Pioneer Woman Enchiladas

Happy Valentines! Or Single's Awareness Day depending on what side of the fence your on:) Once again I've got another delicious Pioneer Woman Recipe. I have to admit, if it was anyone else I probably would not have ever tried this recipe. First because I've never had a ground beef enchilada I liked, second is I usually always choose flour tortillas over corn, and third I don't love cooked olives. Have I scared you away from this recipe yet? I hope not because all those things a side, I loved these! Even my husband specifically told me he loved them which he doesn't say too often! I have to admit these take a little extra effort to put together, but still they're really not hard. Don't be intimated by the long list of ingredients and instructions I promise it's only a couple extra steps than your usual enchiladas. You gotta try these at least once!!!



FOR THE SAUCE:
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
1 can (28 Ounce) Enchilada Or Red Sauce
2 cups Chicken Broth
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro (I left this out, my husband hates cilantro and it's def. a required taste)

FOR THE MEAT:
1 pound Ground Beef
1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
2 cans (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies
½ teaspoons Season Salt

FOR THE TORTILLAS:
10 whole (to 14) Corn Tortillas
½ cups Canola Oil

TO ASSEMBLE:
3 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
½ cups Chopped Black Olives
1 cup Chopped Green Onions (my husband didn't love the green onions, but I was on the fence. I think it would be fine without, but I didn't mind them in either so whatever sounds good to you:)
½ cups Chopped Cilantro

Preparation Instructions

Step #1 – The Sauce
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a paste, cooking for one minute. Pour in the red sauce, chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

Step #2 – The Meat
Brown the meat with onions in a skillet. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies and seasoned salt. Set aside.

Step #3 – Tortillas
Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. One by one, using tongs, fry tortillas in oil until soft, not crisp – about 30 seconds per side. Remove to a paper—towel lined plate. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried.

Step #4 – Assembly
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour ½ cup red sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out. Dip each tortilla into red sauce, then remove to work surface. Spoon meat, a little grated cheese, a little black olives, and green onions in the center of tortilla. Roll up and place, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat until pan is filled. Pour extra red sauce over enchiladas (the sauce is delicious so don't be afraid to smother them.) Top with remaining cheddar cheese. Bake enchiladas uncovered for 20 minutes.

Easy Taco Soup

So I know most everyone probably has a recipe for taco soup, but I had never even tried it until a few years ago when a friend of mine brought it to work, and this is her recipe. I have since tried different ones, but still come back to this one. This recipe is so quick and easy, but if you have a better one or just have a suggestion let me know!


1 lb ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning
2 14.5 oz can tomatoes with green chilis
1 15 oz can corn, including juice
2 15 oz can light red kidney beans, drained
Fritos, cheese, sour cream, or any other toppings you like

Brown hamburger and drain grease. Stir in taco seasoning. Add remaining ingredients (except toppings, obviously:) Bring to boil, cover and reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. This is no spicier then tacos, but if your sensitive you can stir in a tablespoon of sugar before your covering. Serve with Fritos, cheese, and sour cream if you like.

Spanish Rice Wraps

So I found this one from a ward cook book, gotta love the ward cook books. The original recipe had no meat so if your husband isn't as picky as mine and it sounds good to you without by all means give it a try. I think next time I would add 2 cans of tomatoes because I really like them and on the meat I'll put a little taco seasoning for a little extra layer of flavor. The best part of this dish is it's so quick and has few ingredients, and if you do it without ground beef it's a one dish meal, and most of all it's delicious! Sorry no picture I hurried and packed it up and hauled it to my husband at work for dinner. Maybe I'll remember and take on at lunch tomorrow:)

1 lb. ground beef-optional
1 box Spanish Rice A Roni
2 T. butter
1 c. salsa
2 c. water
1 or 2 15 oz. can tomatoes with green onions
1 can black beans or kidney beans, rinsed- I used black beans
1 can corn, drained

Cook ground beef until no longer pink, drain and set aside. In separate pan melt butter and add rice. Cook until golden brown add tomatoes, salsa, and 2 c. water. Bring to boil and reduce heat cover and allow to simmer for 15. Add hamburger, corn, and beans. Serve in tortillas (I used sun dried tomato wraps) with cheese and sour cream.

Tex Mex Chicken and Rice Casserole

This recipe was simple and good, but beware because it makes a lot! I think if I were to make it again I would only use the rice vermicelli and keep out the extra rice or at least cut it in half. Also when I make it again I will use a can of tomatoes with green chilies instead of fresh tomatoes and canned green chillies I wasn't a fan of the fresh tomatoes in this, maybe because they were store bought tomatoes with not much flavor but it just wasn't my favorite, and if your family is sensitive to spicy food just cut back on the chili powder to maybe 1/2-3/4 Tablespoon. Other then that this is a super easy delicious casserole. Sorry I forgot to take a picture, we were so hungry and it looked so good we just kind of dove in, hopefully if I'm good I'll take a picture of the leftovers.

1 medium onion chopped
2 T. butter
1 pkg. chicken vermicelli
1 c. long grain white rice
28 oz. chicken broth
2 1/2 c. water
4 c. cooked chicken
4 medium tomatoes chopped, or 1 can tomatoes with green chilis
4 oz. can green chilies
2 t. basil
1 T. chili powder- or according to your family's taste
1/4 t. cumin
1/4 t. pepper
1 c. cheese- We didn't put this on, I think in order for this to be good it would have to be mixed into the casserole, but the recipe says to melt it on top at the end, so whatever sounds good to you

Saute onion in butter. Add rice and chicken vermicelli and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add broth and water (if your not adding extra rice I would cut out the 2 1/2 c. water.) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover with lid. Allow to simmer on low for 20 minutes. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake covered at 425 for 20 minutes. Depending on when you add cheese the recipe says to remove the tin foil and add cheese and cook another 5 minutes, but again I think it would be better to mix in with the rest of the casserole.

Chicken Fajita Melt

This is another super easy and super quick recipe ready in minutes. I found this recipe awhile ago on recipezaar, my favorite website for finding recipes. I have to admit I've tried a lot of recipes lately from several different recipe blogs and have only liked a few, so I'm always quick to go back to recipezaar since they're all rated. Anyway I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.



2-3 T. oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 small onion cut into slices
1 red bell pepper cut into strips
1/2 c. tomato juice, or v8
2 T. taco seasoning
1 c. salsa- I used Herdez
1 c. cheese
1 loaf Ciabotta bread

Heat oil in pan on medium high heat. Add Chicken and cook until completely done (my chicken was still slightly frozen and therefore let off a lot of juice, if this is the case drain leftover juice) Add onion and bell pepper and cook until starting to get tender. Stir in tomato juice and taco seasoning and cook over medium heat for about 7 minutes. While that is cooking turn your oven on to broil, if your oven is like mine is has a high and low, put it on high. On a cookie sheet slice your ciabotta bread down the middle lengthwise. It's probably easier if you cut in half and then cut each half through the middle (does that even make sense? hopefully my picture will help) Otherwise your likely to get one thin side and one really thick side, like me:). Spread your salsa on your bread (I know this sounds strange but trust me it works.) Once your chicken is done cooking scoop it up and spread evenly over your bread. Sprinkle with cheese and throw into your oven for about 3-4 minutes just until cheese is melted.

Grilled Chicken Tostadas.. or Tacos

So I've been kind of slacking lately on the posts. Not that I haven't been cooking, just nothing worth posting sadly. I'm kind of in a funk lately with recipes. Every so often I get where nothing sounds good and I feel like I've tried just about every recipe possible. I don't know if it's a Spring thing, or just I'm just stuck in a rut. Either way this recipe is a tried and true recipe that I've used many times since I discovered it a couple summers back. It's great for a quick and easy dinner. I usually serve it taco style, but I actually prefer it as a tostada it can be a little messier to eat, plus I choose to make the tostadas using corn tortillas which is an extra step I usually choose to skip. As much as I enjoy cooking if I can cut corners and get the same results I'm all about it. Either way you choose to serve these they are super delicious so I hope you enjoy!

2-4 chicken breasts
1/2 c. lime juice (I ran out and tried to use lemon juice and it just wasn't the same, if you don't have any lime juice and don't want to buy a whole bottle, limes are in season and are super cheap)
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 T. honey
2 t. minced garlic
1 1/2 t. chili powder

Combine all ingredients and marinate for 4-5 hours. Grill chicken on medium to high heat until completely cooked through, abound 6-7 minutes on each side. Slice chicken and serve either as taco or tostada.

Easy Chicken Taqiotos

These are really quite easy the only thing that takes a second is just heating the tortillas in oil and putting them together but even then 15-20 minutes to put together and they cook for 15 so pretty quick to make, and they're really good! Hope you enjoy!

Sorry not the best picture I was in a hurry, but you get the point:)

2 c. cooked and shredded chicken (you can use canned chicken as well)
1/2 c. minced onion
1 4 oz. can green chilies
1 10 can enchilada sauce
3/4 t. garlic salt
1 c. Mexican blend cheese- I always just use Colby and Monterey
24 corn tortillas (depends on what size you use, I had half small and some larger ones and made about 17 or 18)
3/4 c. cooking oil such as veg. oil

Combine first 6 ingredients. Heat oil on medium high heat (I only pour in a little at a time just enough to kind of cover the bottom of the pan.) Add one tortilla at a time heating about 5 seconds on each side, your only wanting them to be pliable not cooked crispy like a tostada. Remove from pan and lay on paper towel to drain off excess oil. I get a couple tortillas ready at a time and then put them together by adding 2 T. of chicken mixture down the side and roll up like an enchilada seem side down. Cook on a greased cookie sheet at 400 for 15 minutes.

Lazy Day Mexican Casserole

The title says it all on this one. If you want something quick and easy but different from the usual tacos this is it. I'm not sure if this can even be called a recipe or just a made up concoction, either way it works!
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion chopped
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1/2 c. water
1 c. enchilada sauce-about half of a 10 oz can
1 can refried beans
1/2 large bag of corn tortilla chips, lightly crushed
taco toppings-lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, salsa, or guacamole

Cook ground beef and onion until completely cooked through. Add taco seasoning and water and cook for for another minute until seasoning is thoroughly mixed in. Add enchilada sauce and refried beans and mix until completely incorporated. Meanwhile pour 3/4 of your chips into greased 9x13 pan (this is where I just take my hands and lightly crunch the chips.) Top with ground beef mixture and top with remaining chips. Cook at 375 for 20 minutes topping with cheese in the last 5 minutes. Serve with taco toppings.

Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Lasagna

I've kind of slacked with posting, but to be honest I haven't made anything worth posting. I made another Rachael Ray roll over meal which was jerk chicken that didn't turn out that great for us, but fortunately the rollover meal a pasta dish using the leftover chicken was really good, but I figured most probably wouldn't want to make the first meal just to get the second, right? This recipe for the Chicken Tortilla Lasagna is not a new one in our house, to be honest it really wasn't even planned. I had no clue what I was going to make and this is what Frank suggested so..voila here it is! This can be a little spicy so if you have kids you can cut back on the taco seasoning and use a mild enchilada sauce. The original recipe calls for sour cream and since we're not big sour cream fans I switched it for cream of mushroom. If you do like sour cream just switch it out with an 8 oz. container or even half of each if you want. It also calls for 2 9 oz. packages of frozen southwestern-seasoned chicken strips, thawed and diced but I choose to just cook about 3 chicken breasts in the crock pot instead. Anyway use whatever works for you or what fits your family's taste.

This would probably look much better to most of you with more cheese, but I'm just funny like that sorry:)

1 10 oz Old El Paso enchilada sauce
3 cooked chicken breasts shredded
1 can cream of mushroom
1/2 c. sliced green onions
1 T. taco seasoning
8 corn tortillas torn in half
2 c. Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
2 c. tortilla chips
1 large tomato diced
2 T sliced olives-optional

Spread 1/4 c. enchilada sauce in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Mix remaining enchilada sauce with cream of mushroom, taco seasoning, 1/2 of green onions, and chicken. Arrange half of your corn tortillas on top of enchilada sauce. Then top with half of chicken mixture, and 2/3 c. cheese. Repeat layers ending with chicken and cheese on top. Cover with foil and and cook at 375 for 30 minutes. Uncover and layer chips, tomatoes, olives, remaining onions, and remaining cheese. Bake another 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Chicken Ole

It's been awhile since I've posted. I took a short vacation on cooking after having my wisdom teeth removed last Thursday. It really wasn't too bad, I lucked out only having two upper wisdom teeth which are the easiest to recover from, so here I am back to posting new recipes. I actually kind of made up what I made tonight. I combined two different recipes and decided I like the original better..shocker, but you don't know until you try it right? Mostly it's called I have a sick kid who I didn't feel like dragging to the store so you make do with what you got on days like that. Anyway so I'll give you the original recipe that I liked better and once again it's a crock pot recipe. I didn't realize I had so many crock pot recipes until I started this blog. I kind of went through a faze of all crock pot cooking when Parker was younger because it was all I could manage to do. Anyway without further babbling here's the recipe for Chicken Ole.

3-4 chicken breast, cooked and cubed (to be honest I only use 2 because I'm a tight wad like that but if you want lot's of chicken I would go with 3 or 4)
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 T grated onion
1 c cheese
1/2 jar Green Chili Salsa-just kind of eye it, it gives a little spice so if you want less spice use less
10-12 corn tortillas

Mix soups, onion, cheese and salsa. Spray bottom of crock pot. Start by layering using 3-4 tortillas torn into fourths, sprinkle half of chicken, then half of soup mixture. Repeat layers. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. If you don't half corn tortillas you can go for the more casserole option I did last night just using egg noodles instead of tortillas, I think it was just missing a little substance which probably would help if I used cheese. I thought about adding frozen corn but forgot or if your really daring maybe some black beans which I had none of. Also if you like sour cream try swapping out the cream of mushroom for sour cream instead. I also threw on buttered bread crumbs. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, 5 minutes uncovered.

Chicken Verde

This was kind of a fun recipe I just made. It was super easy to make and the thing I liked most is that you could serve it a few different ways. It's a spin on chile verde but with chicken so you can use it any way you would with the chile verde; tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, or just served over rice . It's a bit on the spicy side so if you don't handle heat or you have little kids it's probably not for you. For the rest of us who like our Mexican food this is a must try!

2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded ( just throw in crock pot frozen season if like low 5 hrs or boil with onion, red pepper, and 1 qt water and use left over water instead of chicken broth)
1 onion minced
1 red pepper minced
3-4 minced garlic cloves (I just buy the jar of already minced usually found in produce section)
1 T cumin
1 can green chilies
1 cup green salsa
2 cups chicken broth (I just make broth using chicken bouillon granules)

Saute onion and red pepper in a little butter or oil ( this is not necessary if you boiled with chicken) Add remaining ingredients and simmer on medium low heat for 1 hour with lid off. And it's as easy as that!

Spanish Noodles

I actually have made these before, but it's been a really long time. This recipe is really good, but you definitely can't substitute or leave out anything. Every ingredient adds to the flavor. I'm still not sure if it's a recipe that everyone will love. Me and my husband both liked it, but the website I found it on only rated it a 4, mostly for the fact that they had to add more water for the noodles to cook. I fixed that by just adding more water from the beginning. Honestly I think this recipe is worth trying. The best part about it is that if you want you can do it all in one pot. Well once again let me know what you think.

1 lb ground beef
1 green pepper chopped
1 small onion chopped
3 c. egg noodles
14.5 oz can tomatoes (I used basil oregano because it was all I had)
2 c. water
1/2 c chili sauce (I used Heinz)
1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
5-6 pieces of bacon
cheese to sprinkle on top

If you want to keep it all in one pot cook your bacon first until slightly crisp. If your in a hurry and dishes aren't a problem you can cook the bacon at the same time you cook your hamburger and noodles.
Cook ground beef, onion, and green pepper until hamburger is completely cooked. Drain off grease. Add noodles, tomatoes, water, chili sauce, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook on medium low heat for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally until noodles are done. Sprinkle chopped bacon and cheese over top and serve!

Chili Lime Chicken Tostada

I thought this would be a good recipe to start with since everyone is always looking for a good crock pot recipe. I found this recipe from a new favorite website of mine called realmomkitchen.com, if you get the chance check it out. This recipe will definitely be a keeper for me, first for the fact that it's cooked in the crock pot, and second just because it was really good! So without further ado, here's the recipe!


2 chicken breasts
1 onion minced
4 oz. can green chilies
1 clove or 1 t. minced garlic (I buy it in a jar already minced, much easier)
3 T lime juice
refried beans and any other toppings you like

Place chicken breast in crock pot (and yes it can be frozen) with onion on top. Mix green chilies, garlic, and lime juice and pour over top of chicken and let cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot and shred. Pour 1 c. cooking juices over top. Serve tostada with warmed refried beans, which I added another 1/2 cup juices into as well, shredded chicken, and any other toppings of your choice.

I hope you like this recipe as much as I did. Let me know what you think!


p.s. I hope to have pictures next time but I just decided to do this early this morning so just use your imaginations or go to realmomkitchen.com and see her picture!