RECIPE DOCTOR
Enchilada casserole could use lightening

By Elaine Magee
Knight Ridder News Service

Q. My friends always fall in love with my chicken enchilada casserole when I bring it to parties, and my four picky kids eat it, too. Is there a way to make this easier to make and lighter in fat? Because of a medical condition my husband now has to avoid higher-fat meals.

A. The total fat and saturated fat can be cut in half and calories lowered by 150 per serving by doing a few simple things: use skinless chicken, reduced-fat jack cheese and fat-free sour cream and reduce tortillas from 18 to 12.

The original recipe calls for charring and cooking the chicken, then making the casserole, for a total cooking time of 1 1/2 hours. Using already-roasted chicken purchased from a rotisserie or supermarket and adding some salt-free seasoning to give it flavor reduced cooking time to 45 minutes.

Original recipe contains 573 calories, 34 grams fat, 19 g saturated fat, and 121 mg cholesterol per serving.

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole

• 32 ounces green chili enchilada sauce or bottled salsa verde
• 12 corn tortillas ( each torn into 4 pieces — to absorb the sauce better)
• 4 cups shredded roasted skinless chicken breast (about 4 chicken breast halves)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 8 ounce package shredded reduced fat monterey jack cheese (or mixture of reduced fat jack and cheddar cheeses), about 2 cups
• 8 ounces fat-free sour cream (light sour cream also okay)

Heat oven to 350-degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with canola cooking spray.

Pour about 1 cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange 16 tortilla pieces (4 whole tortillas) in a single layer in pan. Top with half of the shredded chicken, half of the onion, one third of the shredded cheese, and 1/2 cup of the sour cream. Use a spatula to spread the sour cream in the pan, then top with a cup of the enchilada sauce.

Repeat the layers starting with 4 tortillas, then the remaining chicken, onion, another third of the cheese, remaining sour cream.

Use a spatula to spread the sour cream in the pan, then top with a cup of enchilada sauce.

Top with remaining 4 tortillas and remaining enchilada sauce (about fl cup) and remaining shredded cheese.

Coat one side of a sheet of foil with canola cooking spray and cover the pan with the foil (coated side down — this keeps the cheese from sticking to the foil) and bake for 45 minutes.

Makes 8 servings

Per serving: 421 calories, 30 g protein, 39 g carbohydrate, 16 g fat (10 g saturated fat, 2.5 g monounsaturated fat, 1.5 g polyunsaturated fat), 86 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 508 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 34 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids: .2. Omega-6 fatty acids: 1.3. Weight Watchers points: 9.

Elaine Magee is author of "The Recipe Doctor Cookbook" and "Tell Me What to Eat If I Have Acid Reflux." Elaine's new book, "The Flax Cookbook" is available in bookstores and at amazon.com. Write to her through her Web site at www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses cannot be provided.)