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Salad #44 – Chicken Caesar Salad with Easy Homemade Dressing

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Chicken Caesar Salad with Easy Homemade Caesar Dressing

Even though I write about food a fair bit, I still find myself stuck with the “What should I make for dinner?” question a lot. The other day, I had a roasted chicken from the grocery store and so inspiration so I asked my friends for suggestions for what to do with it. I ended up making – wait for it – roasted chicken, with rice and steamed broccoli. And it was delicious. One of the other things my friends suggested was a Chicken Caesar Salad.

Chicken Caesar Salad

I’ve always been a little intimidated by Caesar dressing – raw eggs and anchovies? My friend Merry was raving about her Nana’s recipe for Caesar Dressing so I checked it out – no anchovies or raw eggs to be found. Instead, it uses mayo and worchestershire sauce. The deliciousness of the eggs is found in the mayo and did you know that worchestershire sauce is made with anchovies? I am not sure what I thought it was made of, but until recently I had no idea. With those two easy ingredients, you get the same flavors, but without the hassle. This recipe could not be easier. I toned the garlic down a little for my garlic sensitive family and added some red wine vinegar so it wouldn’t be missing any zip.

Chicken Caesar Salad

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Chicken Caesar Salad
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 or up to 3 garlic cloves minced
  • ¾ cup mayo
  • 2 Tbsp Grated Parmesan
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • 1 TBSP red wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp lemon (about ½ a lemon squeezed)
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • Salad:
  • Leftover rotisserie chicken (or any kind of chicken breast pieces).
  • a couple slices of cooked bacon crumbled
  • a bowl full of romaine lettuce
  • a lemon
  • grated parmesan
  • croutons
Instructions
  1. Mix dressing ingredients well.
  2. Put the lettuce in a large bowl and add a tablespoon or so of the dressing. Toss the lettuce with the dressing with your fingers making sure you get it all over the leaves. Add more if necessary.
  3. On top of the lettuce layer the chicken, croutons, bacon, parmesan and serve with a slice of lemon.
Notes
Adapted from http://merryabouttown.com/garlicky-caesar-salad-dressing/

  1. Chicken Caesar Salad

 Did They Eat It?

Anne: Really good. Really really good.

Stephen: It was good.

Dana: Everything you want in a caesar dressing.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Thai Fried Rice- Khao Phat – Around the World in 30 Dishes – Thailand

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Come along with me as I explore the world through my kitchen. For each region, I’ll be trying about 5 dishes, drawing inspiration from authentic dishes, ingredients or techniques from that region but adapting them for a North American home cook. All the ingredients in this series will be ones I can find in my local (Calgary, Alberta) grocery store and use cooking tools I already have at home. 

Thai Fried Rice - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com

I’ve always quite liked fried rice, but I’d never heard of Thai fried rice before. It’s not too different from the fried rice that you might get at a chinese food restaurant in many ways. The There are many variations on the dish and it is a perfect dish for using up whatever you have on hand – don’t be afraid to improvise. I really love this dish. I’ve is now my go-to recipe if I have leftover rice. If you would like to try out some Thai flavors but are a little nervous, this dish would be a perfect recipe to start with.

Thai Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients and Substitutions:

    • Fish Sauce – is a condiment made from anchovies. That may not sound awesome, but it actually is. You can usually substitute soy sauce with good results. You will probably lose a little of the uniqueness in this particular dish. If you are hesitant because it says ‘fish sauce’, give it a try anyway. It doesn’t seem fishy at all. Worchestershire sauce is also made from anchovies.

Thai Chicken Fried Rice

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Thai Fried Rice
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Thailand
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati, jasmine would be traditional) - using cold rice from the day before is best
  • 2 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati, jasmine would be traditional) - using cold rice from the day before is best
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 green onions
  • 2 green onions
  • pinch ground pepper
  • pinch ground pepper
  • 1 lime
  • 1 lime
  • 1 chicken breast chopped
  • 1 chicken breast chopped
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1 thinly sliced tomato
  • 1 thinly sliced tomato
  • 3 tablespoon cooking oil
Instructions
  1. Prep all your ingredients before you start.
  2. Heat oil in a large pan or wok on high heat.
  3. Add garlic and stir then add meat if uncooked and continue to stir.
  4. When the meat is cooked, add the rice. Break up any clumps and coat with the oil. If you are using cooked meat, add it now.
  5. Stir in the fish sauce and soy sauce.
  6. Add the white parts of the green onion and the tomato slices.
  7. Push the rice mixture to the side of the pan and turn down the heat.
  8. Cook the scrambled eggs on the open side of the pan.
  9. Once the eggs are dry, break them up and mix them in with the rice.
  10. Remove the pan from heat. Top the rice or individual bowls of rice with fresh lime juice, pepper and green onions.
  11. It is often served with cucumber slices, tomato slices, lime, chili fish sauce, and cilantro.
Notes
Adapted from Thai Table's Thai Fried Rice - http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/fried-rice

Thai Chicken Fried Rice

Crockpot Chicken or Beef Massaman Curry – Around the World in 30 Dishes – Thailand

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Come along with me as I explore the world through my kitchen. For each region, I’ll be trying about 5 dishes, drawing inspiration from authentic dishes, ingredients or techniques from that region but adapting them for a North American home cook. All the ingredients in this series will be ones I can find in my local (Calgary, Alberta) grocery store and use cooking tools I already have at home. 

Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com
 My friend Amy lived in Thailand for a while and said that this dish was her favorite. After looking at the ingredient list, I found that even though many of the ingredients weren’t super familiar to me, I could find them all in my local grocery store. I made it as a crockpot recipe, but you could easily do it on the stove top instead. You can reduce the cooking time to about 1/3 of what I recommend for the crockpot on high. I thought  this recipe was great. I ended up making both a beef and a chicken version and loved them both. It made great leftovers too.
Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com

Ingredients and Substitutions:

  • Tamarind – is a kind of sour fruit. I’ve found it whole in the produce section and as a paste or as a sauce in the asian section of our local grocery stores. If you use whole fruit, remove the outer layer and use the inner fruit. Tamarind may seem unfamiliar but is a primary ingredient in Worchestershire sauce. Nothing is really recommended as a substitute for Tamarind, but what you are looking for is something to add a sweet, sour taste.
  • Sambal Olek – This is a chili sauce that is meant to add heat without effecting the flavoring. Substitute for any chili or garlic chili sauce.
  • Lemongrass – is a grass that has a herby lemon flavor. It looks like a stalk and is found in the produce section. They may be long or cut into smaller chunks and put in a package. I’ve found the lemon grass in our grocery stores to be a bit dry, but you can re-hydrate it by letting it sit in some water. It will even continue to grow. Substitute with lemon zest.
  • Cardamon – Is an aromatic spice commonly used in Indian cooking . If you can’t find it, try substituting a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg. The flavor won’t be quite the same but it should work well.
  • Fish Sauce – is a condiment made from anchovies. That may not sound awesome, but it actually is. You can substitute soy sauce with good results.
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Crockpot Massaman Curry – Thai Food
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Thai
 
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • one pound beef or chicken cut into chunks
  • one pound beef or chicken cut into chunks
  • one pound baby potatoes quartered (large potatoes cut into chunks is fine too)
  • one pound baby potatoes quartered (large potatoes cut into chunks is fine too)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • one 2 inch long piece of ginger, grated
  • one 2 inch long piece of ginger, grated
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, grated or minced
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, grated or minced
  • 2 or more teaspoons Sambal Olek or other chili paste
  • 2 or more teaspoons Sambal Olek or other chili paste
  • one 14 oz can broth to match meat of choice
  • one 14 oz can broth to match meat of choice
  • one 14 oz can coconut milk
  • one 14 oz can coconut milk
  • 1 stalk lemongrass, minced
  • 1 stalk lemongrass, minced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1½ teaspoons turmeric
  • 1½ teaspoons turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
  • 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamon
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamon
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind (paste, sauce or mashed up fruit - whatever you can find)
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind (paste, sauce or mashed up fruit - whatever you can find)
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • ½ tablespoon brown sugar
  • ½ tablespoon brown sugar
  • ¼ cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted cashews or peanuts (+ handful more for garnish)
  • ¼ cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted cashews or peanuts (+ handful more for garnish)
  • 1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 medium tomato, sliced
Instructions
  1. Turn your crockpot onto high heat and add a couple tablespoons of oil.
  2. After the oil is heated, add the onion, spices, cashews or peanuts and tamarind. Stir until fragrant.
  3. Add the meat, chicken, broth, coconut milk, chili garlic paste, fish sauce and brown sugar. The potatoes can be added here, or later on depending on how long the crockpot will be running. Add the potatoes right away if they will be cooking on low for 3-4 hours. If you are cooking at a higher heat or for a longer time (eg if you want it to cook while you are out or are using a tough cut of beef) add the potatoes 2-3 hours before you plan on eating. Alternatively, you can boil the potatoes and add them at the last minute.
  4. During the last hour of cooking add the peppers and tomatoes.
  5. You can vary the cooking time for this dish a lot as long as you don't add the potatoes, tomatoes and peppers too early. Curries tend to only get better with additional cooking time. As long as your meat is cooked through and no longer tough you can eat it.
  6. If you are using chicken breasts, you can probably cook it for as little as 2.5 - 3 hours on high. Beef will have a longer minimum cooking time (at least 5-6 hours) - you'll want to cook it long enough for the meat to get tender. If you have the time to cook it on low for 8-10 hours it will be even better.
  7. Serve over rice (I like brown jasmine or brown basmati) Top with additional chopped cashews or peanuts.
Notes
(Adapted from <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/massaman-curry/">Instructable's Massaman Curry Recipe</a>

Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com

Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com

Salad #41 – Thai Chicken Salad with a Spicy Peanut Dressing

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thai chicken salad

One of my favorite things in the world are those bags of pre-shredded cabbage. They keep well so you don’t have to use them right away, save time and effort and are really versatile. They are great in soups, stir frys, make an easy vegetable side dish or a perfect salad base. I had picked up a bag of cabbage (or coleslaw mix) and  a rotisserie chicken while we were at the grocery store and decided to make a meal salad with them. This salad keeps well in the fridge for a couple days too so you don’t have it eat it all at once – the cashews will get a bit mushy though so you may want to put them on at the last minute.

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Thai Chicken Salad
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Thai
 
Ingredients
  • Salad:

  • chicken - I used 2 breasts from a rotisserie chicken
  • ½ bag coleslaw cabbage mix
  • 1 mango sliced
  • fresh cilantro (optional)
  • 2 green onions
  • ½ cup chopped peanuts or cashews

  • Dressing:

  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 squirt hot sauce (sriracha is nice)
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar (I used rice wine)
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tablespoon oil (I used canola oil)
  • ½ teaspoon fish sauce
  • ¼ cup peanut butter (if you are using natural peanut butter you may want to add some sugar)
  • approx. ¼ cup water
Instructions
  1. Shred the chicken into long strips.
  2. Add the chicken, coleslaw, mango slices and most of the green onions together in a large bowl.
  3. Whisk the dressing ingredients together.
  4. Toss the salad ingredients with the dressing.
  5. Serve topped with peanuts or cashews and a little green onion.
Notes
Adapted from http://pinchofyum.com/chopped-thai-chicken-salad

 

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:21]

thai chicken salad

Did They Eat It?

Gordie: refused to try. no no no.

Nicky: liked the chicken

Stephen: It’s good.

Anne: Really good.

Dana: This is a kind of salad that makes me go back for seconds.

Salad #30 – Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

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When my husband asked me to make a watermelon salad, I made this watermelon salad with red peppers and strawberries. I loved it but apparently it was not the watermelon salad that my husband had in mind. It turns out what he wanted was a grilled chicken salad with watermelon salsa. The salsa turned out really well but the salad needed either a glaze on the chicken or extra dressing over the salad. Maybe a spicy thai dressing or even a balsamic vinegar dressing. Or you can always just put the salsa in a bowl and eat it with chips and call that your salad. Which I absolutely did with the leftovers.

Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

Watermelon Salsa

(adapted from the Pioneer Woman’s Watermelon Pico De Gallo Recipe)

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Salad #30 - Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens
 
Ingredients
  • ⅛-1/4 pf a watermelon, diced
  • 3 peppers, diced (I used red, yellow and orange)
  • ¼ red onion diced
  • bunch of cilantro chopped
  • juice of two limes
  • squirt of sriracha sauce
  • salt
Instructions
  1. If you are a big cilantro fan, you can just mix the ingredients together in a big bowl.
  2. If you are less certain about cilantro, start by mixing the watermelon, peppers and red onion in a large bowl.
  3. In a food processor (I used a magic bullet) mix together the cilantro, limes, sriracha sauce and salt. Blend well. This will take some of the bite out of the cilantro.
  4. Pour over the salsa and mix well.
  5. Serve over your bed of greens with grilled chicken (and hopefully some kind of dressing).

Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

Did They Eat It?

Stephen: Really good.

Nicky (17 months): loved the peppers and watermelon

Gordie (4 years old): loved the watermelon as long as it wasn’t part of the salad.

Dana: I found it a little bit bland because I didn’t use any additional dressing and had grilled the chicken plain. I would make this again, but would definitely use some kind of dressing. The salsa itself was great.


 Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

Salad #14 Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

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My plan for this salad was to make a side dish type salad that used edamame and miso paste in the dressing. I came up with this salad: Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

But it was missing something. It was okay. But just okay. So I tried again and added some red pepper and swapped out the apple for golden raisins. (I also tried a different miso dressing but I thought it was kind of awful.) And it was better. But still not awesome. I had some left over chicken in the fridge from the Cafe Rio that I had made the day before, and some lettuce and thought that making it into a main dish instead of a side dish would be awesome. And it was.

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing Recipe

(inspired by La Fuji Mama’s Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing on Endive Leaves)

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Salad #14 Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing
 
Ingredients
  • Salad Ingredients
  • 2 cups edamame
  • 2-3 carrots grated
  • handful of golden raisins
  • enough lettuce to made a salad bed (either ripped or shredded)
  • half to a whole red pepper sliced
  • handful of cashews
  • some left over shredded, diced or grilled chicken
  • Miso Dressing Ingredients
  •  1/4 cup miso paste (I used the kind based on brown rice)
  • ¼ cup water
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup white wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • dash of siriacha
Instructions
  1. Mix dressing ingredients together well. The miso paste might be a bit thick so you may want to use a whisk or food processor instead of just shaking them together.
  2. Mix together the edamame, red pepper, carrots and golden raisin and toss with the dressing.
  3. Layer the lettuce, then the edamame mixture, then the chicken and top with the cashews. Add more dressing if needed.

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Have you ever had a blah recipe that you’ve managed to turn into a winner?

Books and Bites: Cafe Rio and 419

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This post is a little about books and a lot about a really fantastic dish called Cafe Rio.

Cafe Rio

I’ve always been a voracious reader. I’ve always considered myself to be a bookworm but it turns out I’m not as a big of a book geek as I thought. Until recently, I’d never met an author of a novel I’ve read. I’ve now met two, but failed to prove myself as a proper book geek both times. The first time I should have been prepared. I knew that Bradley Somer, author of Imperfections (a weird, thought provoking satire of the beauty industry that I both loved and hated – and yes I did tell him)  was coming to our book club that month. But I forgot to bring my book and obviously didn’t get him to sign my copy of the book.

You might think that this would begin my learning process but you would be wrong. Even though one of the women in our book club mentioned that she knew the author of the book that was chosen (419 by Will Ferguson) and was going to see if he would be able to come, I still didn’t bring the book to our book club. Now, in my defence, I didn’t think he was actually coming but this is my only picture: Book Club with Will Ferguson

And no, I am not in that picture (Will Ferguson, is the guy in the centre of the photo).  The book itself is not one that I would normally pick up I’ve been reading a lot of YA fiction lately but it is definitely a book worth reading. It centers around a Nigerian Scam nick named 419 from the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code and relates both the perspective of the Nigerians involved as well as the Canadians (the Canadian sections are set in Calgary). I found it really helped me to better understand how people get taken in by the scams as well as how heartbreaking it can be on both sides.

If you want to read more about Will Ferguson crashing my book club you can read my friend Heather’s post “The Time I Met a Giller Award Winner in my Pajamas”

 

Since I was unable to prove myself as book geek, I thought I’d centre my post on the amazing food that was served at our book club that night. (Which had absolutely nothing to do with 419 in any way. At all.) And I did not think to take a picture of it. So I ended up making it all again myself. It is definitely worth making, but it is a great meal to make for a crowd because then you can split up the work. It is not a trivial amount. The origins of this recipe are unknown to me. I got it from my friend Catherine who writes the blog The Dabels Divulge (which you should all go check out because she is hilarious) and she got it from her friend Angi.

I’m going to keep most of the recipe as it was given out for the book club and annotate it with any thoughts or changes that I made when I cooked it up myself.

Cafe RIo

Café Rio Recipe

  • tortilla shells
  • crispy tortilla strips
  • Romaine or other dark leafy greens chopped or shredded
  • Tomatoes, chopped
  • Cheese shredded
  • fresh limes to squeeze on top

 

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Seasoned Chicken
 
Ingredients
  • 5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 5 or 6 breasts and it made a ton of chicken)
  • 1 large bottle Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
  • 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
  • 1 Tbsp. chili powder
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • Fresh lime juice
Instructions
  1. Put everything but the limes in a crock pot and stir to coat. Cook on low 4-6 hours, or high 2-3 hours. ½ hour before serving, shred the chicken with two forks  and add the juice from 2 limes. (I accidentally bought bone-in, skinless chicken breasts. Sometimes shopping with kids is not all it's cracked up to be. I do not recommend that. You will be picking out little pieces of bone for ages. I also missed that I was supposed to put the lime in last, but it still tasted great).

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Green Chili Rice
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cups of water
  • 4 tsp. chicken bouillon (I used 2 large cubes- that make 2 cups of broth per cube)
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1 can mild diced green chilis with the water
  • ½ bunch chopped cilantro
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ onion chopped
  • 3 cups rice (not instant)
  • 1 Tbsp. butter
Instructions
  1. (I switched out the chicken bouillon and water for chicken stock. I'm pretty sure this should totally work, but I was using a different kind of rice than I normally do and ended up having to add a bunch more stock. You should be able to just swap it out 1 for 1 with however much water your rice needs).

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Black Beans and corn
 
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1⅓ c tomato juice
  • 1½ tsp. salt
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
  • 1 can of corn, drained
Instructions
  1. In a nonstick skillet, cook cumin and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continue to stir until it is heated through. Add corn- if you choose. Stir in cilantro just before serving.
  2. (I had somehow thought this didn't need to be cooked when I started putting it together. So I ended up just mixing everything together and then cooking it a bit. It was good but I found that there was a lot of tomato juice. I don't know if that would still be the case if you did it according to the actual directions.)

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Creamy Cilantro Dressing
 
Ingredients
  • 1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
  • 1 can of diced green chilis
  • 1⅓ cup sour cream
  • ¾ cup mayo
  • ½ bunch fresh cilantro
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • juice from 1-2 limes
  • ⅛ tsp. Tabasco sauce (I added a bit more because we like it a bit spicy)
Instructions
  1. Mix everything is a blender or food processor.  Best if made the night before.

Putting It All Together

Layer everything on top of the tortilla. Or you could wrap it up like a burrito. Squeeze some extra lime on top.

I totally underestimated how much work this would be. If you are going to do it all yourself, I’d recommend doing some of it (like the dressing) a head of time.
Cafe RIo

Cafe RIo

 

Have you read Imperfections or 419? What’s your favorite dish to serve for a crowd?

 

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

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I decided to try out this Enchilada recipe from Feels Like Home for my brother’s birthday dinner. I’m pretty sure the best time to try out a new recipe is at a special occasion for a bunch of people right? Normally we would get take out, but we still haven’t found a chinese food place we like in our neighbourhood and half the family finds Indian too spicy. At the last minute I decided I’d just make these Enchiladas.  Ill-advised or not, it was awesome.

I dialled back the spices from the original recipe to accommodate our family heat wimps. They found it to be spicy but at a level they (and Gordie) could easily handle. If you are looking for something spicy, you’ll want to amp up the spices, but it’s nice and flavorful (if not hot) as written below).

I made my own Enchilada sauce which allows me to control the level of spice and fat but you could easily use the bottled stuff instead.

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

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Enchilada Sauce Recipe
 
(adapted from Feels Like Home)
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1.5 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 16-oz can tomato sauce
  • chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • salt
Instructions
  1. Add the oil to a pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, stir in the flour and chili powder. Use a whisk (this will help prevent lumps in your sauce) to stir constantly under it starts to brown (a minute or two)
  2. Continue to stir as you add the remaining ingredients. Cook until sauce begins to thicken – about 10 minutes. If you are wanting to speed things up you can bring the sauce to a boil for a minute or two and the sauce will thicken a bit quicker.

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas
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BBQ Chicken Enchiladas
 
(adapted from Feels Like Home)
Ingredients
  • ½ cup BBQ sauce (plus 2 tbsp) (I used Kraft original)
  • meat from 1 roasted chicken or 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken, cooked and shredded
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cup of shredded cheese
  • 8 whole wheat tortillas (I have also managed 10, but 8 is more reasonable)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Add the BBQ sauce to the enchilada sauce and stir.
  3. Add a little oil to a second pan and saute the chopped onion until it softens. Add the chicken, and a couple tablespoons of the BBQ sauce. Cook for a couple more minutes and then add ½ a cup of the enchilada sauce and 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Mix well and cook until the cheese is melted.
  4. Add a layer of the enchilada sauce to a 9x13 baking dish.
  5. Add a big scoop of the chicken mixture to a tortilla, and roll it. Place it in the baking dish seam side down. Continue until all your tortillas have been filled. If you are running out of space it is totally okay to squish your tortillas together so you can fit more in.
  6. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas and top with the last cup of cheese.
  7. Bake for about 25 minutes. The cheese and sauce should be hot and bubbly.

So, Did They Eat It?

This was a huge hit. I served this with a fried rice and a black bean salad to 11 people. I cut each of the enchiladas in half so it was easier for people to take just how much they wanted. Everyone from my toddler to my grandparents and my spice sensitive inlaws  enjoyed it. The BBQ sauce really helps give it some extra flavor without the extra heat. I will be making this again for sure, although I may add some extra chili powder if it’s just for us.

Cranberry Turkey Burgers

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One of the problems with turkey burgers is that they can just be so dry and tasteless. These burgers compensate with the addition of spices, dried cranberries, parsley and green onions. My husband’s uncle served cranberry turkey burgers one year after Christmas. We liked them so much we tried to replicate them at home and this is what we came up with. Since then it’s become a family favorite and we’ve made it again and again.image

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Cranberry Turkey Burgers
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound Ground turkey
  • ¼ cup Dried cranberries chopped
  • 1 green onion (scallion) chopped, finely
  • 1 TBSP chopped parsley
  • ½ teaspoon Allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon Ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon Basil dried
  • ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon
Instructions
  1. You can cook these like any other burger but it’s generally recommended that they are cooked at a slightly lower heat for a longer time to ensure that they inside reaches the correct temperature.

 

Topping Ideas

Mayo, mango chutney, cranberry sauce, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, avocado. (but not all at once!)