Enchiladas!

One of my favorite things about having leftover chicken (particularly those rotisserie chickens you buy hot from the food store - (I discovered in college that in my family we call the grocery store the food store and this is weird for some people, or perhaps for everyone outside of the five of my core family members. My roomates brought this to my consciousness)) is to use the chicken for taquitos or enchiladas. Today I made enchiladas.

Sauce

3 tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 dried peppers or 1 fresh pepper, salt and pepper, oregano, water

Boil 3 tomatoes (or more if you want more sauce) in about 3-4 cups of water. Also boil 3 cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion (chopped into 4 or so large pieces) and if you want some spice - add some dried chilies or a piece of a jalapeNo or other fresh pepper (more is less - be careful not to add too much of the fresh peppers, start with about a 1 inch piece). Once the onion is soft, drain off the water, add this mixture to the blender and blend well. Add some water little-by-little until desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste and a few pinches of oregano (can use Mexican version which has bigger leaves and is sold with the Mexican spices at the grocery store - which are 1 dollar each by the way!). Set aside.

Chicken Filling

2 cups cooked chicken meat, cilantro, pepper, cumin, 1/2 c. cream cheese (or could use sour cream or cream of chicken or mushroom soup), 1/4 of a medium onion, 1 t finely chopped garlic, 1/4 c. monterey jack cheese

Take boneless chicken meat (cooked, I used about 2 cups) and add to a food processor (or chop by hand) with a few sprigs of fresh cilantro (if you have it). Briefly chop then add to a mixing bowl. Add pepper, a few shakes of cumin (has a strong flavor so beware - emphasis on "few"). Put 1/4 - 1/2 cup cream cheese in the microwave just until soft (about 30 seconds) and add to the chicken, stir well. Add 1/4 of an onion that is very finely chopped (or put in the food processor), add garlic, mix well. Add about 1/4 cup grated monterey jack cheese (could use other kinds, but experiment with cheeses besides cheddar if you have other cheese, pepper jack would be really good). Mix well. Afterthoughts: I am lazy sometimes and do not like to "waste" time chopping, therefore I used the food processor (you have to hold a button down for one second. ONE SECOND FOLKS!) but the bro states he prefers bigger chicken chunks - so with everyone's different tastes, choose your chunk size and chop by hand if you want larger, but just know what you're getting into if you use a food processor.

Tortillas

As many corn tortillas as you want of enchiladas, probably about one bag of 30

I think enchiladas should predominantly be made with corn tortillas. If you want to use flour, that's ok by me, but corn is the more traditional way of making it (probably depends on region) and it has awesome flavor, plus corn tortillas have more fiber and are like the whole wheat bread of tortillas (just what you wanted, right? more fiber). Heat the tortillas on a plate in the microwave. I use the small corn tortillas and lay them out on a plate with 2 or 3 layers and heat them 1 minute, them flip them around and heat another minunte, and continue to do so, checking them often, for a couple of minutes until they are very pliable and will not break when you roll them.

Use a 9x13 or similar pan and ladle some sauce in the bottom (a thin layer). Take a warm corn tortilla and dip it thoroughly (but briefly) in the sauce. Place in the pan, add 2 Tbsps (more or less) of chicken filling slightly to one side of the tortilla and make it into a line across the side of the tortilla. Roll the tortilla closed. Lay it in the pan so that it is sitting on its rolled edge. Repeat for all of the tortillas and filling. Cover with more sauce (and save some for while it is cooking). Cover with a small amount of grated cheese (don't want the cheese to mask all of the flavor of your delicious sauce and filling). Bake 30-40 minutes in a 400 degree oven. In the middle of cooking, add more sauce to the enchiladas (or they may dry out, you could cover with aluminum to help avoid drying out). Serve with sour cream and top with cilantro, as desired.

Variations: you could make green sauce with tomatillos using the same method as the tomatoes, or you could make a mixed sauce with both. You could add green chilies to the chicken mixture. The possibilities are endless, really.