Devin Alexander’s Chicken Enchilasagna

Devin's easy to make recipe has a great protein-to-carbohydrate ratio, and it tastes just as decadent as restaurant enchiladas

Devin’s tips: I’d gotten so many requests from fans to make over enchiladas that I started playing around with the ingredients to see what I could do. After perfecting them, I decided I needed to ?gure out a way to cut the prep time. And so, this recipe was born. This is as easy as making a throw-together lasagna. Plus, it’s nice and lean with a great protein-to-carbohydrate ratio, and it tastes just as decadent as restaurant enchiladas.

This recipe makes 1 casserole; *4 servings, or **8 portions

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons salt-free Mexican or Southwest seasoning
2 teaspoons lower-sodium burrito seasoning or taco seasoning
11/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, visible fat removed
Olive oil spray
11/4 cups canned traditional mild enchilada sauce
1 cup canned medium green chile enchilada sauce
4 ounces (about 2 cups) ?nely shredded Cabot’s 75% Light Cheddar cheese, or your favorite low-fat cheddar
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup sliced drained black olives
3 tablespoons canned, drained, and chopped green chiles
Eight 6-inch white or yellow corn tortillas

Directions:
Preheat a grill to high. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Mix the Mexican seasoning and burrito seasoning in a small bowl.
Rub the mixture evenly over the chicken breasts to cover them.
Lightly mist both sides of the breasts with spray.
Let stand for 10 minutes, and then place the breasts side by side on the grill.
Turn the heat to medium, if possible, and grill for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until no longer pink inside. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the enchilada sauces in a medium bowl and mix until well combined. Set aside.
Mix the cheese, cilantro, olives, and chiles in a second medium bowl. Set aside.
Coarsely chop the chicken breasts.

Cut or tear each tortilla into about 9 roughly even pieces.
Spread 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of an 8 X 8-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.
Cover the sauce evenly with about a third of the tortilla pieces.
Then sprinkle about half of the chicken over them.
Pour about 2/3 cup of the sauce evenly over that.
Then sprinkle a third of the cheese mixture over that.

Repeat layering with half of the remaining tortillas, the remaining chicken, 2/3 cup of sauce, then half of the remaining cheese mixture.
Follow that with another layer of the tortillas, then the remaining sauce, then the remaining cheese mixture.
Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes. Then remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into 4 or 8 pieces and serve immediately.

Nutritional Info per serving for 8 portions ( 1/8 casserole) has: 201 calories, 23 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 46 mg cholesterol, 2 g ?ber, 531 mg sodium

Nutritional Info per serving for 4 portions ( 1/4 casserole) has: 401 calories, 46 g protein, 32 g carbohydrates, 9 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 92 mg cholesterol, 4 g ?ber, 1,063 mg sodium

Devin travels the country lecturing and consulting for major U.S. food and cookware companies. She’s on the Advisory Board of the American Culinary Federation’s Chef Child Foundation, Larry King Foundation’s Go-To-Chef to speak on “Obesity in America”, she recently returned from the White House as part of Michelle Obama’s, Chefs Move To Schools Program; and we are proud to have her as a contributor to SupermarketGuru.com - you can find her recipes and tips every Tuesday and visit her atwww.devinalexander.com.

Recipe taken from Devin Alexander's The Most Decadent Diet Ever! Copyright © 2008 by Devin Alexander published by Broadway Books, a division of Random House Inc.