This morning was a bit warmer – today the radio said it was 68 degrees without a cloud in the sky.

yep, picture taken, while driving - good thing there is hardly any traffic this early in the morning
I have no idea how far I swim. I just keep going back and forth for 30 minutes

Breakfast yesterday morning is becoming one of my favorites – egg beaters and spinach and Polish rye toast and kiwi on the side.

My work morning flew by, and before you know it, it was time to hit the gym!  I did a challenging route on the bike machine – 9.5 miles (2 miles of hill climb!) and finished in 42:19.  The pace bike beat me by five minutes – that’s my next goal – to beat the pacer bike on this route!

I think I sweat just a teeny bit 😀

So I have the Homesick Texan to thank for lunch yesterday.  Since I knew Tony and Hannah wouldn’t try the zucchini enchiladas, I made them for me and my co-worker.  She and her husband have a rating system for dishes she makes – they pretend they own a restaurant, and if a meal is good, they say “this should be on the menu.”  Well after my co-worker at these enchiladas, she emailed me and said: “Not only should this be on the menu, but in bold letters with arrows pointing to it!”

I did change her recipe up just a bit – by using a can of Rotel tomatoes and tomato sauce, and leaving out the onions.

Zucchini Enchiladas (printer friendly version here)

Makes 6 servings (316 calories, 13.3 fat, 31.3 carbs, 5.8 fiber and 18.2 protein)

Ingredients

10 dried cascabel chiles
2 teaspoons oil, divided
6 cloves garlic, chopped, divided
10 ounce can diced tomatoes
8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin, divided
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
1 tablespoon jalapeno, diced
2 large zucchini
1/4 cup cilantro
12 corn tortillas
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup queso fresco

Directions

  1. To make the sauce:
  2. In a dry skillet heated on high, take the chiles and roast them for about 10 seconds. Leave the heat on and cover the chiles with water. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat, put a top on and soak until soft, about 30 minutes. Remove stems and add chiles to the blender.
  3. Add the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, cumin, oregano and blend until smooth.
  4. In a pot, heat 1 teaspoon of oil on low, pour in the sauce and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. To make the filling, in a largeskillet heat 1 teaspoon of oil. Add jalapeno, garlic diced zucchini, cilantro and cumin and saute for 10 minutes. Add salt, cayenne and black pepper to taste.
  6. Preheat oven to 350. Wrap tortillas in foil and place in the oven for 5 minutes while oven is preheating.
  7. Take the warmed tortillas and using tongs, dip into the sauce. Shake off most of the suace, but make sure that it’s pliable. Lay the tortillas down, add a spoonful of the filling down the center with some of the queso fresco cheese. Roll and then place in a baking dish and repeat with remaining tortillas.
  8. Pour sauce over the enchiladas and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbling.
I found these at our ethnic grocery store - about 20 dried chiles cost $2.38

I had never even heard of these chiles before, so I wasn’t sure of their heat content.  I decided to stick with the original 10 chiles in the original recipe.  This is at the upper level of still being flavorful heat.  I just want to throw that out there – if you are worried about the heat, I would suggest cutting the amount to just five.

they are round and you can hear the seeds inside when you shake them
bring them to a boil, then cover off the heat for 30 minutes - I removed the stems before putting in the blender
I had never seen the lime and cilantro Rotel before - love it!
throw everything into the blender
put in a pot and simmer for 30 minutes - this sauce is so complex and delicious!

I first get a kind of smokey flavor from the chiles, and then you feel the heat – but its scrumptious!  (I can’t even remember the last time I used that word!)

I also put some of the queso fresco into the enchilada with the zucchini mixture

Then finished the top off with the remaining queso fresco and cheddar cheese.

My plate, with additional pickled jalapenos on top for good measure, and an ounce of tortilla chips.

So this weeks menu is operation clean freezer!  I had Italian sausages that needed to be cooked up, so penne pasta made it on the menu.

With grilled garlic bread:

my plate with on a bed of baby spinach

And in anticipation of tonight’s edamame risotto, before I cooked the penne pasta, I cooked the frozen edamame for 3 minutes, removed, then brought the water back to a boil for the pasta.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but I showered, washed and dried my hair at the pool.  Now all I have to do is get dressed and I am out the door.

Stats for Monday:

  • 30 minute swim
  • 42 minute 9.5 mile bike ride

Did you exercise yesterday?