Holiday Remorse

So we are finally back in DC after 6 days of skiing and 8 days of visiting New Orleans. Since December 12th we have been out of town and having a blast. Along with having a blast we have been missing the gym, indulging in rich foods and not working. Oh so much fun! But it is finally back to reality and time to get back in touch with my normal routine. I am not the type of person who can survive the battle of the bulge without watching what I eat and exercising. Time to settle down.....

As always, we returned from New Orleans with several pounds of frozen crawfish in tow. I wanted to use them immediately in my cooking, but most regional New Orleans recipes are not "healthy". I perused the internet yesterday looking for a recipe that would be considered light while incorporating my beloved mudbugs. I found exactly what I was looking for in this recipe!

Crawfish Enchiladas
Adapted from Cooking Light April 2002

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 cups cooked crawfish tail meat (about 12 ounces)
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet. Add green onions, red onions, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, jalapeno peppers and garlic;

sauté 7 minutes or until tender. Add flour to vegetables and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk.

Cook over medium heat until thick (about 8 minutes), stirring constantly. Stir in salt and next 4 ingredients (salt through black pepper).

Remove from heat; let stand 3 minutes. Add cheddar cheese and sour cream,

stirring until cheese melts. Stir in crawfish.

Preheat oven to 325°.

Add water to a medium skillet to a depth of 1 inch; bring to a simmer. Dip 1 tortilla in water using tongs. Slide the tortillas into the water as opposed to plopping them on top of the surface and slide them back out. If you try to pull it straight out of the water they will break. Do this step very quickly or they will break apart.

Spoon 1/4 cup crawfish mixture into the center of 1 tortilla horizontally

; roll tightly,

and place in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with crawfish mixture and remaining tortillas. Spread remaining crawfish mixture over tortillas down the center of the roll ups and then sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese over the entire dish.

Cover and bake at 325° for 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

This was the perfect dish to ease back into healthy eating. It didn't feel like we were depriving ourselves and we were able to feel full. The use of the lighter ingredients helped make this dish fairly low in calories. Dipping the tortillas in water turned them pliable for rolling, but it did not give them the flavor they would have gotten from frying. Next time I make this dish I will increase the heat a bit. I followed the recipe to the letter and it wasn't spicy at all.