Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas

I love Mexican food, its almost as good as Chinese food! This is another recipe I got from my Mom, and another one I also changed up a little bit. She always sauteed the onions in butter, but I use olive oil. I like it much better and it is a little healthier. Whenever I make this recipe it transports me back to my childhood. My mom let me start helping her cook at a pretty young age, I would sit next to her and do every little thing she asked. I love being in the kitchen now and a lot of that has to do with hanging out with my mom when she cooked when I was a kid.
The sauce is what really sets this recipe apart, its a cheesy light sauce instead of a red sauce. It is nummytastict!

Shred some cooked chicken. You can use leftover chicken. I got a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and shredded it.

Onions and garlic. I am a huge fan of the garlic, so I used 4 cloves. You can use more or less depending on what you like.

Mince the garlic.

Dice the onion.

About 2 tbs of olive oil into a large pan.

Add the onions and garlic, saute until soft.

Add salt. This helps pull some moisture out of the onions.

That is about right...

Now add your diced green chili's.

Oregano

Cumin. I love cumin in Mexican food. Its perfect.

Chili powder.

By now your house should be smelling like a Mexican restaurant!

I was drooling.

Pour in the chicken stock.

Have your husband grate some Monterrey jack cheese.

Or maybe that's just how I do it ;)

This is called a slurry. It's equal parts flour and water.

Add the slurry to your sauce to thicken it.

Stir this while it simmers. It will take a few minutes to thicken up.

Add the half and half.

Pepper

Look at how creamy and awesome this is. I could drink it!

In goes the cheese.

Stir until cheese is melted completely.

Add some of the sauce to the chicken.

Stir so the chicken is coated in the sauce.

We are going to soften the tortillas now. Heat up a couple tablespoons of canola oil.

You only cook these for a few seconds on each side. Just enough to soften them up.

Flip it over.

See? Not crunchy, just nice and soft. Put these on a paper towel to drain. I suggest you layer them, 2 tortillas, a layer of paper towels and so on. That way you get rid of a bunch of the grease.

You may need to add oil to the pan occasionally.

Put a layer of sauce on the bottom of your dish. This will keep the enchiladas from sticking to the pans.

About 2 tbs of chicken mixture goes in the tortilla.

OK maybe it was more than 2 tbs.... I love this stuff...

Roll it up nice and tight.

Place in the pan. Repeat.

Pour the rest of the sauce over the enchiladas.

I ended up with 2 - 9x13 inch pans of enchiladas.

Way more food than me and the hubby needed! Yay leftovers!

Sprinkle even more cheese on top of them.

Top with some chopped green onions.

Stick them in the oven for about 30 minutes.

They come out all melty and bubbly, and smelling just amazing!

These are so pretty, with the melted cheese and the green onions, and it smells just amazing.

It tastes way better than it smells!

Seriously, it's worth the time it takes to make these. They are gooey and cheesy, with the perfect amount of zing from the green chili's. The Cumin gives it such a depth of flavor.

Please make these or the world will end!

Maybe it won't end, but these are so flipping good.

(I made a bit more because i had a whole chicken, below is for about a dozen enchiladas)

Ingredients:

1lb cooked chicken (shredded)

3 tbs olive oil

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 can green chili's

2 tbs chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup flour

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup half and half

1 lb Monterrey jack cheese

1/4 cup to 1/3 cup canola oil

12 corn tortillas

6 green onions sliced

Saute onions and garlic in 3 tbs olive oil until soft. Add chili's, sea salt, and dry spices. Stir in chicken broth and heavy cream. Mix the flour and water together, this makes a slurry that will thicken the sauce. Whisk the sauce while the sauce simmers for a few minutes to thicken up (about 10 minutes). Stir in 1 cup Monterrey jack cheese. Combine 1 cup sauce with shredded chicken, stir to coat. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a skillet until hot. dip tortillas until limp, 5 to 10 seconds each side. DON'T LET THEM BECOME CRISP. Place between paper towels to soak up some of the excess oil. Pour about 1/4 to 1/2 cup sauce over the bottom of the pan and spread it over the whole area. Divide the chicken mixture between the tortillas. Roll up and place seam side down. Poor remaining cheese sauce evenly over tortillas and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Top with green onion.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

I Have been MIA

Hey everyone. I am sorry I haven't posted a new recipe for a while. My sister came to visit, and we were go go go! We did so many touristy things. we just had a blast. but because of the visit and my vacation, I am way behind in my posting. I will post something new soon I promise. in the mean time here are a couple pictures from the visit!

Jennifer and me (Becky)

We were all dressed up to go to karaoke.

Zoey, Zack, Jimi, Ziah, Jennifer, and some stranger kid who was next to them.

This was at the aquarium.

Jimi, Zack, Zoey, Ziah, Jennifer and Duck at the Market.

Zack, Zoey, and Ziah at the Space needle.

Ziah, Jennifer, me, and Zoey at some fountain.

I had to take this picture of Jennifer in the stroller.

This penguin wants me to die. Look at him, he is staring me down....

Me and Duck :)

Hope this holds you over for a little bit!

Hug's

Becky

Mac & cheese

Mac and cheese was always a favorite in my family while I was growing up. We would have mac and cheese and green beans, and all of us kids would practically dance at the table. After I moved in with my husband I asked him if he wanted mac and cheese for dinner, but that it would take like an hour to make. He gave me a confused look and said, "um it comes in a box, why is it going to take an hour?". It had never occurred to him that people might make mac and cheese from scratch! I laughed, and explained I was not using a box. Then I made his world a better place with my mac and cheese.

start with boiling salted water. I use a stock pot, about 16 cups of water and 1 tsp sea salt. Once the water is at a rolling boil, I add the noodles. You want to cook these until they are almost done, but still firm when you bite it. This saves you from mushy noodles after its all baked. cook the noodles for about 6 minutes.

In another pan, put 3 tbsp butter.

Once the butter is bubbly, add 3 tbsp flour.

Stir together. We are making a roux for our cheese sauce.

Keep stirring, we don't want the roux to burn. it should be a light brown.

Add 1 1/2 cups milk, stirring constantly.

Whisk in 1 tsp sea salt. This should be smooth. If your sauce turned out lumpy, try whisking it for a bit, if that doesn't work, pour it through a strainer to get the lumpy flour bits out.

Add 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper

If there are other spices you want in your mac and cheese, here is where you should add them. I sometimes add onions, dry mustard, or even some redneck pepper. Today I just used salt and pepper.

Whisk until smooth and thick.

This is my secret ingredient. Velveeta cheese. It makes the cheese sauce creamy and smooth and adds a salty goodness that you cannot achieve any other way.

Plop the Velveeta into the sauce, and melt completely.

Yummy cheese sauce!

Drain your elbow macaroni and toss it back into the pot it was cooked in.

 Pour all of the cheese sauce over the elbow macaroni.

Stir so all the noodles are coated with cheesy goodness.

This is my cheese grater. I want a real food processor to grate and chop, but I don't have one, so its grating cheese by hand time.

I like to use 3 different cheeses. (4 if you count the Velveeta)

Use whatever cheese you like.

This one is a medium cheddar.

Colby Jack.

Monterrey Jack.

Toss the cheese together.

(this is when I pout at my husband that I want a food processor for Xmas)

Speak of the devil! There he is getting caught stealing cheese again!

In a large, greased, casserole pan spoon the first layer of noodles.

On top of that a layer of cheese...

mm mm cheese...

Another layer of noodles.

And more cheese.

Repeat until all the noodles and cheese are gone, or until your run out of room in your dish.

This is my mini food processor.

It's itty bitty. Plus, no cheese grating attachment.

But it works great for making goldfish crumbs!

If you don't have a food processor, place your goldfish in a zip lock bag, and beat them to death with a rolling pin or pan or something. It's a great way to get through some aggression!

Pour the goldfish crumbs over the top of the mac and cheese.

This is about 1 cup of goldfish crumbs.

Now the best part of mac and cheese, is you can prepare this the day before. Just stick it in the fridge.

Throw it in the oven the next day for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

It's a beautiful thing.

If you have never had mac and cheese from scratch, make it now. I mean it. DO IT.

The crackers give it a terrific crunch on top, and the cheesy goodness needs to be shared!

Ingredients:

Salted water for pasta

1lb elbow macaroni

1/2 lb Colby jack

1/2 lb medium cheddar

1/2 lb Monterrey jack

10 oz Velveeta

3 tbs butter

3 tbs flour

1 1/2 cup milk

2 tsp sea salt, divided

1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper

1 cup goldfish crumbs.

In a large pot boil 16 cups of water with 1 tsp salt. while water is getting hot, melt 3 tbs butter. when bubbly, add 3 tbs flour. Whisk together to make a roux. Add milk. Whisk until smooth. add salt and pepper. chop the Velveeta into chunks, add to milk mixture and melt completely. Drain pasta, put back into pan. pour cheese sauce over macaroni and stir to coat. Grate the rest of your cheese. toss together. layer noodle mixture and cheese, alternating until all of the pasta and cheese is gone. Sprinkle goldfish crumbs over the mac and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, until bubbly.

 Makes 10 servings.