Jon's Night to Cook - Mexican Chicken Casserole
Our dinner plans were cancelled so Jon decided to cook for me. He usually does great meats on the grill with his homemade marinades, his signature roast beef with homemade gravy, meatballs, kick-ass chili, or his amazing scalloped potatoes. But tonight I requested Mexican, and he found inspiration in a recipe online for Mexican Chicken Casserole. He changed it up a bit...Ingredients
- 3/4 of a pound of trimmed chicken breast
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 4 oz can of chopped green chiles
- 1 chopped jalapeno (not in the original recipe)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 red and green pepper, chopped (not in the original recipe)
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (original recipe called for evaporated skim milk)
- 1 cup total shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 5 oz enchilada sauce
- 6 corn tortillas
- 2 tbsb olive oil
- Cooking spray
- Handful of tortilla chips, crushed
- Spices (of course!): chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper
Cooking it
- Combine broth, half of the chiles, and half of the jalapenos in a large skillet; bring to a boil; add the chicken, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is done turning the chicken once. Remove the chicken reserving the liquid, and shred chicken with two forks
- In a separate skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the rest of the chiles, jalapenos, red, and green peppers. Saute three minutes or until tender.
- Add the reserved cooking liquid, cream, Monterey jack cheese, cream cheese, and enchilada sauce; stir well. Add the spices.
- Stir in the chicken and cook for 2 minutes; remove from the heat.
- Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Layer with 2 tortillas and some of the chicken mixture. Repeat until you have three layers. Top with cheddar cheese and crushed chips.
- Bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Let stand for 10 minutes.
This meal was really good!! (although my pictures haven't been great recently - they are all coming out really blurry. I need to play with my camera settings) It had great texture and the changes Jon made really made the dish. I can't imagine it without the spices or extra peppers. It had heat, but not too much at all. It was creamy, flavorful, and just delicious! We had it with some Mexican rice - just the Goya Yellow Rice that comes in a box (that was my contribution:). After dinner Jon said it felt so good to cook - he's been so busy so it has been a while. Thanks honey!!
