In Vicki’s household, chicken enchiladas are a favorite birthday dinner request. Her original recipe was time-consuming, so she came up with a few short cuts that make this meal’s preparation a pleasure vs. a chore. Making these in advance? Put unbaked enchiladas in the freezer and when needed, bring to room temperature and bake. It’s that simple!
Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
Servings 10
Calories 610kcal
Ingredients
- 15 ounces chopped spinach look for steam-in-bag spinach or use frozen
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large white onion finely chopped
- 2 4 oz. cans diced green chiles, undrained
- 3 cups low-fat sour cream
- 1/4 cup skim milk
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 cups shredded rotisserie chicken about 1 1/2 chickens
- 12 soft taco sized flour tortillas
- 8 ounces grated Monterey jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Spray two 8 ½ by 11-inch pans with cooking spray.
- Cook spinach in microwave, according to directions, and drain any excess water. Place in a large glass bowl.
- Melt butter in a small skillet. Add onions and sauté until soft, about 4 minutes.
- Add onion mixture to the spinach along with green chiles, sour cream, milk, water, cumin, salt and pepper and combine.
- Place 1/2 the mixture into a small bowl.
- To the large bowl, add the chicken and mix well.
- Place the tortillas on a large work surface. Fill each of the tortillas with the chicken mixture.
- Carefully roll up the tortillas and put 6 in each pan, seam side down. Top the tortillas with 1/2 of the Monterey Jack cheese.
- Top with the contents from the small bowl - carefully spreading to cover the tortillas.
- Finally, add the remaining 1/2 of the cheese.
- Bake until heated through, about 30-40 minutes.
Notes
This is a great recipe to freeze. Have one pan tonight and another pan at a later date.
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Want to make this in advance? Simply freeze the “soup” portion of the recipe and when ready to serve, heat through and pick up the recipe at instruction #6.
French Onion Soup
Servings 8
Calories 285kcal
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 4 yellow onions halved sliced thin
- 1 leek light green and white part only, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 8 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 1/4 tsp hot sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- kosher salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 16 slices baguette bread thinly sliced
- 12 oz. Gruyère cheese grated, or similar cheese
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute. .
- Add the onions and leek and sauté for about 15 minutes - until the onions and leek are soft and caramelized. Stir often.
- Add wine and simmer until wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
- Add the broth and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce, season with salt and pepper. Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place 8 small soup crocks or large ramekins on the baking sheet and fill 3/4 full of soup.
- Place 2 slices of baguette on top of soup and top with shredded cheese.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until cheese has melted
Notes
You can broil for a minute or so if you want a brown crust.
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One of our favorite things to do at The Simple Celebration is to have one of our “test” dinners with Mark and Skip. We plan the menu, go shopping and start cooking. Not all recipes are post worthy, but we have fun tasting new creations – we don’t get much complaining out of the guys either!!
Grilled Salmon Topped with Coconut, Spinach and Almonds
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ pound salmon fillet skin left on one side
Marinade
- 2 tsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
Sauce
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 jalapeño pepper minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 3 ounces fresh spinach
Topping
- 1 Tbsp parsley chopped
- zest of one lime
- 1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds
Instructions
Marinade
- Mix together the marinade ingredients and set aside.
Salmon
- Place salmon on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.
- Pour marinade over salmon and flip the salmon until well coated. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Fire up the grill and cook skin side down and then flip the salmon.
Sauce
- While salmon in grilling, sauté the garlic, jalapeño and ginger for several minutes.
- Add the coconut milk, sweet chili sauce and lime juice and simmer for about 4 minutes.
- Add the spinach and sauté until the spinach has wilted.
Assembly
- Remove skin from salmon and cut into 4 pieces.
- Place each piece of salmon on 4 dinner plates.
- Spoon sauce over fish and top with parsley, lime zest and toasted almonds.
Notes
Serve with brown rice (we added golden raisins and ginger to our rice).
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This dip will be the first gone at the party! The recipe can’t be any easier – only 2 ingredients!!
Yummy Two Ingredient Dip
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 15 ounces Prepared Spinach & Artichoke Dip
- 1/2 cup grated 5 Italian Cheese more if you like it really cheesy
Instructions
- Place dip in a microwave dish. Add cheese and stir.
- Microwave until cheese melts, about 1 minute.
- Stir and serve with tortilla chips.
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A great first course to any Asian dinner, this crunchy salad is full of flavor. A word of caution – take our suggestion of breaking up the Ramen noodles in a bowl to heart. They are very brittle will literally fly all over your kitchen if you’re not careful!
Crunchy Almond Spinach Salad
Servings 6
Ingredients
Dressing
- 6 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
Salad
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 ounces package asian soup noodles Top Ramen - without season packet, coarsely broken. Do this in a bowl!
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
- 10 ounces package baby spinach
- 4 green onions sliced
Instructions
- Whisk together dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
- Heat 2 T. olive oil in a medium non-stick pan over medium heat. Add noodles, almonds and sesame seeds and sauté until golden and toasted - just a few minutes. Put in a bowl to cool.
- Place spinach and green onion in a large salad bowl. Add noodle mixture and enough dressing to coat. Toss. Pass additional dressing in a separate bowl.
Notes
Add grilled chicken or shrimp to turn this salad into a meal.
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For this recipe, you can substitute the spinach with sliced zucchini and mozzarella with any cheese you like. Serve a simple green salad on the side and you have a meal!
A Quick Quiche Lunch
Servings 6
Ingredients
- 9- inch baked pie shell
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 medium tomato sliced thin
- 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp flour
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup half-and-half or milk
- 1/2 tsp oregano or basil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- fresh basil leaves and black pepper for topping Chopped
Instructions
- Bake pie shell as directed on package.
- In large skillet over medium heat, saute onion and spinach in butter for about 5 minutes.
- Place half of the tomato slices on bottom of pie shell.
- Sprinkle spinach mixture, cheeses, and flour into pie shell.
- Beat together remaining ingredients until well blended and pour over vegetables and cheeses.
- Top with remaining tomato slices, fresh basil leaves, and pepper.
- Bake in pre-heated 375° oven until knife inserted near center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
Notes
Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
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