Slow-Cooker White-Chicken Enchiladas

Most girls can remember helping their mom and/or grandma in the kitchen at a young age. Me? Not so much. I don’t ever remember doing anything in a kitchen except eat cookies off the cooling racks! But, even though I didn’t ever cook or really bake much growing up, I still had visions of grandeur when I got married. Somehow I thought I would just magically be able to cook and create lavish meals for my “working man.” HA!! That so. did. not. happen! What did happen is a lot of Mac & Cheese, sandwiches and rice! Those were the only things I could cook without burning them (most of the time, at least).

It wasn’t until a little over a year ago that I began my quest to becoming a REAL cook. I jumped in feet first and haven’t looked back since!! I started out by asking friends and family for their favorite easy-to-make recipes. I got a flood of emails with tons of great recipes. Some of them have even become our favorites!! Then, I found myself in a quandary when the heating element went out on our oven. NOW WHAT?! I was so upset and discouraged. I’d just learned how to cook and was getting more confident in my abilities and now this! UGH!! So, that sent me on a major quest for crock-pot recipes!! I quickly found a TON of websites dedicated to this wonderful kitchen appliance! A few of my favorites are:

• www.crockpot365.blog.com
• www.crockingirls.com (this is a new site, but has quickly become a VERY popular site!)

If I’m in the mood for some new chicken recipes, I’ll just go to one of these sites and look under main dishes-chicken and VOILA! There are a TON of recipes to look through and choose from. And now I’ve become so much more confident that I am not afraid to substitute or leave out ingredients my family might not particularly care for. Its so FUN and EASY!!!

So, this week I’m sharing with you one of our family favorites! I hope you like it!!!

White Chicken Enchilada Slow-Cooker Casserole

Prep-time: 30 minutes (or less)

Cook time: 4 hours

Servings: 10 (at least; depending on your portions)

INGREDIENTS:

• 15 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breast – thawed (I’ve also used a 3lb bag of boneless, skinless or even 2 cans of chicken)
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup *
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup*
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped (optional) (TIP: you could also use some garlic powder if you don’t have fresh garlic on hand. The conversion is ½ tsp minced garlic or 1/8 tsp garlic powder per clove)
• 1 (12 oz) container sour cream
• 1 (7 oz) can diced green chile peppers (optional)
• 15 flour tortillas
• 3 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or we use the Mexican blend sometimes)
• 1 (10 oz) can sliced black olives (optional & we leave these out)
• chives for garnish (optional)
• black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. If you’re using boneless, skinless, place chicken in a stock pot, cover with water & bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to boil until the chicken is done (about 10 minutes). Drain, allow to cool & cut into small pieces. (TIP: Cut chicken into chunks BEFORE boiling. Then, you don’t have to wait for it to cool!) If you’re using canned chicken, simply make sure the chicken is chopped & separated before going to step 2.
2. Place cooked chicken chunks in a large bowl. Stir in soup, garlic, sour cream & green chiles.
3. A) Spray the inside of slow cooker lightly with non-stick cooking spray OR B) use a crock-pot liner (found in the aluminum foil section at Wal-Mart) for an easier, no-mess (or very little mess) clean-up!
4. Tear tortillas into pieces and arrange half of them in one overlapping layer across the bottom of the slow-cooker. Arrange half of the chicken/soup mixture over the top. Now arrange half of the chicken on top of that.
5. Repeat step 4, so that you have 2 layers of tortillas, chicken mixture, & cheese.
6. Cook on LOW setting for 3-4 hours. DO NOT COOK ON HIGH (even for a shorter time). Top with chives.

VARIATION:

Follow steps 1, 2 & 3 as above. Then,

4. Tear about 4-5 tortillas into pieces and layer them on the bottom of the slow-cooker.
5. Pour ALL of the chicken mixture over the tortillas.
6. Cover & cook on LOW for 3-4 hours. DO NOT COOK ON HIGH (even for a shorter time – you’ll burn the bottom tortillas & they’ll stink! – Not that I know…)
7. About 15 minutes before you’re ready to serve, top the chicken mixture with about 1-1 ½ cups of Mexi-blend shredded cheese. Cover & let it cook until melted (about 15 minutes).
8. To serve, heat up tortillas in the microwave for about 15 seconds & dish out the chicken mixture onto warm tortillas. Eat like chicken burritos! (This is actually how our kids prefer to eat this dish.) YUM!!!!

* I substitute the condensed cream of soups with this recipe. But, my tweak is this: eliminate the non-fat dried milk. And, use milk instead of water when mixing. You honestly can’t tell the difference, except that its HEALTHY and MSG-FREE!!!! YEAH!!!!

  

Blessings,

Annette

**This is on our menu for Sunday, so I’ll try to take some pictures then and post them.

Linked up here