Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

This is a combination of Nana and me getting a great recipe together for chicken enchiladas. Tried a little of this and that and came up with this:

 6-8 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 16-20 oz. Can Green Chiles (whole)
1 28 oz. Can Green Chili Sauce
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 8 oz. Can El Pato Mexican Tomato Sauce
1 sm package frozen corn
3 Doz. Corn Tortillas
Mexican Blend of 4 cheeses or a blend of Monterey Jack and Longhorn (cheddar)
1 4 oz. Can Sliced Black Olives

Sour Cream with a dash of paprika for Garnish
1 Bunch Green Onion for Garnish

Grill or Boil chicken breasts and cube or shred. In a large bowl add the green chili sauce, soup, corn and el pato. Drain the green chiles and cut into chunks. If you can find 505 brand diced green chiles they are the best. Add them to the bowl and stir well. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Ladel a small amount of sauce mixture into dish and spread thin. Take a tortilla and lay flat. Place some chicken, some cheese and a little sauce in the tortilla and roll up. Place fold-side down in the casserole dish and repeat until dish is full. Add any remaining sauce over the top and a layer of cheeses.Sprinkle the black olives evenly over top of cheeses and bake at 350º for about 45 minutes. Garnish with sour cream and chopped green onion. Serve with shredded lettuce and tomato, chips and salsa and even some Boracho or Refried Beans for a side.

No current pics, but will try and get some next time I make these wonderful enchiladas. I made several big pans of them along with several pans of beef enchiladas for a funeral a while back. Summer's friend Hope. Her mother passed away and their minister would not allow them to have the funeral in his church. So sad. We put together a nice service for Hope's Mom at our park (while we were still living in our Pomelo house) and our family did the dinner afterward. Kevin sang, the girls and I sang and there were some remarks from Grumpy. We have lost touch with Hope through the years, but we were happy to be of service to her in her time of need.

Stacked Beef Enchiladas

 Another dish from the kitchen of Gramma Dorothy. Our family has come to know and love enchiladas made this way and it is frequently requested for Christmas and birthday dinners. You can use any red enchilada sauce you prefer, I am still looking for the perfect one myself.

2# lean ground beef
2 lg. onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 8 oz. can El Pato Mexican Style tomato sauce
2-3 doz. corn tortillas
2 28 oz. cans red chili sauce or red enchilada sauce
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. flour
1 sm. can sliced black olives
Mexican Four Cheese blend or a mix of Monterey Jack and Colby

Garnish:
Sour cream with a dash of paprika
Green onion for
Shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes

Dice the onion, but reserve half for assembling the enchiladas. In a skillet over med/hi heat brown half the diced onions, garlic and ground beef. When good and browned add in the el pato and mix in well. Remove from heat. In a saucepan add the red chili sauce. In a small mixing bowl melt the butter (in the microwave is fine) and whisk in the flour. Drizzle into sauce mixture and allow to thicken. If it gets thicker than you like, thin with more el pato or tomato sauce depending on how hot you like your sauce. Remove from heat. Place 4-6 tortillas in a quart size freezer zip lock. Leave it unzipped. Put in the microwave for about 40 seconds to soften tortillas. (You can also dip them in hot oil for a second or two, but this adds more calories and fat).

On an oven proof plate ladle a small amount of sauce. Maybe a couple tablespoons. Lay a tortilla flat on the sauce and add a thin layer of meat, more sauce, a layer of cheese and some diced onion. Repeat layers until the desired amount (per persons order) is achieved. Top layers with a corn tortilla, more sauce, cheese and a few olives. Put into a 350º oven to bake for about 10-15 minutes. You can stack on both oven racks. I sometimes put more diced onions on the tops of the people who like onions to distinguish those from the people who prefer no onion on their enchiladas before putting them in the oven. In New Mexico they add a fried egg to to the top, but I’ve never eaten them that way. Remove with hot pads and serve. I use cloth placemats to protect my table from the hot plate, but trivets, or dishtowels or even a hotpad under the plate would work too. 
Garnish with sour cream and chopped green onions, lettuce and tomato. Serve with chips and salsa and maybe a side of mexican corn.

This pic of Daron enjoying his enchiladas at the cabin seems to be the only pic I can find of this dish. I will try to remember to take pics next time I make it and update.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

My Visiting Teaching partner and I decided to have a little luncheon for our ladies in May to celebrate Mother's Day and do something a little different for a change. I volunteered to do the main dish since I've been wanting to try making a quiche. I love quiche and every time I have a piece somewhere, I think "I should go home and try making one". I finally did. I found a couple of recipes on Pinterest that looked promising and gathered ingredients. I made two different kinds for our little luncheon and got some feedback. Here is what I came up with after some experimentation and recipe refining.
Crust*:
Will go into 10” deep pie or tart dish

• 2 1/2 cups of flour 
• 1 cup of cold shortening 
• 1 cup of cold butter 
• 1/2 tsp of salt 
• 1/2 cup of cold water or chicken stock 

 Filling:

• 8 oz. fresh mushrooms 
• 1/2 t. minced garlic 
• 1# baby spinach 
• 1 sm sweet onion (optional) 
• 5 large eggs 
• 1 C. cream or whole milk 2-3 oz. feta cheese 
• 1/4 C. grated parmesan 
• 1/2 C. shredded mozarella 

• salt & pepper to taste 

 In a large pot, put about 2” water and all the spinach. Place over med/high heat. When water begins to boil cook spinach 3-5 minutes, or until tender and is down in volume. Remove from heat and pour into collander to drain. Drain well. Layer several paper towels and transfer spinach to further drain on the paper towels. Set aside.

In a food processor combine flour, shortening, butter and salt. Pulse until you have a pea-like texture. 4-5 pulses. Drizzle in the water or chicken stock through the spout while pulsing a few more times. Dough should come together in a ball. Take out and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes. Slice mushrooms and mince the garlic. Dice the onion. Place a skillet over med/high heat and add a couple tablespoons light olive oil. When oil is hot add in the onions and saute a minute or two. Add the mushrooms and the garlic and saute until tender. Salt and pepper and allow the moisture to cook out. When mushrooms are slightly browned, remove from heat and drain onto paper towels.

Remove pie dough from fridge and flour a surface for rolling. Roll out the dough to fit pie or tart dish. Place dough into dish and flute the edges.

In a medium bowl, or your food processor combine the milk and the eggs. Whisk or pulse until well blended. Spread out the well drained spinach in the pie crust. Sprinkle the feta cheese and the parmesan over the top of spinach. Spread the mushrooms over the top of the spinach and cheeses.(These next two pics are of the crust-less version I made first.)

Pour the egg/milk mixture evenly over the top and sprinkle the mozarella over the top. I like to sprinkle a little paprika over the top.

Place on the bottom rack of a preheated 375º oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer to middle rack and reduce oven temp to 350º and bake for 20-30 more minutes until the center is set. Remove from oven and allow to rest for about 10-15 minutes before serving. Slice and serve warm. It is good at room temperature too.

Some variations:
1) Substitute small brocolli florets for the spinach (cooked and drained) Add some cheddar to the mix.
2) Substitute roasted and well drained sliced green chile for the spinach.
Add some diced green and red peppers, (cooked and well drained) instead of the mushrooms.
Add some colby or monterey jack instead of the feta and top with a few sliced jalapenos.

*This quiche can be made crustless, just spray your pie dish with cooking spray. It is good this way and cuts down a little on calories and time.

The key to a good quiche seems to be well-drained ingredients so as not to add unnecessary moisture resulting in a runny filling. Also, I learned whole milk or cream does make a difference in the way the filling sets. I added an extra egg since my pie dish was deep dish as well as a tad more of everything to fill it up nicely. More cheese can never hurt, right?

We served our quiche with the wonderful Strawberry/Citrus Salad already posted on this blog. I did the crust-less version of the spinach mushroom and the broccoli version in a crust for our ladies. It all got rave reviews but everyone seemed to like the spinach mushroom better, but with a crust. I made it that way for my Mother's Day dinner and loved it. Now I can't wait to try the green chile one. It was fun to do and fun to serve.

Quiche isn't hard at all.