Dinner Delish!!

I'm forever looking for new things to cook. I eat basically like a toddler with little variety. This causes RF no small amount of stress because he does not eat like a toddler and doesn't like over half of the things I cook. Truth be told, I don't like half of what I cook either because I have about 16 meals that I cycle through every 2 weeks. This means the same stuff over and over and I SICK TO DEATH of it all.

In my many hours on Facebook, I ran across an ad for Bust a Meal. I thought, what the heck, I might as well take a look to see if anything appeals even a little bit. When you go to the site, it offers you an option to sign up for the site or sign in using your facebook ID. I chose to use my FB ID because the last thing I need is another site to log into.

Once I signed in, it had me fill out a survey about my food preferences, including how often we eat various meats, allergies and things you just don't like. After filling out the survey, it generates a list of meals. I went through the list of meals and ranked them all either "yum" or "yuck" (there is no "meh" option for that might be ok but look a little dicey). In addition, you can quick list things that really look good so you can find them easily. I quick listed several items that looked tasty. Once all that is done, it emails 3 meals a week to try. Once you elect to try them, it emails you the shopping list and recipes. All of that can be found on the site, if you don't the emails, but I found it easier to have it in my email. With the shopping list, you can go through, on the site, and check off things that you already have so it doesn't send you things that you don't need.

Tonight I tried my first meal from them and it was super fab! It took longer than I like to cook (1 hour 10 minutes including prep and baking) but the end product was WELL worth it.

A few things to note, I don't eat chiles so I left those out completely. Also, 15 minutes to cook the chicken is a total joke. Try closer to 30 minutes. Of course, our chicken breasts are about 2 feet thick. I ended up cutting them up to help them cook faster. In the future I will cut the first so it doesn't take so long (this would be a really good dish for left over grilled chicken as it gets warmer). Because of the extended cooking time and the fact that I didn't add the chiles, I had to add some extra chicken broth (about a cup and a half all told and I wouldn't do more than that because it would have been soupy) and still had NO cooking liquid left over. Instead, I cooked the onions, and then the mixture, in the same pan as the chicken to the get the flavor. And because I believe there is no such thing as "enough" cheese, I used more than the recommended ammount of cheddar.

The only other thing I would do would be to possibly pre-fry the tortillas because the edges got crispy from baking but the middle was a little mushy. If they were a little crispy to start, that would make something great even better. I ate 3 pieces of it and am nearly sick from so much food but I'm seriously considering having another one. It is just that good!

In case you can't tell, this isn't Weight Watchers or other diet friendly. It could be better by using lower fat items but I'm not into that :)


Mexican Chicken Casserole
Active: 30 min Cook: 30 min Marinate/Stand: 10 min Total: 1h10m Serves: 8
Serve this casserole when friends are coming over or prep it before a busy week to cover two weeknight meals.
Click Here if you're going to cook this, so we can track it for you. That way, we won't suggest it again too soon.

Ingredients
1 cup chicken broth
2 (4.5-ounce) cans chopped green chiles, divided
1 3/4 pounds skinned, boned chicken breasts
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese
1 (10-ounce) can enchilada sauce
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 ounce tortilla chips, crushed (about 6 chips)


Preparation
Prepare Ingredients
Preheat oven to 350°.
Chop 1 onion to yield 1 cup.
Crush about 6 tortilla chips to yield about 1 oz.
Combine and Cook
Combine 1 cup broth and 1 can chiles in a large skillet; bring to a boil.
Add chicken; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until chicken is done, turning chicken once.
Remove chicken from cooking liquid, reserving cooking liquid; cool chicken.
Shred meat with two forks, and set aside.


Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add 1 can of chiles and onion; sauté 3 minutes or until soft.
Add reserved cooking liquid, 1 cup milk, 1 cup Monterey Jack, 1/4 cup cream cheese, and enchilada sauce; stir well.
Stir in shredded chicken; cook 2 minutes; remove from heat.
Place 4 tortillas in the bottom of a 2-quart casserole coated with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Spoon 2 cups chicken mixture over tortillas.
Repeat layers twice, ending with chicken mixture.
Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and chips.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
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