Daring Cooks: Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.
Okay, so I am posting this a couple days late but I have a pretty good excuse. My little sister got married on Friday and it ended up being a (good) crazy day! Anyway, all of a sudden, today I remembered that I still haven't posted this. Oops!

My family and I really enjoyed this recipe. In fact looking at the pictures makes me really wish I had some leftovers sitting around somewhere! I am so glad I made these because we have a new family favorite. I have never made enchiladas before, stacked or otherwise, so it was exciting to try something completely new. Also I am really intimidated by chili peppers. Just some weird quirk of mine, I get nervous messing with foods that you should wear gloves to cut into. But I overcame my fear, and I found the chilies really non-intimidating once I started cooking. I originally planned to make my own corn tortillas, but alas that will have to be a project for a future date. These had a lot of steps to follow but each of the steps was dead easy. I did make a different filling than the chicken filling. As I have mentioned on here before, the hubby is not a big meat eater, so I threw together a very simple, non-meat filling.
The recipe for my easy filling is-

1 can of black beans
1 can of sweet corn
1/2 a red onion, diced
1 cup queso fresco, crumbled
cilantro to taste

Mix them all together and add them to the enchiladas.
Here is the link to the rest of the recipe on the Daring Kitchen or they can also be found on finecooking.com here. Special thanks to our hosts, Barbara and Bunee! These were great!

I heart cooking clubs- Potluck

This week's theme at IHCC was Potluck, so basically I could pick any Mark Bittman recipe I wanted. I decided to give the Simplest Bean Burgers a whirl, and I am so glad I did! These are, hands down, the best alternative burger I have ever tasted. They were also so dang easy! I had some leftover pinto beans in my fridge, so that is what I used for my beans but I think canned beans would turn out just as yummy!

Ingredients:

2 cups well-cooked white, black, or red beans or chickpeas or lentils, or one 14-ounce can, drained

1 medium onion, quartered (I used dehydrated onion)

1/2 cup rolled oats (preferably not instant)

1 tablespoon chili powder or spice mix of your choice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 egg

Bean-cooking liquid, stock, or other liquid (wine, cream, milk, water, ketchup, etc.) if necessary

Extra virgin olive oil or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, as needed

I also added about 1/2 a cup of cheese to our burgers and a 1/4 cup stewed tomatoes. They were a little loose so next time I would use tomato paste or he also recommends ketchup.

1. Combine the beans, onion, oats, chili powder, salt, pepper, and egg in a food processor and pulse until chunky but not puréed, adding a little liquid if necessary (this is unlikely but not impossible) to produce a moist but not wet mixture. Let the mixture rest for a few minutes if time allows.

2. With wet hands, shape into whatever size patties you want and again let rest for a few minutes if time allows. (You can make the burger mixture or even shape the burgers up to a day or so in advance. Just cover tightly and refrigerate, then bring everything back to room temperature before cooking.) Film the bottom of a large nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet with oil and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the patties. Cook until nicely browned on one side, about 5 minutes; turn carefully and cook on the other side until firm and browned. 3. Serve on buns with the usual burger fixings. Or cool and refrigerate or freeze for later use.

"Wheatie" Joes

I love sloppy joes. They are simple and yummy. My husband, the not too much meat guy, isn't quite as fond of them. So over the last 11 years that we have been married I have tried to find a compromise. This is one of them. By using cracked wheat in place of ground beef, I keep most of the flavor that I love and he gets a meatless meal. Also using cracked wheat is cheaper than ground beef. So I guess it is a win-win-win situation. I have tailored this recipe to my family's taste, feel free to do the same. You could even do half ground beef and half cracked wheat. This makes enough for about a dozen wheatie joes, depending on how much of the mixture you want in each bun.

Ingredients:
4 cups beef broth
1 cup of cracked wheat (or you could also use bulgur wheat)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2- 1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
2/3 cup barbecue sauce

1. Bring the beef broth to a boil over medium heat. Add the cracked wheat and cook until all the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Stir frequently.
2. Chop onion and bell pepper and saute in olive oil until they just start to brown. Add in garlic, and saute about two more minutes.
3. Add the sauteed vegetables to the cooked cracked wheat. Mix in mustard, ketchup and barbecue sauce.
4. Serve on buns. Top with cheese if desired.