Edesia's Notebook

Tuesday: Quesadilla Taco Pizzas

Wednesday: Grilled Stuffed Burritos

Thursday: Mexican Turkey Crescent Bake

Links to all of my other Mexican Recipes:

Creamy Chicken Baked Flautas

Doya Margaritas

Mexican Turkey Crescent Bake

2013-05-02T10:10:00.000-05:00

Today is Day Four of my Cinco de Mayo week. Have you been enjoying these Mexican recipes? The one I have for you today is probably more of a "Tex-Mex" meal. It's really easy to put together and your family will love it. It's a baked dish with crescent roll dough on the bottom, ground turkey and chili beans in the middle, and melty cheese on top. It's slightly adapted from Pillsbury.

Mexican Turkey Crescent Bake

Ingredients:.

¼ large onion, diced

1lb. ground turkey

1 (15 oz.) can beans in chili sauce, undrained

1 tbsp taco seasoning or half of a packet

1 (8 oz.) can refrigerated seamless dough sheet

1½ cups shredded cheese

Sour cream, for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Coat a 9x13” baking dish with baking spray.

In a large skillet, sauté onions until almost tender. Add turkey and cook until no longer pink. Add beans and taco seasoning. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

Place dough in baking dish; press over bottom of pan to form crust. Spoon turkey mixture evenly over dough; sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Top with sour cream, if desired.

Makes 6 servings.

Of course, you can make this with ground beef if you prefer. It would be great either way. It would probably also work with shredded or cubed chicken. The original recipe called for "black beans in chipotle sauce with corn and red peppers". I had never seen that before, so I just used chili beans. It would be good with some corn thrown in there too.

Have you used those seamless dough sheets? They are the same thing as a roll of crescent dough, but without the perforations. Pillsbury apparently realized that cooks use crescent rolls for so much more than the actual rolls, and these seamless dough sheets are awesome. No pinching the seams together. I have made several different varieties of "bakes" with them. This was the first, I think. I've also made a meatball sub bake that is awesome. Then I made a creamy tuna bake with it. It's a very handy thing to have on hand for a quick dinner made with whatever you happen to have in the fridge or pantry. (And no, this is not a sponsored post; I just really like these seamless dough sheets!)

Tomorrow I will finish up Cinco de Mayo Week with a yummy dessert.

Cinco de Mayo Week Recipes:

Tuesday: Quesadilla Taco Pizzas

Wednesday: Grilled Stuffed Burritos

Friday: Churro Cheesecake Bars

Links to all of my other Mexican recipes:

Creamy Chicken Baked Flautas

Doya Margaritas

Grilled Stuffed Burritos

2013-05-01T08:05:00.000-05:00

It's Day Three of Cinco de Mayo week here and today I've got a great copycat recipe for you. My husband's favorite menu item at Taco Bell is their Grilled Stuffed Burrito. So when I saw a recipe for making it at home, I had to try it. Good thing too, because I don't think Taco Bell offers the regular grilled stuffed burrito anymore. They have a new "XXL" version that has guacamole and pico de gallo, which my husband doesn't like. So now I can make his favorite at home. It's cheaper and healthier that way too, of course. I got the recipe from Semi-Homemade Mom.

Grilled Stuffed Burritos

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Spanish Rice (and the ingredients to prepare)

1 lb. ground beef

2 tbsp homemade taco seasoning or 1 packet

1 can refried beans

2 cups shredded cheese

Taco sauce

12 larege flour tortillas

Sour cream, for serving

Directions:

Prepare Spanish rice according to package directions; set aside.

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef in a pan over medium heat, drain the excess grease, mix in taco seasoning. Stir in refried beans.

Preheat panini press or indoor grill. On a tortilla, spread a heaping spoonful of meat filling. Top with a good scoop of rice and sprinkle with cheese. Top with taco sauce. Wrap up burrito style and grill for 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream if desired.

Makes 12 servings.

Here are a few pics of the layering process:

Start with bean/meat mixture.

Then some rice. You can certainly use homemade Mexican rice if you have a good recipe. If not, the packet is super easy.

Taco sauce. You can use salsa if you prefer.

Then finish it with cheese.

Fold it.

Wrap it up.

Mine turned out kind of square. Make the blob of meat mixture more long and skinny for a more traditional burrito shape.

I use my handy dandy panini press. You could also use a Foreman grill or a grill pan on the stove. (Just remember that it will only have grill marks on one side.)

Grilled to perfection.

Tomorrow I will be sharing with you a baked Tex-Mex dish that your whole family will love.

Cinco de Mayo Week Recipes:

Tuesday: Quesadilla Taco Pizzas

Thursday: Mexican Turkey Crescent Bake

Friday: Churro Cheesecake Bars

Links to all of my other Mexican recipes:

Creamy Chicken Baked Flautas
Doya Margaritas

Quesadilla Taco Pizzas

2013-04-30T10:11:00.000-05:00

It's Day Two of Cinco de Mayo week here. Today's recipe is really fun. Kind of a cross between quesadillas and taco pizza. It's like taco pizza that uses a quesadilla as the crust. One of those "why didn't I think of that?" recipes. My version is adapted from Closet Cooking.

Quesadilla Taco Pizzas

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

2 tbsp homemade taco seasoning or store bought packet

2 tbsp flour

¼ cup water

1 can refried beans

12 medium flour tortillas

3-4 cups shredded cheese

1 tbsp oil

1½ cup salsa or taco sauce

4 green onions, sliced

Any other toppings you like

Sour cream

Directions:

Brown the ground beef in a pan over medium heat, drain the excess grease, mix in seasoning, flour, and water and simmer until thickened.

Spread the refried beans over 6 of the tortillas. Top each with ground beef and cheese. Place the remaining tortillas on top to make the quesadillas.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Place one of the quesadillas in skillet and cook it over medium heat until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are lightly golden brown, about 2-4 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining quesadillas.

Place the quesadillas on a large baking sheet. Spread the salsa or taco sauce over the tops of the quesadillas, sprinkle on the cheese, green onions, and any other toppings of your choice.

Broil in a preheated oven until the cheese has melted, about 2 minutes. (Keep an eye on them so they do not burn!) Remove from broiler and cut into wedges. Serve with sour cream.

Makes 6 servings.

This recipe is really easy to customize. You can make the quesadillas with any kind of filling you like. You can use chicken or shredded beef instead of the ground beef. Or you can use black beans instead of refried beans. (If you do that, I suggest putting a layer of cheese on both tortillas since the refried beans help hold them together.) You can also top these babies any way you want. Top them with whatever you like on a taco pizza. Black olives, lettuce, fresh tomatoes; the possibilities are endless. I used salsa on top of mine, but my husband isn't so much a fan of "chunky" tomato sauces, so he used taco sauce instead. They both worked perfectly.

These quesadilla pizzas make for a very nice twist on boring old taco night. Since they are individual, each person can make theirs however they like it.

Tomorrow I will be sharing with you a homemade version of a popular Taco Bell menu item.

Cinco de Mayo Week Recipes:

Wednesday: Grilled Stuffed Burritos

Thursday: Mexican Turkey Crescent Bake

Friday: Churro Cheesecake Bars

Links to all of my other Mexican recipes:

Creamy Chicken Baked Flautas
Doya Margaritas

Stacked Chicken Enchiladas Suizas

2013-04-29T11:04:00.000-05:00

A week or so ago I was looking through my recipe files to see what Mexican dishes I could share with you in honor of Cinco de Mayo. I have a backlog of about 60-70 recipes that I have made and photographed, just waiting for me to share with you. I went through them and wrote down all the Mexican recipes. There were six. I thought it might be fun to post a Mexican recipe each day the week before Cinco de Mayo. My Facebook fans confirmed that this was a great idea. So today is Day One of Cinco de Mayo Week!

I'm starting the week off with a bang; sharing with you my favorite of the five recipes I have for you this week. I have made this three times now and it has been amazing each time. "Stacked Chicken Enchiladas Suizas" might sound like a long, and weird, name, so let me break it down for you. "Chicken Enchiladas" is pretty self-explanatory. "Stacked" means that the enchiladas are layered in a baking dish instead of rolled up like traditional enchiladas. The enchilada filling is layered in between tortillas. "Suiza" is a special kind of enchilada sauce. From Wikipedia: "Enchiladas suizas (Swiss-style) are topped with a white, milk or cream-based sauce, such as béchamel. This appellation is derived from Swiss immigrants to Mexico who established dairies to produce cream and cheese."

So this recipe is basically chicken enchiladas made with a creamy white sauce and layered in a baking dish. It's really very easy. My recipe is adapted from one I saw at Jennifer Cooks. She made her sauce from scratch, while I made mine a little easier by using a jar of roasted tomatillo salsa from the store.

Stacked Chicken Enchiladas Suizas

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

½ cup chicken broth

½ cup roasted tomatillo salsa

½ cup sour cream

4 medium-sized flour tortillas, trimmed to fit an 8” square baking dish

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed or shredded

2 cups shredded cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Coat an 8” baking dish with non-stick spray.

To make the suiza sauce: In a saucepan, melt butter. Add flour, stirring constantly for about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in chicken broth and continue stirring until smooth. Stir in tomatillo salsa and sour cream. Remove from heat.

Place some of the suiza sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Spread to evenly coat the bottom. Place one trimmed tortilla on top, then ½ cup of the cooked chicken, then a little more sauce, then about ½ cup of cheese. Repeat these layers, ending with a tortilla, the last of the sauce, and the last of the cheese.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Here are a few pics of the process:

First layer: the suiza sauce.

Then a tortilla. Just trim a little sliver off each side so it fits in the square pan. I used Mission soft taco-sized tortillas. If you are doubling this recipe, use a 9x13" pan and don't bother with the trimming. The tortillas can overlap a little in the center.

Up next: the chicken. I usually cheat and use canned chicken. This would be a perfect way to use leftovers from a roasted or rotisserie chicken.

Then a little more sauce.

And a generous amount of cheese. My favorite is the Mexican blend from Kraft.

A pic from another time I made it.

This is the roasted tomatillo salsa I use. If you live anywhere near a Meijer, you've got to try it. It's really good. It's not only perfect in this recipe, but it's great just on tortilla chips too. I love it so much that I stocked up on it (bought 3 or 4 jars) before we moved from Michigan to Wisconsin, because there are no Meijer stores in Wisconsin (yet!). If you don't live near a Meijer, you can of course use any tomatillo salsa (aka salsa verde) you like. You could probably use a regular red salsa too. But I just love the flavor of the tomatillo salsa, especially the Meijer Gold brand because it has a lovely roasted flavor to it.

These stacked enchiladas are amazing! The creamy sauce is just incredible. I made these again last night and my five-year-old asked for seconds. We had friends over and they all loved it too. It's a definite crowd-pleaser!

Come back tomorrow for an interesting twist on quesadillas.

Cinco de Mayo Week Recipes:
Tuesday: Quesadilla Taco Pizzas
Wednesday: Grilled Stuffed Burritos
Thursday: Mexican Turkey Crescent Bake
Friday: Churro Cheesecake Bars

In the meantime, here are links to all of my other Mexican recipes:

Creamy Chicken Baked Flautas
Doya Margaritas