Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Damn these were good



Chicken Enchiladas
Living The G.I. Diet Copyright 2004

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 onions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, stemmed seeded and thinly sliced I used 1/2 red, 1/2 orange
1 green bell pepper, stemmed seeded and thinly sliced
1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed seeded and minced
1 cup diced tomatoes I used canned organic diced tomatoes
½ cup shredded light-style Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese I used Cabot's Light Pepperjack
8 large whole-wheat tortillas I used multi-grain

Toppings:
½ cup shredded light-style Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese I used Cabot's Light Pepperjack
½ cup light sour cream

1. Combine 1 tablespoon of the oil, the chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and black pepper in a medium-size bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat it with the mixture. Heat the remaining oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink inside, about 10 minutes. Remove to a plate.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. In the same skillet over medium heat, cook the onions, bell peppers, and jalapeño pepper until tender, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
4. Add the chicken, tomatoes and cheese to the pepper mixture and stir to combine. Divide the filling among the tortillas and roll each of them up. Place them in a shallow 9x13-inch greased baking dish. At this point I refrigerated them overnight. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the filling is hot, about 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes, or until the tortillas are crisp.
5. Sprinkle with cheese and dollop with sour cream before serving.
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This recipe is basically the same as my freestyle quesadillas. So why did these blow me away? I have no idea. Maybe because all the effort was expended the previous evening. When I make quesadillas, I make the filling the night before but I put the quesadillas together the night we eat them. I'm always in a rush since I can only make about 2 at a time on the GF grill. I only needed to pop these in the oven after work. The tortillas got nice and crispy and they had a sweetness to them (I used Mission whole grain tortillas). The flavors in the filling had melded together nicely overnight. I was really in heaven, and I have leftovers for lunch today. Yay!

This is from a GI diet cookbook. I don't follow any certain diet but I am aiming to add more good carbs and less fat so I find that the cookbooks from a lot of the popular diets are very helpful to have around. The particular low-carb books I own tend to have recipes very high in fat and calories but the GI-diet, South Beach diet, carb addict's diet, etc seem to suit us rather well.

A Blast From the Past: Chicken Enchiladas from September 2005 - one of the first recipes I blogged. They were very good too, but definitely not as healthy. They could be lightened up though, if you like a creamy enchilada.

Question of the Day: Have you ever tried a 'name-brand' diet (Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, etc)?

7 comments:

Wanda said...

I've done Atkins, and it worked very well.

Unknown said...

These do look really good! I've never done any of the named diets. Most of them call for giving up a part the "food pyramid" totally and I don't like that.

Anonymous said...

I'm always mentally figuring out points for WW even though I might not be officially on the diet. I use sparkpeople.com to keep track of food and exercise. We did SB before our wedding and dropped a bunch of weight. But, since I'm diabetic, I dont think its healthy to cut carbs completly and I dont eat red meat so atkins is out, plus I think its so unhealthy to eat such large quantities of butter, cheese, and meat.

Annie said...

Everytime I see a Enchilada recipe, I think: "Why haven't I ever made these?".

After reading your post now I'm thinking:"I've got to make those!"

Btw, thanks for your response on my mushroom problem. I kind of had a sneaking suspicion it was the spread.

Anonymous said...

Those look yummy, I love enchiladas!

I did Weight Watchers a few years ago and lost 30 pounds, most of which I have kept off. It basically taught me correct portion size and healthy eating.

Anonymous said...

I lost almost 40 lbs doing a modified Atkins (this was before South Beach got popular) I never felt comfortable with the high fat but I knew that I was addicted to refined carbs. In a big way! So once I got over the INTENSE cravings, I did pretty well. Only I have been sliding the past year and have added back almost 15 of those hard lost pounds. ACK!

These enchiladas look really good and something my family would love too. I need to find my willpower again.....if you see it, would you let me know?! LOL

Anonymous said...

Yep. Weight Watchers. Lost 126 lbs, kept it off 2 years until I gained 72 lbs while pregnant. Went back to counting points and I only have 17 lbs to go. Didn't take long either (and yes, I am over 30 years old LOL)

I like WW because NOTHING is off limits. No food groups are excluded and I never have any trouble if I need to go out to a restaurant.

These enchiladas look great! I'll have to see about the whole grain tortillas. I know Trader Joe's has quite a variety, maybe they have some...

--Maggi

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