Salsa Chicken --> Enchiladas --> Soup!

[CyberAly]

I love my crock pot and I thought I'd just share one of my go-to recipes for the week...

Round One: Salsa Chicken

I put 4-6 chicken breasts (frozen or fresh) in the crockpot and cover with about 1/2 jar of salsa. I often use a southwestern style, but it has some corn and black beans in it. This week I bought a can of green enchilada sauce. YUM! Cook in the crockpot on low for at least five hours, but it can stand up to 8 or 9. I use two forks to shred the chicken and stir, then let it continue to cook for an hour.

I eat this just straight out of the bowl, on top of salads, in a quesadilla w/ low carb tortillas

Round Two: Enchiladas

Using low carb tortillas, I put 1/2 of the leftover enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan, then some cheese in the center of the tortilla, top it with a generous portion of chicken, then carefully roll it up. After all the enchiladas are in the dish, pour the other half of the enchilada sauce over the top, then add more cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. Delish.

Round Three: Soup

Since I usually have more shredded chicken to contend with, I then use the recipe I got from http://evolutioncatering.blogspot.com/

Mexican Chicken Soup

Ingredients
leftover shredded chicken (1 lb) [**I used a lot more than 1 lb, i think!**]
an onion (sliced)
a couple celery stalks(chopped)
a couple carrots(chopped)
mushrooms (if you have them)
chicken stock (a couple cups)
white wine (a splash)
tomatoes (fresh or canned)
spices (i use ground cumin and some chile powder)
fresh cilantro and cheddar for garnish

Directions
Caramelize onions in a tablespoon of butter
Add celery, carrots, mushrooms- cook until tender
Deglaze with chicken stockAdd wine, tomatoes, chicken
Simmer 30-60 mins.
Add salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with cheddar and cilantro

[Karole]

Those recipes all sound wonderful. I will try those out ! Thanks for posting them.

[maxlharris]

Not to pee on the parade but...

I went to the link, because the recipe was kind of non-specific about amounts (the way home chefs are... I understand). I looked at her pictures and I estimated quantities of things based on that. My work is here:

http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=maxlharris&Year=2010&Month=0&Day=8

I estimate carbs in the soup to be 40-50g. Assuming 4 servings, it's adequate protein, but kind of light on calories for a meal. If you add some cheddar to it, it improves the fat profile, but it's still a little carby for the total calories (I need more than 320 for a lunch or dinner).

[Mal Lady]

Sounds too carby for me. Need to leave out the corn and the beans for a starter on the chicken.

Soup doesn't need carrots.

Plus, there are no amounts of what to use. Leaves it open for a broad interpretation.


I made something the other day.


Ground turkey (1 lb.) browned

1/2 Cup Salsa

1/8 Cup water

2 TBSP. taco seasoning

Simmer until cooked through and most of water has evaporated

Melt 1 cup colby/jack on top

Serve with a TBSP. sour cream

Makes 4 servings.

Took away my craving for something Mexican:D

Sharon

[CyberAly]

Well, she is a paleo chef, not a low carb chef... although they often overlap. I put a LOT of chicken in it. Like, 2.5 lbs of cooked shredded chicken, probably.

As to the southwestern salsa, in any serving of chicken i might eat, i'd end up with about 6 kernels of corn and 6 black beans. Probably too much for some folks, but I'm not that anal. And actually, in this case, i used green enchilada sauce to crock pot it in. The flavor was very light but tasty.

And I used one medium carrot, 2 stalks of celery, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, about 1/3 of a medium yellow onion. And while soup certainly doesn't NEED any particular thing, I love carrots. :)

My main challenge in finding things to make is that my bf is not interested in controlling his carbs and I'm trying to entice him over to the dark side. I mean, the light side. ;) Its gotta be tasty and somewhat recognizable to him.

[Karole]

I have my chicken in the crock and cooking in salsa (regular type) so can't wait to check it out for dinner. It can't be too carby like that-- and we will probably eat it up in this manner before it gets made into soup. Thanks for the recipe.

[CyberAly]

Nice! I'll be happy to hear how it turns out. I love my crockpot!

[Karole]

I have a wonderful aroma drifting in from my kitchen !!! I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Mom2Boxer]

I knew I came into the forum today for some reason. Thank you for the inspiration for tonight's meal, plus a great way to finish off a partial jar of Salsa! :)