Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tasty Tuesday: Best Chicken Enchiladas EVER

I am about to blow your mind with the BEST chicken enchilada recipe ever!  Best part is it's fairly healthy.  I adapted, yet another, recipe from Gina at skinnytaste.com.  Have I told y'all enough how much I love her site?!
I absolutely love Mexican food.  It's probably my 2nd favorite next to Asian food.  But the husband doesn't really like Mexican.  So I don't cook it or eat it often.  But I decided to say to hell with him and make myself some enchiladas!  Here's how I did it:

Chicken Enchiladas
make 6 servings;  serving= 1 enchilada
(per serving) guesstimate calories: 159, WW points: 3, WW points plus: 4  
(these are her calculations. mine may be more or less since I changed her recipe a little)

Ingredients:
  • for chicken:
    • 1 lb of boneless chicken breast
    • .5 of taco or fajita seasoning pack (i like to use low sodium)
    • 3/4c chunky salsa or picante sauce
    • 3/4c fat free chicken broth
  • 6 (7 inch) reduced carb whole wheat flour tortillas
    • this is what her recipe calls for. and this is what the nutritional value is based on.  But I used the Mission Artisan Style corn & whole wheat blend tortillas which have 40 more calories and less fiber.  So the nutritional value might be a little worse. 
  • for sauce:
    • nonstick spray
    • 1tsp minced garlic
    • 1-2 tbsp chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (i used La Costena from WalMart)
    • smallest can of tomato sauce (i used a brand I found in the Mexican section at WalMart)
    • .5tsp ground cumin
    • .5 tsp chili powder
    • 3/4c fat free chicken broth
    • salt & pepper
Make your chicken in the crockpot in the morning so that at night all you have to do is assemble the enchiladas, make the sauce, and bake.  To make the chicken just throw everything from the chicken section above into the crockpot.  Cook it on low for 6 hours or on high for 3.5 hours.  When the chicken is ready you can shred it in the pot with a fork.
Once you are ready to make your enchiladas and the chicken is ready preheat the oven to 400.  To make the sauce spray a small sauce pan with nonstick spray and saute the garlic.  Add the other sauce ingredients with salt and pepper.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat, & simmer for 7 minutes.
While your sauce is simmering you can start to assemble the enchiladas.  Scoop 1/3c of the chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll it up.  Spray a small baking dish with nonstick spray and put your enchiladas in after assembly.  Pour the sauce on top.  Top with a little fat free cheese.  Cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes.  I topped mine with scallions.  For additional calories and points you can top with sour cream.

I've made enchiladas a few times before.  But I always used store bought enchilada sauce, and it was never really great.  Y'all, this sauce is phenomenal!  It's really what makes the recipe.  And the chicken is so easy to make.  You can certainly follow her recipe and cook the chicken like she did.  But since I get home late from work it was easier to have part of it ready.  I actually made the chicken all day Sunday, put it in the fridge, and used it Monday.  It was a pretty budget-friendly meal to make too.     
Excuse my picture below.  It's a little dark.  And I only added scallions to half because husband doesn't like them.  This was the perfect amount of food.  Her recipe calls for more and makes more, but I wasn't sure how they'd turn out.  So I scaled it down.  I had 2 leftover for lunch today, and they were just as good!!
I want everyone to make this!  A co-worker tried mine today, and she said they taste like they came from a restaurant.  That is the BEST compliment ever.  Have a fab day!
XO-Heather 

PS: some of my other faves from her site are: chiliblack eyed peaschicken rollatiniskinny taco dipSweet Barbacoa Pork, &  sante fe chicken... Those are just a few!

5 comments:

  1. umm here I am starving. First of all, I think that is UNCONSTITUTIONAL that your hubs does not like Mexican food? Excuse me? Has he ever had like legit mexican food? I can't even wrap my mind around it.

    Second of all, I'm trying this recipe this week or on Sunday. I can't wait to make it!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing your tips. yay!

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  2. omg YUM! i am definitely trying this. gina is the best!

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  3. WOW - this looks amazing. I can't wait to try out the recipe!!!

    a peek of chic

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  4. I've made those before too! I looove them. Gina's blog is the first one I go to when I'm looking for dinner ideas. :) Glad you found my blog so I could find yours!

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  5. this looks SO good, heather. this is one of those meals i don't have a good recipe for but i think about occasionally, so i will definitely have to print this off!

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