Turkey & Spinach Enchiladas

I love enchiladas! Typically, these are made with ground beef, refried beans and tons of high fat cheese. I wanted to find a way to make them more lean so I use ground turkey and reduced fat cheese. By adding the spinach, not only does the flavor go up but so does the nutritional value. Using the ground turkey, spinach and reduced fat cheese lowers the fat intake by nearly half! So enjoy...have two!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 container low fat small curd cottage cheese (8 oz.), drained
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
8-10 yellow corn tortillas (you can use flour or whole wheat tortillas if you wish)
2 (10 oz.) cans mild enchilada sauce
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (you will need to squeeze out excess liquid)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste
EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
3 cups reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
low fat sour cream (optional)
sliced green onions (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet fry ground turkey in a drizzle of EVOO. Add crushed red pepper flakes, ground cumin, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Make sure to crumble meat as you go. You want it to be as fine as possible.

When turkey is cooked, remove meat from pan and place in large mixing bowl. In the same pan, saute onions and garlic until soft. You may need to add another drizzle of EVOO.

While the onions and garlic are sauting, mix cottage cheese and parmesan cheese together in a medium mixing bowl.

To the onion mixture, add spinach and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add to the meat in mixing bowl. Mix well.

Add cheese mixture making sure all is incorporated together well.

Warm tortillas in the microwave. If they are not warm, they become brittle and will be difficult to work with. Place meat mixture onto each tortilla and roll.

In a baking dish, pour 1/2 a can of enchilada sauce and spread evenly. Place enchiladas in pan. Pour the remaining 1 1/2 cans of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas. Cover with reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese. Bake for 35 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with a dollap of sour cream and green onions.

Sorry! I didn't take a picture of the completed dish!