"Cha-Ladas"

The name...courtesy of Olivia who has a little trouble getting out EN-CHI-LADA's. So we now just call them "Cha-Ladas". Easy enough. Heck, I kinda like it better. This recipe was prepared for us while we were at the Beach, Stew & Rita made it for their "Dinner Night", and it was FABULOUS. I made it this past Sunday Night and it was delish. Brian and Molly joined us...here is a picture of the leftovers.... It made 6 total, but they are huge.

ENCHILADA RECIPE

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast
1 small can chooped green chiles
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 jar salsa
1 handful of fresh cilantro (finely chopped). If fresh cilantro is not available, use 1-2 tsp of dried cilantro (use 2 tsp if you like cilantro, use 1 tsp if you don't want it to be too overpowering).
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1-2 cans enchilada sauce (we use 1 can...it just depends on how much sauce you want to pour over dish)
1 pckg burrito size tortillas (the flavored tortillas are more moist than corn/flour tortillas so they roll without cracking)
Preheat oven to 350.

1. Cut raw chicken breast into cubes. Throw into a pot of water on the stove, add green chiles and minced garlic. Boil until cooked (15-20 minutes).

2. Drain and let chicken cool. When cool, shred chicken in a bowl. Add the jar of salsa and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups Mexican cheese and cilantro. Reserve 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas later.

4. Place 1 tortilla on a plate (or counter), add chicken mixture (down the middle of tortilla), sprinkle with cheese/cilantro mix. Roll and place in dish.

5. Repeat until all tortillas are used.

6. If you are not going to throw in oven immediately, cover and throw in the fridge.

7. If you are going to cook, drizzle enchilada sauce over the tortillas (make sure you cover all of the edges with enchilada sauce so that they will not get hard when baking) and sprinkle last cup of Mexican cheese on the enchiladas.

8. Cover with foil and throw in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes until cheese darkens a little.

9. EAT UP!!!

I had to share - I brought out the fun dishes for our "Cha-Lada" night, I love using them, but we only have 4 place settings, so we only use them when we have another couple over for dinner. I love to eat on fun dinnerware, our boring, everyday black dishes are a-okay, but they clearly don't brighten my day like these little gems do.