I'm Back! Let's have some Mexican food!

At least for today! 

It's been a tumultuous winter, spring, summer and fall here at the Realistic Eats House - a new job, cancer, you name it- we've done it! 

So I'm playing catch up now on the blog - and unfortunately have so many pictures backlogged that I can't begin to remember what they all were! But they were good, I can tell you that! But hey, gotta start somewhere - so I'll just make my way through the pictures that I remember what the recipes were. 

Hope you are all well and will check back in on the blog - are people even blogging anymore?? HA! . . . 

So apparently I made these September 12 - the sad thing is, I think that was 2012 - not 2013, because I know I didn't eat these in the past 60 days! Damn' that's a long time ago. 

These were delicious, but I think I enjoyed them more than the hubs did. But I'll make these when he travels for work for me! I did tweak - because you know, I have to! 

Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Gina's Skinny Recipes

Realistic Eats Version
6 good size green zucchini cut in half and hallowed out
1 tsp oil
1/2 cup onions, chopped
garlic, crushed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
16 oz. ground turkey
2 T Realistic Eats Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

1/4 cup water

For the Topping:
1 Large can enchilada sauce3/4 cup reduced fat shredded sharp cheddar
chopped scallions, cheese and cilantro for garnish

Cut the zucchini in half length-wise and gently scoop out the middle portion of each - reserve for another use if you choose or compost it.

Place zucchini halves in a sprayed 13x9 casserole dish which has a light layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom.

Brown the ground turkey, onion and garlic over medium/high heat. When it's done, add in the taco seasoning, water and cilantro.

Gently place the filling in the zucchini boats - overflow them if you want!

Top with enchilada sauce and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes and top with more scallions, cilantro and cheese. Avocado is great on this too!

Playing in the Kitchen

For Christmas, the hubs got me a tortilla press - which yes, I did ask for this!

Well so far I've made one attempt and it didn't go so well - I blame the recipe. So I need a good and fool proof homemade tortilla recipe.

The Dough, resting

We did have fun with it though, making tortillas, we baked up some tortilla chips, and had some great shrimp fajitas with the too thick tortillas - we just couldn't get them thin enough!

SMOOSHED!

This was a better smoosh - the hubs did this one.

Cooking up on the little cast iron skillet that came with the press

Mmmm baked homemade tortilla chips - actually they were quite good!

Shrimp fajitas, onions and mushrooms, and our homemade tortillas!

We'll have to try again with a different recipe I guess.

A New Go To Salad

Typically when I make Mexican food for dinner I make my Mexi-slaw to go with it, and we devour it! But I recently found this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen for an avocado and heart of palm salad that had cilantro and lime as the seasoning - how perfect for a side dish for a Mexican feast?

This has become a staple in our house now - so much so I just had to buy two two pack jars at BJs - knowing this will get me 8 salads.

If you like heart of palm and avocado, make this STAT! It's just so perfect!

Ingredients: I typically half this recipe for just the hubs and I as a side dish for our dinners. It still makes MORE than enough!

2 (14 oz) cans or 1 large jar (26 oz.) hearts of palm

2 avocados

2 T + 1 T fresh-squeezed lime juice (or more)

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion (or chopped red onion) - I omit this each time, we just don't love raw onion enough and for some reason each time I make this, I buy or have green onion for it but totally blank on putting it in - it's still great without it!

sea salt to taste for seasoning finished salad

Instructions:

Drain the hearts of palm into a colander placed in the sink, and let them drain well while you cut the avocado. Dice avocado and toss with the 2 tablespoons of lime juice.

Cut the hearts of palm into slices about 1/2 inch thick, breaking it apart into rings or cutting the larger slices in half if they don't break apart. Chop cilantro and thinly slice green onion.

Add the sliced hearts of palm, chopped cilantro, and sliced green onion to the avocado and stir gently to combine. Add the final tablespoon of lime juice (or a bit more if desired) and season the salad well with sea salt and pepper (my addition).

Quick and Easy Shrimp Packets

Once again, another great low carb recipe from Cara's Cravings!

This meal came together so quickly, was completely delicious and really, truly was a no pot dinner.

Everything in this meals gets placed in the foil pouches, minus the avocado, and baked in the oven or placed on the grill. It was so nice to have a meal where I didn't even have to dirty a pot or pan! The only thing I really had to dirty was a cutting board and knife!

The recipe as is is up on the link. I made it below this way.

20 raw shrimp, peeled - 10 for each pouch

6 oz. black beans - 3 oz. in each pouch

1/2 cup finely diced pineapple - 1/4 cup in each pouch

sweet onion, diced and separated between the two pouches

2 tomatillos diced - 1 in each pouch

1 cubanelle pepper diced thin - divided between the two pouches

1 T of lime juice in each pouch

1/4 teaspoon coriander and cumin tossed in each pouch along with a sprinkle of chili powder and some salt and pepper.

When it comes out of the oven, top with diced tomato, fresh cilantro and avocado.

Lay two pieces of foil out in a cross on the counter and place the beans, shrimp, pineapple, tomatillo, onions and pepper together in the foil center and then toss with the seasonings and sprinkle with lime juice. Pinch up both sides to wrap it up with a little air space. Then place the pouches on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes - 20 minutes.

Enjoy! Because this had beans and pineapple, I didn't feel the need to add in any extra carb. at dinner - but it would have been good with some warmed corn tortillas.

Siete de Mayo

So a few days, late - but better late than never.

And to tell the truth, I made these back in April. And as much as I loved these, this meal confirmed the reality that the hubs does not like any sweet type flavored enchilada and only likes meat in his enchiladas.

But if you're a true vegetarian lover, you will love these - just like I did.

I love plantains, and black beans, and Mexican food - so I decided to make some plantain and black bean enchiladas. They were a bit sweet, savory, filling and so yummy!

I followed the similar method for the plantains that I use to make my Fufu, boiling them in broth, peeling, mashing with green onion, lemon juice but I also included some taco seasoning in them this time. Then I laid those out in the tortilla with some black beans, some cheese, roll, top with sauce/cheese and bake and devour!

I baked these in the oven for about 30 minutes on 350 to heat through and met the cheese.

See it really couldn't be any easier!

The filling of the tortillas

YUMMY!!

It's El Torito, ChiChis & Every Other Mexican Restaurant At Once!

I grew up in northern CA and going to El Torito was probably a weekly occasion in our household. From a very young age, I was infatuated with the sweet little scoop of corn cake they used to give you on your plate - so much so I'd hurry and eat them off every plate I could on the table. When we moved from CA to the Midwest, finding a place that served these was quite a challenge. I didn't come across these little golden nuggets of deliciousness until college when we used to go to ChiChis.

Since then, I've tried the prepackaged kit in the supermarket from ChiChis and it just wasn't quite the same.

Today, let's be real, I was bored out of my mind at home. So I played around online to see if I could find a recipe for my beloved golden corn-y goodness. I found a couple, one was a little more baking work than I cared to deal with, so the other recipe won out.

And oh my gosh it's like being a child all over again! I ate 4 small cookie scoops full of the deliciousness alone tonight (and it's not even 7 pm and don't judge, I just may go back for more later on!).

I was so infatuated as a matter of fact, I didn't even bother to photograph this- but let's face it, we all know what these little scoops of sweet golden corn goodness look like.

Found this recipe on Food.Com and am quite pleased with the results - do try it if you're like me and love these little sweet corn cakes!

Recipe as is here. Recipe as I made it below.

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

• 1/4 cup + 2 T butter
• 1/2 cup masa harina
• 5 tablespoons cold water
• 1 Can of Creamed Style Corn
• 3 tablespoons cornmeal
• 2 T sugar
• 3 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a square pan (you can also use an 8x10 for a thinner cake) with cooking spray.

In a bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer. Then add in the masa and the water. Blend this mixture with your electric mixer and you'll get a crumbly dough - like cookie dough. Instead of getting another bowl all dirty - just add the rest of the ingredients in to this bowl and then stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Place mixture in your baking dish, cover with aluminum foil (or bake it in a Corningware Pan and use the lid). Bake for 40-50 minutes until set. Serve warm.

For real authenticity - serve with an ice cream or cookie scooper!

A New Use for Stew Meat

So I pick up beef stew meat at the market when it's on sale, and usually all I do is make stew with it. But I was so inspired from the tacos the other week that I decided to make beef tacos in the crock pot and decided to use up a pack of lonely beef stew meat in the freezer.

Now, first off, let me tell you, I was truly inspired by a post on Brown Eyed Baker to make your own taco seasoning, that I took an old empty jar I had and blended and mixed away in my kitchen to create our own taco seasoning. The smell is dead on, so is the flavor, and it doesn't have any of the fake bad stuff or the salt - which is an issue for me since I need to limit my sodium intake daily. So thank you Brown Eyed Baker - now go make your own and stop buying the packet mix!!

Ok Back to my tacos.

All Day Shredded Beef Tacos

1 lb. beef stew meat

1 small can tomato sauce

1-2 small cans of water (depending how much liquid your'e comfortable not using in your crock pot when you aren't home during the day)

1/4 cup tequila

2 T taco seasoning

1 can diced green Chiles

1 large onion sliced thin

Place all ingredients in your crock pot and cook on low until the meat shreds apart. Place in tortillas and enjoy. Next time I think I'll also add a can of diced tomatoes with Chiles.

Well now that's the recipe I've been searching for!

We love Mexican food in our house just as much as we love Thai and Chinese foods. Lately it seems we've been eating tacos every single week. Nothing wrong with that!

Once again, another shout out to one of my favorite food blogs - Blog Chef - for this great recipe and the recipe I really have been searching for for a shredded chicken taco (aside from my orange shredded tacos I make).

Such an easy and delicious recipe. Flavorful, tender and quick to make.

I made the recipe exactly as Blog Chef did. Don't hesitate, make this now. I served with some refried beans and chips and salsa.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce
¼ cup salsa
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 teaspoon chili powder
hot sauce (to taste)

Step 1: In a medium sauce pan add chicken breasts and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; add salsa, taco seasoning, cumin, garlic and chili powder. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Step 2: Start pulling chicken apart with 2 forks into strings. Cover and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Add hot sauce. At this point you can add water if needed as well, if the sauce becomes too thick. Cook until chicken is fully cooked.
(Makes 4 Servings)

Nacho Everyday Potato Skins!

So, this is the story of a dinner that took about 3 different turns before reaching the plate.

It started as loaded baked potatoes.

That turned in to twice baked potatoes

Which in turn became me getting frustrated in the kitchen and turning the idea of the meal over to the hubs for dinner.

And that soon became Nacho Potato Skins.

And that turned in to dinner being devoured - what a fun, tasty, easy meal in the end!

Great for dinner or even munchies to put out at party - total hit, all around - and I loved it even more because I relinquished control over to the hubs for a change in the kitchen.

Nacho Potato Skins

small white potatoes, scrubbed clean, poke holes, and microwave until tender 5-8 minutes.

Once cool, remove from microwave and cut in half. Scoop out the centers of the potatoes and place in a container for another meal (I used the leftover potato innards for our favorite Potato and Tuna Cakes - taken from this recipe here)

Coat the potatoes with oil and bake in the oven on 400 until crispy brown.

In the meantime, heat up a can of Trader Joe's Cuban Black Beans on the stove. When the potatoes are done, stuff with the black beans, avocado, cheese, salsa, sour cream - whatever you like.

ENJOY!

Creamy Ole Rice

Thank you to my friend Carrie in MN for this yummy recipe. I've had this in my google reader since September of last year and just made it the other week for the first time.

And again, no pictures- I'm lazy people, get over it!

We truly enjoyed it with, well with whatever it is we had with it - I can't even remember now.

But I'm really posting this recipe for Sour Cream Rice because I enjoyed the leftovers so much for lunches! Listen to what I did and don't ewwww at it yet.

I took a cup of cut up romaine and some grape tomatoes in one container. In another container I took a half cup of beans and 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup of this rice. I heated the rice and beans at the office and then popped on my salad for lunch and it was SO filling, hearty and tasty! No dressing, nothing else, beans, rice, lettuce and tomato - so good. So good infact I'm going to try and re-create the concept with a lean cuisine rice dish - I'm sure it won't be as good.

Thanks again Carrie - it was tasty good!

Mexican Sour Cream Rice

• 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
• 1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

In a large pot, bring the rice and chicken broth to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish.

In the pot with the cooked rice, mix the sour cream, green chile peppers, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese, corn, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish, and top with remaining cheese.

Bake uncovered 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

**NOTE** to speed the process, I steamed my rice in the rice cooker in the AM while I was on the treadmill - Popped it in a tupperware before I left for work and then used that cold rice when I came home mixed with everything else. I did use reduce fat on the sour cream and cheese as well and still came out just fine.

Makes Mouth & Belly Happy in a Very Veggie Way!

No Picture- sorry!

BUT MMMMMM good! Make this!

I went with the idea for this casserole based on the quesadillas found at Ezra Pound Cake. Since I wanted to make this for lunches for the week - knowing there was no way the hubs would eat this for a main course for dinner ("where's the meat?!?") I had to come up with something I could make in advance and would transport better.

I turned this in to a casserole very easily.

We'll call this -
Corn and Zucchini Enchilada Casserole

You'll need:
1 cup frozen corn (or fresh)
1 large or a few small green zucchini
1 large onion finely diced
corn tortillas - 8
shredded cheeses - whatever you have on hand.

spray a sautee pan with Pam and add 2 tsp. olive oil. Put in your onion and zucchini with a 1/4 tsp. salt and some pepper and sautee until very tender. Then add in your cup of corn and let the mixture sit to defrost the corn.

Preheat your oven to 375. Spray a square baking dish with PAM and layer, overlapping, 4 corn tortillas in the bottom of the pan. Spread the mixture on top of the tortillas and top with cheese/layer throughout. I used a mix of a bunch of bottoms of the bags - swiss, mozzarella, cheddar. Top with four more corn tortillas and more cheese.

Bake for about 15 minutes until bubbly and cooked down a bit more.

Cool and cut in to four slices - fits perfectly in a small tupperware for lunch!! Would make a great dinner too with a nice salad or some rice.

A Taste of the Islands...

I made this - gosh a while ago now - I know, I'm so far behind!

This dinner was a vegetarian delight!!!

The flavors were sensational, the colors on the plate made you just want to gobble this meal up.

And as many usual readers of this blog may know, I'm not huge on making side dishes from recipes, but I've been wanting to make this recipe for the rice for an age and it did not disappoint.

This made a great leftover lunch too the next few days!

I have had this recipe in my printed pile of papers for so long now I have NO CLUE where it came from! If it's yours - send me a message.

Cuban Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Rice

Rice
1 bag boil in bag rice (I just used regular rice from my rice cooker)

2 teaspoons butter

1 cup diced fresh pineapple (I just used a can of tidbits, worked perfectly)

2 T cilantro chopped

1/4 tsp. salt

Cook rice according to directions. Drain and place in a bowl. Melt butter on the stove over medium heat and toss in pineapple and saute for 4 minutes or until the pineapple begins to brown. Add pineapple mixture to rice along with cilantro and salt. Toss and keep warm.

Black Bean Patties

2 cups rinsed and drained canned black beans

1/2 tsp. garlic minced

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/8 tsp. salt

1 large egg white

1/2 cup monterey jack cheese or pepper jack cheese

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup cornmeal

cooking spray

reduced fat sour cream.

Place 1 1/2 cup of the bean, garlic, cumin and salt in a bowl and mas with a fork. Place remaining 1/2 cup beans and egg white in a food processor and process for 30 seconds until well combined. Add bean puree to mashed beans in bowl and stir until combined. Add cheese and onion to bean mixture, stir to combine. Divide bean mixture into 4 each portions and shape in to patties. Place cornmeal in a shallow dish and dredge the patties. Heat pan over medium high heat with cooking spray. Add patties and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned on each side. (Instead of dredging, I just omitted that part and cooked them on a hot griddle pan without any added fat).

Serve with tomato, sour cream, rice and avocado.

DELISH!!!

Pork-A-Licious

Once again, another FANTASTIC recipe from Your Home Based Mom's blog.

Made these - gosh it looks like back in May or June - realized I didn't have a picture of it but the recipe is SO good I don't want to loose the print out - so why not blog it and share it!

Seriously, you need to make these Salsa Verde Carnitas - get yourself a nice piece of pork and make these this weekend - Holy cow you won't be disappointed.

I'm not even going to re-post the recipe - because without pictures it doesn't do it justice and her pictures will make you want to lick your monitor (go ahead, it's OK we're not watching!).

I made it exactly as is from her recipe, seasoned cabbage slaw and all. And I did it in the crock pot per her suggestion (I also just used a pork roast I had in the freezer and it was perfect!)

God I need to make these again now!

Your mouth will say Ole!

Sorry no picture on this one, that's because they were so good I plum forgot!

Another recipe from my Better Homes and Garden Breast Cancer cook book - this is a great one if you don't already own it.

These burgers were so fun and good. Certainly a make again!

Southwest Style Chicken Burgers
1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped tortilla chips - this is used as part of the binder for the meat, but I also had to add a little breadcrumb - to feel and see what you need.
3 T green sweet pepper finely chopped - I omitted this for 3 T diced chiles from the can.
3/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound ground turkey or chicken
2 oz. pepper jack cheese
hamburger buns or rolls
1 avocado halved
lettuce and salsa

In a medium bowl mix the egg, tortilla chips, pepper, chili powder, salt and pepper. Add chicken, mix well - mixture will be wet. Form in to 4 patties.

Place patties on the unheated rack of a broiler pan and broil about 4 inches from the flame for 18 minutes or until no longerpink and it registers 165. Turn half way. We just cooked ours on our griddle pan on the stove top.

Top each patty with a slice of cheese and let it melt.

Serve on buns with avocado slices, lettuce and salsa.

MMMM My mouth is watering thinking of this!!

I took a leftover patty with some salad and some of the Wish Bone Ranch Dressing Salad Spritzer and it was so fun and tasty!

When Tamales become Tostadas

I had this wonderful idea for dinner. There was a great recipe in my WW cookbook - Simply Bueno - for Mushroom Tamales. So I went all over creation looking for cornhusks and couldn't find them.

So I finally settled on tostada shells from Aldi and would do something similar for supper.

This was SO good and filling and wonderfully vegetarian! We're going to use the leftover tostadas to make another dish this week too.

Mushroom & Bean Tostadas

1 8oz container sliced mushrooms

1 onion thinly sliced

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed

1 can hominy drained and rinsed

tostada shells

taco sauce - 3/4 of a small jar

In a large skillet heat some pam and sautee the mushrooms and onion until just tender. Add in the drained beans and hominy to heat. Add taco sauce. Serve layered on tostada shells with cilantro and tomato.

Salad with mexican dressing.

I've made this a couple times now and it's always so good. I base it off of my caesar dressing I make and it's a great salad to go with Mexican food.

In a mesasuring cup, mix 1/4 cup olive oil with 2-3 tsp. lime juice, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder and some green tobasco sauce, about 3 drops. Toss with chopped lettuce and top with cilantro and tomato - avacado too is great!!

Mom's Orange Chicken

When I was young my mom used to make this reciep all the time - I don't know if it's from an actual recipe - or she made it up.

Either way I make it a lot and it's delicious and easy and a crowd pleaser.

I took this to my Habitat for Humanity Dinner Meeting last night and it was a crowd pleaser.

Orange Chicken

1 package of boneless skinless chicken thighs - about 3 or 4 pounds

1 gallon of orange juice

1 bunch of cilantro

5 cloves of garlic

1 large onion sliced

1 packet of taco seasoning mix

1 small can of mandarin oranges in water or pear juice, drained.

In a crock pot or large dutch oven...

Place the chicken, the OJ, cilantro, garlic, onion and taco seasoning. Let simmer all day until chicken is tender and you can shredd. Shredd the chicken and return to the pot. Then add the minced cilantro leaves and the drained can of mandarin oranges and turn off the heat and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Serve the shredded chicken in tortillas with sour cream, salsa, guac, whatever. You can also serve this over rice too!

Sure it's a pretty picture....

But, and there is always a but, RUN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

Unless you are a die hard vegetarian or vegan, or you totally dig off the wall meals, RUN!

It is a rarity I make things for dinner that we both don't like...but this was one that will live forever. And 24 hours later we're both still reeling from the effects of this meal.

The concept was really good - and I think a different veggie selection to go along with the butternut squash would have been really good - or even using black beans with it with the squash would have been way better.

But hey - it was a pretty picture huh?

I will post the recipe for those of you die hard veggie eaters that may want to try this or those of you that want to play around with this recipe to improve upon it. I know I'll play around with it more, again removing the more ruffage type veggies.

Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
From WW Simply Bueno Cook Book

1 large acorn squash peeled, seeded and diced (we used a butternut squash from our garden - what a disappointment!)
2 large parsnips peeled and cut into slices
12 brussel sprouts, thinly sliced and pulled into shreds
2 T chili powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne
8 8 inch fat free whole wheat tortillas
4 T low fat shredded cheese
1 cup prepared enchilada sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. place the squash and parsnip in a baking dish and coat with cooking spray. Roast for 40 minutes stirring on occassion. Let cool for 5 minutes
3. Reduce the oven temp to 350. Add the brussel sprouts and seasonings. Toss to combine.
4. Lay the tortillas on the work surface and place 1/4 cup of the mixture in each tortilla. Add 1/2 T of cheese, wrap and roll and place seam side down in the baking dish. Top with the enchilada sauce and bake for 20 minutes.

WW information - 2 enchiladas is 1 serving. 8 points per serving.

Quesa-what?

Last night for dinner I made Quesadillas. But I did a little bit of a twist. Instead of going the typical Mexican food route, I opted for something a little more out there.

They were so tasty and delicious! Even Adam said they were pretty damed good.

Chicken, Apple and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

6 tortillas - I used rosemary tortillas that were low cal and low fat and HUGE!
about 1 cup of small diced chicken- I just used the leftover roasted chicken from Sunday
about 1/2 to 3/4 cups thiny sliced and diced green apple
4 green onions sliced
1 small log of goat cheese
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

Crumble some of the goat cheese on one tortilla. Top with chicken, apple, onion and monterey jack cheese. Place top tortilla on and either bake in the oven on 400 - flipping half way through, or use a skillet on the stove top. We opted for the oven using an airbake pizza pan for maximum crispiness.

I served with mashed cauliflower. I boiled the cauliflower and then roughly pureed with the immersion blender once it was drained. I mixed in about half a cup of cream cheese, salt, pepper, garlic powder and some Penzy's Galena Street Seasoning. It was OK. I think I just really don't like cooked cauliflower in any form. Adam wasn't too hip on it either.

Red Chile-Cheese Enchiladas

I made this for me for lunches this week - from Dec. 07 Cooking Light.

I made two changes: one was instead of making my own red chile sauce, I just used canned red enchilada sauce. The other was I added a small can of green chiles in with the cheese mixture.

I took a little taste last night - very good. Can't wait for my lunch box today!

Ingredients
3/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese
2/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups Red Chile Sauce
Cooking spray
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extrasharp cheddar cheese
PreparationPreheat oven to 400°.

Place cottage cheese in a food processor; process 1 minute or until smooth. Combine cottage cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, onion, and salt, stirring well.

Spread 1/4 cup Red Chile Sauce in bottom of an 8 x 8-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 tortillas over sauce, overlapping slightly. Spread 1/2 cup cottage cheese mixture evenly over tortillas; top with 1/2 cup Red Chile Sauce. Repeat the layers once with 4 tortillas, remaining cottage cheese mixture, and 1/2 cup Red Chile Sauce. Arrange remaining 4 tortillas over sauce, overlapping slightly; spoon remaining 3/4 cup Red Chile Sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle evenly with cheddar cheese. Cover and bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 squares.

Yield
8 servings (serving size: 1 square)

The calories on this are very low - only 162 for 1/8th - so I just cut in four instead of 8 pieces.