Chili-free Chicken Gravy Enchiladas Recipe

My family loves green chili chicken enchiladas, however, I am sensitive to peppers so I had to come up with an alternative sauce, or I wasn't able to eat them very often.  Then I got the idea to use chicken gravy to bake my enchiladas in.  I made a gravy with my homemade chicken broth for the enchilada sauce and it worked out beautifully!  The enchiladas are flavorful and moist and delicious.  Also, you can make these enchiladas ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until before you bake them, which is a huge plus.

Chili-free Chicken Gravy Enchiladas Recipe

6 fajita size flour tortillas
2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken
Shredded "Mexican Blend" cheese
1 cup chicken broth (I use my Homemade Broth Recipe)
2 tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray an 11x7 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Divide the cooked chicken into 6 portions.  Roll up the chicken and a handful of shredded cheese (however much you want) inside each tortilla and line them up in a row in the pan.

To make the enchilada sauce, whisk together 1 cup chicken broth with 2 slightly heaping tbsp of flour in a small sauce pan over High heat and whisk continuously until slightly thickened (about 5 minutes).  Remove from heat.  Pour the sauce over each enchilada, covering all of the tortilla surfaces evenly.  Top the enchiladas with a layer of shredded cheese and cover the baking pan with aluminum foil.

Bake the enchiladas for 30 minutes.  Serve them with toppings such as shredded or chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced black olives, avocado, cilantro, and sour cream.  Serves 2-3 people as a main course.

Holiday Beef Brisket Recipe

For the last couple of years I've been making a crock-pot beef brisket recipe I found online for Christmas supper. It uses Good Seasons dressing mix, Au Jus mix, and canned beef broth, and it is very, very good (we love it). The problem is with my onion, garlic and tomato sensitivities, I usually get a rash after eating it, and I can't eat any of the leftovers. This year I decided enough is enough -- I was going to come up with a beef brisket recipe I can eat any time of the year and enjoy without any ill-effects. I slow roasted the brisket in the oven this time, with a sugar, salt, and pepper crust, and it turned out fantastic. The meat is so tender it just falls apart, and it is super flavorful with a nice crust on top. I also can't say enough good things about the gravy. It is perfect! This is our new holiday supper main dish going forward, and I can't wait to eat the leftovers in tacos next week!

Holiday Beef Brisket Recipe

4-6 lb beef brisket
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar

2 cups water
2 heaping tbsp unbleached flour (or any thickener you like)

Preheat oven to 335 degrees. Spray a 9x12 rectangular baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Lay the brisket in the pan fat-side up (you can trim any excess fat from the bottom of the brisket if you want). In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper, and sugar until well combined. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the brisket and rub it in with your fingers to really coat the brisket. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and roast it in the oven for 4-5 hours. When the time is up, remove it from the baking pan onto a cutting board, using a spatula to support it during the transfer, and cover it with aluminum foil. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

While the brisket is resting, pour all of the pan juices into a medium sauce pan over High heat. Mix the flour together with the 2 cups of water, using a small whisk to mix in the flour completely so there are no lumps, and add it to the sauce pan, stirring frequently. Heat the gravy to a boil, add salt if needed, then reduce the heat to a simmer until the meat is done resting.

Slice the brisket against the grain and move it to your serving dish. Lay it out nicely like it was sliced (it will fall apart if not careful), using a spatula to help move it. Pour the gravy over the brisket. Serves 4-6 as a main course.

Chicken and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy Recipe

My absolute favorite supper growing up was when my Mom made her "chicken with mushroom gravy" and mashed potatoes. She would flour and pan fry the chicken to brown it, then add the chicken to a large pan and pour cream of mushroom soup mixed with milk over it and bake it in the oven until the chicken was fully cooked and the gravy was bubbly. She would serve it with mashed potatoes. This meal was Heaven on a plate in my mind, and still is, the rare times I get to eat it when we visit my parents. I decided I needed to recreate this meal for Sam, using ingredients she can eat, so she can have a memory built around it like I do. This is my version, and my family loves it.

Chicken and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy Recipe

For the mashed potatoes:

Make baked mashed potatoes using this recipe. It will take about 1-1/2 hours to make the potatoes from beginning to end.

For the mushroom gravy:

Make the mushroom gravy using this recipe. It will take about 25 minutes to make the gravy.

For the chicken:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper

Butterfly the raw chicken breasts so they are not so thick and tenderize them using a fork to prick them. Heat a non-stick skillet, sprayed with cooking spray, to High heat and cook the chicken for about 7 minutes per side or until browned and fully cooked. Salt and pepper to taste.

When all of the components are done, plate the mashed potatoes and a serving of chicken breast, and cover everything with the mushroom gravy. I also serve a green vegetable, like green beans, with this dish on the side. Serves 2 adults (and one small child) with a little mashed potatoes and gravy left over.

Mushroom Gravy Recipe

I have looked and looked in the stores, and there are no gravy mixes or prepared gravies I can purchase for my family. Everything I have seen has *something* in them either or Sam or I cannot have. So I made up my own mushroom gravy recipe to go with my Chicken and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy recipe. You could also use vegetable broth in it instead of the chicken broth for a vegan gravy.

Mushroom Gravy Recipe

1 package of whole mushrooms (8 oz.)
Olive oil
2 cups of chicken broth or vegetable broth (this is where the salt in the gravy comes from)
2 heaping tbsp unbleached flour (or any thickener you like)
Pepper

Wash, dry, and slice the mushrooms. Spray a large skillet with non-stick cooking spray, heat the skillet to High heat, and add the sliced mushrooms. Let the mushrooms sit without moving them for a couple of minutes to start browning. Drizzle a little olive oil over the mushrooms, pepper to taste, then saute the mushrooms, stirring every couple of minutes until they are all nicely browned. This will take around 15 minutes or so.

While the mushrooms are cooking, in a 2-cup measuring cup, add the broth (I use 2 cups of water and 2 level tsp of Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base- Kosher if I can find it) and the flour/thickener, and use a small whisk to mix in the flour/thickener completely so there are no lumps. When the mushrooms are fully cooked, pour the broth into the skillet (still on High heat) and use a spatula to mix the mushrooms with the broth and scrape the pan. Continue to mix the gravy with the spatula for 2 minutes or so while it boils. Then reduce heat to Low until you are ready to serve the gravy. Makes 2 cups of gravy.