This post is brought to you by Suz, who will be writing a new weekly cooking column for 2 Fat Nerds called Eat Fit Not Fat. Her concept is to take foods that we all love and make a healthy version of them. She plans to document and photo-blog her cooking process. Enjoy!
Green Chile & Chicken Enchiladas
The Setup
These are the ingredients used.
Note that I used three garlic cloves rather than the two called for in the original recipe.
Roasting the peppers.
An easy way of roasting your peppers is to pop them into your toaster oven for about 10-15 min on broil. Make sure you watch and turn as needed. You may hear some popping, that is normal, it is just the skin breaking. Another way to roast peppers is over your gas stove flame like a marsh mellow.
Zesting and juicing your lime.
I finally got to break out my micro-plane after it being neglected in my kitchen utensil drawer for months. I found it easier to juice my lime first, and then zest the outer skin of the lime. I was able to get my fingers into the inside of the lime and had better leverage.
What NOT to do!
Before preheating your oven, make sure your oven is empty from any kind of bacon grease filled cookie sheets that you left in the oven when you had family over for Sunday Brunch the previous day. My kitchen smoke detector went off and I'm pretty sure the neighbors might have thought our house was on fire. 🙂
Roasted Peppers
Be careful when removing peppers from toaster oven. Those puppies are pretty darn hot!
Make the peppers sweat.
Place your roasted peppers in plastic bag for about 5-10 minutes (the longer you make them sweat, the easier it is to peal them).
Removing the peppers skin.
After you have made the peppers sweat. Take the peppers out of the bag. Remove the skin by peeling off with your fingers and a knife if need be. Then chop of the tops.
Pureeing the green Chile sauce.
Place the roasted and peeled peppers, cilantro, garlic, lime zest and juice, chicken stock, salt and pepper into your food processor or blender and puree until smooth. I received a brand new 14-cup Cuisinart food processor from Santa this year so I had to put it into action for this recipe. I have used a blender in the past and works just as well .
The food processor in action!
Spreading the sauce
Layer 1/3 cup of your green chile sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish.
Layer tortilla and spread beans.
Spread your refried beans on top of the tortillas. Warning- the beans come out of the can looking like dog food. Don't be alarmed... it will be delicious!
Shred the chicken up.
Shred your chicken breasts into small pieces. I used a roasted rotisserie chicken (skin removed) from the grocery store because we did not have any left over chicken.
Layer the chicken over the beans.
Add 1/3 of the Chile Sauce
Cover your chicken with 1/3 cup of the green Chile sauce. Try to spread it out over the whole dish!
Add another layer of tortilla and sauce
Cover your chicken with your remaining 6 corn tortillas and the remaining 1/3 cup of green chile sauce.
Prepare the toppings.
Delicious and healthy toppings for your enchilada's. I added avocado, low fat sour cream and salsa. Why you may ask? Because they are gourmet 🙂
Starting to look tasty.
After baking the enchilada's for approx. 20 minutes, take them out of the oven and cover with 3/4 cup shredded cheese and your pre-cut scallions . Then place baking dish back in oven, uncovered for an additional 5ish minutes.
The finished product.
Good enough to eat!
Mike and I cut the enchilada's into 6 equal portions instead of 4. The good news 1) less calories and more room for yummy toppings 2) Leftovers for 2 more dinners this week! Major Bonus! Enjoy!
The Full Recipe
Make this "Cook Yourself Thin" recipe.
Serves 4
Calories per serving: 456
2 roasted poblano peppers, peeled
1 bunch of cilantro leaves, washed, stems discarded
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 corn tortillas
1 cup canned nonfat refried beans
3 cups of leftover roast chicken, shredded
3/4 cup reduced-fat shredded cheese, such as Mexican-style, Monterey Jack or cheddar
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
Step by Step
1 lime, cut into wedges, for garnish
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Lightly oil a 9-x-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or 1 teaspoon olive oil. In a food processor or a blender, combine the roasted and peeled peppers, cilantro, garlic, lime zest and juice, chicken stock, salt and pepper, and puree until smooth.
3. Spread 1/3 cup of the sauce in the prepared baking dish. Top with a layer of 6 overlapping tortillas. Spread refried beans evenly over the tortillas. Top the beans with the shredded chicken mixture, and add 1/3 of the sauce, followed by the remaining 6 tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the tortillas. Cover with foil.
4. Bake the enchiladas until they begin to bubble on the sides, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil; sprinkle cheese and scallions on top. Continue baking until heated through and the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes more. Top with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.
Recipe Credits:
http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/cook-yourself-thin/recipes/green-chile-chicken-enchiladas
Those pictures are beautiful, and that looks delicious!!! Nice work, Suz. You’ve got a gormet kitchen operation going on. I can’t wait for more from Eat Fit, Not Fat!
Makes me kind of want enchiladas tonight Ellie… hmmm, swap the chicken for more beans!?
Suz, your recipe and kitchen tactics are just simply gourmet. I want those. without cheese and sour cream. DAIRY BAN.
Tasted even better than it looked. And I will take the blame for the bacon trays….
Bet it smelled good until it smoked the place out
I figured you should – but that was a fine looking cutting board she used! Nice job Suz!
Very impressive! So professional ! When can we come for dinner? Does the artisan of the cutting board sell them to the public? It looks gorgeous.
Not so fast Mike – don’t take the blame for the bacon trays. I recall someone saying ” just put it back in the oven, there’s no room for it right now.”