Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas (mild, and without using condensed soup)

If you like a "hotter" dish than we do, you can add all the "hotness" you want by using HOT salsa, adding  chilies, ... or ... even adding Jalapeño peppers until you're "SMOKING" hot!!

Yesterday, even though the following recipe is for a 9x13-inch dish, I doubled the amount of everything and assembled all in a sprayed 15" x 10" x 2" glass baking dish.  Believe me, they were VERY "cozily" packed together!  By pushing them "together",  I managed to get 14 down the length of the pan, and then stuck the last two in along the long edge.  Because these were so crowded, I made sure to separate them a little bit as I poured the sauce over the top.  By making this large batch (and having a crowded dish), I could get away with putting this tightly covered dish into the oven at 210-degrees for for a long 3.5 hours and come home to it turning out perfectly.

INGREDIENTS for 6-8 servings:

1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes (or, if you prefer, cook the chicken breasts as they are and then shred the meat).  Using left-over meat from a rotisserie chicken would really speed things up with this recipe!
1 small onion, chopped  (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
...
8 of 8-inch flour tortillas
1 and 1/2 cups of grated Monterey Jack OR Mexican Blend cheese, divided.
1 and 1/2 cups of mild chunky salsa, divided --I used Tostitos brand, but home-made would maybe be the GREATest!  (Because I doubled the recipe yesterday, I ended up using all of the Tostitos 24-oz. jar, which filled 3 cups.)
...
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 of 15-oz. can chicken broth (I like MSG-free...as free as possible, that is.  Homemade chicken broth would probably be the very best!!!!)
1 cup of sour cream (I used Daisy brand, because of it not having "extra stuff" in it)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a frying pan, cook the chicken (and optional chopped onion) in the oil over medium heat until just done.
2. Spread out the 8 tortilla shells.  
3. In a little row, put 1/8 of the chicken pieces on each of the shells.
4. Put about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons shredded cheese on the chicken pieces.
5. Put about 1 tablespoon of the salsa on the "cheese row".
6. Roll each tortilla up, putting them into a lightly non-stick sprayed 9x13" baking dish.  Set aside....
7. In a medium saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in flour.  Stir until "bubbly" and smoothly mixed.  Gradually, whisk in the chicken broth, stirring constantly and watching that it doesn't scorch.  Bring to boiling, and let boil for at least a full minute.
8. Remove from heat and add the sour cream.  Blend well.
9. Pour thickened sauce over enchiladas in the dish.
10. Top with remaining cheese. Or, you could jump ahead and do the the next (#11) step before layering with cheese.
11. Drop dabs of the remaining mild chunky salsa on the top of all.* 
12. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 375-degrees for 20 minutes OR until the cheese is melted and you see "bubbly" happening around the edges. 

*  At this point, you could double-wrap and freeze it until it is needed...well, within a month, or two?  When taking from freezer, you'd have to bake this considerably longer-- adjust the time accordingly.

Sour Cream Beef Enchiladas

If you don't like 

'super spicy' enchiladas,  you

might like these.

This recipe could easily be cut in half, 

but ... I like to make it this size and 

 save half for another meal.

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds lean ground beef

2 pkg. taco seasoning mix (I used packets of 'reduced sodium' and 'mild flavor')

1 cup water
1 of 16. oz. can of refried beans (optional)
13 of 8-inch flour tortillas

1 of 12 fl. oz. can of evaporated milk (not condensed)

1 and 1/2 cups of sour cream (I used Daisy brand).  

2 cans cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

2-3 cups grated cheese (your choice of cheddar, Colby, or even Mozarella)

DIRECTIONS:

• Brown ground beef and drain off fat.
• Mix in taco seasoning packets.
• Add 1 cup water to seasoned meat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
• Add the refried beans to the seasoned meat, mix in.  Set aside for a little while. 
• In medium-large saucepan, whisk together the canned milk, sour cream and soup.  Cook over low heat until it reaches a low boil, stirring constantly.
• Spread 1 cup of this soup mixture in bottom of a large 'non-stick sprayed' 10x15x2" pan/glass dish.
• Put a generous 1/3 cup of meat mixture on each tortilla and roll up. Place each roll in dish.  (I ended up with 13 tortilla rolls.)

•  Pour remaining soup/sauce over enchilada rolls like this...

• Cover with foil and place in 350-degree oven for about 40-50 minutes.
• Remove from oven, and sprinkle grated cheese on top of all like this...

RETURN to oven only UNTIL cheese is melted.

SERVE...

  

          Recipe adapted from coolest Mommy's website.