Mom's Chicken Enchiladas

Mom's Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe is from Eating for Life by Bill Phillips, p. 114. So this is Bill's Mom's recipe, not either of our mom's. This is Willie's specialty dish. We used three MA`O ingredients for this dish: Tahitian limes, baby Romaine heads, and green onions. It was delicious, as usual.

Ingredients:
4 portions chicken breast (about 1 lb)
4 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 cans (10 oz each) green enchilada sauce
8 corn tortillas
1 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups lettuce, shredded
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 tomato, diced
1 can (2 oz) ripe olives, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Place chicken breasts in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until no longer pink in the center, about 15 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly. Shred cooked chicken by pulling apart with 2 forks; set aside.

3. Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add green onion, cilantro and jalapeno; saute for 2 minutes. Add shredded chicken and 1 can of enchilada sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

4. Pour the 2 remaining cans of enchilada sauce in a medium bowl and microwave until warm, about 2 minutes. Dip each tortilla in the heated sauce and fill with about 1/8 of the chicken mixture. Roll up and place, seam-side down, in the prepared baking dish.

5. Pour remaining heated sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until enchiladas are heated through and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

6. Divide lettuce onto four plates and place a portion of enchiladas on top. Top with a spoonful of salsa, a dollop of sour cream, tomatoes, and olives. Serve and enjoy!

Adrienne's note: We also like a squeeze of lime on our Mexican dishes.

Massaged Kale Salad

Massaged Kale Salad

This recipe was adapted from Aarti Sequeira's (Aarti Party, Food Network) recipe, found here.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale (black kale is especially good), stalks removed and discarded, leaves thinly sliced


• 1 lemon, juiced


• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling


• Kosher salt


• 2 teaspoons honey


• Freshly ground black pepper


• 1 mango, diced small (about 1 cup)


• Small handful toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), about 2 rounded tablespoons

Directions:

In large serving bowl, add the kale, half of lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt. Massage until the kale starts to soften and wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside while you make the dressing.

In a small bowl, whisk remaining lemon juice with the honey and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stream in the 1/4 cup of oil while whisking until dressing forms, and you like how it tastes.

Pour the dressing over the kale, and add the mango and pepitas. Toss and serve.

Adrienne's Notes: There's no need to remove the stalks on these little baby kale. I couldn't find pumpkin seeds at the grocery store, so I substituted toasted walnuts (toasted in the oven at 375 degrees until fragrant, about ten minutes). I also bought a mango that turned out to be brown on the inside, even though it was firm and only starting to turn red and orange on the outside. Bummers, huh? So I substituted strawberries there. I wanted to use a substitute fruit that would match the texture of the mango and fit in with the citrusy dressing. Both substitutions worked well! I'm sure the original recipe is delicious, too. Massaging the kale in the lemon acid and olive oil is the secret. This softens the leaves up and takes away some of their bitterness. I must have eaten about four cups of kale this way (it shrank down after the massage). In the short time during which I've experimented with kale, this is the BEST way to have it! And it's raw. Bonus!

Above: kale salad, take two. This time, I found a good mango and pepitas (pumpkin seeds). The salad is good, but I wouldn't use pumpkin seeds next time-- they're too chewy. I'd use macadamia nuts.

Baby Kale Chips

Baby Kale Chips

A few weeks ago, we made kale chips with the big lacinato kale leaves. Here's that recipe. This week, we got more bags of the "Powerhouse Kale Mix," which consists of a variety of baby kale leaves. Baby kale leaves also make delicious chips. As you can see from the pictures above, the kale shrinks by more than half while in the oven. The resulting baby kale chip is parchment thin and translucent. Here's the recipe, from the blog "The Hunger Struck":

Ingredients:

A small bag of fresh mixed baby kales

olive oil

fleur de sel

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees

Wash your kales under cold water and make sure to dry thoroughly. I use a salad spinner to get them quite dry and them let then sit on a paper towel for a while until there is not a drop of water on them.

In a bowl toss the kale in a little olive oil and then arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with fleur de sel.

Bake for 25 minutes or until completely crisp.

Serve immediately.

Tofu and Mizuna Salad

Tofu and Mizuna Salad

Toss a big handful of fresh mizuna greens with 1 cup diced firm tofu in my co-clerk Gemma's sesame dressing (one part sugar, one part sesame oil, one and one half parts rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste). The mizuna is peppery, the tofu is mild, and the sesame dressing adds depth and sweetness.

Mizuna Bacon

Mizuna Bacon This recipe comes from "Japan Food Addict" (link to the blog is above).

Ingredients:

2.5 ounces mizuna (chopped into 2″ pieces)

1.5 ounces bacon (sliced small)

1 tsp soy sauce

dash salt

Directions:

1. Cook bacon in a pan until crispy (3-4 min)

2. Remove excess grease from the pan

3. Add mizuna, soy sauce, and a dash of salt

4. Serve!

Thinking about you, Japan!

Another week of good-looking vegetables and fruits!

Left to right: An inside view of the baby bok choy (one with green leaves, one with smoky purple leaves), Tahitian limes (always enjoyed in drinks), Romaine lettuce heads (HUGE this week!).

Radishes! Radishes! Radishes!

Look at all these radishes! Before joining the CSA, I don't think I ever ate a radish (on purpose, at least). What to do with them????

The first recipe I tried was the French Breakfast Radish Tartines. The bitter tang of the radishes went well with the sweet butter and the crusty bread (I used a baguette). But I couldn't tell if I just liked the bread and butter and the radishes were just along for the ride.

The second recipe I tried was the Quick Pickled Radishes. Those were good palette cleansers. Next time, I'll slice them ribbon-thin.

The last recipe I tried was the Butter-Glazed Radishes. This one was my least favorite. I tried to salvage the radishes by pulsing them into a cream cheese and heavy cream mix (with a dash of steak sauce, although I wanted to use Worcestershire sauce). The spread was not good, and I ended up throwing it away.

Lesson learned for the future: Go with pickling!