Green Chile Chicken Casserole

Soooo, it's been awhile since I've posted!  Summer has been busy!  Here's an easy favorite that feeds our family these days.  

For this recipe, you'll need:

• 1 10 oz can green chile enchilada sauce
• 1 4 oz can green chiles (I usually use MILD, but if you're brave - go for it!)
• 4 oz block of cream cheese (half of the block)
• 2 cups (or so) chopped cooked chicken
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used colby jack this time, but monterey jack or anything would work, choose what you like)
• tortilla chips

Mix first 4 ingredients in a pan on stove and heat through.  Sprinkle a layer of crushed tortilla chips in greased pan, top with half of chicken mixture.  Repeat the layers and top with tortilla chips and cheese.  

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees or until a nice crust forms on the top - then you'll know it's ready!

Tastes like a yummy enchilada, without so many steps!  Great for weeknight dinner with corn - easy dinner for the family.  Enjoy!

Taco Soup

I made this on Halloween, the perfect fall soup!  This soup is even acceptable to the mister bc it's definitely hearty!  It's a Paula Deen recipe so you know it's that good!  And easy?  Yes!

For this soup, you'll need:

• 2 lbs ground beef (I used about a pound and a half)
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 - 15 1/2 oz cans pink kidney beans
• 2 - 15 1/2 oz cans pinto beans
• 1 - 15 1/2 oz can of niblet corn, drained
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz can Del Monte mexican tomatoes*
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz can Del Monte tomatoes with chilies*
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 - 4 1/2 oz cans diced green chilies*
• 1/2 cup green olives, sliced - optional
• 1 - 1 1/4 oz pkg taco seasoning mix
• 1 - 1 oz pkg Hidden Valley Original Ranch salad dressing mix
• Corn chips
• Sour cream
• grated cheese
• chopped onions

**I used 2 cans of Rotel instead of the Del Monte tomatoes, I couldn't find them

**I used one - 7 oz can of diced green chilies

Brown meat with onion, drain fat.

Pour in beans, corn, tomatoes, chilies, olives, and seasonings.  If using crockpot, cook on low for 6-8 hours or simmer on low heat for an hour in stockpot for an hour.  I simmered mine on the stove for a little more than an hour.

To serve, we tested fritos on the bottom, before ladling the soup, or topping soup with fritos.  Both me & the hubby agree, topping with fritos is better than putting fritos first - the crunch was much better to us than soggy chips!

After the chips, I also topped it with sour cream, shredded cheddar & green olives.  I guess black olives would work, too, but this mama gets grossed out by black olives so they don't make it to anything cooked in this kitchen :)

Doesn't it look yummy?!?  Totally Yummy!!

My Favorite Tortilla Soup

I started making this tortilla soup when we first got married.  It started from some recipe I found in a magazine and evolved over the years.  All members of the family will eat it so that's always good around here.  My husband is not super enthused about soups, but this is one that he eats without complaining.  In fact, he was just warning our son this morning that the arrival of fall would be Mommy putting more soups on the menu - then he asked me what was for dinner - haha!!  It's the first day of fall so Tortilla Soup, of course!  Viva la fall and viva la soup!!

For this soup, you'll need:

• 2 cups cooked chicken (chopped - you could use rotisserie chicken for this - I baked several chicken breasts in the oven with olive oil, season salt, pepper, and garlic powder)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 can MILD chopped green chiles, drained
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes (usually I use 14.5 oz can, but only had the 28 oz can today, so I halved it bc the Mister isn't crazy about so many tomatoes :)
• 2 cans Mexicorn, drained
• 1 can black beans (drained, but not rinsed - but if you'd rather rinse, then rinse away)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 4 cans chicken broth
• 1 green pepper, seeded, diced
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs chili pepper (use less if you like, we like chili pepper around here)
• pepper, to taste

Saute green pepper, onion, and garlic in olive oil

Add chicken and one can of chicken broth.  I like to add the chicken at the beginning because I feel like the chicken gets some of the extra flavor from the onions and pepper.  Heat through.

The rest of it is just easy!  Welcome to my nerdy cooking self who thinks pictures like this are fun.  Add black beans, corn, tomatoes.

Add chiles and the other can of corn - isn't it pretty?

Then get out this.  This makes the soup a much prettier color to balance the grayish look that the black beans bring to the soup.   Add to tomato paste and remainder of chicken broth.

Mix together.  Here's what it looked like before I brought it to a boil.  Bring it to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer until ready to serve.  I think the longer the better on simmering, but it tastes good whether you have 20 minutes or 45...

I didn't get a pic of what it looked like after simmering in the pan, bc I was busy with the last step...

Grating the cheese to top the soup - we had colby jack and pepper jack this time around

Ladle your soup -

Top with cheese and tortilla chips, if desired.  Usually, I also add a little dollop of sour cream and sliced green olives (that may sound weird, but I love green olives on this soup) - we didn't have either of those tonight, but the soup was still fabulous!  Can't wait to eat some tomorrow bc it's even better on day two.  Viva la soup!!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

I thought I would start with a family favorite.  These are easy peasy enchiladas that everyone in the family loves.  It's a recipe that evolved over the years and you can really vary it anyway you want.  So versatile, so easy, and creates plenty of servings.  And let me add that when I took these pictures, I wasn't thinking of starting a recipe blog so it's not how it will be in future posts.  (Hopefully) future posts will be a little more organized :) But for this recipe you'll just need:

• chopped cooked chicken (about a pound -  I usually bake the tenders in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder for about 15 minutes at 350, this time I also added chili powder - I will have to do a whole other post on chicken)
• 2 - 14 oz. cans green chile enchilada sauce
• 1 can diced green chiles
• cream cheese (about 4 oz, more if you like it extra creamy)
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I use a Mexican blend of three cheeses)
• 10-12 tortillas

**Before starting, make sure you spray 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray - I like to use olive oil spray, but regular cooking spray would work - either way, you just don't want your enchiladas to stick!

They are best with fresh tortillas (we sometimes pick them up from Rosa's and that makes it easy), but if you don't have fresh, these will do just fine...

And I actually will use this brand again because it was the perfect amount for my 9x13 baking dish!  No leftover tortillas and all were filled evenly!  Aaahh, the things that make me happy - I must have a sickness...

I like the Hatch brand enchilada sauce, but any will do.  You may want to get mild, though, as some can be pretty spicy.  Spicy with my family is no bueno - ha.

I set up my enchilada prep stations.  Tortillas, filling, cheese, and pan.

Simply combine chicken, green chiles, and about 1/3 of  a can of the enchilada sauce and heat through.  Once heated through, remove from heat, add cream cheese and mix to melt.  I usually get the mini tubs of Philly cream cheese so I can add as much or as little as I feel.  This time I only had one, so it was a little light on the cream cheese.

This looks gross, but it's so handy.  Pour a little sauce in a pie plate, 

drop in your tortilla, flip on both sides, then scrape off the excess sauce with your hands.  It's a little messy, but so easy, and eliminates having to presoak your tortillas before filling them with the chicken mixture and cheese.

Simply fill with chicken and cheese then place open side down in the baking dish.  Pour remainder of the first can of enchilada sauce over the filled tortillas.  If baking immediately, pour the other can of enchilada sauce over the filled tortillas (this picture is with the remainder sauce, before I poured the second can), cover with foil, and bake in oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until bubbly on sides.

This dish can be made the night before - just wait until ready to cook to pour second can of sauce over enchiladas, cover, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until bubbly on sides.

Wish I had a picture of the final product, but this is the first post - I'll get it together eventually!  I usually serve this with sour cream, Mexicorn, black beans and chips - yum!

What kind of enchiladas do y'all make?  What do you serve it with?