Enchiladas Verdes

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, who is from Mexico.  These enchiladas are SO good! 

Enchiladas Verdes


1 lb tomatillo tomatoes
5 to 7 serrano peppers (Remove seeds after cooking if you don't want it too spicy)
2 cloves of garlic
1 cube of chicken boullion
1 whole chicken
3 roma tomatoes
1 ½ medium-sized white onion
15 corn tortillas
Sour cream
¼ lb of panela cheese

For the sauce
Start boiling the tomatillos, the peppers, ¼ of the onion and the clove of garlic. Once the tomatillos have taken a yellowish color, they are done.  Drain ingredients and add to blender (remove seeds from the peppers if you don't want it too spicy). Blend everything together until completely pureed.
Put a little oil in a pan, only to season the sauce(about 1 tbsp.). Add the content of the blender and bring it to a boil for approximately 2 minutes.

For the chicken
Boil the chicken in a large stock pot with 1/4 of an onion, garlic, and chicken boullion.  Cook until done, about an hour.  Shred the chicken.  Chop the rest of the tomato and the rest of the onion into little squares. Place them in a pan over medium heat until the onion turns out to be transparent and the tomato has extracted all its juice. Then, add the shredded chicken and simmer.

When the sauce and the chicken is ready to serve, submerge the tortillas in the sauce (first, fry them in oil quickly to prevent tearing). Put chicken inside the tortillas and wrap or fold the tortillas neatly on a plate and put chicken on top. Add cream and cheese as desired.

Chicken Tacos

If I had time to go to the store before I made this, there would be lettuce, cilantro and some really yummy home made salsa.  They were still good without them.

Chicken Tacos

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup lemonade/limeade
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ teaspoons cumin
¼ tsp chili powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder

1 (12 ounce) package flour tortillas
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (8 ounce) jar salsa
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

In a large skillet over medium heat, combine chicken, lemonade/limeade, olive oil, lime juice. Season with garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, onion powder. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink, and juices run clear, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm the tortillas in the oven or microwave until soft. When chicken is fully cooked, transfer to serving bowl. Place lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa, and sour cream in serving dishes. Each person can create their own wrap, using their preferred ingredients.

Cheese Enchiladas

Cheese Enchiladas

Corn tortillas
Monterey jack cheese or cheddar cheese
Green chiles
Oil
Shredded chicken (optional)
One recipe white sauce with added Monterey jack cheese and green chiles
Heat oil in small frying pan. Dip tortillas one by one in hot oil to soften. Roll ingredients inside tortillas and place sides touching in 9x13 baking dish. Pour white sauce over top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.


Basic White Sauce
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 C milk
Melt butter over medium low heat until melted.  Add flour and whisk together until blended.  Stir constantly until bubbly.  Very slowly, add milk while stirring constantly with a whisk.  Heat until thick, stirring constantly.

Dinner Nachos

This is my dinner in a pinch solution.  I need to go to the store.  Desperately.  I am out of nearly everything.  This is a meal that was thrown together with what I had on hand.  It turned out pretty good, and even the kids liked it.

1 pound ground beef

1 package Taco Seasoning Mix
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
Thick & Chunky Salsa
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Shredded lettuce
Tortilla chips
Cook beef and taco seasoning in skillet until browned. Pour off fat. Add beans, and tomatoes. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 5 min. or until done. Pour into casserole dish and top with cheese.  Broil for a few minutes until  cheese is melted.  Top with salsa and lettuce. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

Beef Enchiladas

It took me a long time to bring myself to try making enchiladas with a red sauce. I had never had it growing up because it was just not something my mom made. I had tried it at a few different restaurants, but it wasn't my favorite. Then, I found a restaurant that had a delicious enchilada sauce that was pretty authentic. I was surprised at how much I liked it. So, I started a search to find a great red enchilada sauce recipe. I found one, that with a few additions and tweaks, is really good.

Red Enchilada Sauce
½ cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons self-rising flour
½ cup minus one tablespoon New Mexico or California chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups water
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion salt
salt to taste
2 oz. dark chocolate
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in flour and chili powder, reduce heat to medium, and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning flour. Gradually stir in tomato sauce, water, cumin, garlic powder, onion salt, and dark chocolate into the oil, flour and chili powder until smooth, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt.

To prepare enchiladas:
Pour about ¼ c. of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan to prevent tortillas from getting crunchy. Fill flour tortillas with cooked ground beef and onions, cheese, and a few tablespoons of enchilada sauce. Pour remaining enchilada sauce on top once pan is filled. Top with grated cheese, and salsa (if desired). Bake for 25-30 minutes, covered.

Cafe Rio anyone?

I am not normally a salad person. In fact, it is very rare that you will find me eating a salad, but here is one that I will eat all the time. There is a Mexican food chain restaurant nearby called Cafe Rio. They have a great pork salad. In it you have: pork barbacoa, black beans (or pinto beans), rice, cilantro, tortilla strips, guacamole, pico de gallo, and a tomatillo dressing that is great. These are the recipes for the dressing and the pork. There are a lot of copy cat recipes out there for these items, but I think these come the closest.

Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa
5-6 lb. pork roast
21 oz. Dr. Pepper (or Coke, do NOT use diet soda)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
6-ish oz. red taco sauce (I used hot)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Place roast in crock-pot, cover half-way with water and cook on low for 12 hours. (I started my Pork Adventure at midnight and everything worked out perfectly for Sunday dinner at 6:00 pm.) After 12 hours, drain pork (retain liquid if you want sauce for burritos, simply mix with a can of verde enchilada sauce and away you go).
Mix remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. I didn't keep the actual chilies, I dumped the can into a bowl and added enough Dr. Pepper to get all the sauce off of the chilies, then I tossed them. I also rinsed out the can with Dr. Pepper for more adobo goodness. My version had a fairly good kick to it, but if you LOVE hotness, then blend everything + 2 or 3 chilies in the blender. (Also, the adobo sauce tends to stain plastic, using a glass or metal mixing bowl will make your clean-up of adobo sauce considerably less frustrating).
Add Dr. Pepper mixture to the roast and cook on low an additional 4 hours.
Take out roast and shred, add back into sauce and cook for 2 more hours. At this point the meat was so tender it practically shredded itself.

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

2 tomatillos, quarter

1/2 bunch cilantro leaves

1 cup milk

1 pkg. ranch dressing mix

1 tsp garlic, minced

pinch cayenne pepper

1 large jalapeno

1 Tbsp lime juice

1 cup mayo

Blend tomatillos then add all the ingredients except mayo and blend together. Stir in mayo, chill and serve.