Friday, August 14, 2009

New recipe! Enchiladas!

The cookbook has taken so long to publish that I thought I would give you another recipe. This is not a recipe I give away lightly. It is one I treasure! I hope you love it as much as I do. Enjoy!

ENCHILADAS!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 shallots, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 cooked, shredded chicken breasts, or 1 taco filling recipe
1/4 cup + 3/4 cup "salsa with tomato and herbs" recipe
1 7 ounce can chopped green chilies, drained (check ingredients)
4 ounces cream cheese or neufchatel cheese
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
7-8 soft flour or corn tortillas
3-4 slices high-quality American cheese, optional
1/2 cup chicken stock or water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Saute' shallots and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for approximately 2 minutes, or until shallots are tender. Add 1/4 cup of the salsa, the chilies, cream cheese, cilantro, and chicken. Add the chicken broth, then stir and heat thoroughly. You may stir in the American cheese at this time if you wish. Spray a 9 by 13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and place side by side, seam side down in dish. Top with remaining salsa. Bake approximately 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated.


Other recipes can be found on my website at migrainefreecooking.com.

13 comments:

  1. Have you found a commercial chicken broth that does not contain onions (or onion powder)? Most also have MSG. I have resorted to making my own to stay on the diet.

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  2. Do you know if chickpeas, black-eye or purple hull peas, or speckled butter beans are ok for migraine-free cooking? The speckled butterbean and many types of peas are staples of Southern food.

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  3. I have found several commercial chicken broths that don't contain MSG, but I haven't found any that don't contain onion. It's a source of frustration for me as well. The best option is to make your own stock.

    Chickpeas are the same as garbanzo beans, so they are safe. Black-eyed peas are also safe. Purple hull peas are safe, but be careful as to how they are prepared. Many times they are prepared with ham or bacon, and are also prepared in some kind of chicken flavored broth. Many times this broth will have MSG in it. If you prepare it yourself, make sure the ham is free of preservatives, the broth is homemade, and there are no onions or other triggers added. Speckled butter beans are not okay, as they are closely related to the lima bean and contain tyramine. All peas are generally fine. Peas do contain free glutamate (not the same as gluten from wheat sources), which can be a problem for a few. So, if you've had to eliminate tomatoes from your diet (most don't need to), then you will want to eliminate peas and mushrooms as well, along with purple hull peas.

    I hope this has been helpful. Best wishes.

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  4. This is great to know. I had wondered about my favorite butterbeans, so I ate them occasionally. I will save them for a treat when all other triggers are low. As for the peas, since I started Dr. Buchholz's approach, I have stopped using ham or bacon in them. I just cook them in water and during the last minutes of cooking, I add whole pods of okra on top. I season it at the end with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Add salt to taste when serving. I really like them with a small topping of my mother's special homemade tomato relish, but it has onions in it (still eating tomatoes). I've contemplated making it with spring onions, but really haven't been eating those either. I could try garlic. My doctor has recommended an ALCAT food sensitivity test, but I hesitate to do it since I have limited my diet serverely already. One test has indicated a gluten sensitvity which might account for the remaining weeky headache. I wish you all the best with your cook book.

    Many thanks.

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  5. I think I know the answer, but here goes: can a baked recipe that calls for a teaspoon of lemon zest and a tablespoon of lemon juice be used? The whole thing is large (serves 8) and cooks for 45 minutes. Does cooking have any neutralizing effect on citrus?

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  6. It is not the citrus itself that is a problem, but the tyramine. That is why citric acid is not a trigger. I would leave the lemon out if possible. I've noticed most items that call for lemon juice taste just fine without it. What are you wanting to bake? Is there something you can substitute? I've used apple juice or green olive juice in the place of lemon juice before, but it depends on the recipe.

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  7. Could you please tell us what are the brands of chicken stock that don't contain MSG? I would appreciate it greatly.

    Also, I don't know if this would work for other people, but when I eat a few cubes of tempeh every day, I don't seem to get as many headaches. My theory is that the soy estrogens supplement my (by now seriously low) estrogen levels and keep them on an even keel. I have read that fluctuating estrogen levels contribute to migraines.

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  8. If tyramine is not a huge trigger for you, and you are looking for a chicken broth that does not contain MSG, there are a couple of options. The best option is to look for chicken STOCK instead of chicken broth. It is a little more expensive, but it is more pure and free of additives, and it tastes better. Swanson makes a brand of chicken BROTH that contains no MSG. Also, you can find some brands at health food stores. Always look for brands that say "no msg" or something similar. Be wary of brands that say "no added msg".

    Yes, fluctuating hormone levels can certainly contribute to (but with some people help relieve) migraines. This is something that Dr. Buchholz covers in his book. However, tempeh is basically fermented soybeans. I wouldn't recommend this for most migraineurs, as fermentation is a trigger, and soy can also be a trigger for some. The diet should hopefully bring your trigger threshold down enough that the fluctuating hormone levels won't trigger a migraine like they used to. Trying to supplement may not be helpful, and may bring more harm. If the tempeh is helping, I don't want to discourage, but think about whether something else has changed. Did you change anything else in your diet? Have you eliminated anything? MSG perhaps? Maybe it was the elimination of MSG, and not the addition of tempeh that helped.

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  9. The "cleanest" stock I have found is Kitchen Basics - apart from onions, I think that it is perfectly fine. It seems that some "no msg" or "no added msg" products have other ingredients that contain it, per The Diet. It is actually better than the health food aisle brands that I have looked at. Don't take false comfort from the health food stores - soy is in practically everything they sell.

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  10. Hi Bill. I agree that Kitchen Basics is probably one of the most pure. I like it a lot, and it can be found in most supermarkets. And while some believe that soy may possibly be a trigger for some, soy oils are safe. Thanks for posting! Very helpful.

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  11. You people need to really study the migraine trigger list again...pretty much every bean is NOT safe! Google it!!!!

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    1. I thought about deleting this post, but I think I will leave it up. There are many migraine sufferers searching the web for answers who are so frustrated that they might just refer to other migraine sufferers as "you people". The information is so confusing on so many different web sites that all beans might look the same. However, some beans are much safer than others, and therefore are okay to eat, which is what we were discussing in our posts. If someone is so frustrated that he or she would feel free to yell at migraine sufferers on a website specifically for migraine sufferers who are following a specific diet, then that person needs our help, even if after a post as rude as this we may not feel like giving it. We need to remember that we have the answers, and therefore need to help people who don't (those who are willing to listen at least), and if this person is yelling at us on our website, he/she is begging for help. However, if this person is that rude again, the post will be deleted! I will not allow people to be spoken to that way on this website.

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  12. I know this is an old thread but as far as commercially prepared broths/stocks and MSG go even if they state "no MSG added" they almost always have yeast extract or natural flavors as one of the ingredients and these mean MSG. Dr. Buchholz talks about this in his book. I've looked at almost 20 brands of stock and broth by now and they all either contain onions or MSG hidden as yeast or "natural flavors." It seems the only safe option is to cook your own.

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