Authentic Chicken Enchiladas

Chris loves Mexican food...he loves it so much in fact that he organizes our Mexican Heritage night every Christmas Eve (his grandmother grew up in Mexico I believe - yes it's a little bit of a stretch, but it's fun!). Some of the girls he works with at the Hospital know how much he loves it and started bringing him different dishes from time to time (one of them is originally from Mexico and one is from Guatemala). After having their enchilada's he decided he asked for the recipe and we've been making our enchilada's this way ever since. I actually really like our other, not quite so authentic recipe we have for enchilada's, so I'll post that one at a later time. I should note that recipe is a very loose term with these enchilada's because there's no exact recipe. I should note that the first time I had them I thought they'd taste really good with rice and beans added to them (aka, less chicken) so now that's the way we make them, therefore the recipe I'm going to give you below. I have to say that they're absolutely delicious!

Authentic Chicken Enchiladas
corn tortillas
chicken breasts, tenders, or any kind of chicken
minced or chopped garlic
chopped onion
green enchilada sauce
shredded cheese
cooked rice (optional - I recommend using Cafe Rio rice - it makes a large batch and I usually store some of it in the freezer)
black beans (optional)
sour cream
olives (optional)
*Note: amounts will vary depending on how large of a batch you want to make.

Boil chicken with garlic and onions.

Make rice. Or if you're like us, you'll take a container of rice out of the freezer and just defrost it.

While the chicken is cooking, fry the tortillas in a little bit of oil, just until they're cooked slightly. Place tortillas on a plate and pat the oil off them with a paper towel.

Once the chicken is finished drain the water and shred the chicken using two forks. Add the green enchilada sauce to the chicken.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray PAM on the bottom of your baking /casserole dish and pour a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan. Put a layer of tortilla's on the bottom (you'll notice as you're doing this that you might want to cut some of the tortillas in half), then a layer of the chicken mixture, topping it with a little cheese and enchilada sauce (if your chicken mixture has a lot of sauce in it you can skip this step). Put another layer of tortillas on top and add a layer of rice and beans, followed by cheese and some enchilada sauce. Repeat the layers, alternating between the chicken and rice/bean layers, finishing with a layer of tortillas on the top. Cover the top tortilla layer with some enchilada sauce and shredded cheese and cook at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream. You could also serve with olives, or add olives in with the chicken.

Enjoy!