Easy Chicken Enchiladas

   Of all my recipes I am most proud of this one!  I have combined my mother's chicken enchilada recipe, with my mother-in-law's chicken fajita casserole with the convenience of the crock pot.   Once a very time consuming process of poaching and cubing the chicken, mixing the sauce and carefully filling and rolling each enchilada has become super easy.   The filling gets a lot of great flavor from the taco seasoning and cilantro.   Mmmmm!

Ingredients:

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts            3.84
26 oz cream of chicken soup (divided)               2.39
16 oz light sour cream                                        1.98
1/2 onion--chopped                                             .15
2 cans chopped green chilies                              1.56
1 envelope taco seasoning                                    .50
20  small flour tortillas (6 inch)                             3.52
16 oz pepper jack or Monterrey jack cheese       4.36
1 bunch cilantro                                                   .74
               
Directions:

Place raw chicken in a medium to large crock pot.  Top with chopped onions and green chilies.

In a small mixing bowl stir together 2/3 of the chicken soup, all of the sour cream and the package of taco seasoning. 

Pour this soup mixture over the chicken and turn the crock pot to low.  Cook 4-8 hours.   Now go run some errands, go to school, work or church.  When you're ready for dinner turn off the crock pot.  Chop the chicken into cubes or shred with two forks.

Then put the chicken back in the crock pot and stir well.  Add chopped cilantro for taste.

This is the filling for your enchiladas.  Now shred the cheese onto a plate and open the tortilla packages.  Grab 3 8x8" pans and place a little of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of each pan to prevent sticking.  Take each tortilla and place one large spoonful of sauce in the center and top with about a Tablespoon of shredded cheese 

Carefully fold the tortilla over the sauce and place seam side down in the pan.  I was able to fit six tortillas in each 8x8" pan.

Now spread two spoonfuls of the reserved cream of chicken soup over top of the rolled tortillas with the back of your spoon.

Sprinkle the top with 4 Tablespoons of cheese.

Once all three pans are filled with chicken enchiladas cover with foil.  Label and freeze two of the pans.   Once frozen and thawed they will bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 min. 

I put one pan directly into the oven to bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes just to melt the cheese since the filling was already hot from the crock pot.  I was able to make three pans of enchiladas for $6.35 each dinner.  Not a bad way to stretch one package of chicken breasts!  This would also be good with a package of boneless skinless chicken thighs.

Here they are hot from the oven.  We like to eat ours topped with salsa.

These would also be good with black beans or rice mixed into the filling. 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza

Lasagna

    Making lasagna from scratch is definitely time consuming.  But one lasagna recipe makes three large meals for me and James.  That makes it worth the time and effort.   I assemble mine in three tall bread pans.  This time I used one glass pan and two aluminum pans.  

  Ingredients:

1 pkg Italian sweet sausage     4.38              
1 lb lean ground beef                 3.75
2 jars of pasta sauce                  1.80
1/2 onion                                      .15
2 medium carrots                       .20
1 celery stalk                               .10
1 C baby spinach                         .50
30 oz low fat ricotta cheese      2.26
2 eggs                                             .30
1/4 C skim milk                            .15
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 ground black pepper
1 box lasagna noodles                 1.58
8 oz sliced provolone                   2.36
8 oz part skim mozzarella            4.08

Directions:

Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil over med-high heat.  Meanwhile cook the sausage and ground beef together in a large pot over medium heat.   As the meat browns you can chop the onions and celery.  Peel and grate the carrots.  Roughly chop the baby spinach leaves.

Once the meat is browned, remove the meat from the pot and drain.  Put the veggies into the pot to saute for about 5 minutes or just starting to get tender.  Check your water, if it's boiling then put the dry noodles into the water for 10 min.  Once the veggies are starting to soften then add back the drained meat and both jars of pasta sauce.  Once warmed through then turn off the heat and set aside.  If your sauce tastes sour, then add a Tbsp or two of sugar.  Then you get a nice sweet red sauce. 

In a mixing bowl combine the ricotta cheese, eggs, milk, pepper, oregano and nutmeg.  Stir well and set aside.

Once the noodles are ready drain them in a colander and run cold water over the pasta to cool it down.  Place three bread pans side by side on the counter.  Form an assembly line.  Pour a little bit of meat sauce into the bottom of the pans to prevent noodles from sticking.  Layer two noodles in each pan, cutting the extra with a kitchen scissors when necessary.  Next spread out two heaping spoonfuls of the ricotta cheese mixture.  Top with two large scoops of meat sauce.  Sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese.  Repeat the noodles, ricotta, meat sauce and mozzarella two more times.  Top with sliced provolone tearing to cover.

Cover with foil.  Label and freeze the two that will be for future dinners.  One will go into the oven tonight.  If you are making the lasagna right before dinner then bake at 375 degrees for 45 min.  If baking a frozen lasagna, please thaw the fridge for two days.  Then bake from the fridge at 375 degrees for 60-75 minutes. 

It take a little time to prepare a lasagna from scratch, but it is so worth it.  You can add mushrooms or canned tomatoes to the pasta sauce for extra vegetables.  If you're substituting chopped frozen spinach for the baby spinach then thaw and drain the spinach first and add it to the ricotta instead of the meat sauce.  It works well with this recipe.  I just happened to have fresh spinach in the fridge, so I used that instead.

I made three lasagnas for $7.20 each. 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza

Ham and Potato Chowder

    If you are wondering what to do with all that left over Christmas ham, I have a great idea for you.  This soup recipe came from my mother in law and it is so tasty. 

Ingredients:

6 C water
3 large Yukon gold potatoes              1.26
1 tsp chicken base or bullion               .25
1/2 onion                                            .20
1 carrot                                              .10
1 celery stalk                                      .10
1 C frozen corn                                   .05
2 large slices of cooked ham              2.15
4 Tbsp margarine                                .20
1/4 C flour                                      
1 C skim milk                                      .25
1 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese   2.04
salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to taste

Directions:

In a large sauce pan pour in 6 C water and stir in the tsp of chicken base.  Slice or chop the potatoes.  I like to leave the skins on, but you can peel them off if you'd like.  Here I used the new mandolin my mom bought me for my birthday.  Thanks Mom!  I sliced the potatoes about 1/4 inch thin and then sliced them again in half. 

Chop the onion, celery and peel and slice the carrots.  Add these with the potatoes to the pot of water and heat over medium heat for 20-30 minutes.

 Meanwhile cut the edges off the ham and dice up the centers.  If you don't have any leftover cooked ham, then ask for two large slices of deli ham at your local grocery store.

 When the potatoes get soft and break apart when you poke them with a fork you can add the corn and diced ham.   In a separate small sauce pan melt the margarine over medium-low heat.  Add the flour and slowly whisk in the cup of milk.  Once it's all stirred together well slowly stir in the shredded cheddar to make a thick cheese sauce. 

Now stir this cheese sauce into the soup pan with the potato and ham soup.  Once it is thoroughly combined then turn off the heat.  Add salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to taste.   

If you'd like some great toppings you can add green onions, chives or parsley.  Yum!  If you'd like a lower calorie version, skip the cheese sauce and just serve the soup as a broth based soup.  Broccoli and roasted red peppers would also be great in this soup. 

I made three dinners from this pot of soup for $2.20.  It will warm you up on a cold day! 

Enjoy!

Christie aka Keeza