It’s the time of year for potlucks! For a company potluck, Chris and I wanted something tasty that fit the following criteria:

  • Used at least some ingredients that we already had on hand
  • Didn’t look like it took all day to make (so this idea was out)
  • Didn’t actually take all day to make (so this was doubly out)

We finally settled on a recipe from Taste of Home: Turkey Pecan Enchiladas. The only ingredients we ended up not having to buy were the turkey and the peppers, but we probably saved tons of money by using turkey we had on hand. We’d bought the bird for 50 cents/lb and they’re now going for like a buck-thirty, so omg so happy our freezer was stocked.

The recipe:

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups cubed cooked turkey breast
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
  • 12 flour tortillas (6 inches), warmed
  • 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) reduced-fat reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) reduced-fat sour cream
  • 1 cup fat-free milk
  • 2 tablespoons canned chopped green chilies
  • 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
  • 2 tsp minced fresh cilantro

In a small nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook and stir onion over medium heat until tender. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, water, cumin, pepper and salt until smooth. Stir in the onion, turkey and pecans.
Spoon 1/3 cup turkey mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine the soup, sour cream, milk and chilies; pour over enchiladas.
Cover and bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer or until heated through and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with cilantro. Yield: 12 servings.

We doubled the recipe and sliced each tortilla in half after baking to yield 48 “servings” of enchiladas. Then we watched as they vanished within 15 minutes of our arrival. I think this is a good potluck dish even though it contains every allergen known to man (wheat, nuts, dairy, meat) and is full of calories (you know we didn’t use any of that reduced-fat shit and neither should you) because people just saw the hot melted cheese and made a beeline for it. Very successful, though I wouldn’t serve this at a party full of health-conscious people or vegans.

If I were to make this for just Chris and myself, I would probably cut back on the cream cheese and sour cream, but still use the full-fat stuff. And the dish was a little bland for my tastes, even after I snuck in extra pepper and some red pepper flakes–I would probably double or even triple the cumin, add some other spices (coriander, garlic, maybe even some chipotle) and add some jalapenos to the filling as well as sprinkling them on top. But again, that’s what makes this dish so good for a potluck–nobody doesn’t like carbs, turkey, and cheese and there are those odd ducks who disdain spice.

Another odd note: We couldn’t find 6″ tortillas and ended up with 7″ ones. Filled them with 1/3 cup mixture as directed and still found them slightly overfull. And we had about 1 cup of the mixture left over. So if you use 6″ tortillas, either seriously cram the mixture in there, or expect to have lots of leftover filling. It’s good by itself, though–we plan to make quesadillas or even just sandwiches with the leftovers.

Happy potluck season!