Tomatillo Cilantro Rice

This is a little concauction that I came up with last night, and I must say- it turned out pretty dang good!!

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked rice (not minute rice)
cooking oil
1 tomatillo, pureed
1/2 medium lime, juiced
1/2 medium lime zest
1/4 poblano pepper, seeded and pureed (may skip this or sub with any other pepper including jalapeno)
1-1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 chicken bullion cubes, dissolved
6-8 sprigs of cilantro, remove leaves and chop fine
1 Tbsp minced onion
salt
pepper

Directions

Fry rice in sauce pan with cooking oil (just enough oil to coat rice) on high heat. Fry rice until golden brown, stirring constantly.

Measure the amount of liquid that your particular rice calls for (mine is a 2:1 liquid:rice ratio) using lime juice, tomatillo puree, poblano pepper puree (puree these together) and chicken bullion.

Side note--I hate microwaving food, so to dissolve the bullion cubes, I will typically add just enough water to cover the top of the cubes in my pyrex measuring cup and microwave that small amount of water for about 1-2 minutes until cubes are dissolved. Then add other liquids to measuring cup and top off with water to reach desired liquid amount. Add lime juice and chicken bullion first in case your tomatillo puree is more than the required liquid amount.

Add liquid, minced onion and garlic to rice and cook according to package directions. 3 minutes before rice is done cooking sprinkle cilantro and lime zest over the top. Once rice is fully cooked, fluff with fork and salt and pepper to taste.

Now, I made up this recipe from memory of what I did to make it. So if there is something too vague or missing, let me know! :)

How to de-skin a chile pepper

When using peppers such as Poblano, Pasilla, Anaheim or even a green pepper its best to remove the thin outer skin prior to eating. Sounds easier said than done, right? Not the case. Its actually quite easily done by roasting the pepper.


There are a couple ways you can roast the peppers. 1- high heat on the BBQ grill. 2- medium/high heat on your oven broiler or 3- the flame on your gas cook top using a steaming basket.


I prefer the first option because its less mess, but have done it all 3 ways in the past.


So here is how you do it:

• Wash and dry chiles





• Get your heat source ready. Fire up the BBQ or preheat the broiler.





• Place chile on (or under) heat, turning every minute or so until the skin is blackened. Your end result should be 60% to 75% of the chile being blackened. If you think it looks like you're burning the chile, you're doing id right!





• Remove from heat (tongs are a great tool for this) and place in a plastic bag. Seal bag and let chiles sweat for about 10 minutes. This process allows the chiles to continue to cook, and will make it much easier to peel skins. My dad puts the bag in the fridge- which I have found this is useful when on a time crunch and I need the peppers to cool quickly so I can touch them to remove the skin.





• Carefully remove skins one at a time by rubbing the skins with your fingers. I do this over my sink since removing charred skins tends to make a bit of a mess. Try to avoid running chiles under water in as much as that lessens the flavor by removing oils.

For those of us who are unfamiliar with chiles and peppers here is a great visual guide.

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

These enchiladas are a great twist on the classic.My husband has decided this is the best meal he has ever had! (gee, that says a lot about my cooking right!) I cooked up half these, and put the other half in the freezer.







Ingredients
9 Tortillas
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1- 10 oz can red enchilada sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons bbq sauce (optional)
1/3 to 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (depending on how "wingey" you want them to taste)
1 cup Mexican blend cheese, shredded
3 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled (I cheaped out and used Feta and it was excellent)
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
1 red (or green) pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk together enchilada sauce, ketchup, bbq sauce and wing sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine shredded chicken, yellow onion, red pepper, 1/2 cup shredded cheese and 3/4 cup of the sauce mixture.
Spray 9x13 baking dish with non stick spray then drizzle a bit of the enchilada sauce in bottom of pan.
Fill tortillas with a couple heaping spoon fulls of chicken mixture. Roll and place in baking pan seams down.
Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of tortillas, then sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for 20-25 min.
Sprinkle Gorgonzola cheese over top of enchiladas immediately after removing from oven. Garnish with cilantro and green onions.

Chicken Burrito Pizza

Pizza Dough

1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/4 t active dry yeast
1/4 t salt
1/2 t sugar
6 T cold water

In large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients, then create well in center and add the water. Using your hands, gently combine dough for about 3-4 minutes or until it comes together.
Move dough to lightly floured surface, knead for 10 min. or until firm and smooth. Form into ball. Cover with clean dish towel; let rest for 5 min.
Using rolling pin, roll out dough to form 11-in circle; place on round metal pizza pan with small holes so dough just reaches but doesn't overlap edges. (We used a baking stone.) Let rest for 45 min. before adding toppings.

Chicken Burrito Pizza

Pizza:
2 T salsa
1 11-in pizza crust
1 c shredded low fat mozzarella
1 4-oz chicken breast, grilled and diced
4 T black beans
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Pico de Gallo:
1 large tomato, diced
1 small green chili, diced
1 T chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 red onion, diced
salt

Preheat oven to 450*. Spread salsa evenly over prepared dough, then sprinkle with mozzarella. Top with chicken, black beans, and onion, bake for 7-10 min or until edges of crust are golden.
Meanwhile, combine tomato, chili, cilantro, and onion in small bowl; season with salt and set aside.
Remove pizza from oven, cut into 12 slices, place on serving tray. Top with pico de gallo and guacamole.

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

3 cups chicken, cooked and shredded

2/3 c. salsa (I used 1 c. maybe more)

1/2 c. green onion sliced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp crushed oregano

1/2 tsp salt

8 med flour tortillas

1/4 c. melted butter (1/2 stick)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

*I cooked chicken ahead of time in crockpot so when it came time to make the chimichangas it went really fast. Put frozen chicken in crockpot first thing in the morning w/ 1 c. water and a chicken bouillon cube. Cook on low 7-8 hours then shred.

*Combine shredded chicken, salsa, onion, cumin, oregano and salt in a saucepan and simmer 5-10 min till most of liquid is gone (there's not a lot to begin with).

*Brush one side of a warm tortilla with melted butter. Flip over and fill the opposite side with 1/3 c. chicken mixture down the center, and about 2 TBSP of cheese (or more as desired).

*Fold up ends of tortilla, then lift/roll sides (parallel to chicken mixt) till overlapped. Place seam side down in 9x13 pan. Brush any extra butter on tops of rolled tortillas in pan.

*Bake @ 475 degrees for 13 minutes or till crispy, golden brown.

*Top with guacamole, sour cream, or salsa....or all three if you're indecisive like me!

*Recipe can be doubled and frozen.

Flautas

This recipe came from a homemade cookbook Mindy Royce gave to me a couple of years ago to help me be a better cooking wife!

1 pkg flour tortillas
2 T onion
1 pkg cream cheese
2 chicken breasts
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
vegetable oil
We add a little shredded mexican cheese to the mixture

Cook chicken and shred into small pieces (we cooked the chicken in broth). While chicken is cooling, heat oil over medium-high heat (add enough oil to cover bottom of pan). When chicken is warm (not hot or it will melt the cream cheese too much), mix with 1/2 pkg cream cheese, onions, and taco seasoning. Mixture should be like a chicken salad consistency. Depending on size of chicken breast, you may need to use the other half of cream cheese. Once mixed to correct consistency add heaping scoopful to center of flour tortilla. Roll tortilla and cook in oil until lightly brown and crispy, then flip. Repeat until remaining mixture is gone. Top with sour cream, cheese, salsa, guacamole, etc.