Enchiladas and Italian Chicken & Rice Bake

I have made two new recipes this week. YAY! David has tried two new foods this week. Another yay! If you know David, you know he is one of the pickiest eaters - probably worse than a kid. Well, since we have gotten together, he has tried so many more foods. I am so thankful for his mind opening and trying foods. He tried both of these, surprisingly, and one of the two was a flop (in his eyes) the other a HUGE success.
I made enchiladas on Tuesday night. David took one bite and pushed his plate away. I honestly didn't expect him to even want to try them but he was the one that said I should make them and he would try them. Ok, cool. I got the recipe from the label on the Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce and modified it a little.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 (19 oz.) or 2 (10 oz.) cans Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
6 oz. (1 1/2 cups) shredded cheese
1 (12-ct.) pkg. Old El Paso Flour Tortillas for Soft Tacos

Heat oven to 400°F. Brown ground beef over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in 3/4 cup enchilada sauce and 1 cup cheese. Spoon enchilada filling onto tortillas; roll up and place seam-side down in lightly greased 13X9X2" baking dish. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over top; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes.

I used cut-up chicken instead of ground beef. I also used probably a significant more amount of cheese! I didn't measure the amount of sauce to use, I just judged how much would be good to us (which turned out to be only half the can, so I could have bought one small can instead) I also didn't make 12, I only made 4.
I thought they were really good and am finding they reheat pretty well, too! This is one that will stay in rotation for myself and I could probably even freeze some.

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Last night I made Italian Chicken & Rice Bake. David liked this one A LOT!! WE even started talking about how it could be made even better. I found the recipe here while browsing for kid-friendly recipes. Graycen liked it!


Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. skinless and boneless chicken breast
Salt and pepper
1 cup white rice
One 14 oz. can tomatoes
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
2 tsp. Oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Dice the chicken, season the pieces with salt and pepper and set aside. In a shallow baking dish sprayed with cooking spray, put the rice, tomatoes, onion, mozzarella, oregano, garlic and 1 cup water. Stir in the chicken pieces and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in a 325 degree oven, covered loosely with foil, for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer, until rice and chicken are cooked. Makes 4 servings.

The only things I did different were cook the chicken beforehand. I get so weird about chicken cooking in stuff in the oven and am always afraid it won't be done, so I precooked it. I also used more cheese than it called for. I also added the juice/water from the tomatoes can (since it didn't say one way or the other)
What we decided we would do next time was: add green peppers, fresh mushrooms, more cheese and some tomato sauce in addition to the water.
We both really liked this recipe and David said it's really good reheated. He's already had it 2 more times since last night's dinner! YAY for a new recipe that will stay in rotation.


***I have no idea why the pictures are showing up side ways. No matter what I do, that's how they upload! Stupid pictures!