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Vegiladas and Muddy White Russians, though not necessarily together
I’ve been tweaking and tweaking my old enchilada recipe and I think I’ve finally settled on a dish that everyone likes. Except now it’s not very much like the original chicken enchilada dish and we’ve been calling it Vegiladas because it has so many vegetables crammed into it. It’s not vegetarian, it just has a lot of vegetables.
So here it is if you are interested.
Vegiladas
Ingredients:
- 1-1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken (breast or thighs will work)
- 1 large (28-oz?) can of enchilada sauce (mild or spicy, green or red—your choice)
- about 16 10-inch tortillas (flour or corn, your choice)
- 2-4 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese
- 1 15-oz can of black beans
- 1 head of broccoli
- handful of asparagus
- 1 medium onion
- 2 stalks of celery
- 1 bell pepper (I like orange or yellow)
- olives and sour cream for garnish
Directions:
1. Put your chicken in a slow-cooker set on high with about 3/4 of the can of enchilada sauce. Reserve last 1/4 of can for later.
2. Let it cook, let it cook, let it cook! (for 4-6 hours while you get on with the rest of your life)
3. A half-hour before you’d like to have dinner turn off your crock pot. Chop up all your vegetables into bite-sized pieces. You can preheat your oven now to 350 F if you like.
4. Pour a little olive oil into a skillet set over medium heat and saute the onions, celery and bell pepper until soft.
5. With two forks shred the chicken right there in your slow-cooker.
6. Add drained and rinsed black beans to pot with chicken.
7. Add 3/4 of cheese (save some for garnish on top).
8. Add sauteed vegetables and broccoli and asparagus.
9. Mix together. Cheese will begin to melt.
Don’t worry contents of slow-cooker are far yummier than they appear.
10. Scoop a large spoonful into a tortilla, roll it up and place in a 9×13 baking dish with the seam side down.
11. Repeat until baking dish is full of rolled enchiladas. They should be in there pretty snug; usually that size dish will fit 16 filled and rolled tortillas.
12. Top with remaining enchilada sauce, cheese and sliced olives.
13. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until sauce bubbles.
14. Serve with sour cream as a garnish.
Enjoy!
I was supposed to have a photo here of a nicely garnished plate but we were so hungry we gobbled them all up and forgot completely about the camera.
Later on that night Troy and I decided to attempt to make a White Russian. I’d seen the recipe earlier on Jora’s website and have been wanting to try one ever since. We didn’t have the right kind of glasses so no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep the cream separated from the vanilla vodka and Kahlua.
Nevertheless, they were quite delicious even if they were muddy. Especially when paired with Bethany’s freshly-baked black and white cookies (care of Smitten’s recipe). I might not have seen all the tourists sights while I’ve been on vacation but I have definitely tasted a lot of yummy food! Going home is going to be very sad and diet-filled.
So, tell me, what do you like to eat when you are on vacation?
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Extended Vacation
Bug and I were supposed to go home on the 25th but guess what? We’re still here! I thought two weeks at a friend’s house would be too long and we would smell like old fish BUT there was still so much unpacking to be done.
The fun projects, like hanging pictures and organizing the laundry room still needed to be done. I know I’m a freak to like doing these sorts of tasks but they give me such a sense of accomplishment. I love jobs that have a completion point and don’t go on forever and ever like cleaning the toilet or laundry. Also, I love daydreaming about moving into my own home someday.
I’ve totally daydreamed about how I would set up Bethany’s laundry room if it were my own. The soap would go there, a little coin jar for miscellaneous change and things that people leave in their pockets would go there…maybe I’d even paint an old-fashioned sign that said CLEAN or Launderette or something in blue and white to hang over there… It might be a chore to most people but to me it’s like a diving board into my own dream world.
Bethany and I were bemoaning the fact that we were just days from finishing the whole project. If I could just stay a little bit longer we could finish AND do some more sight-seeing. Then Bethany proposed extending my airplane ticket a few days. While she hashed out the details with Troy, I called Toby to see if he could survive on In-N-Out for a few more days. Amazingly, he said he could so Bethany hopped on her laptop, tapped out some kind of travel website magic and ta-dah! Our little vacation was extended five days!
Fish schmish! If you help out enough around the house, you can stay for weeks and weeks! So YES! I am staying here for the Cherry Blossoms, Grandma! I’ll post more later on that. I’m also cooking dinner when I can to make sure I don’t wear out my welcome. Last night I made “Vegiladas” and took photos so I can finally post that here. (They are my latest version of my enchiladas just tweaked and packed with vegetables.) A few of my friends have been asking for the recipe so stay tuned for a food post and some cherry blossom photos!
