i'm at a loss & chicken enchilada's

allright, so no one answered my question about olympians eating mcdonalds.  why not? i know you're reading.  guess i'm the only one who thought it was an interesting sponsorship.  i think mcdonalds and the like should be outlawed.  even if it means less convenience for me when i'm too tired to cook and one less thing to bribe my kids with when i'm at my wits end.   i see mcdonalds and i think salt on sugar on fat.   my father in law refers to mcdonalds french fries as the fries that never die.

have you ever wondered why you cannot acheive the same delicious taste when you grill at home?  oh, those sweet, melt-in-your-mouth hamburger buns.  food that has quite literally been pre-chewed to slide down our throats with little effort helping us to eat more food, a lot faster.  every menu item has been chemically engineered to taste perfect in our mouths.  the combination of salt and fat and sugar makes addiction hard for anyone to avoid. 

anyway, i read too much. 

so ... chicken enchilada's.

i've been really struggling with our meals lately.  the thing is, i wanted to share recipes that i find delicious and nutritious.  meals that helped me lose weight and that are easy to prepare.  but, i quickly realized that the truth is i really eat the same five or six dishes over and over again having changed my relationship with food by viewing it as simply a source for fuel.   we are nearly always eating some variation of chicken with some variation of steamed veggies and a whole grain carb.  i consume little fat and little sodium.  i do not drink my calories.  i chew a piece of gum when i want a sweet treat ...

i have become the master of meal monotony.  so what's to share? well, i guessed i could start trying new things and so this became a new focus.  i began to energectically search for recipes but i was brought back to reality real quick when i realized i am not a very good cook.

my poor family.  poor me really.  for the last two weeks they have been subjected to some not-so-great-tasting meals and not one time has anyone said wow mom, that was good or thanks for dinner.  i started getting depressed about it.  feeling sad that no one was appreciating my efforts and feeling even worse about the reality that is healthy, low fat, low sodium meals taste like healthy, low fat, low sodium meals.

i felt defeated.  i gained a pound in two weeks and i fought back tears every time i watched the family move their food around their plates with zero enthusiasm.

it is easy for me to eat the same thing over and over again.  it is not as easy to convince three small children and my husband that grilled chicken is delicious every. single. night.

what am i going to do?  i wanted to yell then you cook! but my husband is too kind to complain so i never got the chance.  he will eat what i put in front of him so i want it to taste good.

anyway, after some really bad spare ribs and the next nights i-don't-know-what-to-call-it, i wasn't ready to give up and i knew i needed to incorporate some cheese into the next dish or i wouldn't even get them to the table.

introducing the skinny chef's chicken enchilada's.

they were actually good.  i liked them.  jake liked them enough to take for leftovers the next days lunch and the kids didn't complain too much (they were a little hard for them to eat without help cutting). 

i served them with some mexican rice-a-roni and refried beans.  i stuck to the enchilada as it alone has a nice balance of protein, veggies, carbs and fat.  i was worried it would be dry but it wasn't at all.   the only mistake i think i made was i used too much sour cream and not enough spinach.  still, it was really filling and even better warmed up the next day.  it's not the lowest in fat (obviously) but it's definitely a guilt-free version of enchilada's (imo).

hopefully i'm out of my slump. 

recipe and photo from here

i highly recommend this dish but i'm not going to type out the recipe.  just click on the link below the photo for a download of the recipe.

in the meantime, here's a quick snapshot i took just before i rolled the mixture into the tortilla's and a little bit of nutritional info for those who are counting.

one serving (per her recipe which yields 4),
calories 436, fat 19.7g (7.8g sat fat), sodium 972mg (not sure why this is so high ... any ideas?), carbs 33g, fiber 2.8g,  sugar 6.2g, protein 32.5g