Chicken and Cheese Corn Enchiladas

I admit, I am a fan of Mexican food. Most importantly, it is just really tasty. For another, it is often pretty easy to make, which I am a huge fan of. Enter this recipe. This recipe lets you use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken; easy!! (Plus I guarantee you will have loads of left over chicken for sandwiches, soup, or snacking). Because of the simplification of using a pre-cooked chicken, I decided to simplify the original recipe even more and omit the husking of fresh tomatillos and substituting canned ones, which can be easily found at your local grocery store.

Green Chicken Enchiladas

Recently I had a dinner with a group of ladies I went to grad school with; I was in charge of the main dish, however the dinner was not at my house. So I had to come up with something that would be fairly easy to make a large quantity of, be easily transportable, and would please more than one palette - I came up these Green Chicken Enchiladas.

Now, I have made several different styles of enchiladas before (Caroline's Chicken Enchilada Burritos and Creamy Chicken Enchiladas), but these are probably the most "enchilada" like. What I mean by that is the filling is mainly shredded chicken with a few onions and green chilies. And the great part about these is that they are super easy, you can make them ahead of time, and they are delicious. Now I must warn you they are slightly spicy - if spicy isn't your thing, replace the salse verde with a mild green enchilada sauce. You won't get the delicious flavor of tomatillos and chilies, but it will definitely make them less spicy.

Green Chicken Enchiladas
Recipe and picture by Caroline

4 skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons better than bouillon, chicken flavor (or use a couple of bouillon cubes)
1 teaspoon fajita seasoning
1-10.5 ounce can mild green enchilada sauce
1-4 ounce can diced green chilies
1-7 ounce can salsa verde
½ large yellow onion, diced
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 teaspoons olive oil
10 flour tortilla shells *I always prefer the uncooked shells, that I cook at home
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add bouillon, fajita seasoning (if you don’t have this, go ahead and skip it), a dash of salt and pepper, and chicken breasts. Boil for 20 to 30 or until chicken is cooked through. Drain, let cool, and shred chicken.
2. Meanwhile in a large skillet sauté onions in olive oil until just tender. Take off heat add prepared shredded chicken, enchilada sauce (use as much to make a moist mixture, but not runny), green chilies, and sour cream; stir to combine.
3. Prepare a 13x9 inch glass baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread ½ cup salsa verde sauce and ½ of the cheese on the bottom of the pan. Divide the chicken mixture between the 10 shells and roll each shell, putting them in a row in the pan. For the top layer, spread the remaining ½ cup salsa verde sauce and cheese. Cover with foil, bake for 20 min in a 350°F oven; remove foil and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Serve hot with salsa and shredded lettuce.

Caroline's Chicken Enchilada-Burrito

These enchilada-burritos are something I have been making for years, or at least some version of them, all depending on what I have in the refrigerator. I call them enchilada-burritos for a couple of reasons. First, they aren't your typical meat and cheese enchilada because I include vegetables and beans inside. But, they aren't really a burrito either, because they aren't huge, they aren't overly stuffed, and they don't have rice in them (although I guess not all burritos have rice in them). So I just decided to give them both names; that is one of the small pleasures of coming up with your own recipes, you can name them whatever you please.

Caroline's Chicken Enchilada-Burrito
Recipe and Picture by Caroline
makes 10 enchiladas
about 5 or 6 servings

Ingredients
10 flour tortillas
4 or 5 large chicken breast, boiled and shredded
2 tablespoons better than bouillon, chicken flavor (or use a couple of bouillon cubes)
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ½ red bell peppers, diced into ¼ inch pieces
½ to 1 jalapeño, minced (amount based on desire of heat)
¼ yellow onion, diced
1-14 oz can black beans
1-6 oz can diced green chilies
1 to 1 ½ cups green enchilada sauce
salt
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 cups shredded lettuce
2 tomatoes, diced
sour cream

Directions
1. Boil a large pot of water, add a dash of salt, Creole seasoning, and 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon (I like the Better than Bouillon variety, it is a thick liquid, but bouillon cubes will work just fine). Add the chicken, boil for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Drain cooking water; shred chicken. Set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Add peppers, jalapeño, and onion, cooking for 2 minutes, until just beginning to soften. Add green chilies, black beans, 1 tablespoon of chicken bouillon, shredded chicken, and ¼ cup water. Cover and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Remove cover, add ¼ cup enchilada sauce; continue to cook for another minute or two, uncovered to let most of moisture cook off; salt to taste.
3. Place all of the flour tortillas, folded in half envelope style, in a 13x9 glass baking dish. Put a small amount of the cheese in each tortilla envelope. Evenly distribute the chicken mixture between the 10 tortillas, and then roll them up, seal facing down. Toss the remaining cheese over top of the rolled enchiladas; pour the remaining enchilada sauce over top; cover with foil.
4. Cook foil covered enchiladas in a 350° oven for 15-20 minutes, remove foil and cook for a remaining 10 minutes. Serve warm with lettuce, diced tomatoes, and sour cream.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

These creamy enchiladas have comfort food written all over them. They are so, so easy to make, and everyone loves them. My kind sister Rebekah shared this recipe with me a year or so ago, and every time I make them for friends, they want the recipe. Granted they are not exactly healthy, they are delicious.

The only adaptations that I made from the original recipe was to add mushrooms and omit black olives. Also, you can easily half this recipe to make enough for 2 people, or double it for a larger crowd. The best part is, you probably have the majority of the ingredients in your kitchen right now, making this a great last minute dinner idea.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Recipe from Caroline's sister Rebekah, with some minor adaptations

Serves 5 (makes 10 enchiladas)

3 or 4 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

2, 10 3/4oz cans cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1, 4oz can diced green chilies

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup diced mushrooms

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

3/4 cups milk (approximately), divided

10 tortilla shells (I prefer to use uncooked tortillas for this recipe, because they taste fresher, roll easier, and are thinner than the precooked kind.)

Directions

1. Broil or boil chicken until cooked through, then shred. (If you are in a hurry, you can use canned chicken, the enchiladas are not quite as good, but it makes for a very fast prep time.)

2. Mix soup, sour cream, green chilies, onion, mushrooms, cheese, and 1/2 cup milk. Take out approximately 1/4 of this mixture and set aside.

3. Add chicken to the larger portion of the creamy mixture. To the smaller, set aside portion, add the rest of the milk, just enough to make the mixture runny.

4. Spread half of the milk-cream mixture on the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan. Fold each tortilla shell in half and put in the pan, lining all 10 shells up in a row (as in the above picture). Evenly distribute the creamy-chicken mixture into the shells. Roll each shell with the seam facing down. 5. Spread the remanding half of the milk-cream mixture over the top. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes in a 350° oven.

Spinach Cheese Enchiladas

I originally got this recipe from Wegmans, also known as the most fantastic grocery store in the world (any of you who grew up on the east coast, or rather in the vicinity of New York or Virginia, may know what I'm talking about). It's a fast, easy, decently healthy vegetarian dish (if you use low-fat cheese, of course). And you can add an extra kick to these "enchiladas" by using a spicier cheese like pepper jack and medium or hot salsa. Or add a Greek twist with some feta.

I've always thought there was something wrong calling this dish an "enchilada." Yes, they are tortillas with salsa, but the ricotta cheese and spinach just don't shout Mexican to me. Alas, I can't come up with a better name- if you have any suggestions, feel free to share!

Spinach Cheese Enchiladas

Recipe by Kelly
Pictures by Caroline

1 1/2 bags fresh spinach, coursely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup white cheese, shredded (mozzarella, pepper jack, or white cheddar)
8-10 tortillas
2 cups salsa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan.
   
2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook just until slightly wilted.
3. In a large bowl, mix cheeses, salt, and pepper. Add wilted spinach to cheese and stir until combined.
4. Pour 1 cup of salsa on bottom of pan. Spoon cheese-spinach mixture into tortillas and roll, placing seam side down onto pan.
5. Pour remaining cup of salsa over top of rolled tortillas. Bake uncovered 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.