Enchiladas y Coronas

It's Cinco De Mayo, well it was yesterday, and it had been a while since Ben and I had made dinner together. So we decided, yes over AIM at work that we would make a Mexican feast to partake in the celebration of Cinco De Mayo. I looked through a few different recipes on Cooking Light's website and found this one. And it looked almost perfect for dinner. Ben was excited all day long saying he could not wait to make our Enchiladas. We enhanced the recipe a bit, but just added a few more veggies in to kick up our version of this traditional Mexican Dish.



Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas
Pam
1 medium onion
1 orange bell pepper*
1 10 oz can enchilada sauce**
3 cups boneless skinless chicken breast***
1 cup pre-shredded reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
1 15 oz can black beans
2 jalapeños
1/2 tsp cumin
8 6 in corn tortillas
1/4 cup fresh copped cilantro

*We used orange becasue we like orange but any color bell pepper you want to buy or have on hand will work.

**We used Old El Paso enchilada sauce like the recipe called for, our supermarket only had mild and hot, so we picked mild to be on the safe side, because neither of us had ever had the enchilada sauce. Next time I'd buy the hot, because even with the jalapeños in the dish I thought it wasn't spicy enough.

***Perdue Short Cuts, precooked chicken is the best product ever. We used the original roasted but the plain grilled would have been fine too. You can also sautee up some chicken breast if you have some handy just with a little salt and pepper or you can use leftover chicken from the night before.


In a medium skillet coated with Pam heat the peppers, onions and hot peppers over medium high heat, saute for just a few minutes. Add in the entire can of enchilada sauce and bring to a boil, then reduce down to a simmer and cover for 5 minutes, to thicken.


In a seperate bowl mix chicken, black beans (strained,) 3/4 cup cheese, and cumin toss well to coat.

In the microwave heat the tortillas according to the directions, we just did 30 seconds and found that they were not warmed enough, and started cracking when we were rolling. Spoon 1/4 cup of the mixture into the tortilla and roll, place seem side down in a 11 X 7 inch baking dish coated with Pam. Repeat until all are filled and rolled. We had extra middle mixture so we just put it on top of the tortillas, then pour the entire sauce mixture over the enchiladas. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 7 to 8 minutes until the enchiladas are heated through. Add the remaining cheese to the top and place back in the oven for another one to two minutes.


Garnish with cilantro and serve.

This makes 4 servings of 2 enchiladas each which was plenty for me, Ben had 3. :)


This was so good, there were a few changes that we would make for next time. We correctly followed the original directions on the website to put under the broiler for 3 minutes, and found that our enchiladas were warm and not hot, and so I made that correction above. I loved the addition of the black beans and jalapeños. This meal was cheap (about 17 dollars for all the supplies) easy, (took about 30 minutes to do everything) and healthy (the original recipe says it was 364 calories 10 grams of fat per serving.) And wow was it yummy. You could not tell that this was a healthy meal it was so flavorful and good, Ben and I have already started making plans for making it again.


I highly recommend this recipe not only for Cinco De Mayo but for any night of the week. So good! Don't forget your Corona and a lime to complete this festive meal.