So I’ve talked a lot on this blog about my love for Shauna Niequist and her book Bread and Wine. It is just so good. I would recommend it to literally anyone and have gifted it to multiple friends since my mom gave it to me about six months ago. Along with all the short stories it holds, Shauna also provides tons of delicious recipes. My mom and I have both tried quite a few of them (and have loved each one more than the last), but this enchilada recipe wins by a landslide.
I have been trying really hard to be more intentional and creative with recipe planning each week, and a big goal of mine over the upcoming months is to try out at least three new recipes each week. I really love to cook and find that when I make time for it, my attitude towards my body and food is much more positive than it is if I just rush through meals and make the same things over and over again.
Yesterday afternoon was really nice for multiple reasons, but a main one being that I have been working from home a lot more lately. I worked as hard as I could to get as much work as I could done in the morning so that I would have the afternoon to clean up around the house, get some organizing done, and prepare this dinner. It was so super simple and made the whole house smell amazing!
This is what I did……..
About noon I put two frozen chicken breasts into the crockpot with some medium-spicy salsa for 5 hours – 4 on low and 1 on high.
I took the chicken out, shredded it with a fork, and left it in a bowl on the counter to cool a little for about 1/2 hour.
While it was cooling, I got the sauce ready. Now I’m warning you – this is not a healthy recipe by any means, but it sure is delicious. The sauce consisted of a 28 oz can of green chile sauce (I used Las Palmas brand and medium spice level), a 7 oz can of diced green chiles, and 1 cup of sour cream. Just mix it all together in a big bowl! But don’t make a mistake like I did and think that it will fit in a smaller bowl than it will, because then you will splash yourself with green sauce and that’s not really fun. It looks gross, but it’s very tasty.
Then you start to layer! It goes sauce, four tortillas (She recommended corn, but I used flour. She also recommended that you quickly pass them through some simmering chicken broth which I did, but I don’t think it was necessary), 1/2 of the chicken, and some cheese (Again, she recommended Monterey Jack, but I used just a Mexican blend, because it’s what we had in the fridge). Do two full layers and then top with four tortillas and the remaining sauce and cheese.
Now just bake it! 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees, and make sure you let it cool/settle for 15ish minutes before trying to cut it. I’m usually really impatient with this part, but waiting actually allowed me to cut it into somewhat nice looking pieces.
Now I will say that this recipe makes a LOT of food. It would be really good to make if you had like 6-8 people? Maybe even more depending on if you serve sides with it? Chris and I can eat quite a bit, and we barely made a dent in the tray. I did package the leftovers up into a few tupperware containers – I am assuming (hoping) it will freeze and defrost just fine. It is always such a nice surprise to find delicious food in the freezer that only needs to be thawed and eaten – quick, simple lunches!
So in conclusion, this is a really good recipe. And you should make it immediately. Especially if you are trying to impress someone with insanely delicious food, but don’t really want to put that much work into it 😉
Oh! And I got even crazier and made us homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Well, half homemade. I made a batch of sugar cookies with powdered sugar icing and then we bought a Costco sized pack (yes, that is correct) of birthday cake Halo Top ice cream the other day, so I used that for the inside. They were ridiculously delicious.
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This week is flying by! I love it, because we have a really fun weekend ahead of us. It feels so good to get back into my routine, even though life is obviously more stressful here in Michigan than it was in Jamaica with negative three responsibilities to handle. I cannot even put into words how much I love doing “regular life” while being married to Chris. Everything just seems new and different. I’ve also started trying (key word – trying) to change my last name, and it’s definitely proving to be just as difficult as people said it would be. Which I guess is a good thing, because it’s kind of a big deal. But still. It’s just like one form and phone call after another, and it’s never ending! But it is super exciting and fun to have the same last name as Chris now. 🙂
I am also really looking forward to the rest of today, because I have a lunch date planned with my childhood best friend who is in town for a few days and then later this evening I am babysitting three of my favorite little girls for a few hours. Work is also going better than usual lately, so it seems like everything is falling into place!
Have an amazing day, and I hope you just love those enchiladas if you make them.
Any good recipes you discovered lately to share?
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