green & red shredded chicken and black bean enchiladas.

there's something so satisfying about dreaming up a specific meal and having it turn out exactly how you wanted it to taste/look/smell. party on, wayne. 

i'd been craving some sort of enchiladas like this since the end of summer and kept thinking about them. now was the time to execute.

perfectly comforting, super flavorful, easy to make, and to top it off - leftovers for days!

i made these on the day of this supposed "seattle windpocalypse/rainstorm of the century" and was fully prepared to live on these enchis for days, wrapping ourselves in blankets and playing cards by candlelight. 

no such wind blew that night. and as strange as it sounds, i was sort of disappointed that the power didn't go out and we weren't able to live as pilgrims for the weekend. 

candlelit pilgrim life is a reeeal freaky deaky modern-day ultra-privileged thing for me to even wish on...believe you me, i'm so so ever grateful for our cozy home and allllll the good things in my life.

so let me show you how to prepare for a "storm" and enjoy some delicious homemade eats at the same time. 

^^^ i don't normally take photos of meat cooking or raw meat in general, but these chicken boobs looked a-ok.

this is really quite simple once you have all the cans opened, cheese grated, veggies chopped, and chicken shredded. 

gently wrap all the filling into the tortillas, roll them up and lay them to rest on their happy little spicy bed of green and red sauce. 

i prefer having both green and red enchilada sauces because sometimes when you have just green or just red enchiladas, its too much! having both sauces meld into one and dance around in each bite is like OOH, AAH, MMMM. OK. NOMS. 

^^^ how cute are those magnetic toucan kitchen scissors pete got me for xmas last year? :)

that bubbly browned cheese & spicy sauces covering those hearty enchilada goods just scream comfort food to me. so good. SO GOOD!

Green & Red Shredded Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Makes about 15 medium-sized enchiladas

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded (about 2 cups shredded chicken)
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
• 28 ounce can green enchilada sauce, medium heat (or whatever spiciness you prefer)
• 14 oz. red enchilada sauce, medium heat
• 2 heaping cups grated monterey jack cheese
• 1 heaping cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 small can (7 oz) diced green chiles
• 1/2 a jalapeño, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
• 12-15 medium-sized flour tortillas

Instructions-

Cook 2 thawed chicken breasts in 1 TB of olive oil in a pan over medium heat, flipping after about 4 minutes and cooking 4 more minutes. Place cooked chicken on a cutting board to rest. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Chop onion, grate the cheeses, and open all cans. Shred the slightly cooled chicken with 2 forks. If the meat is slightly undercooked and pink still, return shredded chicken to the pan or skillet and toss until cooked through. I prefer to let the shredded chicken brown up in the pan anyway.

Add shredded chicken, black beans, chopped onion, and green chiles to a large bowl with a few good shakes of salt and black pepper. Toss to combine.

Add about 1 cup of green enchilada sauce in the bottom of the large baking dish you'll use to bake the enchiladas. Add just a little red sauce as well (maybe 4 ounces). Assemble the enchiladas, adding a scoop of the chicken & bean mixture to a tortilla, a small handful of each cheese, and a small drizzle more of the enchilada sauces. Roll the filling up tightly inside the tortilla and place in the baking dish. Repeat until the baking dish is full of enchiladas.

{We were able to make 2 separate batches of enchiladas with the amount of filling here}

Add about 1 cup each of both green and red enchilada sauce, dispersing evenly over the top of the rolled up tortillas.  Sprinkle some of the thinly sliced jalapeños around and top with the remaining shredded cheeses. Make sure the cheeses are on the top layer so it gets good and browned and bubbly. 

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until browned and slightly crisp around the edges.

Serve immediately with cilantro and plain Greek yogurt or sour cream. And tortilla chips, if desired!

These refrigerate well and taste just as delicious reheated within the next couple of days, as well.

qp

avocado pancakes (+ bacon & a fried egg).

sPoOoOoOky green pancakes with SpOoOoKy oozy egg, just in time for halloweener. 

or if you're reading this in like march, luck o' the irish pancakes! perhaps it's may...spring green pancakes! or december...grinchy pancakes?

anyway ya play it, avocado is a subtle but delightful flavor and texture to add to a simple pancake (or waffle!?) batter.

yeahhhh when i added avocado to banana bread - that was str8 genius, if i do say so myself.

especially if you're a savory-tooth type. and honestly, i would NOT skip the bacon and egg. you put 'em all together in each bite and just savor the savory. and its all about texture to me. you need that crispy bacon! or at least something crispy to go along with the soft things, but i just can't think of what that item might be if it ain't BACON.

note to everyone: you should use only 1/2 an avocado to make this ratio of recipe. i used 1 whole avo here just to get the p-cakes greener for photos. the more avo you use, the doughier the center of the cakes will be. the avocado doesn't really want to get all cooked up, so it remains a bit soft in the center. this is why i only recommend using 1/2 an avo to the 1 cup flour ratio in the recipe provided below.

and anotherrrr thiiiiing...these are E to tha Z because you just whip 'em up in the blender. 

the recipe below (minus the avocado) is actually my great-grandpa's pancake recipe (i never knew him, but i would assume he'd roll over in his grave if he knew his classic pancake recipe was being tainted with greenery).

this basic pancake recipe is probably the first thing i ever learned how to cook in my life. i'd like to say i've perfected it, and each time i visit my granny & gramps they ask when i'll make "my famous hotcakes." they're the cutest. 

the only difference between great-grandpa's method and this one is that (well first things first you don't use a dang avocado because that's just downright blasphemy) you whisk it all up in a bowl, separate the egg white from the egg yolk, beating the egg white until super fluffy, then fold the whites in gently to the rest of the batter. those p-cakes are seriously a bite right into my childhood. 

^^^ how totally nightmare before christmas is that little steamy loopdeeloop off the egg?! 

^^^ also, shout out to MY PURSE for serving as the perfect black background for these photos. i was going to set up this annoyingly elaborate tile/concrete block thing that i sometimes do when i need a backdrop, but my purse was sitting there and i was in a mad frantic rush with 3 different things cooking on the stove simultaneously and voilaaa, instant black background to show off that hot hot breakfast goodness.

i use all kinds of weird stuff and basically perform acrobatic stunts while taking these kinds of photos, but hey man whatever works. 

Avocado Pancakes (& don't forget the bacon and fried egg!)

Makes about 10 small pancakes

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a medium-sized ripe avocado
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, or whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 1 TB granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• Optional: 1/4 tsp black pepper
• Optional, but very necessary in my opinion: crispy bacon slices and a fried egg :)

Instructions-

Heat a large skillet or pan on the stove to medium/low heat. Melt a TB of butter and spread evenly across the pan, or spray with cooking spray.

In a blender, blend avocado and milk until creamy. Slowly add the dry ingredients, blending and scraping sides down with a spatula until mixture is smooth. Lastly, add the whole egg and blend just until combined. 

You can pour the pancake batter straight out of the blender onto the pan, or use a ladle to scoop batter onto the pan, forming round cakes about 3 inches in diameter. Allow to cook about 3-4 minutes, flipping carefully and gently pressing down on each pancake to get more surface area on the pancakes to cook. Cook opposite side for 3-4 more minutes, and flip one more time. Gently press pancakes down with back of spatula. The avocado wants to remain in its creamy state, so the center of the pancakes may be just slightly doughy. 

Serve immediately with crispy cooked bacon and a runny fried egg. That savory & textural combo of all three components simply belong together!

qp