Tortilla Pie

Hello lovely readers! I know I haven't been posting very much this past week but I have an excellent reason for my absence: I've been on holiday in gorgeous Cornwall! We had an amazing time filled with beautiful scenery, tasty food and good friends. It was pretty hard to leave yesterday (both figuratively and literally since it took us over ten hours to get home!) but I'm glad I've got the weekend now to prepare for a pretty busy upcoming week. This was a recipe I made while trying to use up leftovers in order to try not to waste too much on our last night at the house. We had made tacos earlier in the week (perfect dish for a big group!) and therefore we had a lot of the seasoned beef leftover. After searching "how to use leftover taco meat" on the internet I came across recipes for tortilla pie. I'd never even heard of this dish before but it seemed like a tasty option!

Stunning cliffs near our house!

Finished tortilla pie

SInce I was relying on leftovers I ended up taking quite a few liberties with the different recipe versions I found online. However, the end result confirmed my suspicion that Tex-Mex is incredibly forgiving. Basically, if you have cheese, you're good to go. I paired this with a quick and simple olive salsa (again, trying to use up bits and bobs in the fridge). If you aren't an olive fan, feel free to ditch them! Also, you will note that the recipe below calls for 8 slices of packaged cheese... and yes, I'm referring to the awful/delicious versions that you top hamburgers with if you're feeling lazy. Obviously, feel free to skip them! I normally don't buy that cheese but again, I was using what we had on hand. Don't judge me! Finally, I'm guessing with the ingredient amounts here based on the size of our dish but this could easily be whipped up with whatever leftovers you had and a smaller pan!

Simple olive salsa

Final dish!

Prep TIme: 15 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves: 8

Ingredients: 

6 flour tortillas

800g seasoned taco meat

250g cheddar cheese

300ml sour cream

8 packets of pre-sliced hamburger cheese

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

250g cherry tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch of coriander, chopped

5 spring onions, chopped

1 handful of olives, chopped

1 -2 limes, juiced 

1/4 cup of jalopenos, chopped

Method: 

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.

In a large pot on the stove, heat a splash of oil over medium heat and begin to saute the chopped onion. When the onion is starting to soften, add the red bell pepper and saute for a minute. Next add the garlic and saute gently for two minutes or until it becomes fragrant. Finally, add in the leftover taco meat and leave until it is reheated, stirring frequently. It should be a bit juicy so if it's a bit dry, add a splash of water. Leave over a low heat while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Mix the sour cream and 3/4ths of the cheddar cheese in a bowl and set aside. 

Prepare a baking dish by spraying or buttering the bottom and sides. Lay two tortillas on the bottom, overlapping slightly to fit. Next add half the taco meat mixture, spreading evenly around the dish. Top this layer with 4 slices of the pre-packaged hamburger cheese, tearing them to evenly distribute around the dish. Next add another layer of tortillas by laying another two tortillas onto the cheese. Spread the sour cream and cheddar cheese mix on top of these tortillas. Add the remaining taco meat onto the sour cream and top with the remaining four slices of pre-packaged cheese. Finally, layer the two remaining tortillas onto the cheese and top with the remaining grated cheddar cheese. 

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese on top has melted and is beginning to crisp. 

For the salsa: mix the cherry tomatoes, spring onions, olives, jalopenos and coriander in a bowl and drizzle with the juiced limes. Set aside to let the flavors mingle. Enjoy! 

Mexican Seven Layer Dip

I have a slightly unhealthy love for this dip. It's great for parties, super easy to put together and delicious. I had been a little worried about introducing it to my British friends since refried beans aren't as popular here as they are back home but it went down a treat! I made this for a little taco night get together yesterday and it proved to be a great appetizer to share while we chatted before getting to the main course. I served this with tortilla chips and a bowl of homemade salsa so it was more of a nibble than a starter. The rest of the menu included beef tacos (recipe for seasoning mix coming soon), chicken and chorizo empanadas (recipe coming soon) and a cranberry granita for dessert (recipe coming soon). It was such a nice relaxing end to the weekend and I think I'll definitely have to repeat the evening. Plus, I still have lots of leftovers so my meals this week are basically sorted, which is lucky since I have some serious plans for my Valentines Day menu... more on that later this week.

First Layer: Refried Beans

Second Layer: Cheese

Third, Fourth and Fifth Layers: Salsa, Sour Cream and Spices

As for the number of servings, there were four of us last night and this was the perfect amount since we weren't too full to enjoy our tacos. If you were putting this out with a bunch of other nibbles for a party, this would easily serve ten or more. I used both store bought salsa and homemade because that's what I had on hand but you could easily substitute chopped onion and tomato for the second salsa layer. Green onion is also a nice addition but I didn't have any on hand. Also, if you don't have the spices involved, one of those taco seasoning packets is an easy substitute. Please keep in mind that the amounts in the ingredients list are sort of arbitrary since it will depend on the size of your dish.

Sixth and Seventh Layers: Fresh Salsa and Olives

Optional Eighth Layer: Jalopenos 

Finally, you will notice that there are actually more than seven layers to this dip (if you're including jalopenos). That's the beauty of this recipe - you can customize it as much or as little as you want. The main stars I think are the refried beans, sour cream, salsa and spices so everything else can be played around with to your taste.

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: N/A

Serves: 4-10

Ingredients: 

1 can of refried beans
100g low fat cheddar cheese, grated
Salsa, hot or mild
200ml low-fat sour cream
1 tsp onion granules
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
Fresh salsa
Black or green olives, sliced
Jalopenos to taste

Method: 

Place the refried beans in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds or until the beans are softened and pliable. Spread them over the bottom of the serving dish and top with the grated cheddar cheese. Carefully spread the salsa over the cheese layer and then repeat with the sour cream. Sprinkle the spices evenly over the sour cream and then dot with the fresh salsa. Finish with a sprinkling of olives and jalopenos. Enjoy!

Sour Cream Enchiladas

It is currently FREEZING in London, which is particularly upsetting since January started out fairly mild. I'm not much of a cold weather person so when it gets cold, I start craving warm and filling foods... which usually means something cheesy and delicious. However, as noted in the previous post, I've been trying to keep my food choices on the healthier end of the scale and therefore avoiding cheese if possible. So when the craving for enchiladas struck, I started hunting around the internet for a solution to my cheesy problem.

Ingredients (minus the chicken)

Spices used

Sour cream enchiladas might not seem like the perfect solution when taken at face value. I mean, there's sour cream and cheese - not a brilliant combination for someone looking to skip dairy. However, I also think that cutting something completely out of your diet isn't a great way to go about things because you'll probably end up craving it so badly that you'll eat something really horrible for you instead. So, I went ahead with the recipe and, by choosing low fat sour cream and cheese, I managed to keep the calories for each enchilada at 386* (with 27g of carbs, 17g of fat and 31g of protein), which I think is a pretty reasonable amount for dinner (especially since I could only manage one - they're so filling!). I had thought to skip the cheese altogether and just top the enchiladas with some of my queso fresco but in the end I chickened out. Having never had these enchiladas before, I thought skipping the cheese would mean losing a major component. However, the sauce is so flavorful and delicious that in the future I think I'll go ahead and leave the cheese out since it barely makes an impact in the overall dish. Also, I must have overfilled the enchiladas because I ended up with ten instead of twelve so I think next time I'll use the chicken a bit more sparingly. Plus twelve enchiladas would take the calorie count down to 321* (23g of carbs, 14g of fat, 25g of protein).

Chicken in the pan

Chicken in the oven

Assembling the enchiladas

Fresh out of the oven!

I didn't have tomatillos or anything resembling them so I couldn't follow the recipe exactly as it was laid out on Homesick Texan. So instead I added ground chili powder and onion granules to the sour cream sauce and increased the amounts of cayenne and cumin. I think what really makes this dish are the fresh chili peppers - I used medium heat ones and they were perfect for me. I've adjusted the recipe below to include the ingredients that I used and the measurements involved. With the sour cream, I could only find it in 300ml containers so I just used two of those, even though it was more than the recipe called for. I just hate having tiny amounts of things left in the fridge so I'd rather just use it up. Finally, I used flour tortillas because I prefer the taste but I'm sure the recipe is equally nice with the corn versions!

Finished with cilantro/coriander and queso fresco

Finished and ready to eat!

Recipe by: www.homesicktexan.blogspot.com

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 60 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients: 

1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp butter
3 medium heat chili peppers, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp flour
2 cups/500ml chicken stock (1 boullion cube)
2 cups/600ml low fat sour cream
1 tbsp cayenne
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp onion granules
1/2 tbsp chili powder
30g fresh cilantro/corriander, chopped
250g low fat cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 a white onion, finely chopped
10-12 flour tortillas
1/2 cup queso fresco, crumbled (optional)

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 350f or 175c.

Add the olive oil to a frying pan over medium-high heat and cook the chicken for three minutes on each side before placing them on a baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink. While the chicken cooks, melt the butter in a sauce pot over medium heat. Add the chopped chili peppers and saute until soft. Next add the garlic and, when fragrant, whisk in the flour. Cook for about a minute, stirring constantly to ensure the flour is nicely incorporated. While continuing to whisk, slowly add the chicken stock and mix until thickened (about two to three minutes). Next add the sour cream, spices, and 3/4 of the chopped cilantro/coriander and mix well. Meanwhile, remove the chicken from the onion and shred into bite sized pieces. Make sure to keep the oven on so the enchiladas can go straight in.

To construct the enchiladas, first add a cup of the sour cream sauce to the baking container. Next, layer a small handful of chicken, cheese (this is according to your tastes: use more or less depending on how you prefer your enchiladas), and about a tablespoon of chopped raw onion to each flour tortilla. Roll the tortilla up and place seam side down in the pan. Continue until all the ingredients have been used. Cover the tortillas with the remaining sauce and any remaining cheese or onion. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with remaining cilantro/coriander and crumbled queso fresco. And enjoy!

*I use www.myfitnesspal.com to estimate the calorie contents of meals. It has a really useful feature that lets you put in recipe ingredients and it will work out how many calories, carbs, fat and protein you'll have for each serving. So these numbers are probably not as accurate as they could be but I find it helpful to have at least a vague idea about the overall nutrition of my meals. 

Queso Fresco

As part of my focus on healthy eating for 2013, I've resolved to cut out as much cheese as possible as a way of avoiding the extra calories and high fat content involved. However, a lot of my favorite dishes call for some form of cheese... which has left me wondering how to get around this issue. After poking around on the internet for a few days, I decided to try making queso fresco. It seemed like a good option because it would be fresh and preservative free. Unfortunately, it isn't a melting cheese so it won't work quite the same way a cheddar or something would in recipes. However, I think it turned out pretty well! It was definitely easy and very straightforward, plus it was surprisingly adaptable. I didn't have cheesecloth and none of the stores around me stock it so I used our cheapest/worst dishcloth (it's completely useless). It's pretty thin but I went ahead and attacked it with a fondue fork to give it a few more holes for the whey to drain through. Just make sure your towel isn't one that will shed fluff or have colors that will run while the cheese is draining!

Fondue fork attack!

Milk ready for the lime juice 

Curds forming 

Draining 

End result!

Inside: Cilantro/Coriander 

You can flavor the cheese with whatever you have on hand. I went with cilantro/coriander (using both names so as to not confuse my American or British friends) because I knew I was going to use it with a few Mexican dishes this week. The cheese will last as long as the milk would have so it's a good idea to get milk with the latest expiration date you can find, but avoid ultra-pasteurized versions.

Recipe inspired by: www.homesicktexan.blogspot.com

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 15 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 

2 L of whole milk
1/3 cup of lime juice
salt
1/3 cup of cilantro/coriander

Method: 

Pour the milk into a pan (non-aluminum) and heat over medium-high heat until the milk is almost boiling and then add the lime juice. Lower the heat to medium and stir gently to help the curds form. It won't look very impressive at this stage (Homesick Texan likens it to cornmeal dropped in milk) but let it sit for about 5 minutes or until it seems to have formed a good amount of curds. Drain into a colander lined with cheesecloth or a thin dishcloth. Tie the corners together to create a sling and hang from the faucet so that it can drain easily. Leave for approximately four hours and then unwrap and store in the fridge.