Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Chicken Enchilada Pasta (slightly adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, Total Time: 1 hour, Servings: 8-10)

Ingredients

·         1 12 oz. package dried jumbo shell macaroni

·         2 tsp. olive oil

·         1 large green and 1 large red sweet peppers, chopped

·         1 cup chopped red onion

·         1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and chopped

·         2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

·         2 pkg. Trader Joe’s chickenless Chicken Strips, chopped

·         1 16 oz. can refried beans

·         1 package taco seasoning mix

·         2 10 oz. cans enchilada sauce

·         8 oz. shredded Mexican-style four-cheese blend

·         1 cup sliced green onions

Directions

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Rinse; drain and set aside.

2.      In skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Cook sweet peppers, onion, jalapeno, and ¼  tsp. salt for 5 minutes or until tender.

3.      Stir in chicken, beans, taco seasoning mix, and ½ cup enchilada sauce. Cook and stir 5 minutes.

4.      Stir in ½ cup each of the cheese and green onions.

5.      Spread 1 cup of the remaining enchilada sauce in 3-quart rectangular baking dish.

6.      Divide filling among shells.  Arrange shells atop sauce. Drizzle with remaining enchilada sauce.

7.      Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.

8.      Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with remaining green onions.

I absolutely love this dish!  My husband thoroughly enjoyed the filling, but not the pasta (apparently, he’s not a fan of shells – never knew that before and I’ll never understand how people can write off one type of pasta, but that’s not for this blog).  They were pretty spicy, but the pasta helped tame that slightly.  The original recipe calls for 3 peppers, but I think that is too many considering the amount of filling that you have.  If you don’t have the Trader Joe’s chickenless Chicken Strips, you could make it without or use some other soy product (i.e. Morning Star Farms Burger Crumbles).  It adds some texture to the dish and some needed protein.  Overall, everything tasted delish and I wouldn’t change a thing to the above recipe.

Southwestern Corn Soup

Southwestern Corn Soup (5-6 servings, total time 25-30 minutes)

(adapted from KraftFoods)

This was a tasty soup, but I made it a tad too spicy.  My husband took a bite, said it was good but the slow heat blew him off his feet.  Guess I’ll be eating all of the leftovers! 

Ingredients

1 small green pepper, chopped

4 oz. 1/3 Fat Cream Cheese, cubed

½ lb. (8 oz.) Velveeta, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 can (14.75 oz.) cream-style corn

1-1/2 cups skim milk

½ can adobo peppers with sauce

2 Morningstar Farms Black Bean burgers, thawed, crumbled

1.)    Cook peppers in a non-stick medium saucepan on medium heat 3 to 5 min. or until crisp-tender.

2.)    Add cream cheese; cook on low heat 3 to 5 min. until melted, stirring frequently.

3.)    Stir in Velveeta, corn, milk, adobo peppers, and Black Bean Burger crumbles; cook 5 min. or until  Velveeta is completely melted and soup is heated through, stirring occasionally.

Although I though this dish was good and spicy (great for a cold day), next time I will use a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (drained) instead of the adobo peppers.  I want it to be more pleasing for my husband to taste.  The green peppers lose most of their crispness when cooked with the remaining ingredients, but that did not detract from the dish at all.  Using lower fat substitutions helps reduce the calories and overall fat in the dish.  Adding the burgers increases protein, an important step for vegetarians!  The soup is really easy to make and the texture is very creamy, especially if you let it cool for a moment before eating (allowing the Velveeta to congeal slightly).  I definitely plan on making this delicious dish again in the near future.  I’ll let you know how it works out with the adobo pepper substitution.

Stuffed Peppers - Somebody Else's Way

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/stuffed-peppers-my-way/detail.aspx

This stuffed pepper recipe was good, but not great.  I think that it would taste much better with a red, orange, or yellow bell pepper to add some sweetness.  The green peppers were a little too bland for my taste.  The recipe says that it takes 1 hour, but if you multi-task (i.e. roast the peppers while cooking the rice mixture), it only takes about 30 minutes. 

The only change that I made to the recipe was with the Italian seasoning - we didn’t have any, so I mixed together some onion powder, oregano, and sage – it worked well with the other flavors of the dish.  The rice mixture had a somewhat salty taste – from the feta and extra salt – so I plan to cut the salt back to about ½ tsp., or even omit it completely.  The texture of the rice was a good contrast to the more firm consistency of the pepper, but I will roast the peppers for less than 25 minutes so that they are more firm.  Overall, a good dish, but could use some improving to make it more “My Way”.