With all the irresistible Christmas sweets headed your way, I thought I might throw at least one healthy dish your way. My sis, Melis, got this recipe years ago from a personal trainer/friend. This isn't your typical enchilada dish. It's PACKED with nutrients and I think it still tastes wonderful! In fact, I'm sure you could sneak in a lot more veggies than the recipe even calls for and no one would know the difference. The original recipe called for red enchilada sauce. I make it with green enchilada sauce since I prefer it, and I love it!
Power Enchiladas
Submitted by Amy ~ The Sisters Cafe
Printable Recipe here
4 oz. fat free chicken broth
1 T. canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup grated zucchini
2 cups boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
2 T. chopped cilantro
1 1/2 or a little more:) cups grated low fat, part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies (or use fresh)
4 cloves garlic
1 (19 oz) can green enchilada sauce
8-10 whole wheat tortillas
Sliced black olives (3-5 per enchilada)
Light or fat free sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare all ingredients for assembly. In a large frying pan, bring chicken broth and canola oil to just boiling. Add onion and green pepper to broth and saute until onions are tender. Add grated zucchini and saute until just cooked. Drain off liquid and remove pan from heat. Add cooked chicken to vegetable mixture and stir. Add cilantro, 1 1/4 cups of grated cheese (reserving 1/4 cup for later), green chilies, and garlic. Stir to combine.
Layer 1/2 cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Fill tortillas with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon about 1 T. enchilada sauce over meat mixture. Roll tortillas up and turn enchilada seam down. Ladle remaining sauce over enchiladas, making sure tortillas are completely covered in sauce (so they don't dry out). Cover with tin foil and bake 12-15 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle enchiladas with remaining 1/4 cup (or a little more:) grated cheese. Bake 10 minutes more until cheese is melted. Then turn on broiler and place enchiladas nearer the top of oven. Let it broil until cheese is slightly brown and crispy. Garnish with olives and sour cream.
Yummy Amy! Those look amazing. I actually prefer veggies in almost everything.... so I'm sure I would LOVE these. Can't wait to try them! Thanks for posting something healthy to tempt me. :)
ReplyDeleteI love enchiladas, and it does sound healthier than most versions, what with all the veggies and what not, but if this is counted as 4 servings, then there are still 752 calories per serving.
ReplyDeleteI'll probably still make them, though, because they do sound really good. I love adding zucchini to things unexpectedly.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog! I will be sure to add it to my list. I'm always searching for dinner ideas. What a great collection!
ReplyDeleteHey Anonymous! I love adding zucchini unexpectedly to meals too! I forgot to add that this recipe yields 8-10 servings. So the calories are really low for your typical enchilada. If you are watching your calories though, drop the T of canola oil, lower the cheese, olives, and omit the sour cream-since those are the highest calorie ingredients. That would make this recipe still pretty good and REALLY healthy for an enchilada:)
ReplyDeleteThose sound great and I love whole wheat tortillas in enchiladas!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to make it even lower calories but still want to keep the flavor try substituting plain nonfat yogurt for the sour cream. Non fat yogurt contains less fat, calories, and cholesterol than sour cream.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is going to be a little long, so up front I apologize. For those who don't know, Amy (I'm gonna toot her horn), is was a personal trainer and has a degree to back it up. She's an awesome trainer! Thanks to her I worked this favorite recipe into my meal plans. I've lost 45 lbs. After 5 children (the last two are twins), and 6 mos. on bed rest with the last preg. I am grateful for her help and knowledge. After making this recipe so many times I've since stopped using the canola oil. I just use non-stick cooking spray and it works fabulous. Why add the extra fat & calories if you don't even notice it? Make your calories worth it!...is my motto. Sisters' Cafe has a thousand "to die for" and "worth it" recipes on here. The olives of course, are completely optional, I added these to the original recipe. I also, often add 1 cup of shredded carrots. It adds a sweet flavor to these enchiladas and I'm sure ups the health benefits. I love making these especially in the fall when my garden is in full swing. Thanks sis, for your knowledge and help!
ReplyDeleteObviously I'm not a professional, but I thought if anyone might be interested:), and if my calculations are correct, there are 297.8 calories per enchilada with the whole wheat tortillas I use / 17 g protein/ 30.6 g carb/ 8.24 g fat (minus the sour cream & olives which adds an additional 69.95 cal for 1 Tbsp. light sour cream & 6 olives/ 1 g protein/ 2.95 g carb/ 5.3 g fat)
These look great Amy! I'm truly excited to try them because Eric is begging me to cook a little healthier - he really wants to get in shape - and so do I! I LOVED Melissa's comment too - your sis is so sweet. I agree with her 100% too! You have to be one of the most devoted people I know to your health!! And you have a rockin' body to prove it! :) Maybe I should start eating like you and going to the gym every day... after the holidays - haha! :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sounds delish and healthy. Thanks Amy!!
Totally printing this one!!
ReplyDeleteI'm giving that a try! Anyway to sneak in veggies in great for my picky kids.
ReplyDeleteHoly Canoli.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know we tried these this week and they truly were "Powerful". Very tasty, not dry, and healthy.
Thanks for an awesome recipe that we'll use again and again. We've loved all of the Sisters Cafe recipes we've tried, but might I request more like this in the future? Thanks for all that you share!
p.s. we used plain yogurt (cream top) to drizzle on top instead of sour cream.
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