Chicken Eggplant Enchiladas

I love Mexican food, so does my boyfriend however when we are trying to do healthy eating it’s not something we can indulge in all the time.  In honor of Cinco de Mayo I wanted to make us a healthy version of Chicken Enchiladas!!  The other day when I was cruising the aisles of Whole Foods, I saw some packets of Enchilada sauce from Frontera Grill!  For those of you who are Top Chef fans, you may remember Rick Bayless from Top Chef Masters (doesn’t he seem like the nicest guy?).  I recently had the chance to visit his new restaurant in LA, Red O and it was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had.  Definitely recommend it if you are in Los Angeles.  So you can understand my excitement when I saw his new line of products called Mexican Everyday!  The best thing about his products is that they are low calorie and they use all natural products.  On the packaging it states that the ingredients are all natural with no preservatives, made with fresh ingredients. 

I had been dying to make Cilantro Lime Rice since I had been seeing recipes pop up on the web for the past couple of weeks.  So in order to make it a bit healthier and enjoy my rice at the same time (yes, this is how my brain works- constant negotiations) I decided to forgo the tortillas for something healthier.  I had two beautiful eggplants in my fridge that I thought would be the perfect wrapper and absorb the flavor of the Green Chile Enchilada sauce at the same time.   

Chicken Eggplant Enchiladas

1 large eggplant
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup shredded chicken
2 cups spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt
2/3 cup low fat shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 package Frontera Grill Enchilada Sauce
salt
pepper

1.  Preheat oven at 400 degrees.  Cut off end of eggplant and remove peel with a fruit peeler. 

2.  Slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices.  Place slices in a bowl and sprinkle salt over pieces.  Let the eggplant sit in the bowl for 20-30 minutes.  *This step is not necessary, but it removes some of the bitterness that can often be found in the eggplant seeds.*

3.  Drain bowl of water the eggplant released and rinse eggplant several times to rid of salt.  Heat up a grill plan on medium high and lightly brush each slice of eggplant with olive oil.  Cook on each side until eggplant is tender.  Once cooked remove from heat and let cool. 

4.  In another skillet add the last Tbsp. of olive oil and cook the onions until tender, season with chili powder and cumin.  Add in the 2 cups of spinach and allow it to quickly wilt down.  In a bowl mix with shredded chicken, yogurt and 1/3 cup Mexican shredded cheese.  Season with salt and pepper. 

5.  Place several scoops of the chicken mixture in the middle of each piece of eggplant piece. 

6.  Roll each piece into a log and place seam side down in a 8x8 pan. 

7.  Cover the eggplant rolls with the Frontera Grill Green Chile Enchilada sauce mixture. 

8.  Sprinkle the enchiladas with the remaining 1/3 cup of cheese and bake for 15 minutes. 

I ate this with the Cilantro Lime Rice from Two Peas and their Pod, which was totally easy and so delish.  But you could also eat this with some black beans, chips and of course garnish with avocado, salsa or sour cream!  The Frontera Enchilada sauce was so good, it was a little spicy and jam packed with so many fresh flavors.  Two thumbs up, I definitely want to try the rest of the Frontera Grill Everyday Mexican products.  I loved the enchiladas with the eggplant as a wrapper, but I may be biased since I love eggplant.  I guess if you don’t like the texture of eggplant, this might not be the route you want to go, and you might want to just make this with tortillas instead.     

April Favorites from Around the Web

Once I started my blog, I naturally started to read more blogs as part of my learning process.  To top that off, once I made up my mind to join Foodbuzz, I met a whole slew of new bloggers and got to see what they were cooking up as well.  It seems that I have dozens of recipes bookmarked from all these great sites.  So many great dishes and so little time... 

Perhaps it would be easier if I didn't live by myself, since when I make a recipe it lasts for several meals for me...  Here are some of the recipes I tried out this month!  Hope you will try them out as well, I'll share any additional tips that I have as well.   

First up is Tori Soboro Donburi, from Nami at Just One Cookbook.  I had decided to make this for my boyfriend as a nice bento lunch, since he had to go into work on a Saturday.  I knew for sure he would love it, plus I had all the ingredients at home already.  But I wasn't too sure how much I would like it cause 1. I have a weird thing about eating loose ground meat and 2. I wondered if it would be too sweet for my taste.

I worried for nothing because this dish was so yummy.  I didn't mind the loose meat at all since each bit was packed with rice and the ginger in the chicken seasoning complemented the sweetness in the sauce perfectly.  I had sprinkled some furikake on as well and the bites of salty sweet with the sweet tamago was excellent as well.  The best thing about this dish is that it's so quick and easy and it comes together so nicely.  Check out Just One Cookbook for more great Japanese recipes.   

The next recipe I tried this month was Bananakies (Banana Chocolate Oat Cookies), this recipe was perfect since it used a up a lot of half packages of things I already had in my kitchen.  (Don't you loooove when that happens?)  It didn't hurt that each cookie is only 45 calories and only 6.3g of carbs.  When I took these out of the oven I was worried they weren't cook through since they maintained the shape of my cookie scoop and didn't spread out.  One bite told me that I didn't need to worry at all.  I want to try these cookies with some added protein powder or maybe some peanut butter.  Definitely making these again- its a great way to use up those bananas that look a little past their prime.



Savory Chicken Spinach and Cheese Crepe

I had also been eyeing Suzanna's from Firefly Blog's Crepe recipes.  I debated back and forth, they looked so decadent but I was trying to be good about my healthy eating.  The answer finally came to me, I would make a half recipe and I would use them to make both savory and sweet crepes!  My first crepe was a total fail since I used too much batter.  But by the second one I got the hang of it!  For my savory crepe I filled it with some grilled chicken, spinach and a Laughing Cow Cheese wedge and paired it with a nice salad.  The perfect light lunch for a spring day! 

Not going to lie, I also made a sweet crepe.  For this I filled it with sliced Strawberries, Bananas lightly drizzled with Nutella.  Thanks Suzanna for the easy recipe!  Crepes were intimidating to me and now I know they are do-able.  One step closer to my goal of making that crazy crepe layer cake by the end of the year. 

Omurice (Ketchup Rice)

At the high school I went to in Hawaii, most people brought home lunch.  I'm not really sure why, in fact I don't think I ever ate a hot lunch from the Cafeteria during my entire stay there.  (Though I did eat a lot of pizza and chicken fingers from the Snack Bar...)  My best friend always had the best lunches.  Her mom had moved to Hawaii from Japan and so every day my best friend and her brother had the best bento lunches!  I always looked over in envy and wanted to switch my turkey sandwich and chips for her lunch.  My best friend must have told her mom, since every once in a while she would pack a bento for me too! 

One of my best friends favorites, that I often stole a bite of, was Ketchup rice, or Omurice.  This dish is basically a spin on fried rice and combines it in an omelet.  According to Wikipedia, the traditional Omurice is made with a chicken ketchup rice, but this recipe is the way I remember my best friends mom making it. 
Ketchup Rice
from my best friends mom

2 cups day old rice
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. ketchup
6 slices Canadian bacon/bacon/ham (approximately 100g)
salt
pepper
Tabasco (optional)
4 eggs
1 tbsp. milk

1.  Dice the onion, green bell pepper and Canadian bacon into even sized pieces. 

2.  Heat skillet and pour 1 Tbsp. olive oil into pan.  Cook the Canadian bacon, onion and green bell pepper until onion and bell pepper soften.  Season with salt and pepper. 

3.  Add in the 2 Tbsp. of ketchup and mix well.  Pour rice into the skillet and mix well until rice is evenly coated with the ketchup mixture.  *If you like it spicy add in a couple dashes of Tabasco*  

4.  Cook until mixture is evenly heated and remove from heat.  *You can eat the ketchup rice just like this or you can wrap it in an omelet*

Omelet
1.  Crack eggs into a bowl and add in milk.  Quickly beat the eggs with a fork.  *I typically use 1.5 -2 eggs per omelet*

2.  Preheat a small skillet and spray with cooking spray.  Pour egg mixture into hot pan and quickly push eggs around in the pan for 30 seconds.

3.  Run chopsticks around the perimeter of the pan and swirl egg mixture to spread evenly throughout the pan.  Repeat as many times as necessary.  Once egg is 90% set, spoon the ketchup rice down the middle of the omelet. 

4.  Flip one side of the omelet over the ketchup rice and roll the omelet onto the plate.  With a paper towel quickly shape the omelet (tuck edges under so it is nicely rolled around the ketchup rice). 

5.  Drizzle with ketchup or Siracha!

Technorati Tags: Japanese,Easy,Rice

Protein Acai Bowl

Acai Bowls are one of my most favorite breakfast treats or afternoon snacks.  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know I am obsessed with Acai Bowls.  By now I'm sure you have heard of Acai and it's wonderful health benefits.  This fruit which hails from Brazil, has gained a lot of popularity in the past several years.  During one of my trips home to Hawaii it seemed that the Acai Bowl had swept the island and this delicious treat was available everywhere.  One bite and I fell in love!  To the simple eye it might look like a simple parfait, but somehow it's so much more than that. 

One of my favorite places to get an Acai Bowl when I am home is at Blue Hawaii in Ala Moana Shopping Center.  I have yet to find an Acai Bowl as delicious as any that I've had in Hawaii, in a pinch I will go to Robeks or Jamba Juice to quench my Acai cravings.  That was until I discovered these Acai packets at Whole Foods and could make my own!  I've been playing around with adding Protein Powder into the mix and I love the results.  This is a breakfast that will keep you full till lunch. 

Acai Bowl at Blue Hawaii

Protein Acai Bowl

1/2 of an Acai Smoothie Pack
6 oz Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (Or any other liquid you want to substitue)
1 scoop Banana/Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
1 cup frozen berries (I used strawberry and blueberry mix)
1 Tbsp Flaxseeds
Honey
Granola
Fresh Fruit (Sliced Banana, Strawberries, blueberries, etc)

1.  Run Acai smoothie pack under water for a couple of seconds.  Snap frozen pack in half, cut open and place half into blender. 

2.  Fill blender with almond milk, protein powder and berries and blend until a smooth consistency.  *You can add more liquid if you would like to turn this into a smoothie*

This pic has sliced banana's but I actually like it better without when adding Protein Powder

3.  Pour mixture into a bowl.  Top with a couple handfuls of granola, sliced bananas and berries.  *At this point if you wanted to add in additional nutrients like green tea powder, spriulina, noni juice, flaxseeds, etc layer it on to the Acai mixture* 
4.  Drizzle honey over entire mixture.  *The better the honey you have, the more awesome it tastes!  In Hawaii one of my favorite places uses locally grown Lehua Honey which kicks it up a notch*

The combinations for this are endless.  Yesterday I added some spinach into my Acai mixture and squeezed some lime over the mixture to give it some added freshness and tang.  Hope you give this a try, Acai Bowls are the new parfait!!  I really hope this gets more popular in LA, cause I would love to find a place like Blue Hawaii up here, for when I'm out and about.

Pumpkin Coconut Crunch Granola

Warm weather fun is just around the corner...  One of my favorite breakfasts on the go is yogurt and granola!  There are tons of granola recipes all over the web.  But one day I stumbled upon the recipe from A Couple Cooks, and they had broken granola down to a mathematical formula.  This was perfect!  It would allow me to create MY favorite mix of elements than trying to combine various recipes.  I had wanted to re-create my seasonal favorite Trader Joe's pumpkin granola but add a few touches to it as well.

For me a good granola is one that has lots of crispy crunchies.  In fact the Trader Joe's one that I love has large corn puffs mixed in with the oats.  The second element that I like is really chewy raisins or other fruit.  Some recipes like to add those in after baking, but I like them to shrivel in the oven more and bake in extra goodness.  I also tried to add in some Flax Seeds, since they are a great source of Omega 3's as well as provide you with a lot of antioxidants. 

Pumpkin Coconut Crunch Granola
loosely adapted from A Couple Cooks

2 cups Corn Pops
4 cups Oats
1 1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup flaxseeds
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup pumpkin butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup dried fruit (raisin, craisins, dried raspberries, etc)

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a large bowl mix all of the dried ingredients except the coconut and mix till evenly dispersed. 
2.  In a separate bowl mix vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt, honey and pumpkin butter.  Spoon wet mixture over dry ingredients and mix until evenly coated. 
3.  Spread onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes till golden brown.  Stir mixture every 15 minutes, lowering oven temperature if the mixture is browning too quickly.  Add the coconut in during the last 15 minutes. 
4.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Store in air tight container.

Sometimes I munch on this plain with some Almond milk, but I love it with yogurt or on an Acai Bowl!

Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies

These are the cookies that I made for the Bakesale for Japan fundraiser last month.  My friend MC and I had each donated 100 cookies each and I donated some Chi Chi Dango as well!  The bakesale was an awesome event to participate in and I'm so happy that I had the chance to contribute.  I believe the Los Angeles locations raised over $15,000 and nation wide somewhere around $125,000.  MC and I of course also picked up several of the great looking baked goods for ourselves and our boyfriends.  Plus didn't you know that baked goods that are bought for a good cause have No Calories? 

Done!  At 1am the night before the bakesale...

Anyways for the bakesale I had decided to make a cookie that my mom is well known for, Macadamia Nut Shortbread cookies.  I liked this recipe since it makes a lot of cookies, and since it was a refrigerator cookie dough, so I could bake them at my convenience. 

Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies 
from my mom

6 sticks butter (my mom sometimes does half margarine and half butter)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 T. vanilla
5 and 3/4 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts

1.  In a bowl cream together butter and sugar.  *Be sure to use butter that is room temperature, or be sure to cream butter really well.  If not you may end up with a cookie that spreads too much or has holes in it!*
2.  Slowly mix in vanilla, flour and macadamia nuts, making sure nuts and flour are well mixed.

3.  Divide dough and form into 4-5 logs and wrap logs in wax paper or saran wrap.  Refrigerate for 2-3 hours (or overnight).  *Chilling for a shorter time will cause the cookies to spread out and not maintain its shape*

4.  Once ready, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Slice off 1/4 inch thick slices.  *Your knife should cut easily through the dough and create solid discs.  If it does not refrigerate longer*
5.  Bake 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until edges are a light golden brown. 

These cookies are great.  I've played around with them and added in matcha powder, mini chocolate chips and even drizzled chocolate over the tops.  Ooh it probably would be awesome dipped halfway in caramel and then in chocolate.  Mmm pure decadence.

Dark Chocolate Caramel Glazed Cake Donuts

I'm a busy girl.  Between working, dancing, working out, cooking, doing the blog and hanging out with friends I'm not ashamed to say that I will often use cake mix from a box when I am in a rush.  As much as we all love cakes made from scratch sometimes we just don't have the time.  The secret to making the box cake mix work for you is a simple concept, Add Ins.  Anything from a flavored extract, spices, nuts, chocolate chips or fruit can transform your boring cake mix into something delish. 

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Donut

I had wanted to create a quicky way to create some baked donuts.  One of my favorite cake mix flavors is Dark Chocolate.  I've used this in the past to create a spicy chocolate cupcake with salted caramel frosting and it was a hit.  I basically altered the liquid porportions so that I could create a rich dense donut and added some nutmeg in to give it that chocolate donut taste. 

Chocolate Cake Donuts with Caramel Glaze

1 box Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2-3/4 cups Kraft caramel bits
1/3 cup milk

Yields approximately 18 large donuts (I used the mini donut pan and the large one and got 12 large and 12 mini)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl mix cake mix, milk, oil, nutmeg and eggs until well combined.  *The result will be a super thick batter*

2.  Lightly butter and flour your Donut pan.  Pour batter into a ziploc bag, snip off the end and pipe batter into the donut pan.  Fill them up about half way since they will plump up in the oven.  *I was over zealous with the mini pan and got mutant mini donuts*
  

3.  Place pan in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Test for doneness and flip donuts out on cooling rack. 

Glaze
1.  Place caramel bits into a bowl with 1/3 cup milk and microwave for 20 second intervals, stirring until caramel is melted.  *The thicker you want the caramel, the less milk you should add in.  Keep in mind that the caramel sets into the donut as it sits.  You can add in the milk as you microwave the caramel to have better control of the thickness.*

Take donuts and dip one side down in the caramel and add any additional toppings.  For this batch I did several; coconut, chopped peanuts, salt and mini chocolate chips. 

Try this ASAP!  These donuts are so cute and they are healthier than their fried versions and to me tasted just as good the Old Fashion donut from Krispy Kreme.