Where was quinoa 10 years ago? Â Not on most people’s radar, that’s for sure. Â I taught a recipe with quinoa in a cooking class 8 years ago and everyone was skeptical. Â They were sold on it’s health benefits (high in protein, low in fat, full of antioxidants), but not the flavor. Â Nutty? Â Soapy?
“I can’t get into quinoa.  I’ve tried.  We even cooked it with chicken stock.  Not into it,” I remember someone saying.  We’ve come a long way with quinoa.  When you see it sold in Costco and Target,  you know it has gone mainstream.  I hope many of you have embraced quinoa and figured out ways to enjoy it.  I always used to tell people who are new to quinoa to take their favorite orzo or couscous recipes and swap quinoa.  This would be a major nutritional upgrade and I think a more interesting flavor.
But I’m the first to admit I don’t love plain quinoa eaten out of a bowl with no seasonings, no add-ins. Â Rice, yes. Â But quinoa has a unique flavor that needs a little support. Â The texture is so fantastic though. Â Bouncy, springy, light! Â I love it. Â I make a big batch every other week and stir-fry it a la Italian Fried Rice, or stir in some almond milk and fruit for a sweet breakfast, sprinkle it into pancake batter and add it to salads for a bouncy boost of protein.
I try to teach a great quinoa recipe at least two or three times each year. Â This is one I shared in my classes many years ago and it’s one of the simpler quinoa recipes I’ve taught. Â It’s always nice to have those back-pocket recipes that are healthy, tasty and don’t use too many ingredients or that you can adapt easily.
I could eat this quinoa with toasted coconut and grilled scallions on its own for lunch or with a piece of roasted salmon or chicken on top.  It is perfection with the Thai Steak Salad, which I have also adapted with salmon and chicken.  Mr. Picky, who definitely prefers pasta over quinoa, will eat this with extra toasted coconut and a couple of crushed tortilla chips.  Whatever it takes is my motto!  For those of you with more sophisticated palates, check out the notes at the bottom of the recipe for some additional suggestions.  I highly recommend something spicy!
3Tablespoonsunrefinedcold-pressed extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling onions
½cupunsweetened coconut flakes
3Tablespoonsfreshly squeezed lime juiceif you love lime, add some zest, too!
3Tablespoonsfresh chopped cilantro
optional: half a jalapeñoseeded and grilled with the green onions, finely chopped
Instructions
Preheat a grill over medium heat.
Bring quinoa, water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Turn heat off and allow to sit, covered for 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.
Drizzle some oil on the green onions coating them lightly. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Grill for a minute on each side or until lightly charred and tender. Coarsely chop and set aside.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, toast the coconut flakes, stirring constantly, until golden. They will crisp up off the heat. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lime juice, cilantro and salt. Add to cooked quinoa with green onions and toasted coconut. Toss to combine and taste for seasoning. Feel free to add an extra squeeze of lime, if desired.
Notes
This can also be made with rice, but cooking times and water ratios must be adjusted. This is a basic recipe to which I sometimes add avocado or grilled chopped jalapeño or mango. Sometimes I add mint along with the cilantro if I have it.
This is not so much a recipe as an idea which I LOVE!  My kids make a lot of smoothies for both breakfast and after school snacks.  And even though they can all blend up a tasty and nutritious smoothie on their own, Mr. Picky is the master.  My older daughter has offered him cash on multiple occasions to make her an acai bowl or his famous Pina Colada smoothie.  Sometimes his eyes are bigger than his stomach, he makes a bit too much and we end up with some leftovers.  Usually the leftovers aren’t enough to make a whole portion for the next day, so one day I started pouring the leftover smoothies into popsicle molds and freezing them.  I think you know where this story is headed.
Snacks are tough. My kids come home from school very hungry and they can eat a lot. I want to offer them something nutritious obviously, but I don’t have a ton of time to make homemade snacks every day.  Some of my default snacks are hummus with veggies or whole grain crackers, rice cakes with nut butter, quesadillas, yogurt with granola, almond flour muffins, apples and bananas with nut butter, and smoothies. Stovetop popcorn and granola bars are common, too. If I left my son to his own devices, I’m sure he would polish off a pint of ice cream or a bag of tortilla chips, but he has homework to focus on and soccer practice or religious school, so he needs better fuel than that.
I’ve been intrigued by the appearance of “chickpea croutons” on dozens of salads I have seen all over Pinterest. The cooked chickpeas are roasted until crunchy, sometimes seasoned with spices, and are a more nutritious alternative to croutons, which are basically small greasy bites of white toast. I must have a little crunch in my salad, but I prefer the idea of chickpeas over croutons. However, with all due respect to those who posted those crunchy chickpea recipes, most of them don’t work. Either the chickpeas do not ever become crunchy or they only stay crunchy for a few hours and then they become soft, like real chickpeas. My son actually likes chickpeas and he likes trailmix, so I had an idea to make crunchy chickpeas and mix them with nuts + dried fruit + dark chocolate = crunchy chickpea trailmix, a perfect snack. Except I tried at least a dozen recipes and the chickpeas always eventually became soggy, until one time I roasted them in the oven for a little while and then turned the oven off but left the chickpeas in there. In this way, they wouldn’t burn, but they would continue to dry out. Ta da! Winner! This is the whole key to truly crisp-like-a-cracker chickpeas.
We are not nut-free in our house, nor do my kids go to nut-free schools, but I know there are a lot of families out there who contend with this challenge. This trail mix is easy to make nut-free since the chickpeas make a great sub for nuts, and they are both high in protein which is something I always look for in a good snack. And believe me, I am not trying to replace nuts. Nuts are super good for you with exceptionally healthful fats, protein and fiber, BUT they are also high in calories and I have been known to overeat nuts without realizing it and it is possible to eat too much of a nutritious food if you are trying to maintain a healthy weight. Like I said in my last post, I would be really skinny if nut butter didn’t exist! The nice thing about trail mix is that you can make it with whatever you have and to your liking. I love a good balance of sweet and salty, soft and crunchy, with a touch of dark chocolate for fun. Trail mix is my go-to snack for traveling since it keeps really well, although in the summer I usually omit the chocolate so there’s no risk of melting.
Every time I teach any recipe, someone asks me, “Does Mr. Picky like this?” 90% of the recipes I teach, he does like/tolerate. He ate almost an entire pan of crunchy chickpeas in one sitting. We all loved these and I haven’t even begun to experiment with savory seasonings. As long as you have the method down pat, you should definitely play around with different spices, like garlic powder + smoked paprika, cumin + cinnamon + cayenne, just to name a couple. I think these would be amazing on salads, or on soups or on top of creamy dips like hummus, or as a “bar snack,” to serve with cocktails. These would even make a great hostess gift, especially if you’ve already given everyone you know homemade granola too many times. 😉 I can’t wait to hear if you try this recipe. Or just let me know about your experience roasting chickpeas until now!
1 ½cupscooked chickpeasor 1 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed
1Tablespoonunrefinedvirgin coconut oil
1Tablespoonpure maple syrupGrade A or Grade B
pinchof sea salt
½teaspoonground cinnamon
pinchof cayenne pepper
¼cupgoji berries or other dried fruit of choicesuch as dried blueberries or cherries
¼cupdark chocolate pieces
¼cuppumpkin seeds or sunflower seedsraw or toasted
¼cuptoastedunsweetened coconut flakes (I do this in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring until golden brown)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
Pat chickpeas dry as best you can. Remove whatever skins are loose. Place chickpeas on the baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and add coconut oil, maple syrup and salt and toss to coat. Put back in the oven and roast for another 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. If a few pop, that’s ok.
Turn the oven off. Toss the chickpeas with spices. Return pan to the oven and with the oven door closed and the heat off, allow the chickpeas to sit in the warm oven for another hour or until perfectly crunchy. You’ll have to test one to be sure. It should be dry and airy. If they’re still not crunchy, leave in the oven with the door closed and the heat off until they are crunchy through and through. Set aside to cool at room temperature.
Combine cooled chickpeas with dried fruit, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds and toasted coconut. The crunchy chickpeas combine well with many different ingredients for a trail mix, so feel free to make swaps according to what you have on hand or what you like.
I am a nut butter addict. Â I would be so skinny if nut butter didn’t exist! Â I love them all — almond, cashew, hazelnut, pecan, mixed nuts and my childhood favorite, peanut. Â Yes, yes, yes, I know peanuts are not actually nuts, but legumes. Â And I know peanuts are less healthy than other nuts and that you must buy organic because they are heavily sprayed. Â But I love the roasted nutty flavor of peanut butter and a little goes a long way. Â Â I actually eat peanut butter pretty sparingly, but when I do, I convince myself that it has a lot of protein (which it does) and I try to eat it with other things, rather than off the spoon as I was apt to do in college and during my three pregnancies.
I also love my homemade granola recipe.  Granola + yogurt + fresh fruit is my go-to breakfast when I’m running late, or haven’t prepared anything else in advance.  I actually never get tired of it. If I don’t post my breakfast on Instagram on a particular day (like Monday,) it’s because I’m probably having a granola-yogurt parfait.
Last spring I decided I needed to spice up my life a little, so I went out on a limb and decided to make my granola recipe with peanut butter.  Oh yeah, I am a risk-taker if you don’t know that by now!  Well, let’s just say I became super obsessed with this peanut butter version and my kids went crazy for it, too.  Truth be told, I think they were starting to get bored with my standard granola which I have been making the same way for at least 15 years.  I need everyone in this house to be into granola — with yogurt or almond milk, it’s the easiest, balanced, instant breakfast I’ve got up my sleeve.  So this new version was just the thing to get everyone interested again.
The recipe is actually not much different from my original granola. Â All I did was replace the coconut oil with peanut butter and swap peanuts for almonds and pecans. Â So it’s still vegan and gluten-free (if you use GF oats, if that’s important to you.) Â I’ve done lots of different dried fruits with this granola, depending on what I have on hand, but diced dates are my favorite. Â I still keep this barely sweet so we don’t get any blood sugar spikes first thing in the morning. Â You’ll test it out and see for yourself if it’s the sweetness that you like. Â If not, the next go round you’ll add some more syrup.
We eat granola in the obvious parfait, but we also dip bananas in nut butter and sprinkle them with granola, use it to top oatmeal, I have even started making yogurt popsicles with layers of granola inside. Â I also eat it out of hand when I need a little pick me up in the afternoon the car waiting for Mr. Picky to get off the bus. Zzzzzzzz.
Mother’s Day is on Sunday! Â Buy those cards and flowers! Â Make a homemade gift! Â Bring her breakfast in bed, like peanut butter granola with strawberries and a side of almond milk! Â Above all, if you are a kid, no bickering with your siblings on Mother’s Day and do something that will pleasantly surprise your mama, like clean your room or the whole house, do the dishes or eat a green vegetable. Â Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!
3cupsold-fashioned rolled oatslook for gluten-free oats for a gluten-free granola
½cupraw pumpkin seedspepitas
½cupraw hulled sunflower seeds
1teaspoonground cinnamon
¼teaspoonfine grain sea salt
½cupunsaltedunsweetened peanut butter*, creamy or crunchy, preferably organic
1/3cup100% pure maple syrupGrade A or Grade B
¼cupbrown rice syrupor honey
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
1cuproasted and salted peanutspreferably organic
1cuppitted chopped datesabout 8 dates or other dried, unsulphured fruit
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (If your oven runs hot, preheat to 325 degrees.) Line a rimmed baking sheet or cookie sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
In a large bowl stir together the oats, seeds, cinnamon and salt.
In a small saucepan combine the peanut butter, maple syrup, brown rice syrup and vanilla and heat over low, whisking to combine well. It is really important to mix the peanut butter and syrups so that everything is well blended, otherwise the syrups may burn. Add the peanut butter and syrup mixture to the bowl with the oats and stir to coat well.
Transfer the oat mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for 25-35 minutes (ovens vary), stirring occasionally until golden brown. The mixture will not be crunchy yet. Add the peanuts and dates to the pan and allow to cool. Transfer granola to an airtight container and store at room temperature or freeze.
Delicious Enchiladas Rojas stuffed with chicken and smothered in a homemade enchilada sauce. As close to traditional as you can get– with an easier (and less messy) assembly method! Serve with your favorite toppings and some Mexican side dishes I’ve gathered for you!
Why You’ll Love This Enchiladas Rojas Recipe
This recipe is “the whole enchilada,” so to speak. I’m giving you a method for poaching the chicken (though you can also use this Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Recipe), making the enchilada sauce from scratch, and assembling these red enchiladas. The only thing we’re not covering today is how to make corn tortillas, and I am sure homemade corn tortillas are the only thing that would make these enchiladas better.Â
If you buy cooked chicken and canned enchilada sauce, you don’t really need a recipe to make enchiladas. Not judging of course, because we’ve all been there and shortcuts have their time and place. But if you can plan ahead, these are amazing. My entire family loves these Enchiladas Rojas and let me tell you, they’re a tough crowd.
I grew up on Long Island and didn’t even taste Mexican food until I moved to Los Angeles after college. My kids have grown up in LA and they are experts on Mexican cuisine, sometimes having lengthy discussions about which local taco joint has the best this or that. So when I make something Mexican that gets the thumbs-up, I am relieved and proud at the same time. Â
Ironically, these are not my personal favorite enchiladas. I am more of a green (tomatillo) sauce person, so I am obsessed with these Enchiladas Verdes. But my family digs this recipe. I’ve been making enchiladas rojas for years and my son (Mr. Picky) used to call these “chicken tacos with Mexican tomato sauce.”Â
Are These Authentic Enchiladas?
I did tons of research on how to make authentic enchilada sauce. In fact, I had someone from Mexico teach me the different variations she knows. What I learned is a recurring theme in cooking which is that there’s no one way to make anything. If I ask 12 people from Mexico to make enchiladas, there will be 12 different versions. That said, many people are rather particular about what makes an “authentic” enchilada sauce. But at the end of the day, I don’t really care about that. The enchilada police aren’t going to write me up because I included a little bit of tomato in my sauce. As always, feel free to adjust this to your liking.
But many agree that the base of a true enchilada sauce are rehydrated dried chiles, such as Ancho and Guajillo, and no tomato products at all. My family likes the flavor of the sauce better with a little bit of tomato, but otherwise, I do have to agree that the sauce is so much more flavorful, richer, and more authentic when a good amount of dried chiles is used. My Whole Foods has a huge section of bulk-dried chiles in the produce section. But you can also find dried chiles online on Vitacost.com, Amazon.com, or any number of sites.
The assembly is where I must deviate from tradition, though. I am not going to slide my corn tortillas through overheated oil (not healthy and super messy) and then again through enchilada sauce (even messier.) My method was designed by someone, i.e. me, who doesn’t love slipping on oil on the kitchen floor or cleaning up any more than she needs to at the end of the day! Â
I add a little sauce to the chicken and cover the stuffed and rolled tortillas with sauce and that test the job done. I also like subbing out some of the chicken for beans, creating chicken and bean enchiladas. Or you can take the veggie and black bean recipe and substitute this red sauce for that green sauce. One of my favorite things to do is rattle off ways a recipe can be tweaked. Suffice it to say, I can do that all day long with enchiladas! They are so versatile and lend themselves to lots of different fillings. You can even choose flour tortillas instead of corn. Lastly, my son doesn’t like cheese and I can’t eat it these days, so it’s easy to leave it off some of the enchiladas. I always serve them with plenty of avocado, so I don’t miss the cheese.
Ingredient Notes
Enchilada Recipe
chicken breasts: I used bone-in, skin-on chicken–about 1 ¾ pounds+ or 4 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat (or you can use the recipe forSlow Cooker Chicken Tacos on my site).
white onions
large garlic cloves
kosher salt
corn tortillas: Or you can use flour if you prefer.
grated cheese: if desired, such as Monterey Jack and cheddar or queso fresco.
Red Enchilada Sauce
guajillo chiles: If you can’t find these guajillo peppers, you can try substituting 3 tablespoons of chili powder instead– I haven’t tested this myself, but it should work!Â
onion
garlic cloves
Roma tomatoes or an equivalent amount of jarred tomatoes
For exact ingredient amounts, please see the recipe card below.Â
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: To poach chicken: Place the chicken breast in a saucepan with the onion, garlic, and salt and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through– about 25 minutes. Allow the chicken to cool in the poaching liquid. Remove the chicken from the saucepan. Remove skin and bones and shred the meat.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 3: Place the dried chiles in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until very soft. Drain. (Do NOT use this soaking liquid — it’s very bitter.)
Step 4: Place the soaked chiles in a blender with half of the onion, garlic, tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Process until smooth.
Step 6: In the meantime, warm the tortillas on a griddle or skillet on both sides until softened. Keep warm in a cotton kitchen towel.
Step 7: Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9-inch or 12 x 8-inch baking dish with olive oil. Spoon about ½ cup of the sauce over the shredded chicken and toss. You can also mix in some shredded cheese with the chicken if you want.
Step 8: Place about 1/3 cup of chicken down the middle of a tortilla and roll tightly. Place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with each tortilla. Cover all the rolled tortillas with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheese, if desired. Cover and bake until heated through and cheese is melted about 15-20 minutes. If you want the cheese to brown, put it back in the oven uncovered for another 5 minutes. Serve your enchiladas rojas immediately with chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, and sour cream or cashew cream.
Expert Tips
I’ve never tried this, but if you can’t find Guajillo chillies, you can use 3 Tablespoons of chili powder instead.
Serving Tips
Transfer to a serving plate or leave in the casserole dish. Serve these enchiladas rojas garnished with any of your favorite toppings including avocado slices, chopped cilantro, a dollop of sour cream, cotija cheese, and/or chopped green onions (if desired.).Â
While this meal is hearty enough on its own, you can serve it with any of these or your favorite side dish:Â
Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. Reheat gently in the microwave or oven.Â
To freeze, let the enchiladas rojas cool completely. Transfer them (without garnishes) to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes until warmed through. Garnish and serve!Â
If you give this enchiladas rojas recipe a try, snap a pic and tag @pamelasalzman so I can see your beautiful creations. I also really appreciate readers taking the time to leave a star rating and review! I have started a weekly Monday newsletter with tips, musings, new recipes not published here, fun new finds, and more.Subscribe for free here.
For more delicious recipes and to learn how to be a better cook, check out mymonthly online cooking classes. I have been teaching people for 15 years how to cook healthy food that their families love! Join me!
Chicken Enchiladas Rojas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce
Pamela
Delicious Enchiladas Rojas stuffed with chicken and smothered in a homemade enchilada sauce. As close to traditional as you can get– with an easier (and less messy) assembly method! Serve with your favorite toppings and some Mexican side dishes I’ve gathered for you!
2large bone-in skin-on chicken breastsabout 1 ¾ pounds+ or 4 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat (or you can use the recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos on my site)
To poach chicken: Place the chicken in a saucepan with the onion, garlic and salt and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Allow chicken to cool in the poaching liquid. Remove the chicken from the saucepan. Remove skin and bones and shred the meat.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the dried chiles in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, or until very soft. Drain. (Do NOT use this soaking liquid -- it's very bitter.)
Place the soaked chiles in a blender with half of the onion, garlic, tomatoes and 1 teaspoon sea salt. Process until smooth.
In the meantime, warm the tortillas on a griddle or skillet on both sides until softened. Keep warm in a cotton kitchen towel.
Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9-inch or 12 x 8-inch baking dish with olive oil. Spoon about ½ cup of the sauce over the shredded chicken and toss. You can also mix in some shredded cheese with the chicken if you want.
Place about 1/3 cup of chicken down the middle of a tortilla and roll tightly. Place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with each tortilla. Cover all the rolled tortillas with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheese, if desired. Cover and bake until heated through and cheese is melted, about 15-20 minutes. If you want the cheese to brown, put back in oven uncovered for another 5 minutes. Serve immediately with chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, sliced green onions and sour cream or cashew cream.
Notes
I've never tried this, but if you can't find Guajillo chiles, I am thinking you can try using 3 Tablespoons of chili powder instead.
Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. Reheat gently in the microwave or oven.Â
To freeze, let the enchiladas cool completely. Transfer them (without garnishes) to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes until warmed through. Garnish and serve!Â
I had the most fantastic time in Dallas this past weekend!  I spent lovely quality time with my daughter, and I enjoyed getting to know her sorority sisters and their moms.  We had a very full weekend with lots of good food, karaoke (no comment!), yoga, and shopping for everything from mattresses to paleo snacks to new clothes for her to wear to her internship this summer.  Believe people when they tell you that kids grow up too fast!
If you don’t celebrate Passover and have no need to make lasagne out of matzo, I am so sorry this post likely doesn’t appeal to you. Although I must mention that our not-Jewish friend Matt had my matzo lasagne last year and keeps talking about it nonstop. In fact, just the other day he invited himself over the next time I make it. Why is it that the non Jews look more fondly upon Passover foods than Jews? When we were growing up, my mother and grandmother used to buy 5 pounds of matzo when it came into the stores because they absolutely loved it with some Breakstone’s whipped butter in the morning. I’ll admit, I liked it quite a bit, too. Now that I am married to someone who actually celebrates Passover, the sight of matzo makes me cringe a little. Is it because when you’re “forced” to eat something, it takes on a different feeling? Probably.
For the first time, I am not going to be with my family for Passover. It’s my older daughter’s sorority’s Mom’s Weekend during the first two nights of Passover (clearly she goes to a school with a very low Jewish population) and I am excited to be with her. My son has been stressing out that if I am out of town there won’t be any good desserts on Passover and “what about the popovers??!!” And he has reason to be concerned. After all, “what is Passover without popovers?” asked no one ever. But Mr. Picky is worried. Let me just come clean and share that I didn’t grow up Jewish and never had to abstain from any of the forbidden foods for 8 whole days, but I have observed a trend over the last 10 or so years with respect to Passover foods. People are getting a lot more creative coming up with foods that are kosher for Passover that really shouldn’t be kosher for Passover, if you know what I mean. Like cakes, muffins, breads, POPOVERS. Do you feel the pain of your ancestors if you eat a muffin made from almond flour instead of wheat flour? Thoughts?
