Your Dinner Awaits

Aw Yeah... the day after Thanksgiving style! This casserole was fantastic. Seriously. Super fast, super easy, and super delicious! I wanted to try it since Mr F is always a fan of cranberry and turkey and I've been desperately searching for some more surefire dinners. Well, add this into the rotation. I modified the recipe to reduce the fat and calories and added in more flavor with a little more cranberry sauce. If you're worried about the whole cranberry/enchilada sauce combo... don't... it was great. I'm not sure you would have identified the flavor of the cranberries if you didn't know they were there... it just made for a more flavorful sauce. I also used leftover (frozen) chopped turkey meat (mine was dark) from the roast turkey I made last month. While the dark meat added a few more calories I didn't have to saute it and I was able to reduce the oil by half. Seeing as many of us are about to have a whole lot of turkey and cranberry sitting around you might want to keep the recipe on file.

( I know... the picture does not do it justice!)

Layered Turkey Enchiladas
from Better Homes & Gardens

ingredients
1 lb. turkey breast tenderloin, cut in bite-size strips
1 16-oz. pkg. frozen sweet peppers and onions stir-fry vegetables
1 10-oz. can enchilada sauce
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
9 6-inch corn tortillas, halved
1 8 oz. pkg. Mexican blend shredded cheese (2 cups)
Lime wedges (optional)
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

directions
1. Position oven rack toward top of oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In extra-large skillet cook turkey in 1 tablespoon hot cooking oil over medium heat 4 minutes or until no longer pink. Add frozen vegetables, enchilada sauce, and cranberry sauces. Bring to boiling. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

2. In 2-quart baking dish layer one-third of the tortillas, then one-third of the cheese. Use a slotted spoon to layer half the turkey-vegetable mixture. Layer one-third tortillas, one-third cheese, remaining turkey-vegetables (with slotted spoon), and remaining tortillas. Spoon on remaining sauce from skillet; sprinkle remaining cheese. Bake 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut in squares. Serve with lime and cilantro. Serves 4.

nutrition facts
Calories 615, Total Fat (g) 25, Saturated Fat (g) 11, Monounsaturated Fat (g) 1, Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 3, Cholesterol (mg) 120, Sodium (mg) 1171, Carbohydrate (g) 52, Total Sugar (g) 16, Fiber (g) 6, Protein (g) 45, Vitamin C (DV%) 72, Calcium (DV%) 39, Iron (DV%) 14, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet




My modifications:

* I used 1 & 1/4 c reduced fat mexican blend cheese
* I reduced the tortillas to 7, using 2.5 on the two bottom layers and 2 cut into strips placed decoratively on top.
* I increased the cranberry sauce to 3/4 c
* I decreased the oil to 1/2 T
* I used precooked roasted turkey meat, chopped into bite sized pieces

saute peppers & onions in 1/2 T oil. Add 10 oz of enchilada sauce (I used mild) and 3/4 c whole cranberry sauce. Add 1 lb chopped roast turkey meat. Bring to a boil.

In a square pyrex pan (or similar sized casserole dish) cover bottom of dish with 2.5 corn tortillas cut in half (some torn to completely cover pan). Cover with 1/3 of the cheese. Ladle 1/2 the hot turkey mixture onto the cheese. Cover with another 2.5 tortillas. Top with 1/3 of the cheese and then ladle on the remaining turkey mixture. Cover this with 2 tortillas cut into strips (I laid them in a lattice pattern) and then the remaining cheese.

Bake at 450 for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted.

My modifications resulted in these calorie changes:
If using dark meat the calorie count is 506 for 4 servings, 337 for 6 servings.
If using white meat the calorie count is 471 for 4 servings, 314 for 6 servings.

P.S. This would be a kickass potluck dish!