Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

Anything with chipotle in the title of the recipe has my attention. Reading through the recipe, this sounded like a winner, thanks to Cooking Light. That's right, it's a light recipe. Though, I don't know that I did much to help the lightness.

Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

Dressing:
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 cup light sour cream
1 Tb. minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
4 tsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt

Salad:
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 cups chopped cooked, boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2)
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
1/2 cup diced, peeled avocado
1/3 cup thinly, vertically sliced red onion
1 - 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 - 8 3/4 oz. whole-kernel corn, rinsed and drained

To prepare dressing, combine first 7 ingredients, stirring well.

For salad, combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

I washed all of the romaine lettuce, but only shredded as much as I thought we would need. You'll probably have a lot more lettuce from a head of romaine than you'll need for this recipe. I stored the washed leaves wrapped in a paper towel in a ziplock. I also rinsed the can of corn and beans together. Basically I just added as much ingredients as I thought we would use for ht meal and put the rest in tupperware containers to mix later. Always mix the salad right before eating, otherwise it'll get gross sitting in your fridge.

I then tossed all the ingredients with the dressing and piled it in a warmed tortilla. Wrap it up and serve with chips.

Did a salad ever look so good?

Don't get the title of this post wrong, I did not make a salad for dinner and serve it to Wes. That would not have been enough for him. Me, on the other hand, would've been fine with it. So I took the recipe and turned it into a wrap with homemade potato chips.

With the chicken, you can use a store bought rotisserie chicken and shredded it or just cook up some chicken breasts. I had three chicken breasts that I pounded, dredged in a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne powder and paprika. I then grilled it to give it a smoky flavor. Oh, boy did it come out smelling good. Could have been because I accidentally added a whole lot of cayenne pepper which gives a smoky heat.

Besides the chicken, this dressing was SPICY! Granted, I probably added more than a tablespoon of chiles (I used about two chiles) and added a little spoonful of the sauce. Wes and I were gulping down the beverages in between bites of the wrap. But the dressing is so good. I didn't use the light sour cream like the recipe suggests and I almost left out the cilantro because I didn't have any. It is so packed full of flavor with the cilantro, cumin and lime juice. You can definitely scale back the heat by adding less of the chipotles. But those nutritionists out there say to eat spicy things because you'll end up eating less. Maybe that's why this meal is light....

For the potato chips, I cut some russet potatoes into thin slices, tossed them with vegetable oil and salt on a baking pan and baked in a 500 degree oven for about 15 minutes or so. Depending on how thin you slice them, the shorter amount of time it'll take. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. You can flip them over if you notice the bottoms are already getting brown. They're good for that night, but don't do well the next day. Maybe one day I'll fry them and make real potato chips. But for now, these will do.

Love, love the salad. And like I said, it is light if you follow the recipe as is. If you like southwestern food, you'll like this salad. And it's easy to do.

Enjoy!

Chipotle Chili Bean and Rice Wraps

Who doesn't like the ginormous burritos from Chipotle and Qdoba? Now you can make your own! Although that doesn't necessarily require a recipe, this recipe comes pre-eety close to what those gluttonous burritos taste like. Oddly enough, I had this recipe laying around for quite a while. Maybe even before I even liked Qdoba (my place of choice). While this recipe is vegetarian, I did add some chicken for additional protein.

Chipotle Chili Bean and Rice Wraps

1 Tb. vegetable oil
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 - 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed
2 canned chipotle chilies, chopped
1 tsp. adobo sauce from chipotles
1/4 tsp salt
4 large burrito-size flour tortillas
1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups cooked white rice
1/2 cup prepared mild salsa
1/4 cup cilantro leaves

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium meat. Add onion and cook until tender, 5 minutes. Add garlic and cumin and cook 1 minute more. Stir in black beans, chipotles, adobo sauce and salt. Simmer to heat through, about 5 minutes.

Heat tortillas on a hot skillet, turning frequently until hot and pliable. Spread tortillas with about 1 1/2 Tb. sour cream. Lay 1/2 cup of rice in a thick horizontal strip about a third of the way from the bottom. Top with a quarter of the black beans, salsa and cilantro. Fold in the two sides and roll the wrap away from you.

Can be made up to 24 hours ahead and wrapped in foil and refrigerated. Heat in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes to warm through.

For chicken: Pound chicken to 1/2" thickness. Mix 1 tsp. each salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne and 1/2 tsp. cumin on a plate. Dredge chicken in spice mixture and bake in a 450 degree oven for 14 minutes. Can also cook on the grill.

Please excuse the gross pictures. I bit into the burrito then thought, "Maybe I should take a picture."

I have to say, I was impressed with this. I almost couldn't tell you the difference between this burrito and a chicken burrito from Qdoba. The chipotle black bean mixture substituted for the hot salsa. I don't think I even added any additional salsa to the burrito and it was hot enough. The kicker though was the rice. Qdoba has this lime infused rice. So what did I do? Cook the rice, add a few splashes of lime juice and stirred in the chopped cilantro. Voila! Rice that tastes like the restaurant's!

These burritos were stuffed to the rim too. How people making the burritos fold and roll them is beyond me. Probably why they're wrapped in foil - so they'll stay together! The chicken added a nice element of spice to the burrito also. You could do any meat and cook it anyway. I personally think that this recipe as is, is a little boring. If you're going to stick with vegetarian, add some peppers or something else for substance.

I ended up with enough for about four burritos. Love that this gives you the same taste and feeling of one of those tin-foil wrapped burritos and that you know what's wrapped in your tortilla. Simple recipe and easy to tweak to your liking.

Happy cooking!

Cilantro Chipotle Scampi

This is another recipe from the Kitchen Witch place my mom takes classes from. It's spicy and oh so buttery. Yum!

Cilantro Chipotle Scampi

1 1/2 lbs. large shrimp, cleaned with or without tails
3/4 cup flour
3 Tb. olive oil
1 Tb. minced garlic
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 Tb. unsalted butter
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 - 2 Tb. chopped chipotle chilies in adobo
Salt to taste

Toss shrimp with flour in a colander or strainer, shaking of the excess. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp and cook 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook another 30 seconds.

Add wine, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Stir in butter until melted.

In a separate bowl, combine cilantro, lime juice and chipotle chiles. At the last minute, add mixture to shrimp and toss to coat. Season with salt. Serve shrimp and sauce with rice or pasta or by itself.

I love the colors in this dish: red from the chipotles, green from the cilantro and pink from the shrimp.

The wine and butter make the sauce so smooth and delicate. It's rich and buttery and enhances the cilantro, lime, chipotle sauce. That sauce has a lot going on as well. There's the brightness from the lime juice and the heat and spiciness from the chipotles. I love this with rice, though I'm sure it would be good with some fettuccine noodles too.

This can be a spicy dish depending on how many chipotles you choose to put in the mixture. I like mine spicy enough that it makes my nose run. It's definitely a scampi style dish, the cilantro and chipotles just give it a nice change of pace.

Can be an impressive dish for dinner guests. Happy cooking!

Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese

Want to spice up boring mac 'n cheese? Try this recipe!

Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese

Bread topping:
2 Tb. unsalted butter
2 Tb. olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 cups coarse fresh breadcrumbs

For breadcrumbs, heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and breadcrumbs and cook until crumbs are golden, stirring often. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt.

Macaroni:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups whole milk, warmed in the microwave
2 cups heavy cream
1 Tb. dry mustard
2 Tb. chopped chipotle chilies in adobo
1 lb. macaroni
2 lbs. extra-sharp grated cheddar cheese

For macaroni, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, cream, mustard and chipotles. Simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Must come to a full boil and thicken.

Cook macaroni in a large pot of boiling, salted water until just tender. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in chipotle sauce, cheese and salt to taste. I add approximately 1 tsp or so.

Fill a 3-quart shallow casserole, greased with olive oil, with mixture and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Cheese-y goodness!

I love this macaroni and cheese. The chipotles give it a nice kick and change to the dish. The two tablespoons isn't actually that much and I'd actually might add a little more next time to make it spicier. You can control the spicy-ness level by the amount of chipotles. The toasted breadcrumbs with garlic also add a nice dimension to the meal and a nice crunch to the creaminess. I used the word "nice" a lot in that paragraph...

This definitely is NOT a diet-friendly meal with the whole milk, heavy cream AND cheese. But it's so good. I used a corkscrew type pasta instead of macaroni. It's able to keep the cheese sauce on the pasta a little better and gives the same feel as macaroni.

It didn't have the stringy cheese feel that I always envision macaroni and cheese to have. But it's rich and has a good cheddar flavor so I'm not complaining. The chipotles and cheddar play well off each other.

If you're looking for something different, try this recipe out. I'll definitely be making it again.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I got this recipe off the Food Network from Rachael Ray. It's a yummy and spicy rendition of chicken tortilla soup. It's also pretty healthy if you leave out the bacon and depending on how much toppings you add. I'd definitely make it again! My notes are in italics.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 cups of chicken stock

1 pound of chicken tenders - I used two chicken breasts and cut the breasts up.

1 bay leaf

1 TB olive oil

4 slices of bacon chopped - I omitted to keep it a little healthier.

1 onion finely chopped - I used onion powder since Wes doesn't like the texture of real onions.

2 chipotles in adobo, chopped + 2 Tb sauce

1 - 28 oz. can crushed fire roasted tomatoes - I used a can of whole tomatoes and chopped them.

Salt to taste

Bring broth to a simmer and add chicken, poach 6 to 7 minutes with bay leaf.

While chicken poaches, heat oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon if using and cook until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon. Drain off excess fat, leaving 2 to 3 Tb in pan. Add onions and garlic to the skillet and cook 5 minutes. I skipped cooking the bacon and added the onion powder and garlic to the olive oil. Stir in chipotles and tomatoes.

Remove chicken from stock, dice and then add to soup. I shredded the chicken. Pass stock through a strainer to get out the bay leaf and chicken fat. Add broth to soup.

Ladle soup into a bowl. Top with either crushed tortilla chips (I used corn tortilla chips) or make your own tortilla strips. (Brush tortillas with melted butter or vegetable oil. Cut into strips & salt. Place on a sheet pan and into the broiler for a few minutes until lightly golden brown.) Top with crushed tortillas and cheese of choice (I used cheddar). Add a dollop of sour cream and even add some cilantro if you wish.

This was a spicy tortilla soup due to the chipotles. I recommend scrapping the seeds out and/or finely chop the chipotles so no one gets too much heat in one bite. I also added about 3/4 cup of frozen corn to the soup. It would've been good with a can of black beans too. I do like the sweetness from the whole tomatoes. I'm not sure what the flavor would've been like if you used the suggested fire roasted tomatoes. Let me know how it turns out if you do use it! The sour cream definitely adds a nice creaminess to the soup and cools down the heat if the soup is too spicy. But overall, it was delicious and something I'd definitely make again.

The most difficult part of this recipe may be poaching the chicken, which really isn't that hard. And chipotles aren't something that is used in every day cooking. Definitely put the rest of the chipotles in a Tupperware and keep in the fridge. They'll hold for quite a while. I'll try to post more recipes that use chipotles so that the rest don't go to waste.

Happy cooking!