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Thursday, June 3, 2010

Chicken Enchiladas

I have been in the biggest cooking rut. Biggest. And in a recent moment of postpartum hormonal weirdness, I had made up my mind that I was going to quit this whole blogging business. It's a little frustrating to not be able to cook like I want to. Here is a list of my current food failures.

Peanut Butter Truffle Bars - FAIL
Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Raspberry Chipotle Sauce - FAIL
Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Grapefruit Onion Sauce - FAIL
Orange and Garlic Marinated Chicken - FAIL

Basically, I have ceased to be able to create my own recipes. My gift of writing recipes left a few weeks ago, along with my placenta and I no longer can cook without specific direction. It's a shame, because it wasn't always that way. I used to develop some brilliant stuff. Not anymore. Maybe I needed this period of failures so that I can remember that there are actual cookbooks out there and they are filled with excellent recipes. So I will be making a trip to the library to get some cookbooks.

Note to self: Stop wasting ingredients and money and start following real live recipes.


This is a Tyler Florence recipe and it is BRILLIANT. Yes, I diddled with it a bit, but not much. Spicy heat from two types of chiles. Sweetness from tomatoes and corn. Savory bites of shredded chicken and two types of cheese. And great news, it can be frozen. Directions for cooking these in frozen form are at the end of this post.

Note to self: High five for starting to like cheese. Darling girl, I am proud of you.


I made an 8x8 inch pan of this for my family and then took the other half of the recipe and put it into a foil pan and froze it for my sister Caitlyn, the one having a baby in mid-June. p.s. I have two other foil pans that came in the pack from the grocery store. I want to make Caitlyn and her husband Tadd two other freezer meals and I am coming up with nothing. Any ideas?

Note to self: Don't make up the recipes for Caitlyn's freezer meals. You suck at doing that.



1 lb chicken breasts
Kosher salt and ground pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15 oz can corn, drained
1 4 oz can diced green chiles
1 chipotle pepper, seeds removed and minced
1 15 oz can stewed tomatoes, drained
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Mexican seasoning blend
1 15 oz can enchilada sauce or 1 1/2 cups homemade enchilada sauce
16 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Pat dry and season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. Once the oil runs quickly in the pan, add the chicken breasts. Cook on each side for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Set aside on a plate to cool. Once cooled, shred into bite-size pieces.

Increase the heat and add the onion, garlic, 1 tsp salt and a few grinds of ground pepper to the pan and saute for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent and softened. Stir in corn, green chiles and chipotle chiles. Cook for 2 minutes. Add stewed tomatoes, cumin, garlic powder and Mexican
seasoning blend and cook for another minute. Fold in shredded chicken ad remove pan from heat.

In a 9x13 inch pan, pour in about 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce and tilt the pan to completely coat the bottom of the pan. Heat the tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften them and make the pliable. Scoop in a scant 1/4 of filling into one of the tortillas and sprinkle about a tablespoon of shredded cheese on top. Roll tortilla up and set in the pan, seam side down. Repeat with all tortillas. Once all tortillas are rolled, pour the remaining enchilada sauce evenly over the top and sprinkle of the remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream, avocados and cilantro.

Yields 6-8 servings.

Rookie's Notes: If you are cooking this and it's frozen, bake at the same temperature, 350 degrees, but increase the time to 45 minutes. Cover with foil and remove the foil when there are 10 minutes left.


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13 comments:

Hugan said...

Hang in there! I'm sure it is some sort of hormonal craziness! Your blog is awesome. Your recipes are awesome. I have your site bookmarked on my computer and I check you every single day. Don't quit - you can do this! :)

Janelle said...

I agree!! I come to your site any time I'm looking for something to make, or have an ingredient that I'm not sure what to do with. I often try to come up with my own stuff too, but there are days when I make total crap and get so frustrated, but remember how many people there are here that LOVE what you make and look forward to new ideas from you (even if they're from someone else, they're still new to us!!). I would LOVE to have a food blog of my own, but am very nervous at the prospect of starting one, so I give you a TON of props! You're one of my favorites, please don't quit!!

Megan said...

MonicavanO and Janelle are morons. You suck at this.

Holly said...

Love Tyler Florence!! Looks yummy:)

Kalli said...

I don't have any chipotles. I'm doing it anyway.

cat+tadd=sam said...

I'm so dang excited for this baby to arrive. For your food, not the baby. Kidding. Sort of.

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Cut yourself some slack, RC. For goodness sake...you are a mother of three...you have a newborn...you are still recovering from birth...you probably aren't sleeping like you would like...your mothering, though technically increased by 50%, has probably exponentially increased...

You are an awesome cookie. Just the fact that you are in the kitchen, um, say, what...less than 1 month post-partum...ROCKS. You'll shake your groove thing again in what will seem like a flash in hindsight.

Amie said...

Oh goodness, I am having the same issues right now, only it is happening to me while I am pregnant. Those hormones sure do a number on us, don't they?! I am praying that my love for the kitchen comes back once baby is born.... but I have to agree with Sweet Pea Chef, you must feel so stretched with the extra stress and mouthes to feed. Relax a bit and it will all come together. I know you will be back to yourself soon enough!!

Staci said...

Rookie, I have never loved you more. Two reasons: do you know how hard it is to find a good chicken enchilada recipe that doesn't use that yucky "cream of" canned stuff? Second, I thought that I was the only one who failed in the kitchen. Sometimes it is the most brilliant food and sometimes, hardly edible. How is this even possible? Bless my family's heart . . . er palate?
And don't you love Sparks support of you? Only sisters can say things like that. Of course, if I were to have told you that you sucked, she would have given it to me.

Staci said...

Oh, and I get it that she's kidding. Except that I first typed kissing.

Megan said...

Don't be silly, Staci. She DOES suck.

jenniferhoiyin said...

you're still brilliant, you're groove is just a bit thrown at the moment. as for cookbooks, that's what i do, the library is my bff. just don't reserve david tanis's platter of figs cuz i'm borrowing it and will need it for at least a month. thanks.
xoxo

p.s. i only made bran muffins, burritos, banana bread and cookie dough before the babe came, gave up on real freezer dinners. you could fill it with cookie dough?

jenn (+ will) said...

i made these tonight...they were a hit! thanks!