Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burritos

 Chipotle Chicken Burritos

Ingredients

·        ½ medium red or yellow onion coarsely chopped

·        3 cloves garlic

·        2 tablespoons adobo sauce from a small can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

·        2 tablespoons vegetable oil

·        2 tablespoons ancho chile powder (or regular chili powder)

·        1 teaspoon ground cumin

·        1 teaspoon dried oregano

·        1 tablespoon salt

·        ½ teaspoon black pepper

·        Water as needed

·        2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

·        Cilantro lime rice

·        Guacamole, sour cream, tomato, lettuce, black beans, etc.

Directions

1.       Cook the rice as usual in rice cooker (2 cups – rice measurements), but add 2 ¼ tsp salt, 2 ½ Tbsp lime juice, and 2 Tbsp minced cilantro.

2.       Make the Marinade: Place the onion, garlic, adobo sauce, olive oil, chile powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper into a food processor or blender and process until smooth (you may need to add a bit of water at this point to get it liquidy enough to blend). Pour the marinade into a 1-cup measuring cup and add enough water to reach to 1 cup.

3.       Using a fork, poke holes all over the chicken thighs and place in a resealable plastic bag. Pour the marinade over, seal, and use your hands to move the marinade around so that all of the chicken is evenly coated. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

4.       Cook the Chicken: Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken to the pan and cook, turning occasionally, until completely cooked through. Let the chicken darken (but not burn) to get crispy outsides. Add water (1/4 C at a time) to pan as it dries out to keep chicken moist while it cooks. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes. Slice or chop the chicken, as desired.

5.       Serve in a burrito, with desired toppings.

https://www.browneyedbaker.com/chipotle-chicken-recipe#wprm-recipe-container-44943

GREEN CHILE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

 I like these enchiladas because the beans aren't refried, so there's a bit more texture to them... I'm not crazy about 100% mush.

GREEN CHILE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

FILLING:

·         1 cup cooked, chopped chicken

·         2 cans (4-ounces each) green chiles, lightly drained (see note)

·         1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, light or regular, softened and cubed

·         2 can (15-ounces) white or black beans, rinsed and drained

·         1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

·         1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

SAUCE:

·         2 tablespoons butter

·         1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 medium onion)

·         2 tablespoons flour

·         1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

·         1/4 cup milk

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1/4 teaspoon pepper

·         1 cup (8 ounces) green chile enchilada sauce

·         1/2 cup sour cream, light or regular

ASSEMBLY:

·         8 ounces (about 2 cups) Monterey jack or Mexican cheese, shredded

·         8 medium (soft taco size) flour or corn tortillas

INSTRUCTIONS

1.      Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan and set aside.

2.      In a medium bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and green chiles. Mix well. Add the chicken, beans, cilantro and lime juice. Mix to combine. Set aside.

3.      For the sauce: in a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and starts to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk. As you whisk and the mixture cooks, the flour will get less lumpy around the onions and the mixture will become smooth. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is bubbling and has thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the enchilada sauce and sour cream.

4.      Spread thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of the dish. Fill each tortilla with about 1/2 cup of the chicken/cream cheese filling. Top with a small handful of shredded cheese, a couple tablespoonfuls for each enchilada. Save at least 1/2 cup cheese for the top of the enchiladas.

5.      Roll the tortillas up and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Continue filling enchiladas until the dish is full Pour the white sauce over the top of the enchiladas and spread evenly. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the enchiladas are bubbling, hot and lightly browned.

HTTPS://WWW.MELSKITCHENCAFE.COM/WHITE-AND-GREEN-CHICKEN-ENCHILADAS/

Middle Eastern Rice and Lentils (Mejadra)

 This is so yummy! The crispy onions take a little bit of time to make, but it's worth it.

Middle Eastern Rice (Mejadra)

·               2 tbsp olive oil

·               2 tsp cumin seeds (or 1 tsp ground cumin)

·               1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds (or 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander)

·               1 cup basmati or long grain rice, uncooked

·               Enough water to cook rice (according to package instructions)

·               1 ½ c. cooked lentils

·               1/2 tsp ground turmeric

·               1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

·               1 tsp sugar

·               1 tsp salt

·               Black pepper

Crispy Fried Onions 

• 1 onion, very finely sliced
• 1 cup / 250 ml vegetable or sunflower oil
• Salt

Crispy Onions

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add about 1/3 of the onions and cook for 5 minutes until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towels. (careful not to get too browned)

2. Repeat with remaining onions, in two batches. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

Rice

1. Put the olive oil, cumin seeds and coriander in a saucepan over medium heat.

2. Cook for a couple of minutes until the spices are fragrant.

3. Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil and spices.

4. Add the water and lentils.

5. While it comes to boil, add all the other spices, salt and pepper. Turn it down to medium-low, cover with lid and let cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until all the liquid has mostly been absorbed.

6. Remove from heat and let it rest for 10 minutes - during this time, any residual liquid will absorb and rice stuck to the bottom will soften.

7. Fluff rice and adjust the seasoning with more salt if you wish.

8. Just prior to serving, stir through most of the onions and top with remainder. Sprinkle with chopped coriander if desired. Best served warm.

Notes

ALTERNATIVE: Use fried shallots / onions sold in jars in the Asian section of the supermarket. They are crunchy, salty and oily, so they serve the same purpose and taste the same.

WHOLE VS GROUND SPICES: The Yotam recipe uses cumin and coriander seeds which soften when cooked, but the coriander is still a little bit firm (but soft firm). This added texture is the way the recipe is intended to be BUT if you prefer not to have the seeds in it, feel free to use ground, I've provided the quantities in the recipe. :)

altered slightly from RecipeTinEats.com

Dill and Pickle Dip

 Jeremy always used to eat the dill dip that they sold in the stores and now they don't make it anymore. This recipe is actually really good - the store dip was nasty, so that was a pleasant surprise. ;)

Dill and Pickle Dip

*Best made a day ahead*

·      1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

·      1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

·      1 cup finely chopped dill pickles

·      1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

·      1 tablespoon garlic powder

·      1 tablespoon dill weed

·      ¼ cup dill pickle juice, or to taste

 

Mix sour cream, cream cheese, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and dill weed together in a bowl. Stir dill pickle juice into the dip in small increments until it meets your personal taste preference. Serve with potato chips. Refrigerate leftovers.

Easy, Soft Flatbread

This really is the easiest and tastiest flatbread recipe I've tried. I usually triple the batch because my family gobbles it up.

Easy Soft Flatbread

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

3 1/2 T. butter

3/4 c. milk

Combine the butter and milk and heat just until the butter is melted (stove or microwave). Add it to the flour and salt in a medium bowl (I use my stand mixer because I make a bigger batch). Mix it and then knead it until it is smooth, either in the stand mixer or on a lightly floured counter.

Cover with a bowl or plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. Lightly spray the counter with oil (or dust with flour if you prefer) and cut the dough into 4-6 pieces (I usually do 6) and shape roughly in a ball. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat (or more than one pan if you're making lots). 

While the pan heats, roll out the dough into about 1/8" thick rounds (thinner is better so it cooks more evenly without getting tough). Spray the pan if necessary (I never do) and place one disk in. Cook about 1- 1 1/2 minutes; it will bubble up and start to get brown spots like a tortilla. Flip and cook the other side, pressing down if it bubbles up too much. If you find spots that still look doughy, flip it back over and cook a little longer, pressing down on those doughy spots with a spatula.

Stack the bread on a plate lined with a tea towel to keep them from getting soggy, and cover them with a tea towel (or the sides of the towel if it's big enough). Continue cooking, stacking, and covering.

Notes:

If you're making a bunch, I roll out several while the pans heat, then always try to make sure I have 2 more ready to go in. It moves fast, but you can get a system down.

If you want it to be more crispy like Naan, cook it at a higher temperature, and maybe don't stack them and cover them.

From RecipeTinEats.com

So we had this for dinner tonight and we really liked it.  I would definitely recommend prepping the sauce and veggies and everything before cooking the meat because it goes fast.  And I may or may not have slightly burned them, since I was trying to get the rest of the stuff ready, heh heh.  Jeff bought pita bread b/c he couldn't find flatbread and I didn't want to go back out to look for flatbread.  Anyway, pitas worked but flatbread would definitely be better.  We also used ground turkey cause that's what we had.  I prepped the meat the night before and I think I would do that again because then the flavors all had time to develop.

Tiernan wouldn't try the sauce because of the cilantro, and Jeff said, "cilantro, presented right, can be good."  Ha ha ha!

Chicken (or turkey) Kofta with Yogurt Sauce

Serves 4

For the meat:

1 lb. ground chicken (or turkey)

1/2 medium onion, grated (I used dehydrated onion and not quite enough to equal a 1/2 onion)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. coriander

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper 

pinch of ground allspice

pinch of ground cinnamon

For the sauce:

1/2 C. plain greek yogurt

1 tsp. grated orange zest

1 Tbsp. orange juice

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. coriander

Flatbread

1 red bell pepper, diced

cucumber, diced, optional

salad greens (spinach, spring mix, whatever you like)

In a medium bowl, add together ingredients for meat mixture and mix until well combined.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes and up to overnight.

Prepare the sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients together until well combined.  Set aside.  

Chop the red pepper and set aside.

Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat broiler to high.  Spray a rimmed baking sheet and metal skewers with nonstick cooking spray.  Remove meat from fridge and form about 2 tablespoons of mixture into an oval around metal skewer.  Add a second oval with another 2 tablespoons of mixture on the same skewer.  Repeat with remaining meat.  Place skewers on prepared pan.

Broil the kofta, flipping once, until browned and an instant-read thermometer registers 165°, about 8-12 minutes.  

Remove from oven.  Serve the kofta on the flatbreads with salad greens, bell pepper and sauce.

Recipe from Eating Well magazine. 

Jam & Cheese Braid Dough

This is the recipe I like to use for jam & cheese braids because I never buy Bisquick. This is a quick and easy dough, too. It makes 4, but you can obviously scale that down. I use Mom's cream cheese filling and method of adding the jam, etc.

I'm also listing the fruit filling I make for those crazy boys of mine that don't like cream cheese.

Jam & Cheese Braid Dough (Yield: 4 braids)

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter, cut into pieces

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 T. yeast

1/2 c. warm water

2 eggs

4 c. flour

Combine the sour cream, sugar, butter, and salt in a saucepan and heat over med-low until the butter melts, stirring occasionally. Let it cool a bit so it's not too hot for the yeast (about 105-115 degrees. Don't stress too much about it, though, as long as it's not super warm).

Meanwhile, combine the yeast and warm water in a large mixing bowl and let stand for about 5 minutes. Stir in the sour cream mixture and eggs. Gradually stir in the flour (dough will be soft). Cover and chill overnight or at least 8 hours.

If you're making the fruit filling below, do that now.

Divide dough into fourths. Roll out each fourth on a greased cookie sheet into a 12x8-inch rectangle. Spread the filling (cream cheese or fruit) down the center. Cut the sides and fold over the center to form the braid.

Heat the oven to 375. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned.

Fruit Filling (enough for 1 braid)

Mix 1-2 T. cornstarch with 1/4 c. sugar in a saucepan. Add 1 small package of frozen fruit (any kind of berry is good, or a mix). It can be thawed or frozen. Bring it to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Let it simmer until it has thickened. Set aside to cool a bit while you shape the dough.