Chicken Enchiladas

I made some homemade black bean and corn salsa this weekend to celebrate the start of the football season. I am a Bears fan for all who care. They stomped the Colts. It was pretty awesome. Anyway. I say homemade in the loosest sense of the word. I bought a can of black beans, mexicorn, and rotel and put them together. It's pretty amazing and super easy. Drain all the cans, dump them in a bowl, mix, eat. I had a large quantity left though and we're getting ready to go on a business trip so it needed to be used. I also had some mushrooms leftover. Most people wouldn't look at those two items and think enchiladas but I did.

First thing I did was cut about a pound of chicken breasts into small cubes. I would estimate they're about 1/2 inch. I seasoned it with adobo, cumin, and garlic powder. Cook the chicken in a skillet until it's white on all sides, then add the chopped mushrooms. Mix them up and cook another 5 minutes or so, until the mushrooms are tender.

Now to put the enchiladas together. The only Mexican food I grew up eating was tacos. And those were just tacos made with a seasoning packet. It's kind of sad seeing as I am Mexican. My mom did make pinto beans from scratch though. I remember helping her sort the beans :-) I'm getting easily sidetracked today!

Spray a baking dish with cooking oil. I'm not quite sure what the size of my dish is but I would guess at 10x7? It worked perfectly for my tortillas. Take a tortilla.

Add about 2 tablespoons of the chicken/mushroom mix.

Add a tablespoon of the salsa.

Add a heaping tablespoon of the cheese of your choice. I used colby jack.

Roll it up and place it seam side down in your dish.

I don't like mole sauce. And, generally, you should cover the bottom of your dish with sauce. I planned on using salsa the whole time but I didn't realize how little I had so we just covered the top of the tortillas. I then covered them with more cheese. Use as much as you desire, there's really no way to have too much.

Cover with foil and bake at 400F for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and let it bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the mixture oozing out of the tortillas is bubbly.

 Delicious. 

Chinese Goodness

A couple months ago I succumbed to the cheap temptation of season packets and bought a General Tso's packet. Usually, I try to make my own seasoning. It eliminates those unknown things that are added for preservation and what not but really, it was hard to pass up 40 cents. Tonight, I put the packet to use and was quite pleased! Instead of using straight flour as the packet suggested, I coated the chicken breast chunks in an Emeril's Essence seasoned flour. They were then pan fried in a little oil and the seasoning mixture (which included sugar, soy sauce, and water) was poured over it. It was delicious and EASY.

I found a basic Chinese Fried Rice recipe and altered it just slightly. I used a frozen bag of stir fry vegetables to mix with the rice and I used sesame oil prior to adding the rice back into the pan. Again, delicious! I have now decided I need a wok because my skillet is just too small for frying rice. So good.