I love Mexican food, but every time I eat it I am reminded that it's not the healthiest and usually lacking vegetables.  That's where the spinach come into play with this dish.  I had it on hand and thought this was a dish I could incorporate it into the filling.  In addition to spinach, I added grape tomatoes.  I also used a lean cut of meat, low fat cottage cheese and minimal amount of shredded cheese.

I'm still unclear about the guidelines surrounding when you can call a recipe your own.  I'd like to go out on a limb here and say that's the case with this one, however, I have made Chicken Enchilada Bake, having referenced a few blogs.  I didn't reference any recipe when it came time to throw this together, I used what I had on hand and went with it.

While it looks like a lot of steps to put together, I use the crockpot to cook the meat while I'm at work.  Once I got home from work the remaining steps came together fairly quickly.

Here is what you'll need: 

For the Meat Filling:

• 3/4 lb top round beef
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes

For the Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz. 1% small curd cottage cheese
• 2 oz. Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
• 2 tsp minced cilantro
• 1 huge handful of spinach, chopped

For the Sauce:

• 8 oz. tomato sauce
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 2 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 oz. canned mild green chilis

Remaining ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 9-10 corn tortillas
• 2 oz. canned mild green chiles
• 2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Place meat filling ingredients in crockpot.  Set to low and cook 8 hours. 

In a small sauce pan add all sauce ingredients and stir together.  Allow to simmer 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Shred meat filling with a fork.  Set aside. 

Combine all cheese filling ingredients together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat.  Put 1 corn tortilla in the pan for 30-60 seconds until it becomes pliable.

Remove tortilla from the heat.  Place a forkful of beef filling in middle of tortilla.  Next put a tablespoonful of cheese filling on top of meat.  Roll tortillas to close and place in baking dish.

Repeat above steps with remaining tortillas.

Once all tortillas a filled, pour the sauce over the tortillas in baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 oz. of green chiles and Monterey Jack cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Makes 9-10 tortillas.

Here is an easy salad I made up last summer when I was looking for something quick and easy to serve with empanadas.  I made this again recently to go with these Grilled Honey Tangerine Sandwiches.  I love that it is not only easy and delicious, but healthy and protein packed.  I always make the full recipe since this is a perfect for lunch the next day.

Here is what you need:

• 1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn, cooked and cooled
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 Tbsp diced red onion
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped

Mix all ingredients together.  Chill until ready to serve.  Serves 4-6 as a side.

I have a confession.  I've only eaten enchiladas 4 times in total, and all within the last 1-1 1/2 years.  I know, what was I thinking?  Honestly, I never knew about their deliciousness until I started seeing posts about them on a cooking forum I frequent.  I am SO glad I've corrected this wrong doing!

The first time I made enchiladas I bought the sauce in the can.  No bueno!  It gave me, and later I found out my BIL, awful heartburn.  So much for a delicious "new baby meal".  For my second attempt I made Mary Ellen's sauce, and it was awesome, but time consuming!  Then I tried this sauce on Pink Parsley's blog; there is no turning back!

Overall this is a time consuming meal for a weeknight, however, I used Jaime's method of layering before, so I turned to this again to save a little time.  If you do a little prep work on the weekend, I cooked and shredded the chicken on Sunday, you can easily assemble and pop this in the oven.

Here is how the whole recipe came together:

Sauce, from Pink Parsley:

• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine (I used 1 chipotle in adobo)
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp chili powder (I didn't have any so I made some)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 15 oz tomato sauce (I had crushed tomatoes so that's what I used)
• 1 cup water
• 1 large beefsteak tomato, seeded and chopped (I used a handful of grape tomatoes with seeds)

Combine the onion, jalapeno and oil in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, and chopped tomato. Bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and set aside.

Cheese filling, my creation:

• 1/3 cup light sour cream
• 1/3 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 3 oz. light cream cheese
• 2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• handful cilantro, chopped

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. 

Other ingredients:

• Cooking spray 
• 12 corn tortillas
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.  Layer 4 tortillas in the bottom of the baking dish.  Spread 1/2 of chicken over tortillas.  Spread 1 1/4 cup of sauce over chicken.  Spread 1/2 of cheese filling over sauce.  Repeat with another layer of tortillas, chicken, sauce and cheese.  Place the last 4 tortillas on top.  Top with 1 cup of sauce and 1/2 cup of cheese.

Cover and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Uncover and bake another 10 minutes.  Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.  Serves 4-6.

Note: Overall I use more chicken than cheese.  If you want more cheesiness, just increase each ingredient in the cheese filling and/or decrease the amount of chicken.  In my head the less fat I use the more I can eat!  It's a good theory anyway.