Easy Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas

By Paul Briand

My wife Jane put this recipe together -- not for her and me, but for her daughter Kelsey and son-in-law Jeremy who had our granddaughter Rylin a few weeks ago.

Kelsey and Jeremy are still very much in new-baby mode, trying to get Rylin on a schedule of eating, sleeping, being awake. In the meantime, the new mom and dad’s meals are a bit catch-as-catch-can.

So the other day Jane spent the day cooking and this Easy Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas was one of the dishes, adapted from a recipe that was part of a Campbell’s soup ad in Relish magazine. Here it is online.

It received very high marks from Kelsey and Jeremy.

Ingredients
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup picante sauce or salsa
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6 flour tortillas (6-inch), warmed
1 small tomato, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 green onion, sliced (about 2 tablespoons)

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Stir the soup, sour cream, picante sauce and chili powder in a medium bowl;
2. Stir 1 cup soup mixture, chicken and cheese in a large bowl;
3. Divide the chicken mixture among the tortillas;
4. Roll up the tortillas and place seam-side down in an 11 x 7 x 2-inch baking dish;
5. Pour the remaining soup mixture over the filled tortillas and cover the baking dish;
6. Bake for 40 minutes or until the enchiladas are hot and bubbling;
7. Top with the tomato and onion and serve.

Click here for recipe card.

Ricotta Cheese Crab Tortillas

By Paul Briand

My wife Jane alerted me to this recipe. As news editor for the Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass., she had edited the copy for a story on healthy recipes that included this one for Ricotta Cheese Crab Tortillas.

We love crab, and I was intrigued by the combination of the crabmeat with the ricotta. It isn’t a hot dish, since a cool to room temperature filling is used in a pan toasted tortilla. I mentioned to Jane that you could almost cut up the tortillas into appetizer sized portions and serve this as an hors d’oeuver.

Since I bought a pound of lump crab and since this recipe called for half a pound, that left a half a pound of crab for me to make crab cakes the next night for dinner -- definitely, a win-win in my book.

Ingredients
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon of each; salt and pepper
1/2 pound fresh crabmeat, drained and flaked
4 (8-inch) whole-wheat flour tortillas
Vegetable cooking spray
Salsa on the side

Directions
1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl and mix well;
2. Fold in crabmeat, set aside;
3. Place 1 tortilla in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat coated with cooking spray;
4. Spread some of the crab mixture over half of tortilla in skillet, leaving a 1/4-inch margin on sides;
5. Cook about 3 minutes or until underside of tortilla is golden brown.
6. Fold in half. Transfer to a serving platter, serve with salsa.
7. Repeat with remaining ingredients;
8. Serves four.

Click here for recipe card.

Beef & Noodle Casserole

By Paul Briand

The shout out for this recipe goes to my stepdaughter Eileen who gave me a cookbook to me for Christmas.

The cookbook is a collection of recipes from people associated with the Dominion School for Autism in Richmond, Va., where Eileen recently worked as an aide.

This recipe, according to the text, comes from Dorothy Lucy in memory of Aunt Ruby.

Layered a bit like a lasagna, this casserole intrigued me with its combination of cream of mushroom soup and tomato sauce. My adaptation includes baking instead of microwaving, and I used low-salt soup and tomato sauce. In addition, I sauteed my vegetables.

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2 cups tomato sauce
Green bell pepper chopped
Medium onion chopped
1 teaspoon ketchup
1 teaspoon steak sauce
18 ounce bag of egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
One bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions
1. In an large oiled skillet over medium high heat, sautee the pepper and onion until they start to become translucent;
2. Add the ground beef, break up and cook through, drain off fat;
3. Add tomato sauce, ketchup and steak sauce, stir through and keep warm on simmer;
4. Cook egg noodles according to package instructions;
5. Drain noodles, return to pot and mix the soup into the cooked noodles;
6. In a greased large casserole dish, add a layer of the noodles, then add a layer of the beef mixture, then another layer of noodles and the rest of the beef mixture;
7. Spring with the cheese;
8. Place the casserole into a oven pre-heated to 350 degrees and bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starts to brown and the mixture starts to bubble.

Click here for recipe card.