White Enchiladas and Lilac Bloomsday

Spokane’s Lilac Bloomsday 12K race is always fun and well-organized. My friend Karin and I have run it together several times and each time it seems to get easier (which is not saying much since the first time I ran I had bronchitis and the second time I was 6-months pregnant). I am not what I would call a runner but I have to admit that I am getting addicted to road races and all the energy and excitement at the event.

Mid-race we were feeling pretty good. Both of us thought this year’s race was easier than prior years.

 

Coming in across the finish line.

Post-race, red-faced lunch at Madeline’s Café in Downtown Spokane.

We’ve registered for the Happy Girls’ Run (10K) at the end of the summer. It should be a good time. At the very least it gives me incentive to keep running throughout the summer.

With all that running, and the fact that Cinco de Mayo was two days after the race, I got hankering for enchiladas. This one has been a favorite or ours for a long time. At this point I don’t even remember where I got the recipe . . .

White Chicken enchiladas

As with most enchiladas, the time is in prepping all the ingredients. Putting together the pan of enchiladas goes fairly quickly once you have everything cooked and the ingredients lined up for assembly. First sauté up the vegetables you want to add. We typically prefer onions and bell peppers. I seasoned these with roasted chili powder, garlic, and salt.

For the sake of the kiddos, I start off with onion and green bell pepper. For the more adult (i.e., spicy) option I also add some sliced jalapenos.

Alongside the vegetables, make the sauce: Melt 4 tbsp. butter, and combine with 1/4 flour to make a rue. Then add 2 c. chicken broth and 1 c. sour cream. Let it simmer and thicken. (In this case I used 3/4 c. plain lowfat yogurt and 1/4 c. heavy cream as a substitute for the sour cream.)

I also doubled the recipe in this instance, which I why there is so very much butter in the pan 🙂

The finished sauce should be rich and creamy. I often add a little more garlic at this point too. But then again, there is seldom a point at which I don’t add more garlic to a recipe 🙂

I prefer yellow corn tortillas for this recipe. I warm mine up on a comal on low to medium heat with a little bit of oil. The tortillas must be warmed to soften them up so they don’t crack when you begin rolling the enchiladas.

Warm the tortillas on low to medium heat. I use a comal to warm mine but any pan will do.

Tolerance and preference for spicy dishes varies widely in our household. Lil’ Moose can barely tolerate chili powder, Mr. A and I like a lot of spice, and Sweet Bean falls somewhere in the middle. Normally, I make things fairly bland and just set a bottle of Tapatio and a small bowl of sautéed jalapeños and carrots off to the side. For this batch of enchiladas I tried a different approach. I made one end of the pan with bell peppers and onions only. In the middle I began to add mild green chiles to the mix, and at the far end I added canned diced jalapeños. One pan, many levels of spice.

Diced green chiles. To make it simple I just grabbed a can.

Diced jalapenos, also from a can. In the background is the last of our homemade pickled jalapenos from last year. I layered a few on top so we could tell which end was spicy after baking.

Oh, and the meat. I almost forgot that part!

Classically this was always the recipe Mr. A and I would make to use up leftover turkey after the holidays. Leftover chicken works great, but we’ve also made it with shredded pork. I suppose you could even add tofu, though my preference with a vegetarian option would be to add pinto beans and other vegetables like diced squash or eggplant.

For this batch I shredded the leftover turkey tenderloin from the night before.

For this dish I’ve had the best results with shredded turkey, pork, or chicken. The wonderful thing about enchiladas is that you can get creative with the fillings.

Now that you have everything prepared, you can get the enchilada rolling (pun intended) 🙂

Line everything up and grab a tortilla:

Warmed tortillas.

Begin adding ingredients, little by little.

Add a little of the onion/bell pepper mixture. Then add a little bit of meat. Do not overfill! This is the mistake I always make. Fold the tortilla in your hand, then overlap the edges so that the tortilla makes a tube shape. Ideally, one edge of the tortilla should overlap the other by about one-half to one inch. Think small or everything falls apart–literally!

Some people like using full-sized flour tortillas for enchiladas. For this one I really like the texture and thickness of the corn tortillas against the creamy sauce. It helps that they’re palm sized.

Now here is the quintessential problem when making enchiladas: once you’ve rolled them, how do you keep them from UN-rolling?? I use a heavy cup (a measuring cup, or in this case, glass drinking cup) to hold the ones I’ve already assembled while I put the next one together.

Much of the arrangement depends on the size dish you are using. I used a 9×13 pan for this batch.

Fill the pan with the rolled enchiladas. Pour the sauce over the top until the tortillas are completely covered. Then sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese over the top.

Pan of enchiladas, sans sauce

This was the final product before putting it in the oven. I placed the pickled garlic, carrots, and jalapenos on top so we’d remember which end was spicy once it came out of the oven.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in a 325 degree oven. And, viola!

White enchiladas directly out of the oven. Crispy and creamy. Perfect for a hungry runner 🙂

Here is the recipe sans photo interruptions:

White Enchiladas

Ingredients:

Chicken or turkey, shredded (about 1 lb.)

1 medium green bell pepper, or 3-4 jalapeños

1 medium onion

16-20 small corn tortillas

8 oz. mozzarella cheese

Sauce:

4 tbsp. butter

1/4 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 c. chicken broth

1 c. sour cream (substitute 3/4 c. lowfat plain yogurt combined with 1/4 c. heavy cream if desired)

 

Directions:

Cook and shred the meat. Sauté onions and peppers in a medium-sized pan.  Prepare sauce in a pot on the side. Lightly fry tortillas in a separate pan or comal. Place a small amount of vegetables and meat in each tortilla. Roll and place in a 9×13 pan. Repeat until the dish is full. Pour sauce over the top. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top. Bake 25-30 min. at 325°. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with beans and rice.

 

 

 

We finished the Bloomin’ race!

Bad blogger that I am I have put off updating this space for so long that I have about 6 posts composed in my mind and in my journal notes, but have not written a word here. Bad blogger, bad blogger. Whatever. I’ll get over it. But hopefully I can convince you, my few but loyal readers, to come back here in the next few days as I attempt to catch you up on the news . . .  which will likely be followed again by a long dry spell. What can I say? At least I’m predictable.

So, first thing’s first. Well, if not first, then at least most recent. Yesterday, Towhead, the Armenian (ie Mr. A), and I participated in the largest road race in the nation: Spokane’s Bloomsday 12K. My biggest fitness goal for this pregnancy, beyond natural childbirth, was to complete the 7.42 miles of Bloomsday with my 5 month-fat belly. Mission accomplished! The bonus: I’m not even really sore today.

Like good responsible members of a large crowd we arrived early, only to spend more time waiting (roughly 3 hours) than it took us to finish the course (2 hr, 15 min). The sponsors at least had beach balls and other things to entertain us while we waited and we made a number of friends along the way.

Speaking of friends, the other important aspect to this year’s race was to honor friends lost. When one of our dear friends lost their son earlier this year, our friend Karin had the idea to make shirts we could wear in his honor on Bloomsday, with the proceeds going to his memorial fund at Oregon Health and Sciences University’s Heart Research Center. Even when my feet hurt, that part of the race felt good.

Bloomsday is just a fun event, and I’m glad we got to do it as a family this year. Walking across the finish line holding hands was a good feeling. Although, Mr. A has informed me that next year he will be more than happy to take on the two kids for the day while I complete the course. He has a specific philosophy when it comes to running and races, etc: if he’s not playing a sport or trying to get somewhere and/or nothing is chasing him, he doesn’t see the point. I tease him that endurance running is just not his forte. You know those biologists – they’re deadly at short distances.

Stay tuned. I’ll be back tomorrow with more.