Chicken Enchiladas

Part of the reason I wanted to learn how to cook is the notion that I can eat my favorite foods whenever I want, exactly how I like them...which I guess is one of the most basic ideas behind being an adult. You have the freedom to eat ice cream, candy, and Lucky Charms for dinner (or all three meals), and no one can tell you not to. The dietitian can, but you don't have to listen to them. What do they know anyway? Or if you decide to set your sights a little higher, you can eat truly delicious meals when you want them.

Me? I love enchiladas.

I've been wanting to cook them for a long time, but this last semester really kicked my ass. At least twice I bought chicken and it went bad before I got a chance to make them.

You need:

1lb chicken (shredded)
2 cups shredded cheese
2 10oz cans of enchilada sauce (red or green)*
6-8 flour tortillas

*obviously you can make your own enchilada sauce, and it would taste much better than canned. I'll go into this later, but most of what I cook uses shortcuts like this. You can make just about anything from scratch, but it's not always feasible. As an example, if you were to make pasta, you can roll your own dough, cut the noodles, grow and crush your own tomatoes, grow and dry your own spices, and grind your own meat - and no doubt it would taste amazing - but the average person isn't going to do all that. Of course you can always boil dry pasta and add Ragu to it too. My recipes will always be a balance of the two, usually making things from scratch when it's easy enough. Which means never using canned pasta sauce...



The first step is to cook the chicken. I added 1/2 cup of water so it wouldn't dry out. Also at this time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

I covered it to keep as much moisture in as possible. Moist chicken makes it easier to pull apart.

Once it's cooked, it's time to shred. Use two forks to pull it apart piece by piece.

Action shot!

There it is all shredded. It takes a little while.

Now add 1 cup of the cheese and 3/4 cups of the enchilada sauce and mix it well.

Put about 3 tablespoons of the chicken onto the tortillas.

Roll it up and place it seam down in a 13x9" baking dish that's been lightly sprayed with some cooking spray.

Repeat until the dish is full.

Pour the rest of the sauce over the top and cover with the rest of the cheese.

It's ready to go in.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and filling is heated through.

It looks delicious, and smells even better.

I topped it with sour cream to make it extra unhealthy, and man was it good.

Easy enchiladas whenever you want them. Because You're an adult.



Ingredients:
1lb shredded chicken (or ground beef)
2 cups shredded cheese
2 10oz cans of enchilada sauce (red or green)
6-8 tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray 13x9" baking dish
2. Mix cooked shredded chicken (or ground beef) with 3/4 cups of sauce and 1 cup of cheese
3. Spoon about 3 Tbsp of filling onto tortillas. Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish
4. Pour remaining sauce over tortillas and top with remaining cheese. Bake 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and filling is heated through