Spinach Mushroom (Chicken) Enchiladas

Holly posted on Instagram about this #boostyourlifechallenge and it sounded interesting, so on a whim to kick-start my birthday month I decided to join her.

I’ve actually stuck with it each day (so far) and so when Day 5 came (Spinach Creativity), I wanted to not only hit that day’s prompt but also hit one of my goals for August – trying a new recipe.

First thing I did was hit up Pinterest and I quickly found this recipe from Taste of Home. It looked phenomenal and I was pretty sure I had mostly everything already in my pantry at home. I figured what I didn’t have, I could swing. I don’t talk much about cooking on this blog but it’s a small hobby of mine – I really enjoy finding & trying new recipes & even tweaking old recipes. I probably don’t talk about it much because as a blogger, it feels like if you post a recipe you MUST include very fancy, photogenic food materials – and I ain’t interested in all that. The picture below – yeah, not mine. But it’s the one that totally convinced me this recipe was worth trying.

I’m going to post the ingredients/directions from the recipe in black and then my substitutions/additions in red. You can check out the regular recipe by going here.

Spinach Mushroom (Chicken!) Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 pound baby Portobello (bella for me) mushrooms, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 chicken breast fillets, chopped – it was about 9 ounces
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (we love garlic, so I minced 6 cloves)
• 1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth (I used broth, the only wine in my fridge was something that resembled old grapes I clearly need to throw away)
• 12 ounces chopped fresh spinach, coarsely chopped (I only had a 10 oz bag)
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt, divided
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) sour cream ( I only had 8 oz of sour cream)
• 4 oz Greek Yogurt Vanilla
• 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro (I didn’t have any)
• 12 corn tortillas (6 inches), warmed (I only had 8 & they were flour)
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (I didn’t have any)
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Cook chicken breasts. I buy these quick & easy ones for lunch on days (note: they’re HEB brand which is a grocery store only found in Texas) when I’m rushing out the door. Since adding chicken was a last minute addition for me I just threw them in the microwave for the recommended amount of time. But you can cook the chicken however you want – I’d go ahead and get started on it though.
2. While they’re cooking, chop up your vegetables. (I chopped the spinach by hand) I bought this Ninja Master Prep a couple years ago after seeing how amazing a friend’s was – I love it. Highly recommend. It comes with the little one and I use it all the time.
   
   I also chopped them boobs up when they were done cooking in the Ninja like I was communicating Will Smith/Wild Wild West style.
   
3. In a large skillet, sauté mushrooms and onion in butter until tender; add garlic, cook 1 minute longer. Set aside half of the mushroom mixture for sauce.
   
4. Add wine (or chicken broth) to remaining vegetables; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add spinach and 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt; cook until spinach is wilted and liquid is evaporated. Add chopped chicken and mix. Add water as necessary to keep the vegetables from burning.
5. In a large saucepan, bring the water, lime juice, chicken bouillon, garlic powder and remaining seasoned salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve bouillon. Stir in the sour cream, yogurt, cilantro and reserved mushroom mixture; heat through.
   
   
6. Place a scant 3 tablespoon spinach mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up and place seam side down in a greased 13 in x 9 in baking dish. Spoon sauce over top; sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° F for 14-18 minutes until heated through. I did not use all my spinach mixture in the enchiladas – it was really good all by itself and since I only had 8 tortillas, I just saved it in Tupperware and have been eating it like that all week.

The original nutritional facts: 1 serving is 2 enchiladas at 427 calories, 24 grams of fat, 879 mg sodium, 36 grams carbs, 5 gram fiber, 16 gram protein.

My version nutritional facts (or as close as I could get with MFP): 1 serving is 1 enchilada at 492 calories, 19 grams of fat, 1019 mg sodium, 47 gram carbs, 3 gram fiber, 32 gram protein.

I didn’t take a picture of the final product because I was much more concerned with stuffing my face. Both Alfred & I, not so much Lillie, agreed it should be added to our regular dinner line-up.

Substitution/Addition notes:

• I’m glad I added chicken to increase the protein and give it a little more substance – maybe more for my husband who is not quite on board with having a meatless dinner. STEAK AND POTATOES FOR LIFE needs to be tattooed on his back.
  I served him two enchiladas but he only ate 1 1/2 citing he was full (we also had steamed broccoli with it). So they are at the very least filling. I had one (along with broccoli) and was satisfied.
• I wish I would not have used Vanilla flavored Greek Yogurt. I could taste the vanilla in it (Alfred said he could not) and was not exactly a fan. When I make this again I will either use all sour cream OR use plain flavored Greek Yogurt.
• I’ll get the recommended number of tortillas (I was sad to see the leftovers vanish) – and I won’t use flour ones. Whenever I make enchiladas I typically use corn tortillas since they hold up so much better than flour ones do – they don’t get quite as “gummy”
• Using chicken broth was fine – but I can definitely see the advantage as far as taste goes with adding some white wine – so hopefully next time I’ll have some to spare and not just an empty bottle from the previous weekend taunting me in the trash can.

So, there you go! My first of five new recipes for August. Let me know if you’ve ever made these (or plan too!) and what you would change about it!