Kraft Recipe Makers – dinner’s already started!

Although I enjoy cooking, I am often tired by the time 5:00 in the afternoon rolls around. Some days I am just beat and the though of cooking dinner makes me cringe. I always try to keep an eye out for quick and simple recipes (and ones which require little effort on my part specifically for these lazy days!), but even some so-called “easy” recipes are anything but.

When the nice gals over at Clever Girls Collective invited me to try the new Kraft Recipe Makers, I was excited and intrigued. As I read more about these meal starter kits, and browsed through the different varieties, I wondered how many of my own ingredients I would have to use (as is so often the case, in my experience with meal kits). I was pleasantly surprised that I needed very few of my own ingredients!

My husband and I went shopping at Safeway to pick out a Kraft Recipe Makers meal, and we had a little trouble locating them at first. I checked in the pasta/and meal kit aisle, as well as the pre-made refrigerated meals and meats, but  I didn’t see them there either. I finally found a nice clerk who led me right to them in the packaged meat section (lunchmeat, fresh chicken, etc.). There were some Kraft Recipe Makers on a shelf above a free standing refrigerated display case, as well as a rack at the end of the case.

Now came the hard part – choosing one! Let me tell you, the decision was not an easy one. We hemmed and hawed, trying to agree on the perfect meal. The Hickory BBQ Beef Recipe Maker kit really appealed to my husband (so did the Sweet and Sour Chicken), and the Verde Chicken Enchilada variety had my mouth watering.We ended up putting two in the cart – one for last night’s meal, and one for later on this week.  Since we were making the Kraft Recipe Makers Verde Chicken Enchilada, we read the back of the box to see what we would need.  I was happy to discover that we only needed cheese, corn tortillas,and chicken! I purchased fresh chicken and boiled and shredded it, but the box also suggests buying a rotisserie chicken and shredding it, to make the recipe even easier!

After I cooked and shredded the chicken, I mixed the creamy ranchero filling sauce in. I used a rectangular glass casserole dish, sprayed it with non-stick spray, then poured one of the packets of the green verde sauce in the bottom of the dish, as directed. I found something really helpful in the instructions too: to soften tortillas for rolling, simply wrap a stack of them in a damp paper towel and microwave for 40-60 seconds. I never knew this!

After the tortillas were softened, I put about 1/4 cup of the chicken filling in each tortilla, rolled them up and placed them in the casserole dish, seam side down. Twelve enchiladas fit into the dish. I poured the other packet of green verde sauce over the top, and sprinkled the Mexican cheese blend over the enchiladas.

The instructions said to bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, but I cooked them a little bit longer, to further brown them on top. They came out BEAUTIFULLY and we couldn’t wait to dig in.

I served the Verde Chicken Enchiladas with sour cream – yum. My whole family throughly enjoyed these – I think there were two left in the pan when we were done (I enjoyed them for lunch today). The flavor was just right – tangy, but not too spicy. Honestly, if I didn’t know they were from a box, I NEVER would have guessed. They most definitely tasted home-made and like they probably took a long time to cook. This will be my little secret though, as I will be serving this when we have friends over for dinner. Yep – it was that good.

Dinner couldn’t have been easier. The instructions were so easy to follow, so even those folks that say they cannot cook, can definitely make this. Prep time for this recipe, for me, was about 15 minutes – maybe even less. Super-duper easy!

I hope you will try Kraft Recipe Makers too – I think you will be pleased!  They are available in seven yummy varieties and you can find them at Safeway stores.  Just think – this would take care of your meals for a whole week! The nice thing too is that you can also choose different cooking methods with these. If you want to start a meal in the morning, you might try one that is for the slow-cooker.  The other two options are in the oven or a skillet.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.