We Call This ?Green Stuff?

You all ?met? my friend Holly last week when she wrote a guest post about her gluten-free diet and her favorite recipe. There?s something you should know about Holly. When she says a recipe is good, its GOOD. I have NEVER thought a recipe she gave me was anything short of spectacular. Thai-style Pork Stew? Awesome. Raspberry-thyme Balsamic chicken? Amazing. Then she gave me the recipe I made tonight. There are no words.

Ok, there are words. Wonderful. Amazing. Fantastic. Beautiful. Get it? She gave me this recipe last year and said ?It sounds simple and kind of eh, but trust me. Its fabulous.? ?What?s it called?? I asked. ?Just look up chicken chilaquiles on the Cooking Light website, and you?ll find it. It?s the one with all the green stuff.? Huh. Green stuff. I of course, went right to Cooking Light, looked it up, and found 3 recipes. One had black beans and nothing green. One had corn and all sorts of other stuff, but nothing all that green. Then there was this one. Lots of green stuff. So much so, that when I made it, Adam asked me ?What?s that green stuff??

Let?s rewind a bit. Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican dish made usually of quartered fried tortillas, leftover chicken, beans, salsa, etc, and usually served as a hangover cure for breakfast. This recipe is an extremely lightened up version of the traditional recipe, Nothing is fried, there?s really no added fat except cheese, and the sauce is absolutely wonderful. SHEESH again with the blathering!!! (Seriously, does anyone else get it when I put that little guy here?? I digress?)

The recipe! This is not the original Cooking Light recipe, though that one can be found here. This is the way that I make this recipe.

Ingredients

2 c. shredded white meat chicken (I usually just cook fresh stuff, but leftover rotisserie chicken works too)

2 cans (7 oz) Herdez Salsa Verde, or other similar salsa

1 small can roasted chopped jalapenos

1/2 c. fat free milk

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 1/2 c. shredded low-fat Mexican blend cheese

12 corn tortillas

1 tsp. chili powder

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375°.  In a food processor, blender, or with a stick blender, mix together the salsa verde, jalapenos, milk, and cilantro. Pour 1/3 of this mixture into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Place 4 tortillas on top of that. Then, layer half the chicken, some chili powder, and 1/3 of the cheese. Then, 4 more tortillas, remaining chicken, chili powder, cheese. Top with 4 more tortillas, pour the remaining sauce over the top, and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted and golden. Makes 4 hefty servings at about 5 unofficial Points®.

One serving is seriously huge:

And yes, after my 708 calorie burn at Jazzercise tonight, I ate 2 servings?and they were fabulous! Good thing I made ratatouille for lunches for the rest of the week!

I?m super excited to introduce my Guest for Dinner tonight!! The adorable Coco from Balance, Joy, and Delicias offered to share one of her dinners with us!! Why am I so excited? Well, Coco has been the sweetest blogger to me since day one, and also, her meal comes from a culture that we don?t usually see in the blogger world: Argentina! So, Coco, pull up a chair to my table and tell us about your meal!

Hi everyone, I’m Coco and I’m honored to do my first guest post in Mara’s amazing blog. I love her blog because she always come up with brilliant ideas to make easy but delicious meal~ I lived in Argentina half of my life (I’m originally from China) so I think a recipe from Argentinian cuisine would be nice… a little of exotic food for you foodies! Few words about its cuisine: Argentinean cuisine is immensely influenced by Spanish, Italian and South American food. The specialty of Argentine food is steaks and grilled meat. Argentine beef is low on fat and cholesterol and has a special flavor too. Another determining factor in Argentinian cuisine is that Argentina is the world’s major producer of wheat, beans, maize, soybeans, beef and milk. Thus, these items are commonly used on the table in the likes of wheat based Italian dishes or the Argentine Pizza. Argentinian cuisine is very authentic and natural, which means use of vegetables are quite prevalent and salads are an important part of their food. Today’s recipe is one of the most typical meal in Argentina, which everyone loves it. It’s called Milanesa or Breaded beef. This is my healthified version of it. (original recipe calls for deep fry)

Ingredients

1) prepare a mixture of egg or egg white, milk, S+P and fresh parsley

2) Prepare the beef. Seasoned with S+P and beat the meat to make it tender.

3) Immerse the steak into the egg mixture and pass it to the breadcrumb (or oat flour). Do it two times.

4) Freeze for at least 30 min.
5) Bake it with some oil for about 30 min (turning it once).

This can be eaten a main dish or make sandwich with. The typical way to have it in Argentina is with mashed potatoes. And I had it with mashed cauliflower and fresh cucumber salad.  I hope you like it and thanks again to Mara to let me do this post, it was fun!

Thanks so much Coco!! I?ll definitely be making this sometime soon! I?d love to have this on a sandwich with some avocado? YUM!

It?s already been a long week here, and it?s only Tuesday? I?m hoping that Wednesday through Friday goes MUCH quicker! I have some great fun stuff planned this weekend, and I just want it here already!

Have a great night, get rest if you need it, and I?ll ?see? you all tomorrow!

Technorati Tags: chicken/turkey, Guests for Dinner, Mexican, spicy