Golden Girl Granola Blogger Recipe Challenge

I signed up to join the Golden Girl Granola Recipe Challenge and was happy that I was accepted as they only took the first 50 bloggers to sign up.  Golden Girl Granola is a New England based company that started out selling their product at local farmers markets and have now expanded and can be found in numerous stores in that area including Whole Foods Markets, so you know that they have to be good and use only the finest, healthy ingredients.

Here is the thing about joining contests....you should thoroughly read the directions.  Otherwise, you see that you get to choose one of 7 different flavors of granola from which to create a recipe.  Not having read the complete directions, I immediately asked for the Chocolate Decadence thinking that it was going to make a kick butt ice cream.  I was very excited.  I pulled out my ice cream maker and started playing and experimenting.  Then I got an email from the company reminding the bloggers that the recipe must be for an entree.  Evidently I wasn't the only one who did not read the directions!!

So, here I was with Chocolate Decadence Granola and no idea how I was going to incorporate it into an entree.  When we think of chocolate we (or at least I) think of desserts and sweet dishes.  I very rarely think sweet when I think entrees except for maybe salads that contain fruit and nuts.  I thought about doing a salad of some sort for my entree but didn't feel great about it.  I thought about grinding the granola up with some coffee beans and spices to create a rub for a pork tenderloin that I could grill, and I may still do that but I really wanted to the granola to be more in the spotlight.

Then I decided to make a Mole sauce.  Mole is a Mexican sauce normally made by combining tortillas, chocolate, nuts, tomatoes and chicken broth.  The Chocolate Decadence is full of almonds and chocolate and I knew the oats would replace the tortillas for thickening up the sauce.  I did a little happy dance and began making my homemade chicken broth.  Now you can certainly use store bought stock but since I had decided to make Chicken Enchiladas with Mole Sauce, I needed to have some cooked chicken anyway so I put my breasts, back and wings into the stockpot and saved the dark meat for another meal.  The Mole would also be perfect on grilled or baked chicken with a side of beans and rice.

I am always happy when I can use what I have on hand and not have to make trips to the store.

I had no peppers so I used chili pepper paste.

I had no fresh tomatoes or store bought canned tomatoes but I did have 1 jar left that I had canned.

A true Mexican Mole would use lard, I substituted Coconut Oil.

The great thing that I think you will find about this recipe is that you can make it effortless by using store bought rotisserie chicken or left over chicken from a previous dinner, canned tomatoes and store bought chicken stock.  Of course, if like me, you find yourself with a free rainy Sunday that prevents you from doing your outdoor chores as planned...you can spend the day making your own homemade ingredients.

The Mole only takes a few minutes to put together.

Make it the day before or a few hours before you need it to allow the flavors to meld nicely.

Return the Mole to the pan used for the onions and spices.

Cook gently over medium heat until thickened.

Place a layer of sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.

Roll up the chicken in the corn tortillas and place seam side down in the dish.

Cover with more Mole and sprinkle with crumbled Queso Fresco.

Bake at 350* for half an hour, until heated through and the cheese is starting to brown.

Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and garnish with sour cream if desired.

You will have enough for 10 enchiladas. You will not need to season the chicken at all as the sauce has plenty enough flavor.  There are only 2 of us so I used smaller baking dishes. One was baked for tonight. The other is in the freezer to enjoy another night.

Chicken Enchiladas with Mole
an A Day in the Life original recipe created for Golden Girl Granola

For the Mole:

2 c. chicken broth, heated
1 t. chili paste or more to taste
2 c. Golden Girl Chocolate Decadence Granola
Coconut Oil
1 (14 oz) can tomatoes, drained
1 sweet onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cinnamon stick
5 whole cloves
5 allspice berries
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. cumin
salt to taste

Place the heated stock, chili paste and granola into the bowl of a food processor and let sit, allowing the granola to soften and absorb some of the broth.

Heat coconut oil over med heat in a large skillet.  Add the onion, garlic and spices.  Cook and stir until fragrant and the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.  Remove the whole spices from the pan and discard.  Add the onion mixture to the food processor along with the tomatoes.

Pulse until well blended and smooth.  Return mixture to the skillet in which you cooked the onions and spices.  Cook over med heat until thickened, 10-15 minutes.  Taste and season with salt as needed.

For the Enchiladas:

10 corn tortillas
2 c. shredded chicken (I used white breast meat)
1 c. crumbled Queso Fresca (Mexican Cheese)
2 T. chopped cilantro leaves
Sour cream, if desired

Spread 1 c. of Mole in the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish.  Place a corn tortilla on a plate and place chicken down the center.  Roll the tortilla around the chicken and place in the baking dish seam side down.  Repeat until all tortillas and chicken is used.  Spoon the remaining Mole over the enchiladas and bake in a preheated 350* oven for 30 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is beginning to brown.  Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.  Print Recipe