Mexican

Mexican Pizzas

~ lk529 ~ 6 Comments

It’s another Mexican Monday and today my suggestion is to try these “Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas”. I do not frequent the local Taco Bell, so I can only trust the source I got the recipe from that they are indeed “Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas”. Either way, they’re delicious and a simple week night dinner – I opted to add ground beef to the pizzas, but you could omit the meat and keep them vegetarian. Don’t be deceived, these tortilla sized pizzas are surprisingly satisfying.

Mexican Pizzas

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 lb ground beef
  • 1/8 C taco seasoning or 1/2 pkt
  • 1/4 C water
  • 4 wheat tortillas
  • 1 C refried beans
  • 1/3 C enchilada sauce
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 small red onion, diced finely
  • 2/3 C shredded Mexican cheese

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. In a medium, non-stick skillet brown ground beef over medium-high heat. Stir in taco seasoning and water according to taco seasoning directions. *If making your own taco seasoning, use 1/4 C water and 1/8 C seasoning for the 1/2 lb of meat.
  3. Crisp up tortillas in a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, flipping often.
  4. Heat the refried beans (the microwave will work just fine) until they’re warm and easier to spread. Spread over two of the crispy tortillas.
  5. Top each tortilla with the remaining two tortillas. And spread the enchilada sauce over top. Pile on meat and veggies. Cover with cheese.
  6. Bake 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

*This recipe is modified from Allyson at http://domesticsuperhero.com/2013/05/20/taco-bell-mexican-pizzas/*

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Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad

~ lk529 ~ 5 Comments

When I travel I like to bring a magazine on the flights with me. On my last business trip in April I made it through the 3 Food Network magazines I brought with me before my last flight, so during my layover in Atlanta I scoured the shelves for something that would interest me. I was hoping for a book of crosswords, but all I could find were Sudoku and Word Searches. Then I saw the most appetizing looking salad on the cover of Everyday with Rachael Ray. It was the May issue and had lots of Mexican style recipes and party ideas. This salad recipe has been worth the $4 I spent because I’ve made it four times already! I’ve even made just the sauce for leftover chicken and created nachos when I didn’t have any lettuce left.  Another variation, and time saving tip, is to use leftover chicken and warm it through in the sauce.

You have to make this! (It takes care of Mexican Monday and Salad Night)

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lb chicken, sliced into strips
  • 1 tsp each cumin, paprika, coriander
  • 1/3 C + 1 tbsp olive oil, divided use
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce depending on your desired heat level
  • 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 hearts of romaine lettuce
  • 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • juice 1 lime
  • 2 tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 C chopped cilantro
  • 2 C crushed tortilla chips

Steps

  1. Season chicken with salt and pepper and spices. Cook completely in a large skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
  2. Make the sauce/dressing in a food processor or blender. Puree shallot, garlic, chipotle peppers, vinegar and brown sugar. While the machine is running, pour in 1/3 C olive oil. Simmer in the same skillet from step 1 for about 1 minute.
  3. Make salad with remaining ingredients. Top with chicken and warm dressing.Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad

And don’t throw away the remainder of the can of chipotle peppers in adobo! I have an ice cube tray that I use for freezing foods. Simply put a pepper in each segment of the tray and the sauce over each of them, when frozen put into a freezer bag and now you’ll have chipotle peppers in adobo whenever a recipe calls for them. As a general rule of thumb, one ice cube is about 1 tbsp. I do this for tomato paste too.

Update August 2016: We’ve made this salad many times and it was a favorite go-to dinner for quite some time. It was fun to revisit it this summer, and while I’m still not thrilled with these updated photos, they’re immensely better than what you see above! I now prefer to buy the colorful tortilla strip salad toppings to crushing up regular tortilla chips; I find they provide a better crunch ratio as they don’t get soggy as quickly.

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad | Sew You Think You Can Cook | http://sewyouthinkyoucancook.com

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

~ lk529 ~ 6 Comments

You’ve probably heard of Taco Tuesdays. In my household, we do Mexican Mondays. It allows for more versatility. It’s a culinary “tradition” that we’ve been doing for over a year and I’m impressed that I’ve been able to keep it fun and interesting. There are a few recipes that have become tried and true favorites and I will and do repeat them, but more often than not I’m finding something new to try.

These Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas are a best seller – we’ll even have them any day of the week! If I’m entertaining family or friends, this is a simple go-to. And I haven’t gotten a single complaint yet! My mom’s cousin claims to hate honey, yet she cleared her plate.

The very first time I made this dish was after a vacation and my fridge and pantry were pretty empty. I did not have green enchilada sauce and knew that without tomatillos I wasn’t going to be able to make my own either. But, I found Emeril’s recipe for red enchilada sauce and had everything on hand to make that. Enchilada sauce is now a pantry staple, so I don’t bother making my own anymore. (But in a pinch I’ll always come back to Emeril’s recipe.)

The second time I made this dish, we had a crowd so I doubled the recipe. Because we loved it with red enchilada sauce, we decided to keep one casserole dish with red and with the other tried the green. I haven’t made it with green since! I’ve noticed that the red (medium heat) enchilada sauce creates a unique flavor profile with the chicken that keeps you coming back for more. But I urge you to try it both ways and see what works best for your family.

The recipe calls for cooked chicken and I have tried just about every preparation of cooked chicken with this dish. Honestly, my favorite is using grilled chicken, the extra flavor you get from the grill rounds out the dish perfectly. My quick go-to method is putting a whole chicken in the slow cooker, but you can easily pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store on your way home!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

  • 1 lb cooked shredded chicken
  • 6 tbsp honey
  • Zest 2-3 limes
  • juice 2-3 limes
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce (red or green)
  • 1/4-1/2 C heavy cream
  • 8 oz Mexican-blend shredded cheese
  • 8-10 soft taco sized flour tortillas

Steps

  1. Marinate cooked chicken in honey, lime juice, chili and garlic powders, and salt for 30 minutes.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. In a measuring cup, whisk together enchilada sauce and cream. Pour a thin layer of sauce on the bottom a 9×13″ baking dish.
  4. Assemble enchiladas with chicken and cheese (reserving some cheese for the top). Place seam-side down in the baking dish and top with remaining sauce and cheese.
  5. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbly.

*This recipe is adapted from Danelle at http://www.letsdishrecipes.com/2012/04/honey-lime-chicken-enchiladas.html*

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Be prepared for many more Mexican-style recipes in the future!