The Next Food Network Star ... Season 7!

Last year, I wanted to audition for TNFNS but I didn’t find the application online until the deadline had already passed. I am not making that same mistake this year!! I downloaded the applications, all eleven pages of it, and am sitting down to start working on it … gender? F; nickname? No thank you; food industry experience? hmmm does being a waitress/hostess in college count?? If I were an ingredient I would be __________ because _________ … and now we get to the tough questions requiring self-reflection, ugh!!

While I ponder my “culinary point of view,” I scroll through the 10 pages of legal yaddayadda to figure out what I’m signing up for and notice a simple sentence that states I may be asked to develop 30+ original recipes “on the spot” if I get invite to NYC for a final interview with producers so to start preparing. FUGH! Well, as I sit and think about this (and abandon my application for a moment), I dig out my handwritten recipe book where I try to remember to write down new dishes I create on the fly: 1, 2, 3, 4 … 38. WOW! I had no idea that I’d come up with that many, well no that’s not true, I knew I had that many in my repertoire, I had no clue I’d written that many down in my book! (Thank you Aunt Vicki for the wonderful bridal shower gift btw)

Ok, now I’m obsessing: do the 30 original recipes need to be all entrees or should it be entrees paired with sides or are sides separate “recipes” according to the true definition? I’m going to guess that sides are a separate recipe for now, but prepare for the worst. Dinner tonight is my chicken and black bean enchilada casserole and it is not written down in my book but it is an original recipe I made up one day when I didn’t have a whole lot of ingredients in the house but Dan wanted Mexican. I’ve enlisted the help of Dan to try to write down what I use and how much I use when I create these on-the-fly recipes based upon the contents of my cupboards and fridge. One more recipe added to the book! This is doable, I can do this, I can be a tv chef!!! Well, once I figure out my culinary point of view that is …

Chicken and Black Bean Enchilada Casserole
1lb skinless/boneless chicken breasts
2 cups fat-free ricotta
1 cup fat-free sour cream
2 cups reduced fat shredded cheddar
1 can black beans
2 cups salsa
3 jalapeños, diced (or a 4oz can of diced green chiles)
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1tsp chili powder or fajita/taco seasoning
1tsp cumin
½ cup fresh chopped cilantro (or 2tsp dried)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
8 corn tortillas, cut into quarters

Lightly dust both sides of the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and chili powder; bake until cooked through then shred and set aside in a bowl.

Sautee onion and garlic in the olive oil until onions are clear, add to the bowl with the chicken. Drain and rinse the black beans.

In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, sour cream, jalapeños, cumin, cilantro and some more salt and pepper.

In a deep casserole, pour 1 cup of the salsa then spread to cover the bottom; top with half of the tortillas then half of the ricotta, half of the black beans then finally half of the chicken. Top the chicken with the remaining salsa and half of the shredded cheese then repeat layers: tortillas, ricotta, black beans, chicken then remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 30-40minutes until heated through all bubbly. Let it cool/set for about 10min before serving.

ONE DOWN, SEVERAL MORE TO GO!! Now back to some deep self-reflection, booooooooooo