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Jamieson Diaries

Married | Mother | Millennial

All Posts, Dinner, Recipes

Chicken Verde Enchiladas

May 5, 2015 Leave a Comment

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! I am having an all Mexican food themed appetizer, dinner, and dessert meal this evening. Our neighbors will join us, in addition to, bringing some Mexican themed beverages and side dishes. In the spirit of today I figured I would share what I am making for dinner, tonight, as well as one of my favorite Mexican dishes to make and eat.  That dish would have to be, Verde Enchiladas. To be more specific, the “verde enchiladas con pollo” from La Unica, on the north-side of Chicago. The first time I went to La Unica, was for my friend, Brittany’s birthday, I believe sophomore year of college. It was a surprise when we arrived at the location, I knew it was a grocery store, but had no clue there was a restaurant in the back. A restaurant that serves multiple Hispanic culture types of food. And you know the food is legit when the entire menu is in Spanish too.

Unfortunately, living in Montana means in order to get my authentic Mexican food fix, I had to figure out how to make it myself. I’ve searched for months to find a decent verde enchilada recipe, and thankfully taking a little piece of each recipe, in addition to adding my own ingredients, I have come up with a recipe that is pretty close to La Unica’s. To make this recipe you will need:

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1 lbs tomatillos

2-3 chicken breasts

12 corn tortillas

1/2 white onion split into 1/4ths

1/2 block queso fresco shredded

1 tsp garlic (2 cloves)

1/2 jalapeno pepper

1/2 cilantro

3/4 cup corn oil (1 Tbsp per tortilla)

2 Tbsp grapeseed oil (or oil of your choice)

Seasonings for chicken

Mexican creme (to drizzle on top of finished meal)

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In a bowl, clean your chicken with vinegar, rinse and drain all liquid. You will now season your chicken with your desired seasonings. I don’t measure my seasonings for the most part, but if I had to estimate how much of each to use, I would say use at least one teaspoon of each seasoning on your chicken breasts. I highly recommend using Adobo as one of your seasonings.

Now, you will heat your 2 Tbsps of grapeseed oil, in a pan over medium high heat, and brown your chicken breasts on both sides until both sides are golden brown. Once both sides have been browned, turn the heat down to medium-low heat and let the chicken breasts cook on the lower heat for about 20 minutes.

While your chicken is cooking, peel the husks off of your tomatillos and clean them in a bowl with warm water and vinegar until all of the stickiness from the husks has been cleaned off. Fill a medium sized pot a little over half way full with water, add your teaspoon of garlic to the water, and bring to a boil. Once the water is bubbling up to begin to boil, add your tomatillos to the water and let them boil until they are a pale green color. I usually let them cook for about 10-15 minutes.

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Once the tomatillos are finished cooking add them to a blender along with half of your white onion, jalapeno pepper, and cilantro. Blend all of these ingredients together until they are smooth like a verde sauce. If you want your sauce to be a little thinner, add some of the water from the pot you boiled your tomatillos in to the blender. Add salt and/or pepper to taste. I prefer to use sea salt for my verde sauce.

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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Your chicken should be done cooking by now. Take the chicken breasts out of the pan and put them on a large plate. Since they are still hot, take two forks or a fork and a knife, and shred the chicken on the plate until all chicken breast pieces have been shredded. Sit your shredded chicken to the side and let it cool off a little bit. While you are waiting for the chicken to cool off, in a separate pan on medium high heat, put a tablespoon of the corn oil in the pan, and let it heat up. Once the oil is hot, you are going to quickly put your tortilla in the oil on both sides for about 10-15 seconds. You want to be sure you aren’t cooking them until they are hard, because you won’t be able to roll the tortillas up without them breaking them if you do.

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After you have done this for all 12 tortillas, stack them on a plate and set to the side next to your chicken. You will not shred your queso fresco, and cut your remaining white onion into pieces. Place both items in separate bowls and place next to your shredded chicken and shredded queso freso.

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Get a 9×9 baking dish and wipe the inside of it with corn oil using a paper towel to help prevent any unnecessary sticking. Take a tortilla, place the desired amount of shredded chicken inside, roll it tightly, and lay the enchilada in the baking dish with the open end of the tortilla face down. Repeat and do the same for all of the tortillas. If your 9×9 baking dish is like mine, you will need to cut your last enchilada in half and place the two pieces in the corner of the baking dish.

IMG_2335Now that all of your enchiladas are rolled and placed in the baking dish, pour your verde sauce over them. I like my enchiladas with plenty of sauce so I use all of the sauce prepared. If you don’t like yours as “saucy” I would gradually add the verde sauce until you have the desired amount covering your enchiladas. Put your enchilada dish in the oven for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes are over, take the dish out of the oven and add your shredded cheese on top of the enchiladas. Place the dish back in the over for 5 more minutes, or until all of the cheese has been melted. When the dish is done take it out of the oven, sprinkle your chopped up onions on top of the dish, and enjoy! 🙂

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Brie <3

[05.05.15]

All Posts, Dear Diary

Wisdom Wednesday: Morgan Smith

March 25, 2015 Leave a Comment

I’m about two weeks late on my March Wisdom Wednesday person, but it’s been a crazy month, and better late than never, right? I decided for this month’s Wisdom Wednesday person I would ask her direct questions and do a sort of question and answer session. However, I will fill in with a few personal feelings in between. I met this month’s Wisdom Wednesday pick, Morgan Smith, my freshman year of college at, Loyola University Chicago. I don’t quite remember when we met exactly, but I want to say it was in one of my sociology classes. Although I can’t remember the exact time and place where we met, I remember thinking she was a sweetheart. Every once in a while we meet people who give us genuinely positive vibes, and she was one of those people for me. As I explain a little bit more about who she is, what she does, and what she stands for, you will soon see how my general instinct of Morgan couldn’t have been more correct.

Question 1: What made you want to be a teacher?

Answer: “I’ve wanted to be a teacher my whole life. Teaching is in my blood. My great-grandmother used to teach kindergarten through 8th grade in a one room school-house in rural west Virginia. My grandmother and mother are both educators as well. It was something that I just fell into, and always knew I would end up doing it. If you were to ask my younger brother, he’d probably say that I just like bossing people around.”

I would say teaching is in her blood as well. This is a picture of Ms. Smith during Christmas time. I don’t know about you, but she would’ve been my favorite teacher, ever, simply for dressing up as Miss Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch. And she did pretty good if I must say so myself!

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Question 2: What is your favorite moment so far since being a teacher?

Answer: “I’ve had lots of favorite moments as a teacher…it’s hard to pin point one. So many of them are seemingly insignificant moments that others would deem ordinary. A few of my favorites have been watching my students’ faces as they got to look out at their beautiful city from the Willis Tower after the entire field trip had been funded by friends of mine. Every single third grader in my school was able to go on a field trip that would have otherwise been too expensive for them to go on. Watching them witness the sights from 103 stories up was incredible. Another favorite moment of mine (more funny than anything) has to be when I was sitting in the rocking chair during a reading lesson, and a student right at my feet kept interrupting saying it smelled like Ruffles (chips). I asked him to be quiet, but you could tell he was trying to figure out where it was coming from. He kept leaning towards my feet (I was wearing leather flats) and sniffing and saying, “Mmmm! I want some Ruffles!” It took me a minute to realize he was smelling my shoes and I tried not to laugh. I felt so bad that this boy was salivating over the smell of my shoes that the next day I brought him a bag of Ruffles and put it in his mailbox. He came up and gave me a hug. I honestly could find a moment in every single day that could be considered a favorite!”
One of my personal favorite Facebook moments of Ms. Smith’s class was seeing her buy all of the fleece fabric on Black Friday last year, to make each student a personal blanket for their Christmas gifts. Seeing someone take that much time to do what would be such a simple gesture to others, I’m sure meant the world to those kids. The cover photo is a picture of Ms. Smith posing with the class as they’re wrapped up in their new Christmas present blankets. 

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Question 3: What has been your most challenging moment?

Answer: “There are so many moments in teaching that challenge you. Moments that challenge your patience, emotions, and physical body. When I first began teaching I had one of the toughest behavior challenges in my class. A cute little girl, who at the flip of a switch could lash out violently against me or other students. It got so bad several times that desks would be overturned, and I would end up with handprints on my arms. I was so physically and emotionally exhausted from not only being a first year teacher, but trying to figure out how to teach 25 other kids with this girl in my class, that I began to get sick. I was throwing up before school every day, getting hives all over my body…I didn’t think I was cut out to be a teacher any more. Then my mom sent me a quote, “Students who are loved at home, come to school to learn. And students who aren’t come to school to be loved.” That quote changed my outlook on teaching students with behavior issues. So many of them are going through unimaginable situations at home, and I have to remind myself that they are acting out because they need extra doses of love throughout the day.”

Another Facebook moment of Ms. Smith’s shows no matter how hard these kids may have it in life, and no matter if they may not say out loud to their teachers that they’re changing their lives, they will always express it in some way. Here is an example of a note Ms. Smith confiscated from a student who was passing it to their friend during class. I remember her captioning it and saying she couldn’t even be mad when the note says something as amazing as this..

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Question 4: What is the most important lesson you want your students to take away from your class?

Answer: “They are special. They are loved. They are capable. They are smart. Despite the backgrounds, home lives, socioeconomic statuses, and zip codes of my students…I believe 110% that I’ve taught at least one future president, neurosurgeon, Broadway actor, and entrepreneur. My students amaze me daily at their resiliency and drive to do better than the day before. I honestly don’t care if my students remember their multiplication facts (although I believe it’s a necessary skill), I don’t care if they learn to spell perfectly. I want them to remember me the same way that I remember my favorite teachers…that they were loved, and that they were pushed to be better versions of themselves. I want them to walk away from my class knowing that they are capable of anything as long as they put in hard work…even though they might have to work 10 times as hard (as unfair as it may be) than their suburban, white, counterparts.”

Morgan’s answer to the last question is what made me want to make her my March Wisdom Wednesday, person. If the world had more people who cared about other’s well-being as much as she does, it would be a much better place. We need a Ms. Smith (soon to be Mrs. Shah) in every classroom around the world.

I have been abundantly blessed to know many amazing people in my only 26 years of life, and I’m happy Morgan Smith is one of them 🙂

Brie <3

[03.25.15]

About Me

ABOUT BRIE:

Hey there! My name is Brie Jamieson. I've been a lifestyle + mom blogger since 2014. I'm Kris' wife. I'm Jordyn and Riley's Mom. And I'm Apollo and Chronos' fur-mama. We're a military family currently based in Great Falls, MT. I'm a simple lady who loves God, family, food, and travel. If you'd like to learn more about me head on over to the "my story" page. But more importantly: Welcome to Jamieson Diaries!

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