Chicken Enchiladas for the Soul

This recipe is a Dan-the-Man original. We bought all the ingredients for simple burritos but as evening came around, he felt the urge to create something a little sassier. His title for these beauties? Chicken enchiladas for the soul.

If you skim through this recipe, you will notice the 'soul' part comes from the fact that the chicken is slow cooked on your stovetop for about three hours. Don't try to circumvent this: it is really essential to developing the great flavor in this dish. Instead, pick a day when you have the whole afternoon at home so you can enjoy the process!

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 4-5 boneless chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 cup Mexican spice blend
• 2 cups water
• good quality hot sauce to taste (optional but strongly recommended)
• 1 can pineapple rings, juice strained

• five 10" flour tortillas
• 8 oz. shredded cheddar
• salsa and/or sour cream, for serving

Directions

1. Place a deep skillet over medium-high heat.
2. As pan is heating up, add olive oil and cumin.
3. Once cumin starts to sizzle, place chicken thighs in skillet. Sear thighs for about a minute on each side.
4. Add red wine and stir well.
5. Add Mexican spice blend, water, hot sauce, and pineapple rings.
6. Cover skillet. Reduce heat to low.
7. Let cook, undisturbed, for 3 hours.

To assemble enchiladas:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Strain chicken and pineapple. Return to skillet.
3. Shred chicken with a fork.
4. Warm tortillas in the microwave (about 20-30 seconds for the pile).
5. On a clean surface, lay out your tortilla. Scoop some chicken-pineapple mixture onto the lower half of the tortilla. Sprinkle cheese on chicken, then roll up tortilla, burrito-style.
6. Place each in a lightly oiled 13x9 pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese browns.
8. Serve with salsa and/or sour cream for dipping. We enjoyed ours alongside yellow rice.

Onion and Pineapple Quesadillas

The other day I had a few friends over for a quesadilla party. Few of them had ever experienced pineapple in this Mexican dish. To be honest, I hadn't considered it an option either until I stumbled upon the Pioneer Woman's quesadilla recipe.

These are great as snacks, appetizers, or a meal. Enjoy them as written or mix and match your favorite ingredients: grilled chicken, mushrooms, and green peppers are all great options to consider.

Ingredients (makes 3-4 quesadillas)

• butter (divided use)
• flour tortillas
• shredded cheese (Mexican blend and Colby-Jack blend are both good options)
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
• pineapple, cut into small pieces (I used canned pineapple rings)
• salsa or sour cream for serving

Directions

1. In a small frying pan over medium heat, melt a pat of butter. 
2. Cook onions and jalapeños until done.
3. Heat a large frying pan or flat griddle to medium.
4. While pan is heating up, assemble quesadillas as follows: fold one tortilla in half. Open it and sprinkle the half generously with cheese, onion/pepper mixture, pineapple, then a little more cheese. Fold it closed.
5. Coat the hot griddle with butter. Place assembled quesadilla on pan and cook until browned. Flip and cook other side until browned.
6. Remove from heat, cut into wedges, and serve with salsa or sour cream.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

These meatballs were a total experiment. Besides preparing them in a different kitchen, I've never made meatballs by measuring anything other than the beef and eggs. These were spiced very plainly and that's something I would change in the future: perhaps grated ginger in the meat would add a nice flavor to the mix.

My other challenge was that the sauce in this recipe didn't become, well, saucy. I always struggle with thickening sauces and this one was no different. It turned out kind of thin but still packed a great flavor. If you are good at thickening sauces, you may want to work a little more with some cornstarch to thicken this one before the last step.

This is adapted from a recipe by the Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients for Meatballs

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• a few shakes each of salt and pepper
• flour
• olive oil for frying

Ingredients for Sauce

• 3 cups beef broth
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 bell peppers (one green, one red),  cut into large chunks
  
• 1 fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine beef, onion, eggs, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper. 
2. Form meat into golf ball sized meatballs.
3. Pour some flour into a small bowl. Roll each meatball in flour.
4. Heat large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add a generous amount of olive oil.
5. Fry meatballs (in two batches).
6. While meatballs are cooking, whisk broth, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and cornstarch in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
7. Once all meatballs are done, set them aside in another bowl. Pour oil / fat out.
8. Return hot frying pan to stovetop over high heat. Add peppers and cook for about one minute.
9. Add pineapple and cook for another minute.
10. Pour sauce into frying pan. Let boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
11. Add meatballs and serve immediately over rice (as a main dish) OR place meatballs in a crockpot (I used a 5-qt. crockpot) and pour pepper-pineapple-sauce mixture over top. Set heat to warm and enjoy throughout the evening as an appetizer.