This past
week I tried two new recipes that were quite successful! One was buffalo
chicken enchiladas and the other was baked pesto chicken. I of course didn't
take any pictures of mine, but needless to say the food was awesome.
Baked Pesto
Chicken
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and
fresh ground black pepper for seasoning chicken
1/2 cup basil
pesto (Homemade or store bought)
2 oz. (1/2
cup) grated low-fat mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Trim all visible
fat and tendons from chicken pieces, then cut each chicken breast lengthwise
into 2 or 3 pieces.
Spray a
9" x 12" (or 8.5" X 12.5") baking dish with non-stick
spray, then spread 1/4 cup basil pesto over the bottom of the dish. Lay chicken
strips over the pesto, then spread 1/4 cup more basil pesto over the chicken.
Cover the
baking dish with aluminum foil (or use a baking dish with a tight-fitting lid)
and bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes, just until chicken is barely firm and
cooked through. (Don't cook too much at this point, or the chicken will be
overcooked by the time the cheese is melted and browned.)
When chicken is barely cooked through, remove
foil and sprinkle chicken with 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese. Put dish back
into the oven without foil and cook 5 minutes more, just until cheese is
melted. (If your broiler is separate from the oven, start preheating it when
you take the chicken out.) After I melted the cheese for 5 minutes I switched
my oven to broil and broiled for 5 minutes more, just long enough to get the
cheese lightly browned.
Serve hot. There will be some flavorful juice
in the bottom of the dish when this is done, so you may want to serve with
rice, couscous, or quinoa to soak up the juice, but if you're eating this for
phase one, just spoon the juice over the chicken.
Buffalo Chicken
Enchiladas
Ingredients
makes 8
enchiladas
8 large whole wheat tortillas
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked
and shredded
28 ounce can red enchilada sauce
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (+ more depending
on your taste buds)
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
5 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
Preparation
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick
spray. Pour enchilada sauce in a bowl and begin by whisking in 1/4 cup buffalo
wing sauce. Taste and adjust according to your desired level of heat – I added
in 1/2 cup total. Set aside.
Add shredded chicken to a bowl with 2 green
onions and 1/2 cup Monterrey jack cheese. Pour in about a 1/2 cup of
enchilada/buffalo sauce mixture and mix thoroughly. Stir until mixture comes
together.
Pour a drizzle of enchilada/buffalo sauce in
the bottom of the baking dish. Take each tortilla and fill it with a few
heaping tablespoons of the chicken mixture. Roll each up and set it in the
baking dish, seam side down. Pour another 1/2 cup or more of enchilada/buffalo
sauce on top of tortillas and add remaining Monterrey jack cheese. Bake for
20-25 minutes. Immediately after taking enchiladas out of the oven, add
crumbled Gorgonzola on top. Garnish with the remaining onions and cilantro and
serve. Store the remaining sauce in the fridge for 1-2 weeks, and use if
reheating enchiladas.
I left off
the onions because I am not a fan, but Brian would have probably liked if I had
included them.
___________________________________________________
Next week we
are heading to Charleston and I am SO excited. I got a little bummed this
morning because a tennis friend of ours asked us to play in a tourney with her
and of course it's the same weekend, but I am still so pumped for the beach!
Speaking of tennis, mixed doubles season is almost over (sad!) but our team may
get to go to states! Fingers crossed! Combos season starts next week, I am the
captain of my team, I think I am already regretting it :) But hopefully we will
have a good season!
And just
because he is so cute, here is a picture of Jackson in a beach cart!
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