Thursday, January 22, 2015

Chicken Enchiladas







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CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

My chicken enchiladas were a big hit with all my “big kids” last week!  Prepare the chicken anyway you wish to add to the mix.  I find that baking the chicken with a bit of olive oil and salt at 375 degrees is easiest for me and makes the kitchen smell really good!  I buy frozen, boneless chicken breasts—then thaw them in the microwave and cut them into equally-sized pieces before baking.  Then spray a 9 x  11 pyrex dish with PAM (olive oil), place the chicken pieces in the dish, lightly salt (if chicken is not pre-salted), and then drizzle each piece of chicken with olive oil.  Bake until each piece is cooked throughout, but not overdone/dry.    Enjoy these enchiladas for your next Tex-Mex  feist!

Ingredients:
2 large cans/cartons  Hunts tomato sauce
Chili powder
Cumen
10-12 small or 8-10 med/large soft flour tortillas
1 medium onion, diced
2 T. olive oil
One 8 ounce block of cream  cheese, softened
1 can/pouch  green enchilada sauce
2 cans/pouches red enchilada sauce(1 can/pouch reserved)
1 small can green chilies
¼ cup pickled hot banana peppers, chopped
¼ cup pickled hot banana pepper juice
4 cups cooked chicken, diced (baked or sautéed, etc.)
Salt/black pepper to taste
4 cups sharp cheddar (or Mexican cheddar)cheese, shredded


Directions:
*Spray 11x13 pyrex dish with PAM.
*Spread   ½ large can/carton tomato sauce into dish

*Pour 1 and ½ can/carton  tomato sauce onto a cookie sheet with sides (or any large, flat dish) and spread over surface.
*Sprinkle chili powder and cumin (to taste) over entire surface of sauce on cookie sheet, stir.

*Saute onion in olive oil until translucent.

*Combine softened cream cheese, green enchilada sauce, 1 can/pouch red  enchilada sauce, green chilies, hot banana peppers, hot banana pepper juice, cooked chicken, salt, pepper and 2 cups cheese in a bowl and set aside until assembly.

To assemble:
*Lay a flour tortilla onto spiced tomato sauce on cookie sheet, then flip the tortilla over to coat both sides.
*Place a row of shredded cheese down center of tortilla.
*Place a row of chicken/enchilada sauce mixture on top of cheese- down center of tortilla.
*Roll the tortilla as tightly as possible and place, seam side down in pyrex dish.
*Repeat process until dish is full, placing the tortilla rolls as close together as possible.
*Pour 1 can/pouch red enchilada sauce over top of rolled tortillas.
*Sprinkle 2 cups cheese over top of enchiladas.
*Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

To make “garlic-free” enchiladas, just make your own enchilada sauce or substitute  1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 cup sour cream and ½ cup milk instead of the enchilada sauces in the recipe above.   Yummy!