Cream cheese green chile enchiladas

This is a recipe somebody shared with me and some other ladies on a forum website.  The name is a mouthful, but when you take one bite of this, you'll know why.  You can obviously lighten this up by using fat free or reduced fat cream cheese, cheese, and tortillas, but I don't recommend going full fat-free with the cream cheese and cheese, as they don't posess the same smooth melting qualities as a higher-fat ingredient. 

Cream Cheese Green Chile Enchiladas

1 tbsp oil
1 lb chicken breasts, cubed
Mexican seasoning
1 tbsp garlic
1 block cream cheese, softened
1 can diced green chiles
8 tortilla shells, any size
1 can green enchilada sauce
shredded cheddar, pepperjack, or Mexican blend cheese

Combine oil and chicken in a medium bowl.  Sprinkle liberally with Mexican seasoning blend, stirring to combine.  Cover and chill for a couple of hours.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, and saute until golden, about 1 minute.  Add chicken cubes and saute until cooked through, about 8 minutes.  Add cream cheese and green chiles, and stir until cream cheese is melted.

Place a few tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto center of tortilla.  (Depending on the size of the tortilla will determine how much filling you need.)  Roll tortilla up and place seam-side down in a 13x9 casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Top with green enchililada sauce, then sprinkle liberally with cheese. 

Bake in a 350 oven for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and tortillas are heated through.  Serve with sour cream and diced green onions as garnish.

Cabernet Braised Beef Short Ribs

Short ribs are a fabulous cut of meat.  But they are quite expensive and you don't get a lot of meat for your buck.  Most of the weight of what you buy is bone, and you can't even feed those to the dog!  Ah, but once you find a good recipe and you are able to commit an hour of prep and 3 hours to cook, you'll be glad you invested in this particular cut.  If you can't find them in the meat case, ask your butcher if they have any, but if they have to cut them, ask to trim them too.  May as well have them do the dirty work!  We used over 4 1/2 lbs of ribs and doubled everything else, and served over mashed potatoes.

Cabernet-Braised Beef Short Ribs


Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 short ribs, 2/3 cup noodles, and about 2 1/2 tablespoons sauce)

Cooking spray

2 pounds beef short ribs, trimmed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth

1 cup cabernet sauvignon or other dry red wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 1/2 cups (1-inch) slices celery (about 2 stalks)

1 cup (1-inch) slices carrot (about 2 medium)

6 garlic cloves, sliced

2 (6-inch) rosemary sprigs

1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

4 cups hot cooked wide egg noodles

Chopped parsley (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 300°.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Add ribs to pan; cook for 8 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan. Add beef broth to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.
3. Combine broth, wine, and tomato paste in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk. Place ribs, celery, carrot, garlic, rosemary, and onion in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour broth mixture over rib mixture. Cover with foil; bake at 300° for 3 1/2 hours or until ribs are very tender.

4. Uncover dish; strain broth mixture through a sieve over a bowl, reserving liquid. Reserve ribs; discard remaining solids. Place a zip-top plastic bag inside a 2-cup glass measure. Pour reserved liquid into bag. Seal bag; carefully snip off 1 bottom corner of bag. Drain liquid into a small saucepan, stopping before fat layer reaches opening; discard fat.
5. Add flour to pan, stirring well with a whisk. Place pan over medium heat; bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Serve sauce with ribs and noodles. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Wasabi and panko-crusted pork chops with gingered soy sauce

This is one of the recipes that has made it into our "repeat" cookbook.  The chops are tender and delicious, and the sauce, although it should be doubled, is wonderful.  Not for the picky eater, I think, as the wasabi and ginger flavors are quite prevalent.  But if your kiddos are open-minded at dinner, give it a try!  I did season (very lightly) the chops with salt and pepper first.  I think it'd be safe to just season with pepper though, as the wasabi and salt together might be a bit much.

Wasabi and Panko-Crusted Pork with Gingered Soy Sauce

Panko are coarse white breadcrumbs used in this quick and easy interpretation of the Japanese dish tonkatsu. Look for panko and wasabi paste in the ethnic-foods section of the supermarket. Substitute chicken broth if you don't have sake or sherry on hand. Serve with rice and steamed snow peas and carrots for a complete meal.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and about 1 tablespoon sauce)


2/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)

1 teaspoon peanut oil

Cooking spray

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)

1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons sake or dry sherry

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon wasabi paste

1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
Place panko in a shallow dish. Place egg white in another shallow dish. Dip pork in egg white; dredge in panko.

Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat; add pork. Cook for 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove pork from pan; sprinkle with salt.

Reduce heat to medium. Add ginger to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Combine broth and the next 4 ingredients (through wasabi) in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in green onions. Spoon sauce over pork.
CALORIES 215 (28% from fat); FAT 6.8g (sat 2.1g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.8g); IRON 1.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 65mg; CALCIUM 15mg; CARBOHYDRATE 10.8g; SODIUM 454mg; PROTEIN 24.5g; FIBER 0.9g