Chicken Enchiladas with Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is always in our refrigerator. Caelan prefers it for breakfast and Brenna enjoys it "on the side" for lunch. So when Roberts Dairy and Mom Select sent me a couple of coupons for free cottage cheese I was excited! Not only because that is what we already use but because it's spendy!

Of course the night I planned to make these Chicken Enchiladas I was out of cottage cheese- Caelan had finished it for breakfast- so they were delayed until my next trip to the grocery store.

When we finally had these for dinner they were devoured! Caelan liked them because they had cottage cheese, Brenna liked the spicy chicken and Doug said they had a really good flavor and the creaminess was a nice contrast with the spice from the green chilis.

I did, however, make some changes to the recipe (don't I always?). I'll give you the recipe in full and my changes in italics.

You Need:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 boiled and shredded skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (we grilled the chicken the day before)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 7-ounce can chopped green chile peppers (I used a 4 oz can and it was plenty)
1 1-ounce package taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup Roberts Sour Cream
2 cups Roberts Cottage Cheese
1 pinch ground black pepper
12 6-inch corn tortillas
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 10-ounce red enchilada sauce

To Prepare:
For meat mixture, heat oil in medium skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, onion and green chile peppers and sauté until browned. Then add taco seasoning and prepare meat mixture according to package instructions.

For cheese mixture, mix sour cream with cottage cheese in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and stir until well blended. (The girls helped with this- they love to stir)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make enchiladas, heat tortillas until soft and place a spoonful of meat mixture, a spoonful of cheese mixture and a small amount of shredded cheese in each tortilla. Roll tortillas and place in a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Top with any remaining meat and cheese mixture, enchilada sauce and remaining shredded cheese. (I hate rolling corn tortillas. They always crack when I try to roll them. So I made this more like a lasagna. Pour a tiny bit of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the baking dish to help with sticking -about 4T- and spread it around. Layer 6 tortillas over the bottom of the dish. Pour in 2/3 of meat mixture, 2/3 of cheese mixture and sprinkle 1 1/3 cup of the cheese over the top. Cover with remaining tortillas and repeat layers with remaining meat and cheese mixtures, add enchilada sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheese.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This recipe serves 12 and reheats really well as leftovers.

This post sponsored, in part, by

Scotch Eggs

I am a HUGE fan of Scotch Eggs. There is a lovely pub in downtown Des Moines that we visit 4-6 times a year just for their excellent fish & chips and Scotch Eggs. Having actually been in British and Irish pubs I can honestly say that they have a great ambiance and we don't feel a bit bad about taking our girls there.

What is a Scotch Egg? It is, quite simply, a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried. Sounds divine, no?

Last week I was playing with my dinner spinner (have an iPhone or iPod Touch? Get this free app!) and trying to figure out what to do with all the sausage we got from a hog we purchased and butchered. I was impressed with the options that popped up, but the one that most caought my attention was Scotch Eggs. After browsing the various recipes I chose this one. I made a few changes, which I will detail below in italics, in the recipe.

These were great! Paired with a pint of Magners or Guinness and some Coleman's spicy mustard. Mmmmm... Delish.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 pound pork sausage meat
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 egg, beaten
* 2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
* 1 quart oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the pork sausage and Worcestershire sauce. Combine the flour, salt and pepper; mix into the sausage. If you are using plain sausage and like more flavor, add spices. I added some garlic, a bit of onion and some basil.

1.5 Make sure the eggs and the sausage are cold. I used the flour on my counter top to make the sausage patties. It helps keep it from sicking quite so much.

2. Divide the sausage into four equal parts. Pat flat on floured surface. Mold each part around one of the hard-cooked eggs, rolling between your hands to shape. Place the beaten egg and bread crumbs into separate dishes. Dip the balls into the egg, then roll in the bread crumbs until coated. Shake off any excess.

3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep fryer to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C), or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil turns brown in 1 minute. Lower the eggs carefully into the hot oil. Fry for 5 minutes, or until deep golden brown.
OR
Preheat oven to 350. Heat 2 T olive oil in large pan over medium high heat. Brown all sides of the Scotch Egg adding more Olive Oil as necessary. When all are nicely browned place on foil covered baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Still crispy on the outside, just not deep fried so less greasy and a tiny bit better for you. Not much, but a tiny bit.

Garnish with cheddar cheese, lettuce leaves or chopped tomato.




How to hard cook eggs:

Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, and peel.

Lite Creamy Broccoli Lasagna

One of the perks of writing about food is that, sometimes, companies want you to eat their food. Depending on the company I will either accept or decline the offer.

A couple of weeks ago Robert's Dairy, a company well known in the Midwest, reached out to me via Mom Select and asked if I would be interested in trying some of their products. Trying? I already use their stuff so I, quite nonchalantly, said, "sure". OK, so I wasn't nonchalant. I told them straight up that I already used and loved their products so they should choose me. And they did.

A few days ago I received some great coupons in the mail for me as well as this link so all of you could get coupons too! Roberts Dairy serves Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas as well as parts of Colorado, Illinois and South Dakota.


Now... About those recipes. I only received a few but you can find hundreds at the Roberts Dairy website. And, though they call for Roberts Dairy products you can, of course, use whatever brand you like.

I made the Lite Creamy Broccoli Lasagna last night. I had been looking for a new meatless recipe, and this fit the bill. As I'm not a fan of fungi (mushrooms), Doug was surprised I made this. My girls devoured it- especially the mushrooms! The cottage cheese gave it a lovely "melty" texture. It's a great way to get the kids to eat their veggies!

Ingredients

9 uncooked lasagna noodles (I used wheat. I think you could also use the "no boil" noodles in this, too)
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons Roberts Butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1-1/2 cups Roberts Skim Milk
6 cups broccoli florets
1-1/2 cups Roberts 1% Cottage Cheese
10 ounces reduced-fat Swiss cheese, shredded, divided

Preparation

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, sautè mushrooms and onion in butter until tender. Add the flour, bouillon, garlic salt, pepper and thyme; stir until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add broccoli; cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir in cottage cheese and three-fourths of the Swiss cheese. Drain noodles.

In a 13in.x9in.x2in. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray, layer three noodles and a third of the sauce. Repeat layers twice. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly and broccoli is tender. Sprinkle with remaining Swiss cheese. Bake, uncovered, 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 12 servings

This post sponsored, in part, by

Bacon Horseradish Dip

I love horseradish. LOVE IT! SO when I saw this recipe in the The Good Home Cookbook I knew I would be making it.

This recipe is so easy, can be mixed right in the sour cream container and is so delicious it will disappear before anything else on the table. (Yes, really. I had two other dips out with this one and this one was gone long before the others.)


The recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups.

1 (16 oz) container sour cream (I used low fat)
1/2 c finely chopped crisp bacon
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T prepared horseradish (or a bit more if you really like it!)
1/2 t hot pepper sauce
Pinch garlic powder

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl (or just in the sour cream container) until well blended. Cover.

Refrigerate for several hours. Serve with chips or crackers.

Check out this cookbook. I've been pulling out so many great recipes from it!