettes

Happy National Watermelon Day!

Written by Liz -

Tomorrow, National Watermelon day is one of the best days of the year! And there are so many ways to enjoy watermelon, whether you just dig in to this juicy, sweet summertime treat or use it in sorbet, drinks or even salsa. Or maybe you just want an ice cream treat that looks like watermelon…

Read on for recipes using watermelon in an ice cream treat, salsa, sorbet and agua fresca. Get even more watermelon recipes from the official watermelon site! And enjoy summertime.

Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe

Ingredients for 16 servings:

• 4 cups lime sherbet, slightly softened
• 5 cups Vanilla DREYER’S or EDY’S SLOW CHURNED Light Ice Cream
• 1 container (28 ounces) Strawberry or Raspberry HÄAGEN-DAZS Fat Free Sorbet
• 1/2 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Mini Morsels

Directions:

LINE 2-quart bowl with plastic wrap, making sure wrap hangs over side of the bowl by at least 4 inches.

SPOON sherbet into large mixer bowl; beat with mixer or stir with spoon until smooth. Spoon sherbet into prepared bowl, pressing into the bottom and up the side with the back of a spoon to form a smooth layer. Freeze for 30 minutes. Remove vanilla ice cream from freezer and allow to soften for 10 minutes; spoon into large mixer bowl and beat with mixer or stir with spoon until smooth. Add to bowl with sherbet, smoothing it over the sherbet in a thin layer. Freeze for 30 minutes.

REMOVE sorbet from the freezer and allow to soften for 10 minutes. Spoon sorbet into large mixer bowl and beat with mixer or stir with spoon until smooth; stir in morsels. Spoon sorbet mixture over ice cream so it fills the remaining space and fills the bowl. Smooth down top; cover with plastic overhang, then add another sheet of plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 6 hours or up to 1 week.

TO UNMOLD, remove plastic wrap from top of bowl. Gently tug at the plastic overhang to loosen the bombe from the bowl. (If the bombe is difficult to remove from the bowl, set it in a large bowl filled with warm water for 8 to 10 seconds.) Place a serving platter over the bowl, invert and shake to release bombe. Peel away plastic wrap, then cut bombe into wedges. Serve immediately.

Watermelon Salsa, shown above

Ingredients:

• 3 cups diced watermelon
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ½ cup minced red onion
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and stir. Adjust spices as needed. Serve at room temperature with tacos, fish, meats or vegetables.

Links:

• Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe
• Watermelon Sorbet
• Agua Fresca de Melon
• Watermelon Board

More watermelon recipes:

How to Make Watermelon Sorbet

Agua Fresca de Melon

Happy Chocolate Ice Cream Day! Three Fun Ice Cream Recipes

 

Written by Liz -

Who doesn’t love chocolate ice cream? So fitting that this indulgent holiday happens just at the start of summer, it’s a perfect excuse to kick off ice cream making at my house. To celebrate this delectable food holiday, here are three different ways to savor chocolate ice cream (or chocolate + ice cream) today, and all summer long.

Abuelita Ice Cream

Make your own chocolate ice cream, with Abuelita’s special chocolatey cinnamon flavor shown above. It’s easy and fun!

Ingredients for 6 cups:

• 2 cans (7.6 fluid ounces each) NESTLÉ Media Crema Ligera Lite Table Cream
• 4 tablets (90 grams each) NESTLÉ ABUELITA Chocolate, chopped
• 2 1/2 cups lowfat milk

Directions:

HEAT media crema and Abuelita chocolate in medium, heavy-duty saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is completely dissolved and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in milk.

POUR mixture into 13 x 9-inch baking pan; cover with plastic wrap. Freeze, stirring every hour to break up ice crystals, for 4 to 5 hours or until set.

Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream Pie

As the Nestlé Kitchens Pie Recipe Contest winner, this Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream Pie is a refreshing summer treat. Milisa Armstrong uses Dreyer’s or Edy’s Grand Coffee Ice Cream to create a delightfully grown-up taste.

Frozen Chocolate Jitterbug

Just the name alone makes me want to make this mocha-like shake above. Frozen Chocolate Jitterbug is a refreshing combination of chocolate and coffee in a chilled beverage that is great as a pick-me-up.

Links:

• Abuelita Ice Cream
• Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream Pie
• Frozen Chocolate Jitterbug

Related ice cream recipes:

Homemade Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Frozen Avocado Mocha Bliss

 

Go Green on Cinco de Mayo: Green Jalapeño Margarita

Here’s a trend I’ve been seeing lately: adding spinach to smoothies, grating zucchini into brownies and stirring pumpkin into soup and pastas. This may sound crazy, but these are all good ways to get more nutrients into our diets, which most of us need! And, they really do taste delicious…or, rather, I should say they don’t taste at all. I can’t even detect the extra veggies added to these particular dishes, so I get to eat my favorite foods with one extra, effortless serving of vegetables.

So, I soon became a spinach-smoothie convert, throwing a handful of spinach into any combination of frozen fruit, yogurt and instant breakfast mix I was blending. As May rolled around, I realized I could easily incorporate this trick into one of my favorite cocktails: the frozen margarita! Plus, I love jalapeños and drinks with a bit of spice. Adding a few fresh slices of this hot pepper + spinach gives your frozen margarita some heat, as well as a gorgeous green color. And it still tastes like that awesome beach trip to Mexico.

Green Jalapeño Margarita

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 3/4 cup fresh spinach leaves
• 1/4 cup Tequila blanco
• 1/4 cup orange liqueur (such as Triple Sec or Grand Marnier)
• 1/4 cup Apple NESTLÉ® JUICY JUICE® All Natural 100% Juice or orange juice
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 to 4 slices fresh jalapeño chile
• 10 to 12 cilantro leaves
• 2 cups crushed ice
• Coarse salt

Directions:

PLACE spinach, Tequila, liqueur, Juicy Juice, lime juice, jalapeño slices, cilantro and ice in blender; cover. Blend until smooth.

DIP rims of glasses into water; dip into salt and shake off excess. Pour margarita mixture into glasses. Garnish each with a jalapeño slice, if desired.

Cook’s Tip: Increase amounts of jalapeño, cilantro and spinach leaves according to taste.

Another option for frozen margaritas is adding whole fruits to the mix, as shown by Better Recipes above.

Links:

• Green Jalapeño Margarita
• Get a Juicy Juice coupon

Related recipes:

Strawberry Margarita

Limoncello Basil Cooler