Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Last night I made an awesome casserole! Mexican food is always a fan favorite in our home, so I chose one of many Pinterest recipes. This one was from Family Fresh Meals. I made a couple of changes to it to suit our family. It was a huge hit, and leftovers for lunch were great!

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients

• 18 6-inch corn tortillas (gluten free)
• 1 packet Frontera, Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 4 cups Mexican blend cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Place 6 tortillas in the bottom of a buttered baking dish - allow them to overlap some
   
   
3. Top with 1/3 the packet of enchilada sauce evenly over tortillas
4. Top with 1/2 chicken, 2 TB of onion, 1 cup of cheese
5. Repeat steps 1-4
6. For the final layer, add 6 more tortillas, the rest of the sauce, chicken, and onions. Top with one more cup of cheese.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving. 

National Women's Health & Fitness Day + New Recipe!

Happy National Women’s Health & Fitness Day!

I love all of the National Days. I subscribe to the emails from National Day Calendar, and post them in my classroom for my kids. Sometimes I pull them in to my lesson plans, but mostly I just think they are fun and interesting. I was super excited to find out today is National WOmen’s Health and Fitness Day! Coincidentally, it is also one of my best friends' birthdays! Toady is her Golden Birthday - meaning she's 27 on the 27th! I didn't even know about Golden Birthdays were a thing until a couple of years ago. My Golden Birthday was 14 years ago - oh, well! :)

Additionally, I'm amping up my healthy eating (in preps for my wedding + it is just a necessity). With this, tonight's dinner was Chicken and Rice Soup.  It makes a huge batch! I'm pretty sure you could feed an army with it!

Chicken & Rice Soup

Ingredients

2/3 Rotisserie Chicken (diced)
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
2 cups brown rice, cooked
32 oz low sodium chicken broth
2-3 cups water
Sprig of fresh rosemary (optional)
Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions

Cook rice according to package instructions. Dice chicken and all veggies. Place in a 2+ quart pot with broth, water, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low medium, add rice, and cook until veggies are tender (usually 1-1.5 hours). Or throw all ingredients in your crockpot on low all day. Make sure to precook the rice, so it doesn't absorb all of the liquid. 

Warming Up with Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

 If you're like 97% of the nation (sorry, Hawaii), then you're probably doing what you can to stay warm. That includes getting some warm food in your bellies! We have a windchill of -8 here... whoa! That's not something us southerners are used to, but we do know the perfect foods to help out.

Last night I cooked chicken and shrimp jambalaya. For an Irish girl taking a stab at some Cajun cooking, I'm quite pleased with the outcome. It was a Weight Watchers recipe that I found, but I ended tweaking it some to make it cleaner and to go with what I already had on hand. Man, oh man, jambalaya recipes can have an ingredient list a mile long! I tend to get overwhelmed, so I tried making it as simple as possible! The end result was delish. (Ah, sorry for the slang. I couldn't help myself!) If you prefer milder foods, then this one is a good call. I prefer spicier dishes, so I may add some more Cajun seasoning next time. I ended up adding hot sauce to my bowl for the extra kick.

I added the nutrition info below. You'll see it's chocked-full of protein (24g for only 1 cup), with healthy carbs from the tomatoes, peppers, and brown rice. It was super easy to make, too. My kiddo isn't a fan of shrimp, but he loved having the chicken in there. You can also add sausage for more protein. I prefer chicken sausage, but Andouille is a good choice if you're going for the full Cajun experience.

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup celery, sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 15 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
• 1 15 ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth,
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 1/2 cups brown rice, uncooked
• 8 ounces cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp
• 3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

 

 

Directions

1. In a medium or large crockpot, combine celery, onion, tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, and Cajun seasoning. Stir in chicken.

 

2. Cover and cook on low-heat for 5 to 6 hours (or on high-heat for 2-1/2 to 3 hours).

 

3. While the chicken mixture is cooking, prepare the brown rice according to the package instructions.

 

4. Add the cooked rice, shrimp, and pepper and cook for the last 20 minutes in the crockpot.

 

Nutritional Info (per 1 cup serving, makes 6 servings):

 

Calories: 209

Carbs: 25g

Fat: 2g

Fiber: 3g

Protein: 24g

Sugar: 4g