Chicken Enchiladas

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
12 small chile peppers, diced (optional)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 pint heavy cream
6 (6 inch) corn tortillas
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce


Cut chicken breasts into 1 inch strips. Place in a medium bowl with desired marinade, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken and onions until chicken is evenly brown. Stir in diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, stewed tomatoes, chile peppers, soup and broth. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover skillet, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Remove chicken from skillet, and shred when cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, allow skillet mixture to simmer and reduce to about 2 1/4 cups. In a medium bowl, combine shredded chicken and about 1/4 cup skillet mixture (just enough to make a paste like mixture). Mix together with half the chopped green onions. Pour remaining 2 cups of skillet mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a second skillet, heat cream over low heat, being careful not to boil. Dip tortillas in the warm cream to soften and coat. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture onto each tortilla. Top chicken mixture with half the shredded cheese, and roll up tortillas. Place rolled tortillas in baking dish, seam side down, and drizzle with enchilada sauce. Cover with remaining shredded cheese, and sprinkle remaining chopped green onion over cheese. Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

Notes: You do not need overly large chicken breasts. The stores tend to package chicken with huge breasts. I ended up making 10 enchiladas and shoving them in the pan and still had tons of chicken left. I also used tomatoes with hot red peppers and didn't use the individual peppers and it turned out to have a good kick! As I said in a previous post this took a lot longer to fix than I had anticipated so this will now be a weekend recipe!

Finally.....Chili Weather

We've had a very mild winter until the past week when the temperatures finally began to dip and show some actual signs of winter!! I am much more a cold weather person than a hot weather person (especially if it involves a lot of humidity) and I love making a big pot of chili with all the spices that I can pack in and still make it edible. So it was with a great deal of joy that I put on a large pot of chili this morning and began concocting like a mad scientist with the various tools of destruction at my disposal. One thing I've learned over the years is that I never make any two batches of chili that are exactly the same. I use basically the same ingredients, but somehow, each batch is unique. I've also learned that for some reason, my first batch each year, isn't all that great. Luckily this is the second batch (the first was my attempt to make the weather get cold enough for chili). And I will also eat enough chili to almost make me sick...I just can't stop eating it. I was that way as a kid as well....me and my brother would take to doctoring my daddy's chili (because it was never hot enough) and then we would gorge ourselves until we could barely move and then lay around until we had digested enough to have another helping. For the first time, I tried chili in a bread bowl today. It was quite tasty, but so much bread that you got full too fast on the bread! I won't make that mistake again...because it really should be just all about the chili! And as soon as I can breath again I think I'll have nother bowl.

Happy New Year

Ok....so I'm a bit late with the Happy New Year greeting! But all the same, I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas with their loved ones & that the new year is off to a great start for everyone. I'm a bit sad that the holidays are over and that our decorations have been taken down. If only we could remember to spread the joy of the holidays throughout the whole year!! So many of the holidays fall toward the end of the year that once you get past New Year's its a long haul until the next one. At least for one that we get off & get paid for....for me that is...the next one isn't until Memorial Day!

I am getting a day off next month...woo hoo! A niece on hubby's side is celebrating her 16th birthday next month so we are off to New York to be part of the festivities! We'll only be there a couple of days...arriving Friday morning and leaving Sunday afternoon, but I am hoping that we'll get to go into the city on Saturday and see some genuine NYC sites! I've never been and who knows when/if they'll be another opportunity so it would be great, even if it is a whirlwind tour!