Workout: Crunch Cardio Dance Blast

I'll do my month update tomorrow night, but suffice to say I have not done well this week. Working out, eating well, all of it seems to have flown out the window. I think it had something to do with the training we were forced to endure at work Wednesday through Friday this week. Whatever the reason, even though I already met my January goal a week ago, I may not meet it when I weigh in tomorrow. 

When I'm dancing I want to look like this....

As a last ditch effort to try and make the weigh in tomorrow morning, I'm drinking as much water as possible today, eating under 1200 calories, and decided to do a different workout from the Wii Fit. The Wii Fit has been fantastic for motivation and getting used to exercising regularly (and for strength training, which I almost never do if I go to the gym), but I hardly ever feel like I'm breaking a sweat while using it. I felt like dancing!

But I always end up feeling like this.

I turned to Netflix instant streaming, which I absolutely LOVE by the way, to see if there was a fun workout video to do that would really get me going. I've tried the Bollywood dance videos and even the Carmen Electra striptease workout (my all time favorite solely based on the hilarity), but nothing really sticks since I always felt silly flailing around my living room trying to follow the instructor. I love to dance with my iPod on, but with the choreographed moves and looking at the girls on the video, I always end up feeling like an idiot. On the other hand, sometimes the instructor moves too slow or the dancing is too basic and I end up bored. I can only do so many grapevines, people. 

Netflix had a large selection of workout videos to stream instantly and I picked the Crunch: Cardio Dance Blast. It's a little under 40 minutes long and it looked like the most fun out of all the videos, so I figured I'd give it a shot. So glad I did! This workout had me sweating, kept me entertained and, bonus, it didn't make me feel like an uncoordinated freak. Finally, the instructor is actually kind of fun and encouraging instead of the usual annoying screeching stick figure, saying things like "Uh oh, who's bad, I dunno, it's us!" and "Look out J-Lo, we comin' up." Who wouldn't love that?

Here is the first ten minutes of the workout; if you have Netflix instant streaming, I highly recommend putting this in your queue and trying it out. 

Lasagna Roll-Ups with Turkey Sausage

I'm so mad at myself for not taking pictures until I rolled these up. Sorry! Next time I make them I'll document properly. We had training all day at work and I was focused on getting these in the oven as soon as possible. This recipe takes a little under an hour to prepare but it is so, so worth it. And it freezes great, so I make six at a time for lunches and quick dinners.

Yield: 6 roll-ups (can be multiplied/divided easily to make more or less)

Ingredients:
6 lasagna noodles
1 lb turkey italian sausage
1/2 10 oz pack of frozen spinach, thawed, rinsed, and squeezed dry
22 oz (2.75 cups) part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
1.5 cups fat free cottage cheese (or ricotta, whichever you prefer)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
24 oz jar pasta sauce (I used Newman's Own Sockarooni)
Italian seasoning blend


Preparation: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring a LARGE pot of water to a boil, cook the lasagna noodles until al dente and then spread them on a piece of wax paper. I like to cook a few extra noodles since I inevitably break some or they stick together; you really need them whole to make this recipe work.
3. Brown the sausage in a skillet until crumbled. Divide into 6 portions.
4. Mix spinach, 2.5 cups mozzarella (reserve 1/2 cup for topping), cottage cheese (or ricotta), and parmesan together in a large bowl. Divide into 6 portions.
5. Spread a layer of cheese, a layer of sausage, and a thin layer of sauce onto each noodle, in that order. This is the fun part! It gets messy, but don't be afraid to use your hands! Sprinkle Italian seasoning blend over the noodles.
6. Spray a large baking pan with cooking spray. Quickly roll up each noodle and put it in the pan. If anything falls out while you're rolling, just press it into the sides of the roll.
7. After all the noodles are rolled and arranged in the pan, top with the remaining sauce and then the reserved mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve with a side salad! Yum!!

January Goal Met!

I'll still post a January update, but I met my January goal today!! Officially down 9.6 pounds since the beginning of the year. My reward was supposed to be a necklace from Nordstrom, but I went shopping for groceries at Target today and they had an amazing clothing sale, so I got a camisole, a cardigan, a short sleeve v-neck, and two long v-necks for $60. Just bought my spring wardrobe!

I still get to pick an extra reward since I met my goal early (by a week!), but I haven't decided yet. Debating between a Starbucks card and a new hairbrush. I still have $35 on my current card, so I'm thinking I can wait until next month. My flat hair, not so much.

Starbucks Addiction: My Top 5 Low(er) Calorie Drinks

The first step is admitting that you have a problem. Hi, I'm Renee, and I LOVE STARBUCKS.

I am not a person who goes to Starbucks every day because (1) I cannot afford that and (2) now that it's not right across the street within walking distance, I have to plan to go before work since it's out of my way. I usually go about once a week or maybe once every two weeks.

All that being said, I love Starbucks. I love when the red cups come out for the holidays and I can finally get my peppermint mocha with the chocolate shavings on top. I love reading on the porch, enjoying an icy frappucino in the summer. Most of all, I love when fall begins and the pumpkin spice lattes (PSLs) become my exclusive order for the next 3 months. Two years ago, I called Starbucks on the first day of fall and asked when they would start making the PSLs. When they told me that it was that day, I told the guy on the phone I'd be there in 5 minutes. He laughed because he thought I was kidding. When I showed up 5 minutes later and told him that I was the crazy girl on the phone, he laughed again, but there was fear in his eyes. This year, they came out early, so when I went through the drive thru and saw the sign, I squealed excitedly to the girl in the speaker that I needed to change my order to the PSL. Seriously, I love it.

So I couldn't do without it on my diet. Starbucks has a lot of great options for my Sparkpeople, calorie-counting lifestyle. You just have to be careful which ones you choose (and check what the barista wrote on the cup to make sure they didn't give you that whipped cream or full fat milk when you asked for no whip and nonfat). My top 5 low(er) calorie drinks are listed below.

NOTE ON SIZING: I refuse to order coffee in anything less than a grande based on the pricing; I can't pass up the 30 cents more for an upsize. Some of the drinks below I order in venti also. The sizes are listed where I put the nutrition. For those who don't know, Starbucks will let you order a "short" (kids size) that is 8 ounces, which I sometimes do for hot chocolate, but for the coffee drinks, I just don't think it's worth it.

They make this sign for the crazies.

#1: The PSL (seasonal)
If you couldn't tell, I am CRAZY about this drink. I've tried to recreate it at home, but it just doesn't work. Since it's only available in the fall, I allow myself to splurge on this one even though it's a bit higher in calories than the other drinks, but I only order a grande. It's so worth it. To order, say "Grande nonfat, no whip pumpkin spice latte WITH magic spices." They will know what you mean when you say magic spices, but they may also laugh at you. Consider yourself warned.

Calories: 260, Fat: 0g, Carbs: 50g, Protein: 14g, Calcium: 50%, Caffeine: 150mg

The sprinkles.

#2: Peppermint Mocha Latte
This is advertised as a holiday drink, but you can get it year-round, it just won't have the dark chocolate sprinkles on the top (which are pretty much the best part). I try to get this in grande because it is higher calorie. To order, say "Grande nonfat, no whip peppermint mocha latte...WITH sprinkles."

Calories: 280, Fat: 3g, Carbs: 59g, Protein: 12g, Calcium: 35%, Caffeine: 175mg

#3: Skinny Cinnamon Dolce (Hot or Iced)
I order this year-round, either iced or hot, in a venti size. It's sugar free cinnamon syrup and steamed nonfat milk with espresso. To order, say "Venti skinny cinnamon dolce latte" or "Venti skinny cinnamon dolce iced." Fun fact: the iced version has more caffeine because Starbucks brews their iced coffee double strong.

HOT Calories: 160, Fat: 0g, Carbs: 24g, Protein: 15g, Calcium: 50%, Caffeine: 150mg

ICED Calories: 110, Fat: 0g, Carbs: 17g, Protein: 10g, Calcium: 35%, Caffeine: 225mg

#4: Mocha Frappucino Light
I order this in a grande because a venti is too much frappucino (life lessons). It's not the full fat version with whipped cream on top, but it is yummy and really hits the spot on a hot summer day. To order, say "Grande mocha frappucino light."

Calories: 140, Fat: 1g, Carbs: 34g, Protein: 4g, Calcium: 10%, Caffeine: 95mg

#5: Skinny Caramel Macchiato
I order this in venti, and it has sugar free vanilla syrup, nonfat milk, espresso, foam, and a caramel drizzle. It's so rich and you're being so good, but it feels so bad. To order, say "Venti skinny caramel macchiato."


Calories: 160, Fat: 1g, Carbs: 25g, Protein: 13g, Calcium: 45%, Caffeine: 150mg

Honorable Mention (Non-Coffee Favorites): Chai Latte (Hot or Iced)
Pretty much the only tea I drink. I used to order this all the time, but since I can get the Tazo chai concentrate in regular and decaf at Target for about $4 (it makes around 6 servings), I never order it anymore. It's still delicious, it just tastes as good at home for less than $1. I listed the calories for a grande size in both hot and iced. To order, say "Grande (decaf) nonfat chai latte."

Calories: 200, Fat: 0g, Carbs: 44g, Protein: 8g, Calcium: 25%, Caffeine: 100mg

Honorable Mention (Non-Coffee Favorites): Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Their hot chocolate is so good. I order a "short" (kids) size for just a taste, and - bonus - it's under $2! To order, say "Short nonfat, no whip peppermint hot chocolate."

Calories: 170, Fat: 2g, Carbs: 35g, Protein: 6g, Calcium: 20%, Caffeine: 15mg




One more hint: PLEASE pay with a registered gift card!! You save about 80 cents on each venti drink, you get a free drink on your birthday, and you can easily reload it online. Why wouldn't you use one??

The Best Recipe Ever: 5 Ingredient Taco Chili

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write a post about one of my favorite recipes ever: my five ingredient slow cooker taco chili. I think it took me longer to type the name of it than it did to make it this morning.

Yield: 4 servings (The pictures are from my mini-crockpot, so I just halved the recipe, I put the half cans of beans in the freezer to use next time I want some yummy chili!)

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen Morningstar Farms Meal Starter Crumbles, 12 oz (or if you want to use a pound of beef or turkey, that's fine, just brown it first)
2 cans diced tomatoes, you can use the ones with chiles or green peppers, but do not use Rotel
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chili/red kidney beans with gravy
1 packet of taco seasoning mix

Preparation:
1. Dump everything in your crockpot, give it a stir, and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. That's it!

You can top this with cheese, low fat sour cream, tortilla strips, fritos, put it over a baked potato...pretty much whatever you want. You can also add other canned veggies, like a can of corn or some chopped onions and bell peppers, even some jalapeños. Like I said: Best. Recipe. Ever.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This was a recipe I made last week and never got around to posting, probably because it just turned out okay. It was a little bit tricky. Next time I make it, I'm definitely going to make some edits, the first of which will be to pre-cook the rice. Mine turned out a little too al dente (can you use that for rice?) and if it was all the way cooked I think it would've tasted much better. Other nitpicks I had include cutting the peppers the wrong way (whoops) and not having any foil to cover them when they went in the oven. That said, this recipe is really low calorie, pretty low carb, and filling!

Yield: 3 servings with leftover filling (I split the "filling" in half and froze it so I only used 3 peppers for this one, so if you don't want to do that, use 6 peppers, and it will make 6 servings. A little confusing.)

Ingredients: 
3 green bell peppers (or 6 if you want to use all the filling)

1 pound ground turkey

1/3 cup chopped onion

salt and pepper to taste

1 can whole peeled tomatoes, 14.5 oz, chopped

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

1/2 cup water

1 cup shredded 2% Cheddar cheese (or you can use Mexican blend)

2 cans condensed tomato soup, 10.75 oz

water as needed

Preparation:

1. Cook rice according to instructions on package (I didn't do this step, but I would use my rice cooker. Remember, brown rice takes MUCH longer to cook than white rice, so factor that into your prep time).

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.

3. Saute turkey and onions in a skillet until turkey is browned, about 5 minutes. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt and pepper. 

4. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. 

5. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray (pick your dish carefully; you don't want the peppers to fall over, so the dish should be just big enough to fit all the peppers side by side). Stuff each pepper with the turkey and rice mixture and place peppers open side up in the baking dish. 

7. Combine tomato soup with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency (if you're only making half the recipe, only use one can of soup). Pour over the peppers.

8. Bake covered (I didn't cover them...next time I would use foil) for 30 minutes.

These made great leftovers and work lunches. As I said above, pack up half of this yummy filling and put it in the freezer. Next time you want this meal, it's as easy as prepping the peppers and popping them in the oven!

Sunday Splurge: 10 Minute Steak Night!

So I haven't posted lately, but my granma died last weekend and I'm just now getting back into cooking every night and working out. However, that has not slowed down my weight loss! I am about 8 pounds down since Jan. 1 and one pound away from my goal weight for January. If I do lose that last pound, it means I get a fancy new set of pajamas. If I lose MORE than that for January, I get to pick from a list of little treats for meeting my goal early. I think I'm leaning towards a hair blowout kit, but I'm not sure.

I decided to have steak tonight because I haven't had it since my birthday in September, and it sounded so good! I have a George Foreman so it's really simple to cook for me, and I oven roasted some asparagus and popped a potato in the microwave. Voila, a steak dinner in 10 minutes!

As I said, this was a splurge because it topped out at just under 700 calories, but this was a BIG steak. I probably could've split it and had it for lunch tomorrow, but...I was hungry. I listed every little step out in the directions because I wanted to prove that I made this in exactly 10 minutes. Mmm!

Yield: 1 serving (multiply as desired)

Ingredients: 
Olive oil cooking spray (like Pam, 0 calories)
Asparagus, about 10 medium stalks
Baked potato
2 tbsp low fat sour cream (or margarine) for potato topping
New York strip steak, about 8 ounces
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Turn on the George Foreman and warm it up.
2. While it's heating, wash and dry the asparagus, and then cut off about 2 inches of the stalks with a sharp knife. Spray a pie plate with the cooking spray and lay the asparagus in a single layer in the pie plate. Spray with cooking spray again and sprinkle with black pepper and sea salt. Put the asparagus in the preheated oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. By the time the asparagus is done, everything else will be too.
3. Season the steak as you like it, I just use a little sea salt and cracked pepper, but I think next time I'll try some cajun seasoning on it.
4. Wash the potato and poke some holes in it with a fork. Put it in the microwave and use the potato setting for one potato, plus an extra 30 seconds or so. This usually takes about 5 minutes and 30 seconds to cook, just in case you don't have a potato button on your microwave.
5. By now the George Foreman should be ready to go, so put the steak on it and set it for 4-5 minutes (depending on how you like your steak cooked). I cooked mine for 5 minutes and there was almost no pink in the middle, but it was still nice and juicy.
6. Take the potato out of the microwave, split it open, and top as desired. I used 2 tablespoons of low fat sour cream, so that's what the nutrition shows.
7. Plate the asparagus and the steak, serve!

Pantry Palette: Black Bean Soup

I left work this afternoon with a dry cough and was looking in the pantry to find something I could throw together that would be easy and soothing for my sore throat. I came up with this super easy black bean soup recipe, and it's made exclusively from things you can keep in your pantry for those sick days when you're tempted to just get chinese food or a pizza delivered because there's nothing good in the fridge.

This recipe took about 25 minutes from opening the first can to dividing out the portions.

Yield: 4 servings (1 1/2 to 2 cups each)

Ingredients:
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups salsa (I used Safeway Select Southwest Salsa)
2 15 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can low fat refried black beans
1 15 oz can fat free low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/8 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder (optional)
Garnishes: sour cream, cilantro, lime juice, green onions, tortilla strips...(These are not included in the calorie count to the left!)


Preparation:
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the salsa and cook for four minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add all other ingredients except the garnishes, bring to a simmer for five minutes.
4. Top with desired garnishes (I used the juice of 1/2 lime, chopped cilantro, and green onions) and serve.

I do have to show some love for one of my favorite kitchen tools of all time, my lemon/lime juicer, pictured below. It's awesome!!

Asparagus, Fried Egg, and Parmesan with Rosemary

My breakfasts rarely contain any form of vegetables (I don't count potatoes) since I gravitate toward eggs, meats, and breads or grains. I love asparagus and never thought about having it for breakfast, so this was a great recipe to get in some veggies early in my day. 

As written, this is a super low carb recipe, but you could easily add an english muffin underneath it or throw some bacon on top to make it really tasty. It does take a while, so this is definitely a weekend breakfast for me -- I'm too lazy on the weekdays!


Yield: 2 servings (but easily can be made for however many people you need)

Ingredients:
2 eggs
Fresh asparagus, about 16 spears
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Rosemary, 2-3 sprigs
Parmesan cheese, shredded, 2 tbsp
Cooking spray
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line the asparagus spears in a shallow baking pan (a pie plate works great). Drizzle olive oil lightly on the asparagus, shaking the pan to coat. Break apart the rosemary springs and place on top of the asparagus.

3. Roast in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or when the tips of the stalks start to brown.

4. Using a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray (or you can use butter or extra virgin olive oil to coat the pan). Crack the eggs in the pan carefully without breaking the yolk. Cook the eggs over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until the whites are solid. Carefully flip the egg over and cook for another minute, then remove from heat.

5. Place the roasted asparagus on a plate and lay the egg on top. Finish with cheese, salt and pepper to taste (use sea salt and fresh ground pepper for an extra special flavor). Serve immediately. 

Thai Tonight! Pineapple Chicken Curry

I made it three days on the diet before I started craving the delicious takeout from River Spice that is one exit up the tollway from my apartment. I love their curry and drunken noodles so much I saved them as a contact on my cell phone last month. Sad. Unfortunately, based on a very reliable source (Google), I estimated that 1 cup of the curry is 465 calories with 25 grams of fat...22 grams of saturated. Yikes...that's not even including the rice! And let's be honest, I'm not just eating 1 cup of the stuff. 

Luckily I anticipated the craving and last time I was at the store I bought a jar of Thai Kitchen Panang Curry simmer sauce. It's seriously my new best friend. It was a little pricey at around $5 for the jar that has 3 servings, but considering the fact that the curry from River Spice costs $11.73, I let myself splurge. So glad I did. With my final total for dinner tonight, I was at 517 calories and only 7.5 grams of fat -- including 3/4 cup of rice!! And it only took 30 minutes.

Yield: 2 servings (the whole jar will make 3 servings, and you can easily make this just for one...but it's so good you'll definitely want the leftovers!)

Ingredients:

1 cup (2/3 jar) Thai Kitchen Panang Curry Simmer Sauce

1 boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced in about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices

3 canned pineapple rings, cut into bite-size pieces (in retrospect, pineapple chunks would be better)

1.5 cups sliced bell peppers (I used frozen Safeway Pepper Strips)

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

3/4 cup (dry) Jasmati rice, cooked

Preparation: 

1. Pour the sauce into a saucepan and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.
2. Put chicken slices in the heated sauce and simmer until half cooked. 
3. Add pineapple, peppers, onions, and red pepper flakes (optional), and continue to simmer until chicken is fully cooked. 
4. Serve over cooked Jasmati rice (if you put the rice in after you add the chicken, the rice will be ready just in time to serve).

This recipe is definitely going into my regular cooking rotation. And River Spice's phone number is definitely coming out of my speed dial. 

Ravioli Minestrone

This is another new recipe I've adapted from a Taste of Home recipe. My version uses carrots and green beans as vegetables, but you can throw in whatever veggies you want (I think zucchini, corn, and cabbage would all work perfectly). Total time was about 25 minutes, but I did use a lot of canned and frozen ingredients as shortcuts. I portioned this at 3 HUGE servings, but if you were eating something else with it (a salad, for example) you could easily get 4 servings out of this!

Yield: 3 giant bowls, enough for an entrée portion.


Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups frozen bell pepper mix, thawed and diced

1/2 cup diced onion (NOTE: If you can find the onion and bell pepper mix at the store, that will work too. just use 2 cups of that.)

1/4 teaspoon crushed crushed red pepper, or to taste (I used a packet from the last time I ordered a pizza and it was the perfect amount.)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted if available

1 15 oz can vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 tsp dried basil

1 15 oz can sliced carrots, drained

1 15 oz can cut green beans, drained

6 to 9 oz fresh or frozen cheese (or meat) ravioli

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. 
2. Add peppers and onions and crushed red pepper (if using) and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. You can also add some minced garlic (about 2 cloves) here if you'd like, I'm not a big garlic fan so I chose not to add it. 
3. Add tomatoes, broth, water, and basil; bring to a rolling boil over high heat. 
4. Add ravioli and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. 
5. Add carrots and green beans; return to a boil. Cook until the vegetables are tender if using fresh, or about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

I love it! A note on the ravioli - I used a small sized ravioli in the freezer section, Rosetto's brand. I chose this because each serving size is 13 ravioli, and I used 33 ravioli in the soup (so I could have 11 ravioli in each bowl). Portion the ravioli based on how the soup will be eaten (an appetizer, a side course, or the main course). 

Boot Camp: 28 Day Challenge: Day 1

In addition to using my Wii Fit everyday (for different reasons, not the least of which it yells at me if I skip a day) I'm going to follow Sparkpeople.com's bootcamp workout for the next four weeks. For those who don't know, Sparkpeople is a wonderful free site where you can track calories, goals, recipes, workouts, and basically anything you would ever need to lose weight. Again, for free.

They had this workout as one of the challenges for January on the Start page, so I signed up for it. They lured me in with words like "for people of all fitness levels" and "it's called 'Bootcamp' not because it's highly intense, but because it involves daily exercise and commitment" and "10 minutes or less." I set up a Youtube playlist with all the videos and set my TV up to play the first one yesterday evening. 

I scoffed at the 11 minute length of the cardio workout - 11 minutes is nothing! How is that a cardio workout? Can you even get your heart rate up enough? Meanwhile, the instructor on the video has been power marching and I can already feel myself thinking "Ok, is this over yet?" I couldn't even DO the jumping lunges at about 6:00 and the mountain climbers and squat thrusts that followed nearly killed me. 

After the 11:00 workout finished I was sold on this bootcamp, not because it made me feel like I'd actually done some serious physical activity (which it did) but because it got me to do exercises I didn't believe I could do. I was watching MTV's I Used to Be Fat last week, and there was a girl on the show who started at 253 pounds and her trainer was making her do these mountain climber moves. When I was watching her I thought, there is no way in hell I could do those. Yesterday I proved myself wrong. :)

Enchiladas de Pollo con Salsa Verde (AKA Green Chicken Enchiladas for people like me who hate ordering food in different languages.)

My first recipe post! I decided to start the new year off right, so I made some green chicken enchiladas that I can eat on all week. I used a recipe from Cooking Light but modified it to make it easier and even lighter! Their recipe was titled that fancy name in Spanish, but I always feel so stupid ordering things in restaurants when they're in different languages, so I'm just going to call this green chicken enchiladas and avoid humiliation.

This took me about 30 minutes of prep time, but I think with a little practice I can get it down to 20. Cooking time was 3-4 hours for the chicken in the crockpot and then just 25 minutes in the oven. I'm hoping these freeze well. If so, I will plan to make a double batch next time.

Yield: 4 servings (2 enchiladas each)

Ingredients:

8  (6-inch) corn tortillas

Sour cream, if desired

Filling:

3  cups  water

1/4  tsp salt

8  black peppercorns (or 1/4 tsp regular black pepper)

1  yellow onion, quartered (at least big enough to make up 1/2 cup when chopped)

1  bay leaf

1  pound  skinless chicken breast

1 1/2 cup of 2% Mexican blend cheese 

Sauce:

2/3  cup  2% milk

1/4  cup  fresh cilantro

1/4  cup  egg substitute (like Egg Beaters)

1/8  tsp  salt

1  (11-ounce) can tomatillos, drained (I found these in the Mexican section of the grocery store)

1  (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained

Preparation

1. To prepare filling, place all of the filling ingredients listed above except the cheese in a slow cooker and set on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours. Remove chicken from cooking liquid and shred with 2 forks. Remove onion from cooking liquid and dice to make 1/2 cup. Discard liquid and any remaining onion (or save it for a soup base).
2. Preheat oven to 375°.
3. Combine chicken, 1 cup of cheese, and 1/2 cup onion in a bowl; set aside.
4. To prepare sauce, place all sauce ingredients listed above in a food processor; process until smooth. If you just have a tiny food processor like me, the only things that really need to go in are the tomatillos, the chiles, and the cilantro. You can stir in the rest of the ingredients out of the food processor.
5. To prepare tortillas, fill a medium skillet with 1 inch of water; bring to a simmer. Dip 1 tortilla in water using tongs. Spoon 1/2 cup filling in center of tortilla; roll tightly, and place in a 12x8-inch baking dish. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas and filling. 
6. Pour sauce over enchiladas. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Top with sour cream if desired. Enjoy!!

For the record, it is delicious. I made some quick Rice A Roni (the whole grain spanish flavor) and divided it into four portions. These will make the perfect lunches to bring to work this week -- don't they look better than a frozen dinner??