First of Healthy Recipes from The Ark

Besides being the caretaker of The Ark,  I am also a trained Health Educator, which means I spent years learning how to persuade others that taking care of themselves for a longer healthier life is the way to go.  Being riddled with High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Lung disease, and Diabetes is not where we want to go if we can help it.   I have to say that it used to be much easier for me to be a "great role model" because I was lithe, had tons of energy, and was even pretty once upon a time.  However, age and genetics can catch up with you for sure.  I am still crazy (in a good way), and have a ton of great ideas to help people stay on track with their health.  Inside, I am doing great ,really.  I have excellent cholesterol and no other problems except this genetic predisposition for what I call Loopty-Loop (Lupus).  Loopty-Loop has made me ache and things hurt a lot.  I keep on though.  I am just not quite the Energizer Bunny in a leotard and tights like I once was.  But that is ok, because I would sure hate to put on a leotard anyway!  Ugggggggg!


When I was the Exercise and Dietary Guru of this town, all of my students wanted me to open a healthy restaurant.  Well, you can imagine what Harvard said about that!  So, I never did.  However, I never quit eating healthy...except for my somewhat addiction to Chocolate which managed to get 100 times worse once the Little Sweetie was introduced to it herself by our sitter, whom I dearly love!   So, from the time she was five years old until about 5 months ago, I steadily put on about 25 pounds that manages to follow me everywhere I go!   I am trying and I have lost maybe 4 pounds since she has left for college, which is amazing for me!!!  I LOVE to cook!  However, what I cook is not what most people in Cleveland County, North Carolina want to eat .  If I see a piece of fatty red meat in the grocery store, I consistently get a mental image of the tubes of blood that were drawn from so many of our patients here in Cleveland County.  Once the blood is spun to be sent to the lab, the fat settles to the bottom of the tube.  I have to tell you that it is hard to imagine that this incredibly sticky, disgusting stuff is actually floating around in some person's blood, but it is.  I have seen many tubes of blood like this!  No wonder the arteries in the heart and the brain get clogged and cause heart attack and stroke!  So, for a long time I have been all about eating healthy.   I try very hard to adhere to a healthy diet, but once in a while the old sweet tooth causes me a problem!  When I cook, I very rarely go by a recipe.  I am very creative and if I read a recipe it is as though I am not using my brain.  Sometimes I will look at a recipe to get a basic idea.  Then I will do what I want to make it healthier.  


Tonight I made up a new dish that I called Chicken Enchilada Florentine.  Here is a picture of it after I took it out of the oven.  Don is a great person to try new creations on.  He is honest!  If it tastes like coo-coo, he will say, "You've made better..."  That is my cue to never make THAT again!   He liked the Chicken Enchilada Florentine very much though! So, here it is!!!

With the spinach on top, be honest...are you gagging yet?  I'll bet several of my down home Cleveland County born and raised friends might be.  But trust me, it is delicioso!  Here's how it's done according to Mama Miller's throw, pinch, and dab recipe.

Ingredients:

3 Fresh skinless chicken breasts, either shredded or chopped small

Rotele (adds fire!!!)

spinach ( 1 cup)

shredded cheddar cheese, feta cheese, and mozzarella cheese

about a teaspoon of chili powder, a bit of cumin to taste, a dash of salt and pepper,

black beans

can of enchilada sauce

tortillas

First cook the chicken in a pan  with Smart Balance Omega -3 oil. Cook with the Rotele tomatoes, (be careful and use it to your discretion in terms of fire!) After the chicken has cooked thoroughly, add the black beans, and the spices.  Remember, I don't really measure, I just taste as I go.  Add a bit of the cheeses to the concoction and then get ready to roll!!!  I spray a Corning Wear or Pyrex dish with Smart Balance spray.  Then I put the tortillas, one at a time on a plate and add the ingredients in the frying pan.. enough to make a round circle in the center of the tortilla. Then I put a little of the chopped spinach in the circle and top it with the cheese. Then I fold it and place it in the pan.  Do this with as many tortillas as will fit into the dish.  Leave a small amount of the chicken concoction to add at the end!  Once all the tortillas are wrapped and in the pan, I add the enchilada sauce to the rest of the chicken.  Then  place a small amount of spinach on top of the tortillas and  pour the enchilada sauce mixed with the chicken on top of the enchiladas.  I end by putting the cheeses on top.  You have to remember that the only thing that is actually a little bit unhealthy  for you in the cheese, so use your discretion on how much cheese you use.  Bake it in the 350 degree over for about 20 minutes until the cheese is a little brown.  It is a meal in itself!