Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

Over the holidays Evan and I decided to work on a puzzle�just a simple 500 piecer that we borrowed from a friend. We were never big puzzlers in my family� I honestly can�t remember ever completing a puzzle until now.
You guys! Did you know puzzles are SO FUN!? I�m obsessed. After we finished the first one, I bought 4 Thomas Kinkade Disney puzzles. I�m a bit of a competitive puzzler, but I also like the camaraderie of a good puzzle sesh. Ya know? I get to a point, though, where we just need to really wrap one up and move on to the next. It�s serious business.
Amanda happens to be a very skilled puzzler, so I invited her over for dinner one night� dinner was really just the carrot I dangled in front of her to force her into puzzling. I mean, dinner wasn�t literally a carrot, it was enchiladas (with carrots), but I wasn�t going to let her leave til the Jungle Book puzzle was complete.
These enchiladas were just a thrown together thing, but turned out so, so good! They�re semi-homemade, with a rotisserie chicken and canned enchilada sauce that we spruce up a bit. I had a big thing of roasted vegetables in the fridge that I made earlier in the week for lunches. You could really use any combo of vegetables, but I highly recommend including sweet potatoes and onions. Below is what I used, but feel free to switch it up. These make an extra large batch, which is perfect for weekday consumption! 

I hope you know that reading beyond this point makes you contractually obligated to come puzzle at my house�

Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
Makes 24 enchiladas

1 (28 oz) large can red enchilada sauce (I like Herdez brand)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cumin
Juice from 1 lime
2 cups roasted vegetables (below)
1 small rotisserie chicken, chicken removed and shredded
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
24 small corn tortillas (taco sized)
2.5 cups shredded cheese (Monterey jack, Colby jack, etc)
1/2 cup sliced black olives

Optional Toppings:
Sour cream (mixed with a little lime juice to thin it out)
Cilantro
Hot sauce
Avocado slices
Crumbled cotija cheese
Fresh sliced radishes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together sauce, cocoa powder, cumin, and lime juice. Remove about 3/4 of the sauce and set aside. 

Add vegetables, shredded chicken, and black beans to the bowl of 1/4 of the sauce, and toss to mix everything together and coat.

Spread a thin layer of the remaining sauce on the bottom of one large (9x13) or two medium sized (baking dishes 8x8-ish). You should still have a lot of sauce left after doing this.

Warm tortillas: If you don�t have a tortilla warmer, you can wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for about 30 seconds.

Put a spoonful of the mixture in each tortilla, with a about a teaspoon of cheese. Roll, and place side by side tightly in the baking dish. Should make about 24 enchiladas Once they�re all rolled up and placed in dish, top with remaining sauce and cheese. Evenly distribute olives over the top.

Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until cheese is super bubbly. Let cool about 10 minutes before serving. 

Simple Roasted Vegetables

1 unpeeled small-ish acorn squash, seeded and cut into bitesize pieces
2 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bitesize pieces
1 large red onion, halved and sliced into thick wedges
4 large carrots, sliced into bitesized pieces
Olive oil
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
Heavy pinch of salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spread squash, yams, onions, and carrots on a baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat, and sprinkle with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. 

Roast for about 45-50 minutes (flipping everything once) until the edges are browned but not burnt. 

Weeknight Pasta with Artichokes, Olives, and Sausage

On Friday, along with a bunch of total wackos, I'm going to get in a van, drive up to the Canadian border, and spend the next 24 hours and 200-ish miles competing in a relay race back toward Seattle. It's Ragnar time! This is my 5th year running in the Ragnar Relay! Team Chafin' the Dream, represent! 

If you don't know what Ragnar is, you're missing out. Or maybe you're just sane. Teams of 12 people tag team running for 24 hours straight, relay-style. So, one runner hits the road at a time, and the rest of the team hops along in the vans. Each runner runs three times, with each leg ranging between 3-8 miles. Total distance per person is anywhere from 12 miles to 20 miles. I'm somewhere in the middle. The low middle. 

Leading up to the race is always a bit crazy, as I'm trying to pull my running clothes together, pack healthy snacks, get in a few last workouts, create some crazy costumes, and of course, carb UP! Ok, that last part is a bit of a joke, because I mean, c'mon�carb might as well be my middle name. I carb up to prep for carbing up. 

With all this running around, I've been a little stressed out about getting a blog post up here. Sometimes I get caught up in wild, fancy recipes, trying to think up something you've never seen before. So I forget that simple, easy, every day recipes can be pretty damn good. Like this one. Not only does it help me hit the ol' carb quota, but it's perfect for a busy weeknight (and tastes pretty great, too). It's also perfect for last minute dinners with friends, because it makes a big pot of pasta and comes together like that. Oh...picturing me snapping my fingers when I say "like that." 

My friend Bree threw this combo together one night, and I was blown away by the simplicity and awesomeness of it. Oh yeah...people like every day recipes, too! You can add pretty much whatever you want, but I start with a box of whole wheat pasta, a big can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes, a can of artichoke hearts and black olives, an onion, a bell pepper, and some pre-cooked sausage (I used smoked garlic chicken sausages here...sorry if they look a little...pale and weird). If you wanna spice it up, add garlic and basil, and maybe some red pepper flakes. And definitely top it with parmesan. 


Eat this, and wish me luck this weekend! 

Weeknight Pasta with Artichokes, Olives, and Sausage

Serves 4-6

1 box whole wheat penne pasta (about 13 ounces)

Olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 package pre-cooked sausage (about 4 links), sliced

1 bell pepper, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, diced

Handful of basil, slivered

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I like San Marzano) 

1 normal-size can artichoke hearts, drained

1 normal-size can large black olives, drainedOlive oil

Salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese, grated 

Cook pasta according to package instructions. 

Meanwhile, heat a swig of olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion, and saut� until starting to brown. Add sausage, and cook for a couple of minutes, add pepper, garlic, and basil, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Drain pasta, reserving about a half cup of pasta water. Add pasta and reserved water to pot with veggies, and stir in tomatoes, olives, and artichoke hearts. Serve with grated parmesan.