Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Someone randomly posted a screen shot of this recipe on Facebook so I snatched it up. I love a new enchiladas recipe. This one is super duper basic, but good! It's nice to have a "safe" recipe on hand. Here it is:

I've made these twice. Once I had too much sauce and the other time I didn't have enough. Ha!!! Not sure what happened there. I guess a lot has to do with chicken breast size. I'd recommend adding the chicken to the sauce slowly and maybe not using all the chicken if you run out of enough sauce. It's not super fun making more sauce last minute. :-) Anyway, these are good. I serve mine with rice and sour cream... and sometimes guacamole and salsa too. 

Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs

I love grilling kebabs. They are quick and easy and hard to mess up. This one has a lot of flavor and is one of my favorite recipes for chicken kebabs. Here's the recipe:

Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs

Yield: About 9 - 10 kebabs

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 4 Tbsp olive oil, divided, plus more for brushing grill
• 1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 4 garlic cloves, minced (4 tsp)
• 1 Tbsp minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 3/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into 1 1/4-inch cubes
• 3 cups (heaping) fresh cubed pineapple (about 3/4 of 3 lb pineapple)
• 1 1/2 large green peppers, diced into 1 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 large red onion, diced into 1 1/4-inch pieces

Directions

• In a mixing bowl whisk together ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, 2 Tbsp olive oil, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. Stir in 3/4 tsp pepper and season with salt if desired. Place chicken in a gallon size resealable bag. Reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade in refrigerator then pour remaining marinade over chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate 3 hours (meanwhile soak 10 wooden skewer sticks in water for 1 hour).
• Preheat a grill over medium heat to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, drizzle remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil over red onion, bell pepper and pineapple and toss. Season red onion and bell pepper with salt and pepper, then thread red onion, bell pepper, pineapple and chicken onto skewers until all of the chicken has been used. Brush grill grates with olive oil then place skewers on grill. Grill 5 minutes then brush along tops with 1/4 cup of remaining marinade. Rotate to opposite side and brush remaining 1/4 cup of marinade on opposite side and allow to grill about 4 minutes longer, or until chicken registers 165 degrees in center on an instant read thermometer. Serve warm.

I pretty much separated the different foods since I have a family of picky eaters. ;-) Also, I didn't brush the marinade on the kebabs while they were grilling and it turned out just fine. There was plenty of flavor just from marinating for a few hours before I grilled. Oh, and I used regular light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar since I never use dark brown. Still turned out great. I highly recommend this - especially with the pineapple. Mmm!

Layered Doritos Casserole

So this is definitely not the healthiest casserole out there, but it sure tastes good! Haha! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (family size) bag Doritos, any flavor (I used Nacho Cheese)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 package low sodium taco seasoning
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
• 2 cups shredded cheese, (I used tex mex blend)

Optional toppings

• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Olives
• Sour Cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place salsa in a strainer to drain while preparing beef.
2. Cook ground beef with onion and garlic until no pink remains. Add taco seasoning and ½ cup of water. Stir until thickened and remove from heat.
3. In a large bowl, combine drained salsa, sour cream, soup and 1 cup of cheese. Add in beef and stir well.
4. Slightly crush Doritos (not completely, you don't want crumbs). Layer 1&1/2 cups Doritos in the bottom of a casserole dish (mine was 2qt) . Top with ½ of the beef mixture. Repeat layers. Finally top with an additional 1 to 1½ cups Doritos and remaining cheese.
5. Spray a piece of foil with cooking spray and cover casserole. Bake 30 minutes covered, remove foil and bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Top with lettuce, tomatoes and olives if desired.

I am not a huge Doritos person, but this casserole is definitely delicious! I used the Nacho Cheese flavor, but most flavors would probably be good. (I think Cool Ranch will be the next flavor I try.) Like I said, not super healthy.... but good to have every now and then. And easy to make as well! I topped mine with tomatoes and sour cream.

Nacho Pot Pie

This was definitely one of those dishes that surprised me because I thought it wouldn't be nearly as good as it was. I'm not sure why I even tried it other than that I typically like and trust the food blogger that wrote about it. I got the recipe from here. Here it is:

Nacho Pot Pie

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• ½ cup onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 (1 ounce) package tablespoons Old El Paso™ taco seasoning mix, divided
• ⅓ cup water
• ½ cup butter
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ cup flour
• 3 cups beef broth
• ¼ cup milk
• 12 ounces frozen corn, thawed
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 cups tortilla chips
• 1½ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
• Optional toppings: sour cream, green onions, tomatoes

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, brown the beef and onions. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Drain. Add 2 tablespoons of the taco seasoning and ⅓ cup water and cook until liquid has reduced. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes until thick. Slowly whisk in the beef broth and milk until combined and cook for 3-5 minutes or until mixture is thick. Stir in the reserved meat mixture, corn, and beans.
4. Pour into an 11X17 inch baking dish. Top with crushed tortillas. Bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for 2-4 minutes or until cheese is melted.
5. Top with sour cream, green onions, and tomatoes.

Notes

For pretty presentation, place the sour cream in a resealable plastic bag. Snip off the corner of the bag and pipe it on top.
Make the beef mixture ahead of time to speed up the process for a weeknight meal.

Maybe it's just because me and my husband weren't expecting much, but we were both so pleasantly surprised with this meal. It was so good! I topped mine with green onions and tomatoes, and added a dollop of sour cream to it as well once it was dished up. It is definitely worth a try!