Monday, January 10, 2011

Chicken Verde Enchiladas

As noted before, my mother is an amazing chef. Not only does she cook extremely tasty food, but because of her health she cooks extremely healthy too. This recipe is a family staple, one my mom has made for years and one I love more and more every time I eat it. Its super easy, super healthy, and a treat to eat! (Am I sounding like the Barefoot Contessa yet?)

Here you go with the step by steps.

Step 1: Assemble the ingredients. Here's a list of things you will need

1 bag flour tortillas

***note, I sent Dan to the store to get my ingredients for this meal and he grabbed large white flour tortillas. I usually use the fajitas size wheat flour tortillas, because the whole wheat makes the enchiladas so much heartier and healthier. I cut these tortillas in half because they were so huge, but they worked just fine. (Thanks love for the grocery run)

1 can green chile enchilada sauce
1-2 cans canned cooked chicken (you can grill your own and shred it, canned chicken is just so easy to use)
1 large onion, diced very fine (I use a little chopper, helps with the tears)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
I mix things up and like to try new ingredients from time to time. Last night I added black beans and we have added olives in the past or bell peppers. Pretty much anything along the Mexican food line is pretty good.



Step 2: Before I start assembling the enchiladas I set everything out in a sort of assembly line. I put all my fillings in bowls and get out a large dinner plate so that I have a surface where I can roll up the enchiladas. Pour the chile sauce into a little large bowl for easy dipping.

Step 3: Take out about 8 tortillas from the bag. Once you get started your hands are going to be messy so make sure you have out your baking dish and all the ingredients you'll need. Now take a tortilla and dip it in the green chile sauce. Use your fingers to wipe off all excess sauce. You just want a thin layer of sauce on the tortilla, so wipe off as much as you can with your fingers.

Step 4: Place the tortilla on the plate you've given it it's sauce bath. Fill it in a vertical line with a little of everything; the cheese, the chicken, the onions, and anything else you want to add. To roll the enchilada, take your fingers and pull the line of filling towards you a little as you roll the tortilla away from you. Roll them pretty tight.
Step 5: Continue filling and rolling the enchiladas until you either run out of filling or run out of space in your baking dish. You should get 8-10 enchiladas. ***IMPORTANT NOTE*** You want to have a little green sauce left over after you've filled all the tortillas. Save at least a quarter of a cup of sauce.

Once you've got all the enchiladas in the pan, cover with the remaining green sauce, about a half a cup of cheese, and whatever else you've got left (beans, onions, etc.)

Step 6: Cover with tin foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes. Remove foil for the last 5 minutes of baking. Make sure the cheese is all melted and the tortillas on the edge are browned a bit.

You're done! I like to serve them with a simple green salad.



1 comment:

  1. Those look yummy!
    Nice presentation!
    I prefer corn torts though.

    ReplyDelete