Chicken Enchiladas

Last week I was emailing with Kate, the mother of the family I nannied for a couple of years back, and she said I should blog the recipe for the chicken enchiladas I made when we all lived together. While Kate was probably being nice or had taken one too many pain killers that day, the idea of those sweet little kids (who are now so old that it rocks my world) having a fond memory of the time we were all together left me all warm and squishy inside (and filled me with memories of bluebonnets and kidsongs videos). I thought it was awesome to hear that two of the four enjoy kickin' it in the kitchen, and I've had chicken enchiladas on the brain for a few days now. This goes out to the Feists!

Disclaimer: These aren't authentic. We're usin' packaged enchilada sauce mix and flour tortillas here, folks. The way that I do it works for me, but if you have a preference for your abuelas enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, can't stand the idea of shredding chicken or something else, you should do what works for you. ;)

The ingredients for a 10x14 pan are:

6 chicken breasts, about 3 lbs.
1 medium onion
1 tbs. minced garlic
2 tsp. salt
water (to cover all of above)
2 pkgs. enchilada sauce mix (I use McCormick's)
15 oz. tomato sauce
3 c. water
3-4 c. shredded cheese (I use a cheddar/jack blend)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
16-20 8" flour tortillas




Cut the ends off your onion, peel the skin off, discard the ends and skin. Halve the onion, then cut into thin slices--you'll end up with half-rings.





Throw your onion, minced garlic and chicken breasts into a pot of boiling water. Toss in a couple of teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium-high heat for 15 minutes.





While the chicken, onion and garlic cook, we're going to prepare the sauce. If you're confused about the sauce pack, this is what mine looks like. You'll need two packages and one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce.





Into a saucepan, empty the contents of the sauce packs, three cups of water and the 15 oz. can of tomato sauce. Whisk it together, bring it to a boil and reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens.





Once your chicken is done cooking, dump it into a collander to drain off the water. DO NOT get rid of the onion and garlic, just drain it with the chicken. Allow the chicken to cool for ten or fifteen minutes before shredding it by hand or with forks, then dump it into a mixing bowl, along with the onion and garlic.

To the chicken mixuture, ladle in two scoops (about one cup) of enchilada sauce and two cups of shredded cheese. Mix thoroughly.





Then add 1/2 tsp. each of ground black pepper and cumin. Mix thoroughly to incorporate the spices.





We're ready to start rolling! This is what my tortillas look like. The brand that I buy generally comes with 20-30 per bag and they are roughly 8" in diameter. I find them easier to handle and more pliable (and less apt to split) when they're warm, so I usually nuke mine for a minute or so before starting.





Before rolling the enchiladas, ladle in two or three scoops of enchilada sauce to the bottom of the pan. This will prevent the enchiladas from sticking. Now you're ready to roll!





Scoop a scant 1/4 c. of the filling onto each tortilla, then roll tightly and place seam-side down in the pan. Seam-side down keeps them from unrolling, so don't get creative on that step! Keep rolling until you've used all of your filling and your pan is full. This is what my pan looked like when full.

Last, pour as much sauce as suits you over your enchiladas, then sprinkle with 1-2 cups of shredded cheese. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes, assuming that your ingredients are still room temperature. If you've prepared this earlier and stowed it in the frige, you'll want to increase the baking time to more like 45-60 minutes, or until bubbly. Remove the foil during the last 10 minutes of baking.

Red and White Lasagna

Here's a recipe that's a big family favorite. Is was the result of not having any ricotta cheese....and not being willing to make the 20 minute trek to the store. Turns out that we like it better this way, and using the oven-ready pasta makes it so much faster! Don't worry about the water we're adding to the recipe---it will hydrate the uncooked pasta. ;)

1 lb. sweet italian turkey sausage, removed from casings
1 lb. ground turkey
1 large onion, diced
2 Tbs. minced garlic
1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles
2 jars (normal size) marinara sauce
1 jar water (1/2 jar each, to rinse each marinara sauce jar)
1 jar alfredo sauce
1/2 jar water (to rinse aflredo sauce jar)
4 cups (more or less) mozzarella cheese
1 c. parmesan cheese

Cook onion for 2-3 minutes, then add sausage (remove from casings first), ground turkey and garlic. Cook until no longer pink. Drain if needed. Set meat/onion/garlic mixture aside.

Into a mixing bowl, empty marinara sauce jars. Fill each jar 1/2 full with water, shake, then empty into bowl with sauce. Mix red sauce and water together in bowl.

In another bowl, repeat process with alfredo sauce, rinsing jar with 1/2 jar of water and emptying into bowl. Mix well.

In a 9x13 pan, spoon in about 1 1/2 cups red sauce. Lay first layer of pasta; four noodles. Add half of meat mixture and 1 1/4 c. mozzarella. Cover layer with half of red sauce.

2nd layer: 4 noodles, remaining half of meat mixture, all of white sauce, 1 1/4 c. mozzarella, 1/2 c. parmesan cheese.

3rd layer: 4 noodles,remaining red sauce, remaining mozzarella, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c. parmesan. Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray and use it to cover lasagna. Bake at 350 for one hour. Remove foil, bake about 20 minutes longer. If you're unsure whether it's done, give it a poke in the center to see if the noodles feel tender.

Allow the lasagna to set up for at least 15 minutes before serving. Yummy!