Turkey Enchiladas!

After the prized white breast meat is cut away from a whole, roasted turkey there is actually quite a bit of edible protein left.  Cleaning the bird requires meticulous determination - especially if you have picky eaters who blanch at the presence of cartilage or bone fragments in their mouth - but the extra time it takes to remove the dark meat is worth the effort.  The darker meat from the wings, ribs, legs and thighs tend to have a slightly higher nutrient profile - more iron, calcium and zinc. 

Darker meat indicates that the turkey used the muscle tissue more during its lifetime.  

More exercise equals more blood flow.  

Where there is more blood flow, there are more minerals like iron, calcium and zinc.

My dad likes to use the leftover dark meat to make his famous turkey enchiladas because the dark meat has more flavor than the white meat.  His recipe is below.

Our vacation rental didn't have a 9 x 11 so we used 4 smaller vessels

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced finely
• 1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
• Jalapeño peppers, diced (optional)
• 4 cups shredded* turkey
• 1/2 cup bone broth
• 12 oz Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
• 16 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
• 1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce
• 16 black olives, slices

Directions:

1.     Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat.  Add onion and saute until soft and translucent.

2.   Add bell pepper, green chilies and jalapeños.  Cook a few minutes more.  (Side note: If you aren't a fan of spicy, don't add the jalapeños.  If you love spicy, add as many other peppers as your taste buds can handle!)

3.     Add turkey and broth to pepper mixture.  Stir over low heat until well mixed.

4.     Remove from heat and add 1 cup (8 oz) of the cheese.  Mix well.  Enchilada filling is done.

5.     Lay a tortilla on a flat surface.  Place 1/4 cup** of the turkey mixture across the diameter of the tortilla and roll it into a cylinder.  If tortillas are dry and cracking as you roll, add a little bit of water to the remaining tortillas in a bag and microwave for 10 seconds to soften the grain and make it more pliable.

6.     Place the rolled enchilada in one end of a 9 x 11 Pyrex baking dish, leaving room on the sides.  Repeat with remaining tortillas until the baking dish is full length-wise.  It's OK if you end up with left-over filling - it can be frozen and used later for a quick taco meal!

7.     Pour beans into the space on the sides of the enchiladas.  Pour the enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup (4 oz) cheese on top of the sauce and sprinkle the olives on top of the cheese.

8.     Cover.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350° F for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and bake about 5-10 minutes more, until the cheese is beginning to brown.

9.     Serve warm.

One turkey enchilada served with spring mix salad, saffron rice, quinoa and black beans

* Use your fingers to pull apart the meat until it is a stringy consistency.  If you want to bring out more of the turkey flavor in your enchilada, you can brown the shredded meat in a separate pan (1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat) before adding it to the onion and pepper mixture.

**This measurement is not exact.  You can place more turkey mixture in the middle of each tortilla for a bigger enchilada or less turkey mixture for a smaller enchilada.  Nutritional note: the smaller enchilada will have more corn tortilla (i.e. carbs) per enchilada while the larger enchilada will have more turkey (i.e. protein) per enchilada.