Mushroom Enchiladas

This is part of my cooking for a month series....
The cook book calls this Cream Mushroom Empanadas but I think that is a typo because these are not like any empanada I've ever seen and the look suspiciously like an enchilada. Therefore I call them enchiladas. With this recipe we discovered that freezing and reheating tortillas just does not work. They get soggy and gross. So, while I think the filling (chef's treat) for these was quite tasty Jeff said they were absolute mush so I didn't eat them after they were reheated. But he said it tasted good so I think this recipe is a keeper but only when not frozen first.

Creamy Mushroom Empanadas
10 servings

2lbs mix of wild mushrooms
2T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t dried thyme
pinch of salt
pepper
3T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1C light sour cream
8oz neufchatel cheese, cut into small cubes
1 can mild green enchilada sauce
8 burrito size whole wheat tortillas
1/2C shredded monterey jack cheese

Spray a 9in backing dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Chop mushrooms and set aside.  Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Add mushrooms, thyme, salt, pepper, and cook stirring often until mushrooms release their moisture and become tender and brown, about 7 minutes.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in cilantro, sour cream, neufchatel, allowing the cheese to melt and the mixture to get creamy.
Heat enchilada sauce in a large skillet over low heat. Dip tortilla in sauce to coat both sides and allow excess sauce to drip off.
Lay tortilla in the baking dish and fill with mushroom mixture, rolling tortilla around filling and placing enchilada seam-side down against the side of the baking dish.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and mushroom mixture.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce evenly over tortillas and sprinkle with cheese.Put in oven for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

This is before freezing.

My notes:
I froze this. It didn't work out so well. Also this made two (13X9) pans of enchiladas. I used regular sized tortillas instead of burrito sized because my store doesn't have whole wheat burrito sized tortillas. I think this would be quite tasty fresh out of the oven. Frozen it turned to mush during reheating. Not terribly appetizing.

Avocado Egg Salad

Pinterest strikes again! Avocado egg salad, why didn't I think of that? I'm glad that skinnytaste.com did. I'm not doing weight watchers anymore but this recipe included points for WW which is cool b/c it gives me an idea of how not-bad this is for me :)

I know this will not be kid-approved. Only because it's green. My kid is prejudice against green food, sadly my efforts to change this have not worked. But that won't stop me, I'll keep trying.
Jeff hates hard-boiled eggs, so this is definitely not Jeff-approved I don't even bother to get him to try them anymore. The last time I made egg-salad he tossed it in the trash the next day on 'accident'. Uh huh. Suuuuure.


Avocado Egg Salad
by Skinnytaste.com

Servings: 6 • Size: 1/2 cup • Old Points: 3 pt • Points+: 4 pt (w/ light Flatout 7 pts)
Calories: 154.7 • Fat: 11.7 g • Protein: 9.3 g • Carb: 4.6 g • Fiber: 3 g • Sugar: 0.5 g
Sodium: 132 mg (without salt)

Ingredients:

• 4 large hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 4 hard boiled egg whites, chopped (discard the rest)
• 1 medium hass avocado, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp fat free plain yogurt
• 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped chives
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• pinch freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Combine the egg yolks with the avocado, light mayo, yogurt, chives, vinegar, salt and pepper. Mash with a fork. Combine with egg whites and adjust salt as needed.

My notes:

This was tasty! I added about a tsp of yellow mustard to this, mainly because I like mustard in my egg salad. Also, I had fat free greet yogurt so I used that instead of just the plain yogurt. I think next time I make this I might add some carrot or celery, I like a little crunch to my egg salad. This could be pretty easily converted to a 'guacamole' style egg salad. Throw some cilantro (leave out the chives), tomato, onion, maybe a little jalapeno and voila! I think that's worth exploring.

My lunch

Creamy White Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna

This is another recipe courtesy of Pinterest. I personally enjoyed this lasagna.... I was the only one which is unfortunate because it was tasty. We will chalk this up to a momentary lapse in memory. I forgot that someone does not like artichokes, except in spinach artichoke dip. Which makes no sense to me. But I am taking the entire pan (minus the 2.5 servings that were eaten) over to my parents house tonight so they can enjoy it.

Creamy White Chicken & Artichoke Lasagna 

by: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com

Ingredients
2 cups boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a Touch of PHILADELPHIA, divided
1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup basil, chopped
12 lasagna noodles, cooked

Directions
Heat oven to 350°F. Combine chicken, artichokes, tomatoes, 1 cup mozzarella and Parmesan. Beat cream cheese, milk, and garlic powder with mixer until well blended; stir in 2 Tbsp. basil. Mix half with the chicken mixture. Spread half of the remaining cream cheese sauce onto bottom of 13×9-inch baking dish; cover with 3 noodles and 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Repeat layers of noodles and chicken mixture twice. Top with remaining cheese sauce and mozzarella; cover. Bake 25 min. or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining basil.

My notes

I was a little hesitant about this whole cream cheese milk thing as the sauce but it turned out good. I added ricotta to the cream cheese, milk mixture mainly because I had it on hand and I love ricotta. I added fresh garlic and dried basil rather than powder and fresh respectively. Unfortunately my basil plant is not producing enough leaves for me to harvest without hindering further production. I also used a tad more mozzarella in the lasagna because I was afraid the chicken layer would be dry.... I was right (it needs something maybe put the ricotta in that mixture rather than the cream cheese). On that note, I also sauteed onions and mushrooms together and added them to the chicken mixture as well. I'd like to play with this recipe but since it was not well received I don't really see the point. If anyone does play with it let me know how it turns out!

 

Corn and Avocado Salad

This recipe is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. Everyone enjoys this, I end up making it just about everytime we grill in the summer (which is a lot).

Corn Salad with Avocado

2T oil (recipe says corn, I use vegetable)

4-6 ears corn, stripped of kernels (2-3 C)

1 small red onion, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 t mild chile powder

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

1 medium ripe avocado, diced

S&P to taste

juice of 2 limes

1/2 C chopped cilantro leaves

Put oil in large skillet and turn to high heat. When oil is hot toss in the corn. Let it sit for a minute then stir or shake pan to toss the corn. Brown for about 5 minutes then turn off the heat stir in onion, pepper, chile powder, salt, and pepper.

Cool for a few minutes then toss in remaining ingredients. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

My notes:

This recipe is hard to mess up, it's very forgiving. I love cumin, so I always add cumin to this. I prefer to grill the corn and then lightly heat in a pan w/the pepper, onion, chile power, salt, pepper, and cumin. This recipe serves 4, but I just keep adding stuff til I think it's enough for however many people I have. Cutting the corn off the ear can be tricky, my Mom stands the ear up in a bowl and cuts from the top down. Most of the kernels stay in the bowl. This probably goes without saying, but it does not keep well b/c of the avocado.