The Whole Enchilada

When I was growing up, my mother rarely made one-dish meals. My father was raised on dinners that revolved around four ingredients:  meat, potatoes, and two vegetables. In fact, he would occasionally count the foods on his plate out loud, while pointing, "1, 2, 3 . . ." and recounting, "1, 2, 3 . . ." as my mom would scurry into the kitchen to retrieve a forgotten side dish left warming in the oven. This is how we ate, and to me, this was normal.

I found out years later, in college, that this meal-time behavior was not typical. Most of my friends were raised on sauce from a jar, veggies from the freezer, and meats from the deli. In fact, my interest in cooking was so foreign to many of my friends that they couldn't wrap their minds around why I would bother doing such a thing as making homemade pizza.

Around the same time, I also learned how to order takeout. Growing up, if we ever ordered out, it was Pizza Hut. It was topped with meat. And it was rare. At college, the takeout world was in the palm of my menu-filled hand, and, based on the choices in the cafeteria, it was often. College had foods I had never heard of:  stromboli, cheese fries, California cheesesteaks, and deep-fried sticks of mozzarella. I ate them all. In just my freshman year.

By my junior year, I had put on 25 pounds and I was broke. But, I now had an apartment and a car.  This meant that we grocery shopped. Occasionally. Ideally. Ok, in reality, it meant that my roommates and I ate out.

Since we were all on a budget, we ate frugally <read: looked for happy hours with free food>. Frequently, we would go to Chi Chi's mexican restaurant. The Chi Chi's chain is no longer in business, but when it was, we would go once a week for happy hour, happily eating our way through the steaming buffet of nachos, salsa, tacos, and enchiladas and drinking down the $4 raspberry margaritas. Those were the days.

Beyond the heartburn, I learned something from Chi Chi's. I realized that I loved spicy food, and I wanted to explore foods that weren't categorized into four sections of my plate labeled meat, potatoes, vegetable, vegetable.

Since college (which is now long ago and far away), I have cooked spicy foods from around the world: Spain, Africa, India, China, and more. I love it all -- cooking it and eating it. However, regardless of how many new, unusual recipes I try, I will always love enchiladas.

This is a simple recipe that I found on a site called SparkRecipes, based on a recipe by Specker_Reck. (SparkRecipes is a sister site to SparkPeople, which is a free online community dedicated to helping people live healthier lifestyles, including losing weight.) I've tried other recipes, but this one is my favorite. It's very basic. It's a little spicy, but if you like more heat, you can easily kick it up with more chili powder and/or jalapenos. I used white flour tortillas in mine, because we don't care for corn (which is more authentic) or whole wheat tortillas, but you can easily substitute whole wheat and you'll be all the healthier for it.

My father probably couldn't imagine eating dinner that had been rolled up in bread and baked under a coating of cheese. I owe a lot to that mentality of a traditional meat and potatoes meal. I learned how to prepare meat and fresh vegetables, and I how to coordinate cooking them so they appeared on the table at once. But no doubt, I learned a lot at college too, and I owe something to those Chi Chi's happy hours that introduced me to tortillas, cheese, and the spicy one-dish meal.

Print recipe

Chicken Enchiladas with Cream Cheese

Adapted from Specker_Reck's recipe on SparkRecipes.com

Weight Watchers points+: 10

Ingredients

4 flour tortillas (8 inch)

4 oz. whipped cream cheese

2 whole, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 can black beans (15 oz. can)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp chili pepper
1 tsp dried onion flakes
1 can tomato sauce (15 oz. can)
3 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
Broil chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side, depending on thickness. Let cool, then shred with a fork. Meanwhile, combine cream cheese, black beans, red pepper flakes, 1 tsp chili powder, and onion flakes. Add chicken until mixed. Next, warm the tortillas for about 20 seconds in the microwave, so they are more pliable. Spoon chicken mixture evenly onto tortillas. Roll each one and place, seam side down, in a 9x9-inch pan. Mix tomato sauce, remaining 2 tsp of chili powder, and one can water. Pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes or until hot. Add a green salad on the side.