The simplicity and flavor of this four ingredient chicken enchilada amazes me.  It really is easy and delicious.  I LOVE this recipe!  You can accent it with sour cream once it’s cooled out of the oven, or green onions, or whatever you like.  Use as much or as little cheese as you want, but definitely use the entire 28 oz. can of enchilada sauce, it needs it or it will dry out!  A+!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 boneness, skinless chicken breast halves (a total of approx. 18-24 oz.)
• A package of corn tortillas (6-inch) *I always buy 2 pkg’s at a time just because.
• Monterey Jack or Mexican blend cheese
• One 28 oz. can mild, traditional enchilada sauce**
• sour cream, green onions**, etc for topping (optional)

** = may be considered irritants to some IC patients resulting in a flare.  Please tread carefully.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large skillet with lid, bring 1″ water to a boil.
3. Add chicken and season with salt.  Cover and reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Simmer 5 minutes, remove skillet from heat.
5. Let chicken steam, covered, until cooked through or registers safe on an instant-read thermometer, about 12-14 minutes.
6. When slightly cooled, shred with two forks and transfer chicken to large bowl.
7. Mix 1 cup enchilada sauce with chicken; toss to combine.
8. Spread some enchilada sauce evenly in a baking dish.  (I used a 9×13″ Pyrex glass baking dish which has an awesome lid for later storage).
9. Fill each corn tortilla with chicken mixture.  Roll up tightly and arrange seam side DOWN, in a baking dish.
10. Cover with remaining enchilada sauce and top with desired amount of cheese
11. Bake until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling, 15-20 minutes.
12. Let cool 5 minutes before serving (believe me!).

This is a very good lasagna.  What we found interesting was the day we made it, it was just in the “okay/good” pile.  The next day, after a night in the fridge, it morphed into something you would taste at a fancy, exotic Italian restaurant.  It got 100x better!  It had more depth of flavor and didn’t taste bland at all.  **We used 85% ground beef, ricotta, and shredded Italian cheese.  For the ricotta, don’t use fat free ricotta, at least use the medium fat one like we did – I think the ricotta was 6g fat a serving.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes with Italian herbs
• 1 lb. ground beef or Italian sausage (casings removed)
• 6 uncooked dried lasagna noodles
• 2 cups (8 oz) shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
• 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
• 2 T. grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Set oven at 350 degrees and preheat.
2. Spray 2 qt. rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Spoon 1 cup crushed tomatoes into baking dish.
4. Cook meat in large skillet, drain.
5. Stir in remaining undrained tomatoes, bring to boil.
6. Place 2 uncooked noodles in dish, top with 1/3 of the meat/sauce mixture and 1/3 of the Italian cheese.
7. Repeat layers.
8. Top with cottage cheese (preferably ricotta!),  then remaining noodles, meat mixture, and Italian cheese.
9. When in doubt, if that’s confusing, JUST KEEP LAYERING! LOL
10. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 350 for 1 hour.  Put a jelly roll pan under the baking dish to collect any spillage.
11. Let stand 15 minutes to cool (or you’ll burn your mouth!)
12. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

This is a cool recipe I found in my CrockPot slow cooker book that I love.  It takes your classic sloppy joe ingredients and adds flavorful, easy add-ins like baked beans, bell pepper, and BBQ sauce.  It’s really better than I thought it’d be and very yummy!  It’s extremely simple – look at the directions!  This is one you could throw together in the morning in about 10-15 minutes and have a scrumptious meal come dinner time.  We’ll definitely make this again!

Makes 4-6 servings.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion (or use powder)**
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed (or use powder)
• 1/2 cup ketchup**
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce**
• 2 T. cider vinegar**
• 1 T. Worcestershire sauce**
• 1 T. packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. chili powder**
• 1 can (8 oz.) baked beans
• 6 kaiser rolls, split and warmed
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional, but great!)

**Known IC irritants, tread carefully!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Brown ground beef, onion, bell pepper, and garlic 6-8 minutes in large skillet, stirring to break up meat.  Drain and discard excess fat.  Transfer beef mixture to slow cooker.
2. Combine ketchup, BBQ sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and chili powder in small bowl.  Transfer to slow cooker.
3. Add baked beans.  Stir well to combine.  Cover, cook on HIGH 3 hours.  (I did low and it was fine).
4. To serve, fill split rolls with 1/2 cup sloppy joe mixture.  Sprinkle with cheese, if desired, before topping sandwich with roll lid.

I found this recipe in one of my giant cookbooks for slow cookers entitled, “Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook” by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann.  It was super simple to make, extremely moist (see photo), and had rich flavor.  Serves 6-8 people.  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

• One 4-LB. boneless chuck roast, trimmed of as much fat as possible and blotted dry
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper**
• 4 large carrots, cut into 3″ lengths
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 large onion, quartered (I used flakes)**
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar**
• 3 T. unsalted butter, softened
• 3 T. all-purpose flour

**Known IC irritants, tread carefully!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the roast in the slow cooker and sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
2. Add the carrots, potatoes, onion, and bay leaves.
3. Pour the water and vinegar over the meat and vegetables.
4. Cover and cook on LOW for approximately 6-8 hours (you be the judge of how quickly your slow cooker cooks).
5. Transfer the meat and vegetables to a heated platter and cover with aluminum foil.
6. Turn the cooker to HIGH. You will have about 3 full cups of liquid remaining in the slow cooker.
7. In a small bowl, mash together the butter with the flour to make a beurre manie.  Add to the hot liquid in the cooker and stir with a whisk until melted and the liquid thickens.
8. Ladle some sauce over the meat and vegetables and serve the remainder in a bowl.

I obviously found this recipe on the back of a Bisquick box.  I usually don’t try many recipes on the backs of packages but had exceptional luck with this one!  It tastes really good – you really taste the Parmesan, the breading stays on, and you taste the perfect idea of drizzling butter over the chicken before baking!  I have tried many non-fried chicken finger recipes over the years and this is the only one I really like.  I made it eggless with a simple change, noted below. Approximately 4 servings but I’d say more 2-3.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb.), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
• 2/3 cup powdered Bisquick mix (If you want it eggless buy a brand like powdered Krusteaz’s pancake mix, always check ingredients, click here to see which one I bought.)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp. salt or garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 egg, slightly beaten (I just substituted whole fat half and half, or you could use milk – anything to get the meat wet).
• 3 T. butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 450* F.
2. Line cookie sheet with foil and liberally spray it with cooking spray.
3. In 1 gallon resealable food storage plastic bag, mix pancake mix, Parmesan cheese, salt, and paprika.  Seal bag and shake to combine.
4. Dip HALF the chicken strips into the egg (half and half or milk), place in bag.  Seal and shake to coat thoroughly.  Place chicken on cookie sheet.  Repeat to use up remaining chicken.
5. Drizzle melted butter over chicken (it adds a ton of flavor, do it!) (see photo 2 for details.)  Next time I’ll use a bigger pan, I didn’t expect it to be crowded like that, but it cooked just fine.  
6. Bake 12-14 minutes, turning halfway through bake time with pancake turner, until no longer pink in center and registered safe with an instant-read thermometer.

We’ve been making this years.  Change it up to how you like it.  It’s a very flexible recipe.  Now that I am 100% banned from citrus products, like lemon juice, (thanks I.C., interstitial cystitis!), I still find a way to enjoy it and savor a lot of its remaining flavor.  ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS:

• Cooked rice, 1 cup raw, cook as packaging instructs (any rice works here, I’ve used brown rice and white rice at different times).
• 6 medium to large bell peppers, any color
• About 1 – 1.5 lbs. ground beef, depending on how meaty you like it
• 1 onion, chopped**
• 1-4 cloves garlic, depending on your taste
• 28-30 oz. Italian flavored diced or chopped tomatoes (I used “Dei Fratelli Chopped Italian tomatoes, herbs, and olive oil tomatoes” 28oz)**
• 15 or more oz. tomato sauce**
• salt and pepper, to taste**
• dried oregano and basil, to taste
• Fresh dill, chopped, to taste (I use at least a 1/2 cup)
• Optional: juice of 1-2 lemons.**
• Aluminum foil to cover

**Known IC irritants, tread carefully!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Begin by cooking rice, or even use day-old rice.
2. Cut very thin slice off tops of peppers. Discard stems, seeds, and membranes.  Rinse peppers and set aside.
3. Here you can choose one of two steps: 1) boil water to cover your peppers, add your peppers once the water boils, boil until soft, approximately 5 minutes and remove. or 2) the way I now prefer: microwave 2-4 minutes on a microwave-safe plate until slightly softened.  Let cool a few minutes before handling hot peppers!
4. Heat oven to 350* F.
5. Place six par-cooked peppers in a baking dish with sides (preferably a dish with room for spare rice mixture).
6. Cook ground beef over medium heat until brown, drain excess fat if necessary, but leave a little for flavor!
7. Add your raw chopped onions and/or garlic, if desired, to meat mixture.  Cook until softened.  Or, you can add onion and garlic powder, which I did this time. Add salt and pepper.
8. Slowly add your cans of tomato sauce and chopped/diced tomatoes to your cooked mixture.
9. Add your oregano, basil, chopped dill, and any other seasonings you desire, including optional lemon juice.  Cook 20 minutes on low simmer to blend flavors.
10. Stir in some of your cooked rice, until you have a good balance of meat – sauce – rice ratio, for your liking.  Cook a few minutes.
11. Stuff your peppers with your beef/tomato/rice mixture.  Put any extra rice in dish around peppers.  Pour any remaining tomato sauce to wet your rice to keep it from drying out.  Sprinkle lemon juice, optional, over entire casserole/baking dish.
12. Cover tightly with foil!  Bake 45 minutes.
13. Uncover and remove foil, bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until tender.