Crab and Spinach Enchiladas

     After the holidays, I'm glad I have cookbooks like the Betty Crocker 300 Calorie Cookbook.  I'm not one for cleanses or detoxes. I just try to eat more sensibly and get back to my standard 1600 calorie a day intake. Recipes like these enchiladas are great because they are filling, but super-low in calories. Each of these enchiladas come in at around 300 calories. Have two of these and some black beans and a bit of rice and you've got a great meal in the 600 calorie range. As always, and notes or changes are in blue.

Crabmeat and Spinach Enchiladas
via Betty Crocker 300 Calorie Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 cup chunky-style salsa (if you can use home-made, you'll save yourself some unneeded preservatives and sodium)
• 1/4 cup chili sauce (if you want to do a bit of fusion here, use Sriracha)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I used 1 tablespoon of dried. If you can't stand cilantro, you could always swap in parsley or basil)
• 1 pound refrigerated chunk-style imitation crabmeat (as I call it, "Crabuluxe")
• 2 cups frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Pepper Jack cheese
• 8 flour tortillas
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350F. Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray (I can't imagine anything cataclysmic is going to happen if you don't use glass. However, if you use Corningware and subsequently die, please don't blame me)
2. In a small bowl, mix salsa, chili sauce, cumin and cilantro.
3. In a medium bowl, break up crabmeat and combine with spinach, Pepper Jack cheese and 1/4 cup of the sauce mixture. Spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce mixture over the bottom of the baking dish (because spreading the mixture under the baking dish would just be stupid).
4. Top each tortilla with about 2/3 cup of the crabmeat mixture; roll up. Place tortillas, seam side down, in baking dish. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
5. Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray. Cover dish with foil, sprayed side down (I'm going to tell you that if you need to be instructed to put the sprayed side down, maybe you should just order out instead) Bake 35-40 minutes or until thoroughly heated. 

Good times!

White Chicken Enchiladas

     For as many times as I turn to Taste of Home Every Day Light Meals, the publishers should probably start giving me some sort of endorsement deal. Seriously. I'd take a couple of bucks for talking up a product I like. I'm not proud. Anyways, I keep going back to this book because you can't argue with success. Today's recipe has become one of our favorites when it's time to cook Mexican-style. It speaks volumes for this recipe that I will make almost no changes to this recipe. Fair warning, this is moderately labor intensive. It's worth it, though. As always, notes are in blue. With no further delay, I present today's recipe:

White Chicken Enchiladas
via Taste of Home Everyday Meals

Ingredients

• 12 white or yellow corn tortillas (6 inches) (we used flour instead. If you use flour, you're going to need to eat them in a couple of days or they get super soggy)
• 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese (ALDI makes a great Neufchatel cheese I use whenever reduced-fat cream cheese is called for)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 cup fat-free milk, divided (I used 2%)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
• 1 can (10.75 ounce reduced-fat, reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 cup (8 ounces) fat-free sour cream
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (If you want more heat, leave the seeds in)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Wrap tortillas in foil. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes or until softened (I have never, ever done this step. I have yet to suffer a broken tortilla)
2. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, 1 tablespoon milk and cumin until smooth. (Let the cream cheese soften up or it's going to take forever to get smooth) Stir in chicken. 
3. In a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray (I went ahead and used a bit of olive oil. I refuse to live in fear). Sautee onion and red pepper until softened. Stir into chicken mixture.
4. In another bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, jalapenos, cayenne and remaining milk. Stir 2 tablespoons of this mixture into the chicken mixture.

   

   You should end up with two bowls. The one on the right is the enchilada filling,
   the one on the left is the enchilada topping. Keep that straight. If you do this wrong
   you'll destroy all life as we know it.

5. Place 1/3 cup of chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up (the tortilla, not you. You'll be hard pressed to get much done laying on the floor like a pillbug)
6. Place rolled tortillas seam side down in a 13"x9"x2" baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Top with remaining soup mixture. Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Good times!