Tonight I decided to make Chicken Enchiladas. I know I just went off on a “too hot to cook” tirade, but it’s my kitchen and I can do what I want within it. I should’ve taken this as a warning, but we are talking about me here and I don‘t do warnings very well. Anyhoo, I have two different recipes for Chicken Enchiladas, one takes ALL day to make and includes lots of homemade stuff, the other is a bounty from the pantry/freezer and takes about one hour from gathering ingredients to tossing it on the table. I opted for the latter.
Now, every good cook knows that the first thing you do is gather your ingredients.
I am
not such a good cook. Being as Sam and Danielle have decided now is the time to have kitchen races, I figure I better just get at it, so I grabbed the sour cream and threw it in the bowl with the soup. I search the upper cabinet for a can of chicken broth and then the lower cabinet, which requires me to actually sit on the floor. Sam takes this as a cue that it’s Sit on Mommy Time! Of course there’s no broth, so after convincing Sam that it’s okay to let Mommy stand back up, I search the closet (my poser pantry). Meanwhile, the kids spot the step stool. Nothing says Zen quite like two toddlers having a tug of war over a step stool. I tell them to stop, naturally, Danielle, in her big sister way, instantly lets go and sends Sam sailing into the swing gate. Ahhh the joyful sound of hearing my son hit high C and hold it for 2 minutes. Everyone count with me….10.….9.…(deep breath in)…8.….7.…(deep breath out)…. After giving up on the hope of finding broth in the closet or the freezer, I grab the bullion and pray the Blood Pressure Police don’t find me.
So now I’ve got my chickeny-sour creamy-soupy goodness blended, seasoned and ready for the veggies. I go to chopping the peppers and realize that I have in fact defrosted broccoli. I ponder for a moment if I can pass off broccoli for peppers. Nahhh. I grab the sliced peppers from the freezer and decide I’ll just chop them frozen and they can defrost INSIDE the enchiladas. So now I’m ready for the cheese. Being the freak that I am, I just couldn’t bring myself to buy the pre-shredded cheese (seriously, do you know what they do to keep the cheese from sticking to itself. Ewwwwwww). I grab my slab-o-cheese and my flat grater and begin shredding . As my arm begins to cramp, my mind drifts to the good old days with my food processor. Oh the times we had together, chopping, grinding, shredding, mixing. Why, oh why, did I have to push you to the limits? RIP my sweet food processor.*sigh*.
Somehow between all the, “Stop doing that.”, “Put that back.”, “What is in your mouth?”, and “No, the kitty doesn’t want to be a hat.”, I finally manage to get the enchiladas in the oven. Just as I’m thinking to myself, “Does Flintstones make a children’s chewable tranquilizer?”, the timer goes off and I’m saved by dinner! WHOOO HOOO!
So here for all to enjoy is the recipe for Quick Enchiladas adapted from
Menus 4 Moms:
2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
8 oz. sour cream
1 onions, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
Cilantro, cumin, garlic to taste
8 whole wheat flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese
1 chopped tomato (optional)
Combine soup, sour cream, and 3/4 can chicken broth. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture. To the remaining mixture, add chicken, onion, pepper, and spices to taste. Add 1 cups of the cheese.
Fill tortilla with mixture, roll up, and place in pan. Add the remaining Chicken broth to the reserved soup mixture and pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining cheese over enchiladas and top with tomato. Cook enchiladas at 350° until bubbly (about 30 mins).
