Austin, the guest blogger. It makes sense, really, because if there is anyone who loves to eat like I do, it's her. She has a recipe for enchiladas that she swears by, so here it is in her own words:
Ohhh Mexican food. One of the great loves of my life, along with John Krasinski and Costco brand sleeping pills. Lindsay and I live for Mexican food, and I’m 90% sure her baby is going to come out as a burrito.
These enchiladas are my grandmother’s recipe, she got the recipe from the local savings bank in Texas way back in the day and doctored it up a bit. I have no idea why banks used to give out recipe cards, but I do know that anyone with half a brain is going to take that recipe card home and make it immediately, because wouldn’t you just be so curious about a recipe from the BANK? Well my grandmother did just that, and they were delicious, and my family has been eating them ever since.
These are called “Easy Enchiladas”. Funny enough, “Easy Enchilada” is also my husband’s nickname for me. By subbing in flour tortillas for the typical corn tortillas, it allows you to skip the step of lightly frying all the corn tortillas in oil before filling them and rolling them. There’s also much less of a risk of these splitting or falling apart than with your usual corn tortilla recipe. They may not be quite as authentic, but they’re still very delicious!
One note: this recipe originally called for you to poach chicken breasts, let them cool a bit, and then shred them. It’s much easier, and even more delicious, if you buy a rotisserie chicken (preferably from Costco because everyone knows that Costco rotisserie chickens are sent directly from heaven), and shred all that delicious slow roasted meat.
Ok one more note: this recipe is super flexible, so if you don’t like spinach, just leave it out, or sub shredded beef/pork for the chicken, or even roasted veggies. You could also add chopped jalapenos or chipotles to the chicken mixture if you like things spicy. Whatever floats your boat!
Austin's Easy Enchiladas:
One 16 oz. jar of medium or hot salsa Two 10 oz cans of enchilada sauce (Hatch’s is best, but if you can’t find that, El Paso works great too) One 8 oz package of cream cheese One 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, and thoroughly squeezed 3 cups shredded cooked chicken breast 10 flour tortillas (I like to use the “soft taco” sized tortillas) One 8 oz package of shredded Mexican cheese
-Stir together appx half the jar of salsa and one whole jar of enchilada sauce, set aside -Microwave the cream cheese on high appx 1 minute until it’s soft -Squeeze the package of spinach out until it’s as dry as can be (if you don’t squeeze enough, the enchiladas will end up watery) -Combine the spinach, chicken, and cream cheese with the salsa/enchilada sauce mixture -Once you’ve mixed this all together, add more salsa if you think the mixture needs some (I usually end up putting in the other 8 oz. of salsa) -Spoon about 1/3 of a cup of the chicken mixture in to a flour tortilla, spread it down the middle, and roll the flour tortilla up nice and snug -Place the tortillas seam side down in a very lightly greased 9x13 dish -Once all the tortillas have been filled, pour the second can of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, and top with shredded cheese -Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 mins @ 350 degrees -Take the foil off and bake an additional 15 mins, or until the cheese is nice and melty
