Chicken Enchiladas

Sunday night I was supposed to have a group of people over for dinner. They failed and dinner didn't happen.

Let me rephrase. The eating of dinner didn't happen. I spent all morning making it, so dinner did happen. Actually I ate some this week, but tossed the bulk of it in the freezer. Now I am thinking it will be perfect on Sunday when my sister is in town. Yay!

I wanted to make enchiladas because they are a quick fix before hand and easy to heat up when we are finally ready to eat. But I was very concerned that my friends would not like the sweet potatoes in my sweet potato and black bean enchiladas.

So I modified that recipe and here is what I got:
Chicken, Rice and Black Bean Enchiladas with Green Chile Sauce (but for short, let's call them chicken enchiladas)
(Go back to Karina's Kitchen for the original recipe. She really is fabulous).

Green Chile Sauce
1 cup chicken broth (I always use Rachel Ray's stock in a box, or Pacifica Foods brand)
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water
1 7 oz. can chopped roasted green chiles (I get mine for $0.98 at Walmart)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a slow simmer, and let the sauce thicken.

Filling
--Part 1: Beans
1 15-oz can organic black beans, rinsed, drained
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp lime juice
Mix all ingredients in a bowl, and let it hang out.

--Part 2: Rice
1/4 cup uncooked brown rice
2 tsp lime juice
1 big bunch of cilantro, chopped
Cook the rice. When it is done, mix in the chopped cilantro and lime juice.

--Part 3: Chicken
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken
1 7 oz can chopped roasted green chiles
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

In a large skillet, toss the chicken, chiles and spices (except the cilantro) together and cook until chicken is done. Liquid can be added as necessary. When the chicken is cooked, shred it with fork. Adjust spices as needed, and add the cilantro.

Assembling
13 corn tortillas (That is all my 9x13 pan would hold)
shredded cheese

Preheat the oven to 350. Get out a clean skillet, and put it over medium heat.
Put 1/4 cup green chile sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Put a corn tortilla in the skillet and warm it until it begins to brown, flip and repeat. This is an important step because it actually helps you roll the corn tortillas without breaking them. You can just put them over an open flame if you have a gas grill. Also, if you are having difficulty with warming them, you can use some oil in the skillet.
Lay the tortilla flat in the 9x13 pan, and fill with a spoonful of rice, beans and chicken. Roll and put against the side of the pan.
Repeat until the pan is full.
Pour the rest of the green chile sauce over the top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Enchiladas and Muffins

Planned meal number one for the week was enchiladas. I wanted something not chicken - yeah, I don't know why. So I looked around at some of the food blogs, and found this recipe for Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas.

The only change I made was using cornstarch instead of arrowroot starch (because it's what I had). Oh, and I'll make an ingredient note, I was able to find 8 oz cans of chopped, roasted green chiles at Walmart for $0.96, be sure you look around. The first cans I found were 4 oz and $2+.

Also, the recipe says this will make 8, I was able to make 10 and fit them in my 9x13 pan. Then I had a rectangular gladware container full of the sweet potatoes and beans. This means I can make more. Yay.

I thought these were delicious, and they got super rave reviews from my friend as well. Even to the point of eating 3. (Corn tortillas are smaller, so I'm not in any way implying anything).

And of course, I made muffins again. This time, I made Apple Cinnamon Muffins. I'm not going to bother with posting the recipe, because frankly, they didn't turn out that good. I think that the problem is I made them without sugar, and cinnamon just doesn't taste right without sugar. I think we always eat them paired together - sprinkled on Snickerdoodles or Banana cookies, for example. So it just tastes weird and flat to have cinnamon without sugar.

Any suggestions to fix that problem?