Day 10 - South of the Border

Tacos have always been extremely popular in my house. Beef, chicken, steak - the family loves them all. So for Day 10, I decided to branch out a bit from the comfort of tacos to make Chicken Enchiladas Verde with a recipe I had found on Eating Well.

There are a lot of chicken enchiladas recipes out there and while I'm sure many of them result in delicious end products, for the weeknight, I wasn't looking to make my own salsa or press my own taco shells as suggested in some recipes. What I loved about the Eating Well recipe was it only had 7 ingredients and the total active time was about 20 minutes. Perfect for the middle of the week.

The first step in the recipe was bringing together the sauce that went under, in, and on top of the enchiladas. To do this, first I made a "slurry" by combining half of the chicken stock and some flour. After whisking enough to make sure I didn't have any lumpy flour left, I set that aside and poured the jarred salsa, cumin and remaining chicken stock into a pot and brought it to boil. Once rolling, I poured in the slurry and whisked to combine. The recipe said to reduce to 2.5 cups of liquid but given the liquid was BOILING, I wasn't going to measure it as it was reducing, so I just let it hang out for about 7-8 minutes and decided that was long enough. After the sauce was reduced, the recipe called for putting in cilantro. As I mentioned in another post, my husband is one of those people who think cilantro tastes like soap, so no cilantro for us.

Admission time - I am really into this idea of 'Try New Things January' but sometimes you just know something isn't going to go over well. OR you yourself can't stand an ingredient in a recipe. This is me and black beans. I HATE them. In the spirit of the month, should I have included them in these enchiladas, yes. Did I? No. So, in step two of this recipe, I brought together the prepared shredded chicken (which I had done earlier in the day), 1/2 cup of the sauce, and cream cheese (no black beans). I stirred to combine and sampled to taste. I thought it could use a little more salt, so I did a few shakes of the salt container, stirred and tried again. MUCH BETTER.

If you are one of those families that loves to cook together and you have small children, bringing them in for step three - ASSEMBLY - would be a natural and fun fit. During the week, with our busy schedules, I prefer to fly solo in the kitchen so things move a little more quickly. Either way, step three is a bit messy but a fun way to get your family involved.

After pouring some sauce on the bottom of my 9x13 pan (Side note: the recipe does not call for you to prepare the physical dish in anyway. I found that even with the sauce on the bottom some of my enchiladas stuck. I would either put more, or spray with Pam before putting down the sauce), I laid out a flour tortilla (another change from the recipe; it's what we had on hand) and scooped some of the chicken mixture in the center. I used fajita-sized tortillas since I have little people eating and the larger size is just too much for them. Since I used a bit smaller tortillas, I didn't fill with 1/4 cup but rather two tablespoons (or so). I rolled each up like a sausage and placed them into the prepared dish. I was able to get nine enchiladas from the mixture, but if you included the beans, you would be able to get a few more since you'd have more filling.

Once all of the enchiladas were rolled, I topped with the remaining sauce mixture, which was more than enough to cover the top of all of the tortillas. I put the dish, uncovered, into the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Since everything was already cooked and warm, the enchiladas didn't have to be in the oven long, which was REALLY nice. When my timer went off, I pulled out the dish, sprinkled on shredded cheese, and put it back in for 5 minutes to melt and brown the cheese.

Full disclosure - I NEVER measure shredded cheese. The recipe called for a certain amount. I honestly have no idea what that amount was. I put on as much as I thought looked good. Customization is the key to a successful dish, at least in my house.

After the cheese finished melting, I pulled out the enchiladas and topped them with some cut up tomatoes and avocados. Neither of those are enjoyed by any little people in my house. But I wanted to encourage them to try both so I made sure their plates had a few and in 'Try New Things January' they each took a few bites! No one found a new favorite item, but they tried and that's what counts.

Overall, the enchiladas were a hit. They tasted as good as they looked and smelled! In the past, when I've made enchiladas, my husband has said they were too cheesy and didn't have a lot of flavor. He really liked this recipe and in fact said, "we can do this more often", at least three times during the meal. My 9-year-old also LOVED the enchiladas. He even went back for seconds.

The rest of the kids really enjoyed the inside chicken but did complain that the sauce was too spicy. I had grabbed the medium salsa Verde from the store and in the future, I will make sure to grab the mild to avoid the spiciness issue. Other than that though, everyone enjoyed the main dish. I served the enchiladas alongside some Mexican-inspired brown rice which was also a hit.

Highs:

• Using jarred salsa made this recipe must easier and faster so it was perfect for a busy weeknight.

• All of the kids REALLY liked the filling and with a less-spicy salsa, it would have been everyone's favorite meal so far.

• The kids continue to enjoy the various ways I am making brown rice (and so do I).

Lows:

• Lucas, typically my best eater, tried the enchiladas but found them too spicy to really enjoy. It was the worst he has eaten since we started our culinary adventure.

• The recipe doesn't suggest a side, and we need more than just a main dish, so I did have to do some searching for what to go with the dinner to ensure full bellies.

The Scores:

Joel: 4.25

Allison: 4

Parker: 4.5

Lucas: 3.5

Bennett: 4 (for the chicken and rice)

Ashlynn: 3.5