Redneck Enchilada Bake (Semi-Healthy Style)

If you haven't noticed, the Mexican/Southwest theme is a popular one around these parts. We love anything good and spicy that you can douse in cheese and sour cream :)

This recipe is an adaptation from a Weight Watchers one I found on Pinterest. We forgot some things at the store and had to use what we had on hand, which made it turn out even better in our opinion! It was super easy to do, which made it worth the while on a busy weeknight. I'm not a huge enchilada person, but my husband is obsessed. He gets them every time we eat out at a Mexican restaurant, and he loved this dish. Although it's not technically the real McCoy as far as enchiladas go, it's a pretty legit knockoff that got this enchilada-hater to taste and approve. (Ladies, it's not a really "light" meal, so plan to have a small portion and some fresh veggies on the side. Most recent fave=sliced tomatoes.)

Ingredients: 

1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce (We used old el paso medium)
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1 16oz can reduced fat (or whatever you want) refrigerator biscuits (we used pillsbury)
green onions, chopped
1 small can diced green chiles
fat free sour cream
1 bag 2% mixed mexican flavor cheese (or if you want to grate your own, feel free!)
**Meat (see complicated note below)
    1 Onion (chopped)
    1 Bell pepper (chopped)
    Hidden Valley Ranch Dips Mix packet
    chili powder, ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and crushed red pepper
    browned ground turkey
    1 cup cooked shredded chicken breast

**Now, let me just say that we forgot to buy the 1 pound of lean ground turkey that the original recipe called for. HOWEVER, we made tacos last night, and had some ground turkey (already seasoned) leftover from that. It wasn't going to be enough, so we looked in the freezer and found a Ziploc of 1 cup shredded chicken breast that we had boiled and frozen a while back when we had leftover after a recipe. So, we threw the two together in the pan and used that as our meat. I kind of liked the combination of two different kinds of meat, and I think it gave it some extra flavor since we had already seasoned the taco meat the night before. Let me put below the recipe for our taco meat so that you can copycat that if you want to do this weird combo of meats yourself (or spice JUST chicken or JUST turkey in the same way) If you plan to make this recipe the night after tacos that way you already have the meat prepared, you are a smart cookie. Then it REALLY is the easiest recipe in the world!
-1 pound ground turkey browned. Then add 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dips mix. Then, add 1 TBS chili powder, ground cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder. Also add 1/4-1/2 TBS crushed red pepper. Mix altogether and DO NOT ADD WATER. Add in the chopped onion and bell pepper and let simmer for just a minute. I let the vegetables stay slightly crunchy.

Whew! Now that we got THAT out of the way....

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare (or just add!) meat to pan. Pour in the enchilada sauce, the tomato sauce, and the chiles. Add the green onions and stir until well combined. Take a casserole dish (preferably a fun, southwest themed one like the one pictured below) around the size of 8x11. Cut the biscuits into fourths and layer them across the bottom of the well-greased pan. Then, pour the meat mixture on top of the biscuits. Finally, add the cheese on top. (Yes, we used the whole bag.... don't judge!)

Bake for 25 minutes (or until bubbly and looking done on top)

Serve with a generous amount of sour cream, and voila! Or should I say, HOLA! :)

Side Note: I really need to get a fancy girl camera and improve my food-tography. It looks much more appetizing in person, I promise. Iphone 4 cam is not doing me any justice here!

Healthy-ish "Cheeseburger" Soup

Okay, so normally I would NOT gravitate to anything called "Cheeseburger Soup", but as a married woman I SUPPOSE I should consider the other person eating these meals I prepare. :) My husband was (sweetly) helping me pick out some meals on Pinterest, and he saw this. Since he actually piped up and tried to help, I felt like it was my duty as a wife to honor this one request. It's really not UNhealthy, and I figured it was worth a try on this busy week.

This recipe is a combined adaptation that takes inspiration from a Weight Watchers recipe and a blogger's recipe posted on Pinterest. I also slimmed it down a little on my own. (It could probably taste better if you "fattened" it back up. The husband approved of this version, so we're sticking with "skinny"!)

Ingredients: 

cooking spray
1 garlic clove, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 lb. ground turkey (or use ground beef for heavier version)
2 tb. all purpose flour
3 cups canned chicken broth, divided (I had a little less than two cups (14.5 oz) on hand, so we used    what we had. It seemed like enough for me!)
1 cup low-fat evaporated milk (I used fat free, and I used about 14 oz on accident. But then I figured it would compensate for the low amount of broth!)
8 oz Velveeta 2% reduced fat cheese, cubed
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 can Rotel
baked lowfat tortilla chips (we like Tostitos!)

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over med-high heat for about 30 seconds. Add garlic, onion, and celery; cook, stirring frequently until vegetables are tender. (About 5-10 minutes) Coat your crock pot (or large slow cooker) with cooking spray and put the vegetable mixture in.

Place the same skillet over medium-high heat and brown/break up meat.  (I break mine up pretty fine for soup, but it's your call!) Drain meat and add to slow cooker.

In a small cup, combine flour and 1/2 cup broth; stir until lump-free. Pour this flour/broth mixture into the skillet and add the remainder of the broth left. Bring this to a simmer, and pour into crockpot. Add the evaporated milk, cheese, paprika, salt, pepper, and rotel.

Cover the crock pot and cook on LOW HEAT for 2 hours. Serve soup topped with crumbled tortilla chips (and sour cream if desired).

Okay...I know these are not the best pictures, but I was too hungry to worry about good photography. :)

The husband described it as "if Rotel dip were a soup...", which I suppose is good because Rotel dip is DEFINITELY his favorite guilty pleasure tailgate food. On a cold election night (which is kind of like a tailgate in our home), it worked for us!